Hassled, interrogated and lost on a bus. Ecuador 1
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
1
28
41
Trip End
Jan 15, 2009
Otavalo,
Ecuador
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Land border crossings are a relatively new and exciting experience for us Aussies, considering we are surrounded by water at home. Our final day in Colombia and first day in Ecuador was a day of beautiful scenery, adventure, bumpy buses, crowded lines and patience...enormous patience.
The beautiful landscape as we followed the Andes down to the border between Colombia and Ecuador blew us away. Australia does have mountain ranges, but compared to here is relatively flat. The absolute magnificence of the mountain ranges was awe inspiring, God must have felt pretty powerful and pleased when he created South America. Being at such a high altitude the sky was crispy blue, waterfalls abounded many mountains and the sides of the ranges looked like magnificent quilts. As per usual the bus drivers did not consider the narrow roads, the massive sheer drop on the side or the fact that other vehicles use the same road in BOTH DIRECTIONS
01 The Andes in Colombia
. The combination of this and the fact that the roads are similar to Hogs Breath Cafes´ Pig Tail fries, led to a young mother asking ¨Señor... señor, bolsa por favor¨ (Sir, sir, a bag please), as her young son projectile vomited. The Greenwood remedy for car sickness is sleep. And plenty of that we did...NOT. Have you ever tried to sleep on a rollercoaster mixed with a jackhammer!!So as per our new expectations the bus trip took longer than we were told. Our supposed and promised direct bus stopped at least 30 times and then came to a town called Pasto in Colombia where everyone except four of us got off the bus. Now you have to realize that this town is about an hour and half from the border, the destination we paid for. Well Joe and I have gotten accustomed to this now and we just waited patiently while the driver and helper decided whether or not they would waste their time taking only 4 passengers to the border town, Ipiales. NO...the final decision, so off we went hustled to a different bus. Not a huge problem and we didn't have to pay for the next bus... BONUS. So off we set for the border town of Ipiales, only 10 minutes drive from the actual border.
Stepping of a bus at places like this is like being sucked into a vacuum of very very noisy loud speakers all vying for your attention
02 Andes
. ¨TAXI, TAXI...Frontier, TAXI TAXI TAXI TAXI TAXI TAXI TAXI¨. we are getting very good at ignoring politely now. Eventually we found the colectivo (or cheaper taxi) which took us to the border. Now i must say we have never had any problems at land border crossings before. But this one was a pain in the bum, the crowds were enormous, there is a general rule, it seems in south and Central America, that if you are in a line, then you leave, you can at any point come back to the line to the same place you were before. So quite often you will find yourself 3 from the front and then 10 minutes later, 15 from the front. Maybe that is a slight exaggeration. But we did make our way through without any worries. Walking from one country to another is pretty great I say. Arriving in Ecuador, there were no signs anywhere. We eventually made our way to Immigration where we were confronted with a massive line of about 20 people. Yeah yeah yeah, that may not sound like much but let me tell you it took Joe one and a half hours to make it to the front. The ´system´ was slow. I did however manage to get a smile out of our very serious immigration official. What luck hey.
Another bus trip to the main little town at the border, I can't remember its name... and another hassled getting off of the bus time
03 On our amazing drive still in Colombia
. We were pretty lucky though and made it onto a bus heading for Quito (the capital of Ecuador) about 5 minutes before it left. Now being a DIRECT bus again, you can imagine what happened. We actually wanted to be let off at a town called Otavalo and were assured by the friendly bus driver that we would be going directly there and would get dropped off. Well another 30 stops later we arrived at a town called Ibirro, were told to get off and were lead to another bus. Same as before...we eventually made it to Otavalo at about 8 pm, 4 hours later than what i had thought.Otavalo is famed for its huge market on Saturdays..convenient timing for us, we arrived on Thursday. This town is lovely, yet again the people are amazingly lovely and friendly. Our hotel is nice and we even have hot water...quite a luxury. This lil town is over 2000 m high, but strangely we aren't affected this time...Joe says we have been working our way down the Andes and so we must have adjusted.. Pretty great if you ask me. It is a safe town, another bonus, and arriving on Thursday we missed the mass of tourists who arrive Friday and Saturday for the markets.
THE MARKETS...well the colours, variety and traditionally dressed people all make this experience fantastic. We found lots of beautiful things, alpaca wool blankets, table runners, jewelry, hats
04 Andes
. We may have bought a bit. We had a talk to our Irish friends a few weeks back and they really made us realize how nice it is to get some bigger items even if it is a pain in the arse to lug around all the way home. Joe was spy man for the day and took a heap of excellent photos. The population here is over 25% indigenous and their clothes are amazingly beautiful, I feel so shabby compared to them. Joe and I also had a great time yesterday shopping around in what seemed like an endless amount of shops here, looking for a winter jacket each. That must sound mad to you all considering we are in South America and it is supposed to be hot. But we found 2 and got them, one because they are cheaper here, under $50 each, it is freezing here at night and we need them for Europe in November where we are going to DIE!! We were so excited to buy some new clothes, we are starting to look a lil worn ahaha.
So that brings us to the end of day 3 in Ecuador. I am enjoying travelling again after having a month and half of struggles thanks to LARIUM (an anti malaria drug). If you ever take this be very careful. So I am enjoying the freedom of having myself back, I barely remember what it feels like. We are really looking forward to Bolivia and the orphanage
05 Crossing the border!
. Have to add a little more in - Joe and I were lucky enough to get sent Mark (Joe's bro), band Don't Come Mondays music. They have just finished recording and are about to release... it is amazing and sends shivers up our spines and makes me cry... I don't miss you guys at all hey... We also were blessed to get my Brother Dave's song that he just recorded... another tear jerker and amazing. How lucky are we to have such talented family. I LOVE MY FAMILY and I Love my friends.
So that's it for now!
More to come from Ecuador
KATIE
