Ecuador

Friday the 6th of February

Well that was Peru and this is Ecuador. Just a very quick entry to let you all know that we have crossed the boarder and are now in Ecuador.

After leaving Trujillo we headed up to Tumbes and from there headed across the boarder. We were slightly apprehensive about the boarder crossing as we had heard stories about bag theft and loads of people hassling you and trying to rip you off. I am not that annoyed by being hassled as by this stage in our trip I have mastered the art of saying “no gracious” but actually meaning “if you don’t stop bugging me I shall rip your limbs off and beat you around the head with them.” In the end the boarder crossing turned out to be fairly easy. We just hopped a taxi to immigration on the Peruvian side, got the necessary passport stamps, and then we walked over the boarder to Ecuador. From there we had to get another taxi to the Ecuadorian immigration for more stamps and luckily we were able to get a bus from directly outside immigration to Guayaquil, and that is where we are at present.

What can I say about Guayaquil, it is not Ecuador’s capital but it is it’s largest city with 2 million inhabitants. Oh yeah it is also HOT and I mean really hot, when we arrived yesterday it was still 31 degrees at 10.00pm. We opted for air conditioning in the room, which makes all the difference at night, but walking around town today there was no escaping the heat and humidity. It is more than just the heat that lets you know you are in the tropics though, as the wildlife and fauna are amazing. Today we were walking along a busy street and out popped three of the biggest iguanas I have ever seen. OK they were the only iguana’s I have ever seen but I am sure even if I had previously seen 100 iguanas, these would still have been the biggest.

I am not sure what the plan is from here as both Lou and I quite like Guayaquil so may hang around hear for a few days. Then again in this heat we might just head for the coast. Either way ladies and gentlemen, who will hear it here first!

Saturday the 7th February 2004

The city of Guayaquil has to be one of my favourite cities so far in South America. The guidebook does not sing its praises too much but so far we have had a good time. The weather is hot and humid and there are fresh fruits that I have never seen or heard of before in abundance. On our way here from the border there were endless groves of banana trees (they used to be Ecuador’s main export now I think it is oil.) Back on to my favourite subject of food - they sell peanut butter, which is something I have greatly missed in the rest of our trip. To top it all off the shops and malls are fab, am I sounding shallow? I don't care; a girl needs her shopping therapy every so often. Today I hit the mall San Marino, a short ride away from the centre and went a bit crazy, but despite Ecuador being the most expensive county we have been to so far in South America, due to the introduction of the US dollar, it is still cheap by British standards. The malls have many designer shops such as Naf Naf (I know a bit old), Diesel, Espirit etc etc.

Anyway enough of that, its not all commercial therapy. Today from our hotel window I spotted an Iguana in the square opposite and thought myself quite eagle eyed. That is until we actually ventured to the square later and to our surprise there were iguanas everywhere! They were sunbathing on the grass, scurrying around in the trees, and pooing slimy poos on peoples heads, some were eating cabbage and banana´s and others crawling over small children. It was a sight to behold. Ruairi thought that iguanas here are the like Ecuadorian equivalent to squirrels but I think they have been planted there as a tourist attraction. Either way it made our day!
x Lou x

Wednesday the 11th of February

There is nothing nicer than walking along a beach at sunset and equally there is nothing that will ruin that walk as much as seeing a bunch of vultures ripping apart a dead dog. Nice!

We left Guayaquil 3 days ago and have just been relaxing on the coast in a place called Puerto Lopez. It is a charming little fishing town with a population of about 10,000 and around 5,000 crazy, rabid dogs. Everytime we leave our hotel we have to run the dog gauntlet, if I am honest it is starting to get on my nerves. In fact tonight I plan to carry a big stick and whack the first thing that starts snapping at me, even if it is Lou. The place itself is very nice and although the beach in town is a bit dirty -plastic bottles, the ocasional dead dog - there is an amazing beach 10 miles up the coast. As the temperature here is just as hot a Guayaquil going for a dip in the sea is just what you need. The food here is also exceptional, although I am starting to worry about how long a man can live on shrimp alone?

Tomorrow we leave Puerto Lopez and head 2 hours up the coast to Manta, from there we have a 9 hour bus journey to Quito, the capital. From there who knows? I think the plan is to head into the jungle but we are not sure about this yet. Quite frankly it is a case of so much to see and so little time.

Thursday the 12th February

Were currently in Manta waiting for our night bus to Quito but I have to say that Ruairi's report on the last entry did not sound too complemantary of Puerto Lopez and probably did not do it justice. So I will attempt to set the record straight. If it were not for the whole dog experience it probably would have a very different tone to it something a bit like this;

Puerto Lopez is in an amazing area in Ecuador. The near by national park, Machailla is protected due to it's varied landscapes. It contains a tropical dry forest and coastal cloud forest as well as rain forest. Its mad how the area the size of say Richmond Park can be so naturally varied. On our bus ride over to Puierto Lopez we passed through tropcial lush areas, with banana and coconut trees growing and the next minute literally be surrounded by cacti and dry shrub lands. It has to be said that the amount of plants and tree species found in Ecuador greatly out numbers the amount found in the whole of North Amercia. Well enough of the geography lesson.

It is a shame that Puerto Lopez did not actually have a cash point as if it did we may have stayed there longer. On our first night we blew a bit of money spending it with a couple who tried to teach us the salsa on a moared bar boat on the beach. We stayed in a great Hotel called La Terreza which was situated on the hill behind town and had a good view of the sea. The room was faultless we had a hammock on our balcony to boot! It was run by a helpful German guy accompanied by a gaggle of geese. On night it was quite funny as just as we thought we had escaped the dogs on the scary walk up to the hotel, we got in the gates and the geese came after Ruairi and he ran straight back out the gates toward the dogs. Ahhh nature! How I laughed.
See y'all. x Lou

Sunday the 15th of Febuary

Hello everybody and let me just say that if this entry does not make much sense I am sorry but I do have a valid excuse. What is the excuse I hear you all cry, well quite frankly I can't concentrate as the monkeys and parrots in the garden are making to much noise!

We arrived in Quito as planned and were quite relieved that our luggage arrived with us. We have heard so many stories of bag snatching in Ecuador that getting a night bus is a risky business, as you sleep somebody steals your bag etc. Thankfully this was not the case and Lou and I both arrived safe and sound. Quito is a nice city and although it is the capital, it was not as noisy and busy as some of the cities we have visited. I think it is safe to say that both Lou and I quite liked Quito. However we decided to only stay a couple of days in Quito as we have to return there for our flight to Chile.

On the day of arrival we headed up to the old town to have a look at the galleries and the museums. It is quite a charming place and very differant from the new town where we were staying. Yesterday we headed out of Quito to visit Midad Del Mundo, which lies 15 miles north of Quito. Midad Del Mundo is a park in which the line of the equator runs through. This meant that Lou and I were able to stand in differant hemispheres but still walk along next to each other. We also visited a planetarium which I have to say I find a tad boring as I could not understand anything. I just never figured I would need to learn the Spanish for things like Jupiter and Uranus. Although it did get me thinking about meteorites, when I say thinking about meteorites what I really mean is I was hoping a meteorite would hit the planetarium.

We left Quito today and headed south to a fantastic place called Banos. We are currently in our hotel which is surronded by beautiful green mountains and hills. The town is also next to an active volcano which caused the evacuation of the town in 2000. Hopefully we will not have to leave our room at 4.00am to escape the lava. Our hotel also has the aforementioned monkeys and parrots in the garden which is quality, well apart from the noise. We have only just arrived in Banos so I am off now as we have some exploring to do, plus I need to strangle a parrot!

Thursday the 19th February 2004

Hi and can I first say Happy Birthday to Steph (sorry it´s belated) hope you had a great day!

Well I have loads to report from Banos. Today I had a really strange experience at the local baths. The hot baths are popular around here and I thought I would go and find out why. They were no ordinary baths though - the water was greenish but did not look dirty - it was however full of minerals and bits of earth. It is also heated naturally (I think) from the earth. I stepped into the first bath and was a bit unsure to start with. No one was really swimming as the water was warm and when I tried it just felt a bit odd. After that I headed to the next pool which I assumed would be cold but it was to my suprise even hotter than the other one and in fact almost boiling. Me being hardcore I stayed in for a while before heading to the ice cold shower. Then after the ice cold shower I headed back to the hot pool again and it was then I suddenly started to feel really weird. At first I could not decide whether it was a good or bad weird but then I decided it definately was good weird. I was soooooo relaxed that I almost collapsed in the pool like a heap of jelly. This was when I started to fully appreciate the experience. The outdoor pool was surrounded by beautiful lush mountains. Next to the pool was a cascading waterfall. What bliss! I went into the cold shower for a second time and then back into the warm pool. Eventually I thought I better get out and when I finally did emerge I felt what can only be described as completely and utterly stoned! I managed to then stumble to a sun bed and was totally relaxed, it was amazing. Now I can see why the hot baths are so popular. I am not sure whether you are actually meant to feel like your floating, or whether people go to detox and stimulate their circulation but I dont care and plan to go again tomorrow!

Now you may just think we have been lazing around and relaxing the whole time but you'd be wrong. You see I think I earned the pools today as yesterday we completed a 43 mile cycle from Banos to Puyo which is situated in the jungle. It was an amazing day, and the best cyle ride I have been on, although I guess any route is bound to be better than cycling from say Kilburn to Harlesden. You may now be thinking how on earth did the pair of us do it, well I have to admit 70% of the ride was down hill. Even so though I think brownie points are in order. On the way were countless waterfalls and it was just perfect. It was especially nice as there were very few cars to dodge and the off road bits were even more fun. Puyo was however a bit of an anti climax and we were only too glad to get our bikes on top of a bus and go home a much easier way. Lou x

Friday the 20th of Febuary

Well it is almost bye bye from Ecuador. Tomorrow we leave Banos and head back up to Quito and then straight onto a plane headed for Santiago, Chile. I have really enjoyed Ecuador and although Brazil is still my favorite country so far, Ecuador is a close second. It is just a shame that we did not have more time here and I really regret spending 5 weeks in Peru and thus eating into our time in Ecuador.

Banos has been one of the highlights of Ecuador and both Lou and I have really enjoyed it. Lou has already filled you in on the bike ride, all 43 miles of it. It really was amazing, although by the end I was more exhausted than I have ever been. This could have something to do with me missing breakfast, as riding 43 miles on an empty stomach is not the greatest idea. The scenery along the ride was breath taking and about a third of the way we stopped to cross a valley to visit a waterfall. When I say cross a valley what I really mean is to sit in basket and ride across the valley, I have to be honest and admit it was slightly scary knowing that there was only one relatively thin wire between us and certain death. I really am becoming more like Indiana Jones with every passing day.

On our first day at Banos I decided to hire another Quad bike and go for a quick spin in the mountains while Lou had breakfast. Now after my last go on a Quad bike (In Argentina when I got stuck in the sand dune) you might be thinking this was an unwise decision and you would be right! Everything was going swimmingly until half way up a hill the bike suffered complete and total gear failure. This meant that I was 10 miles from Banos with a bike that would not budge. So for the second time in 2 months I headed back to ask the owners if they would come and retrieve there bike. Now this begs the question if I get another chance to rent a Quad bike should I take the hint that we are not compatible or should I go for third time lucky? I think the only person in the world worse than me at driving these things is Ozzy Osbourne.

Apart from all the biking fun we have also been on a few walks up the surrounding mountains. On the second day we headed up to a small town called Run Tun which has views of the Tungurahua Volcano, it was quite a nice walk apart from they have bees here the size of my thumb. This meant that every 5 minutes I would run past Lou screaming like a girl and waving my arms about like I was trying to take off. When we reached the top of Run Tun we were both quite tired and in need of refreshment. As luck had it we bumped into a lovely farmer called Antonio who invited us back to his hut/house for some home grown citron tea. Lou and I sat there with Antonio drinking tea and eating fried bananas for a few hours while awaiting the clouds to clear so we could get a view of the Volcano. Although the clouds never cleared fully we managed to get a quick look and also we could hear it erupting every so often. All in all it was a quality day!

Well folks that it about all from Ecuador, next stop Chile.