Ecuador

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Trip Start Oct 11, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 25, 2007 Next
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  Guayaquil, Ecuador
Monday, March 26, 2007

     We left the farm and headed west to Popayan. The drive took us through some spectacular views of mountains and cloud forests. Popayan is known as the White City because it is filled with stunning colonial architecture, with every building painted white . It was a bit tough to get back on the road after three weeks at the farm, so it took us a few days to get into the travelling mode again. We celebrated Kyle's birthday with a nice steak dinner, only his second steak since Canada! We caught up on our laundry in Popayan as well, but unfortunately Kyle's new wool sweater didn't dry properly, and began to stink pretty bad. One day we went to the market in the town of Silvia, a two hour bus ride away. The indegenous people of Silvia were all dressed pretty wierd, and everyone looked the same. They were wearing a purple poncho, a black skirt, leather boots, and a bowler hat. The overall outfit looked quite silly and out of place.
     Our next stop was Ipiales, the town closest to the Ecuadorian border

01 Popayan, The White City

. The attraction of Ipiales is the Santuario de las Lajas, fifteen minutes out of town. The Santuario is a large Neo-Gothic church which was built over a large gorge, looking like something from a scene in the Lord of the Rings.  The next day we set out for the border and had a very easy crossing into Ecuador.
     On the bus ride from the border to Otavalo Kyle's sweater still stunk bad, so Fran made him put it in the overhead luggage rack. The ride took a few hours, and half an hour into it, the bus was stopped at a police checkpoint. We (the only two gringos) were ordered off the bus, and the police proceeded to thoroughly search through all our luggage. This was the most intensive search we have yet encountered, and Kyle's pat-down was borderline intrusive. Another thing we noticed as soon as we entered Ecuador was the ''pop-bottle gas stations''. Dozens of people were on the side of the street with a jerry can and a cut two liter pop bottle with a tube taped on, offering to top up the tanks of passing cars. Soon we arrived in Otavalo and checked in to our hotel, only to find TV with english cable!
     Otavalo is known as the largest market in Ecuador, and one of the largest in South America. There are literally hundreds of artisan stalls in one city square, with people selling everything you would want to buy (and lots of things you woundn't!). We bought many souvenirs at the market, which sells local things as well as imported goods from Peru and Bolivia

02 Plaques at the Santuario de las Lajas

. The most common items are the distinctive striped pants, which we had seen in Colombia but were much cheaper here. In addition to the artisan market, there was a livestock market, where we witnessed cow auctions, and piglets in sacks. Fran even got stepped on by a particularly large pig. One thing we noticed early about Ecuador is how common international food is compared to Colombiaīs tradtional cusine. We soon found ourselves missing the 'comida tipica', and we were craving some rice and beans again. When it came time to pack for Quito, Kyle noticed he didn't have his sweater. After about an hour of deductive thinking we realised that it was left on the bus from the border, which continued on to Quito after dropping us in Otavalo. We began the search for the lost sweater.
     We arrived in Quito to a very cold and rainy day. We stayed in a Canadian-owned hostal in a nice part of the city. Kyle was worried about his sweater, but we had both basically given up hope that we would find it. The next day we went back to the bus station, and to our surprise, it was still on the bus in the overhead rack! We laughed about how the fact that it stunk was likely the only reason nobody took it. In Quito we went to a travel agent to investigate trips to the Galapagos islands. We decided on a good, relatively affordable trip to the islands, which would depart from the south of Ecuador a week later. Another thing we really enjoyed in Quito was eating shish taouks

03 Santuario

. If you dont know what a shish taouk is, go to a Lebanese restaurant and get one, they are a Montreal favourite. Quito is very close to the equator, and we happened to be there on March 21st, the equinox. At noon on that day the sun was directly overhead, and we really had no shadows...it was cool.
     We left Quito to head further inland to Latacunga, a town in the shadow of the Cotopaxi volcano. Cotopaxi is truly a neat sight, a huge snow capped volcano reaching into the sky. It is actually the World's tallest active volcano. While we didn't hike the volcano, we opted to take a day trip to the nearby Quilotoa crater. Quilotoa is a giant crater lake, with the most emerald green waters we have ever seen. We also visited another local stock market, only not like the NYSE or the TSE, a livestock market. This market had much of the same as in Otavalo, except here there were many llamas, from which the incredibly soft alpaca wool is derived.
     The next place we visited was Baņos. Baņos is a wonderfull mountain town, set in a valley with mountains on three sides. Baņos is known for its abundance of waterfalls and hotsprings nearby, heated by volcanic activity. We were staying in a really great hostal, Santa Cruz, one of our favourites so far. We made friends with four Swiss travellers, and that night we all went on a night ride in a chiva. The chiva was a great time, with cuba libres adding to the fun. The bus took us to a viewpoint from where you can see the Tungarahua Volcano, which had recently become very active. Unfortunately, it was not a clear enough night to see it, but still a good party. The following day we rented a dune-buggy, and took it out on a stretch of highway called the "waterfall route". The machine went pretty fast, and at times was pretty sketchy, especially when we were being passed by busses and going through tunnels without headlights

04 Santuario

. We saw some cool waterfalls, and the go-kart was a blast to drive. On the way home, the buggy broke down, and we had to wait a while for assistance to arrive. A truck eventually came to tow the dune-buggy, with us inside! It was really fun being towed, almost as fun as actually driving it. Along the way we passed our Swiss friends riding on bikes, and we all got quite a laugh from the sight of us being towed. 
     We spent the night of March 26th in Guayaquil, in a hotel next to the airport. We rose early in the morning VERY excited to be heading to the Galapagos Islands.
    
The Galapagos entry will be coming soon with lots of pictures!

We hope all the snow has melted in Montreal and everyone is having a great Spring!

Take Care,
Fran and Kyle

Crib Scores:  We havenīt been playing much... but Fran is still losing.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

05 Santuario	06 Market at Otavalo	07 Market Fruits	08 Seeds at the Market
09 Pig Carcass	10 More Fruits	11 Market	12 Money For Galapagos Trip
13 Ballin'	14 That´s A Lot of Bananas!	15 Fran at Livestock Market	16 "One Pig Head Please"
17 Llama!	18 We´re Sorry to Interrupt	19 Road to Lake Quilotoa	20 Kyle at Quilotoa
21 A Mother and Daughter From Quilotoa	22 Emerald Water	23 Kyle With Guinea Pigs (An Andean Specialty)	24 Baños
25 Parque Central, Baños	26 Kyle with a View of Baños	27 What a Handsome Guy	28 Kyle on the Chiva
29 Canadians Taking a Shot of Ecuadorian Tequila	30 Our Four Swiss Friends	31 Party Up Top!	32 Yup, The Store Is Called "We´re Not Chinese"
33 On the Road	34 Kyle VERY Into Dune-Buggy Driving	35 Look´n Good	36 A Stop on the "Waterfal Route"
37 The Baños Waterfal

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