Hace Frio! (It´s cold)
Trip Start
Feb 20, 2008
1
11
62
Trip End
Aug 20, 2008
Otavalo,
Ecuador
Saturday, March 15, 2008
In Quito, when our cab turned towards the bus station, the driver kinda just dropped us along the road outside, and we were left having people yelling destinations in our faces. Turns out that they weren't touts for bus companies, but touting for a specific bus. i.e.: bus to Otavalo by ABC Bus Company.
We were told to wait for a bus at the exit of the bus terminus, and so we did. However, as we stood waiting, a rather fancy bus pulled up and the uniformed attendant leaned out to say the bus did go to Otavalo. Our 'tout' ran over and agitatedly tried to stop us from boarding. We just looked perplexed and boarded, after I verified that it was $2 for the journey. Yaay us :)
The bus ride was through high altitude and winding roads, pretty much the sort of travel that calls for lots of dramamine (anti motion-sickness pills). Thankfully 2 hours was decent enough for me to stomach, so no pillowcases were harmed by my vomitting.
We stayed at Hostal La Luna, a quaint property 4km outside of Otavalo town, set high on the hills. We have a room in a little lodge, unfortunately, with no fireplace. We requested to switch to a room with fireplace (after freezing our toes off just being here!), but apparently they were all full.
Beside the hostal property, it's basically just a bunch of farms, tomato orchards and corn fields. Rob and I took a walk and were hounded incessantly by crazy barking dogs. By the time we were walking back from our short little stroll, I had picked up a stick from the ground and was waving it around. The next time we took a walk, we filled our pockets full of stones.
The nights here are the hardest to endure. We had our thermals on, wore sweaters, wool socks and lay under 5 layers of woollen blankets, yet still shivered and huddled together. Ah, the benefits of having someone to share a bed with! It's really OMG freezing. We woke up this morning to find that the pages of our Lonely Planet were warped due to the cold. I was half expecting my contact lenses to be frozen in icy saline. They weren't but they were sufficiently cold too.
The cold and freezing weather isn't exactly doing wonders for me, especially since I'm feeling sort of 'blah' and seem to be lacking some enzyme to process South American food because my tummy just gets horribly gassy and bloated after I eat. Eurgh.
We're seriously looking at the possibility of powering through Ecuador and getting somewhere warm, like the Pacific coast of Peru, because we're SO sick of the rain rain rain rain dreary weather. But we'll see.
Cheers,
Frozen Felicia
Comments
yoghurt!
i heard that you should eat some of the local yoghurt once you step into a new country to hmm, familiarise your stomach with the country's live culture... as in, the bacteria and stuff
wah i dunno if you get what i mean leh hahaha!
BOO!!!!
Hey tortise!
So long den tell me! i feel so rejected! but glad u are doing great there and things are working out so well!.... take lotsa care!
Re: Kaylii
yeah, maybe you're right!! i need more exposure to south american bacteria