A. Bus touts - They sell pretty much any kind of fried food. And it´s cheap. Not to mention you can buy about a dozen apples/mandarins/limes for a dollar. And then of course there is the arroz con pollo that comes in a little plastic container that looks like a mini garbage can. My favorite - the fried tortilla thing with melted queso in it...duh!
B. Bus pushers - These guys get on the bus, pass out an item to everyone, give a little speech about how you would be helping by buying their candybar/cookies/etc. and then come around and ask you for money, or you have to give them their thing back.
C. La palabra de Dio - Yes, the word of God. I was lucky enough to have some guy get on the bus and sit down next to me and sing for a good 45 minutes, and then get up and preach to the entire bus about the word of God...it was very enlightening.
D. Crossing the border - The bus I caught from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Tumbes, Peru was jam packed at several points along the way...except for when it was me and one other lady crossing the border. Then it was just us and the bus driver and his ¨assistant¨ for lack of a better word. The best part aboutt he whole thing was that the assistant escorted us through getting our passport stamps, it was quite nice really...
E. 3 Nazi movies - Yes, I was lucky enough to watch not 1, not 2 but THREE movies about world war II back to back on my overnight bus from Mancora to Chimbote. The best part - they were all dubbed over in Spanish with no subtitles and the sound quality was TERRIBLE...so even if I could understand Spanish well enough to know what was going on, I couldn´t.
F. 2 Flat Tires - Yeah, at least the views were good. The bus I caught from Chimbote to Huaraz had a rough time but at least it wasn´t too hot and we were passing through a spectacular canyon that went from steep sides of skree I would have loved to ride down on a sled (to my death of course), to sheer rock that might have been nice to rock climb on. Not to mention the cordilleras blancas we could see in the distance. Absolutely stunning, even if it took an extra 3 hours.
G. Honking - Oh dear, please, just keep honking. Never mind that when you honk every 3 minutes it is JUST enough time for me to fall back asleep and be rattled awake by your unecessary honking. The only honking I approve of is when we're going thru a one lane tunnel or around a super narrow turn, and you want to warn anyone who might be coming the other way. (yes, there is a lot of that here as well.) But otherwise, keep your hands on the wheel and let the rest of us ride in peace!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Crazy Baños and McDonald´s French Fries
Oh wow, have I enjoyed Baños...the first night we all went out, and by we I mean Marie and Kym (the Belgian sisters), and Ben (the English bloke - haha). The four of us played Ring of Fire (better known to me as King´s Cup) in our room with Ron Abuelo (love my Panamanian Rum) and then headed out to the Leprechaun Bar. At the LB we talked and danced and I shook my ass. It was a fabulous night closing down the bar and eating, no wait - devouring, tacos from the stand next door. The next morning I had to get up pretty early and head out on the river for a little white water rafting on the lower Rio Pastaza. It was pretty good class IV/IV+ rafting and I enjoyed myself. A couple from Berkeley was with us as well as a Swiss guy.
That afternoon, we acquired a couple of new roommates - a hottie from Brazil, Antonio, and a crazy French girl, Natalie. Also, Ben´s friend Leila came to join us from Guayquil (they had met earlier in Argentina and now she is working in Guay). Leila is super friendly and loves to talk to everyone, so when she came down to meet us all for dinner, she naturally brought along two of her roommates - Ana (not sure where she was from) and sLogan. Our little party group had quickly grown from 4 to 9 - and it was Saturday night! A really long game of never have I ever got the group pretty disgustingly close and knowledgable about each others exploits and then off to the bar we went. Closing the LB down AGAIN and Marie and I eating about 3 extra dinners between taco bars, burrito bars and hamberguesas. It was a fantastic night out.
The next day we all rented dune buggy´s and headed down the road to Puyo to see some of the beautiful waterfalls and go swimming in the ¨jacuzzi¨which was cold and well...not actually a jacuzzi. It was a fab day and upon return Marie and I went to go eat some fantastic food from the market (btw, I will have to eventually write an entire blog on food since I have pretty much left that out so far). And when we got back to the hostel, Simon (crazy English guy biking down to the tip of Argentina), had just arrived! He was craving beer but unfortunately it was Sunday and they don´t serve beer on Sundays! :( Good for the rest of us though cause we were needing a break after 2-3 days of late night partying.
Monday rolled around and most of us took it pretty easy. Marie and I walked up part of a hike for a nice view of the Baños. Then we went and got facials and pedicures and I also got a full body massage - all for $45!! And it was fantastic! In the evening, being our last night all togehter, we played one last huge round (we gained about 6 more people but lost Leila who had to return to Guay for work) of Ring of Fire and then headed to the bar. Unfortunately there werent too many bars open, but we all went into one (insisting on a free shot if we went entered the bar), and partied hard, as always.
Tuesday I spent mostly napping and trying to recover from Baños and then Ben and I attempted to catch the 5:30 bus to Guayaquil. The bus was supposed to arrive at 11 but when we were heading down a random dirt road at 11:30 and the bus kept stopping for long periods of time, we new we were in it for the long haul. When the bus backed up 100m on a dirt road with a ditch on one side and then proceeded to make a 7 point turn in someones driveway, I was incredibly grateful for that part of the drivers test... EVENTUALLY, we arrived at 2:30am and tried to call Leila so that we could crash at her place. Unfotunately the cabinas are closed in the middle of the night, my cell phone wouldnt work and the cab driver didnt have one...so we ended up at a hotel around 3:30am. And thus the need for McDonald´s French Fries and an empanada for breakfast at the bus station while we wait for our bus to head to Puerto Lopez. And now I have to go catch it cause it leaves in 7 minutes!
That afternoon, we acquired a couple of new roommates - a hottie from Brazil, Antonio, and a crazy French girl, Natalie. Also, Ben´s friend Leila came to join us from Guayquil (they had met earlier in Argentina and now she is working in Guay). Leila is super friendly and loves to talk to everyone, so when she came down to meet us all for dinner, she naturally brought along two of her roommates - Ana (not sure where she was from) and sLogan. Our little party group had quickly grown from 4 to 9 - and it was Saturday night! A really long game of never have I ever got the group pretty disgustingly close and knowledgable about each others exploits and then off to the bar we went. Closing the LB down AGAIN and Marie and I eating about 3 extra dinners between taco bars, burrito bars and hamberguesas. It was a fantastic night out.
The next day we all rented dune buggy´s and headed down the road to Puyo to see some of the beautiful waterfalls and go swimming in the ¨jacuzzi¨which was cold and well...not actually a jacuzzi. It was a fab day and upon return Marie and I went to go eat some fantastic food from the market (btw, I will have to eventually write an entire blog on food since I have pretty much left that out so far). And when we got back to the hostel, Simon (crazy English guy biking down to the tip of Argentina), had just arrived! He was craving beer but unfortunately it was Sunday and they don´t serve beer on Sundays! :( Good for the rest of us though cause we were needing a break after 2-3 days of late night partying.
Monday rolled around and most of us took it pretty easy. Marie and I walked up part of a hike for a nice view of the Baños. Then we went and got facials and pedicures and I also got a full body massage - all for $45!! And it was fantastic! In the evening, being our last night all togehter, we played one last huge round (we gained about 6 more people but lost Leila who had to return to Guay for work) of Ring of Fire and then headed to the bar. Unfortunately there werent too many bars open, but we all went into one (insisting on a free shot if we went entered the bar), and partied hard, as always.
Tuesday I spent mostly napping and trying to recover from Baños and then Ben and I attempted to catch the 5:30 bus to Guayaquil. The bus was supposed to arrive at 11 but when we were heading down a random dirt road at 11:30 and the bus kept stopping for long periods of time, we new we were in it for the long haul. When the bus backed up 100m on a dirt road with a ditch on one side and then proceeded to make a 7 point turn in someones driveway, I was incredibly grateful for that part of the drivers test... EVENTUALLY, we arrived at 2:30am and tried to call Leila so that we could crash at her place. Unfotunately the cabinas are closed in the middle of the night, my cell phone wouldnt work and the cab driver didnt have one...so we ended up at a hotel around 3:30am. And thus the need for McDonald´s French Fries and an empanada for breakfast at the bus station while we wait for our bus to head to Puerto Lopez. And now I have to go catch it cause it leaves in 7 minutes!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Cotopaxi, party in Quito and now Baños!
The past couple days have been phenomenal. I came back from Mindo, had dinner on the terrace at the Secret Garden, and met a bunch of new people. In Mindo I went on the canopy tour over the cloud forest (hopefully pictures to come), and on the truck ride down I met a couple of sisters from Belgium - Marie and Kim. They happened to be hiking to the refuge on Cotopaxi tomorrow and I was able to jump on their tour which was quite fortunate since I hadn't had much luck (no tengo suerte) in finding a tour until then. So yesterday morning at the not too ungodly hour of 7am we hopped in the car and started the hour and a half drive to the base of Cotopaxi. Once there we picked up a local guide, bought our passes to the National Park, stopped at the museum and then drove up to the parking lot, which is surprisingly high on the Volcano. From the parking lot it is supposed to be a 45 minute walk up the volcano to the refuge. Well, it took us about an hour and 20 minutes. The altitude was really taking its toll on our heart and lungs so we stopped a lot and rested. It was quite the climb tho, and one of the most beautiful days for it. Our guide kept telling us that he has never seen the mountain so clearly. We were also able to see Chimborazo Volcan, which is about a 3.5 hour drive south of Quito. I think it is Ecuador's (maybe the worlds?) tallest inactive volcano at 6310 meters. Our hike was from 4300 meters to 4800 meters on Cotopaxi. It was astounding views of several volanoes.
Later in the evening after returning from our hike I had dinner on the terrace again. Reunited with the Texans that are travelling the world for 3 years, and then ended up hanging out with one of the girls I had met the night before - Danielle from Canada, and another girl, Paula from Columbia. It happened to be the last night of one of the girls that worked at the hostel, so there was clearly going to be a party. Three glasses of wine later and a mini dance party on the terrace (including some running man to the tunes of non other than MC Hammer), we were all feeling pretty good. They had ordered a party bus to take everyone to the Mariscal to go out. We all went to "No Bar", which was right next to "Yes Bar." Everyone danced the night away. It was funtabulous. (You know how I like to shake my booty.)
And then this morning it was up early to catch a 40 minute taxi ride to the bus terminal in the South, to catch a 3.5 hour bus ride down to Banos. I came down with Marie, Kim and Ben (English bloke from Grimsby, which is apparently very grim). I've organized a rafting trip for tomorrow and we might rent a 2 or 4 passenger off road quad sort of thing to go up to the waterfalls. And then there is also the option of some paragliding and a bike ride down to Puyos, and a bunch of other things...I could be here a while. Only time will tell!
Later in the evening after returning from our hike I had dinner on the terrace again. Reunited with the Texans that are travelling the world for 3 years, and then ended up hanging out with one of the girls I had met the night before - Danielle from Canada, and another girl, Paula from Columbia. It happened to be the last night of one of the girls that worked at the hostel, so there was clearly going to be a party. Three glasses of wine later and a mini dance party on the terrace (including some running man to the tunes of non other than MC Hammer), we were all feeling pretty good. They had ordered a party bus to take everyone to the Mariscal to go out. We all went to "No Bar", which was right next to "Yes Bar." Everyone danced the night away. It was funtabulous. (You know how I like to shake my booty.)
And then this morning it was up early to catch a 40 minute taxi ride to the bus terminal in the South, to catch a 3.5 hour bus ride down to Banos. I came down with Marie, Kim and Ben (English bloke from Grimsby, which is apparently very grim). I've organized a rafting trip for tomorrow and we might rent a 2 or 4 passenger off road quad sort of thing to go up to the waterfalls. And then there is also the option of some paragliding and a bike ride down to Puyos, and a bunch of other things...I could be here a while. Only time will tell!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Round 1, vs Pizza
Pizza? Really? Apparently my first bout of food related illness is due to the pizza I ate in Mindo. Had to skip bird watching the next morning and slept most of the following day. Walked down to Hotel Descando for a little bit to watch the hummingbirds. There I sat and chatted with William, a bird watcher that lives in Mindo. But I started to feel sick again after a little while and went back to my hostal to sleep. Today I felt a lot better and I hiked up to the ziplines over the canopy. Very cool! I´ve been ziplining before but never so high over the trees!! And I saw a toucan! Woohoo! Mindo is a beautiful town and I was sad to leave but there is so much more to see. Tomorrow I will hike part of the Cotopaxi Volcano and then on Friday I am off to Banos for some rafting, biking and relaxation. It should be a pretty chill place to relax for a few days. I heard the coast is cloudy right now and I think I might skip it and stay in Banos a little extra and then I will have a little bit longer to explore nothern Peru as well. Hasta luego!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Northern Ecuador
Well, obviously I'm having a great time and keeping busy if this is the first time I've sat down at a computer on my trip (aside from to email my parents to say I got here okay but my phone isn't working).
I arrived safely in Quito, a little late but I made it! I shared the ride to my hotel with an English guy, Simon, who is going to bike from Quito to Ushuaia, the most southern tip of Argentina! He might be a little crazy to do it, but I admire his courage and it is going to be an amazing trip.
I left the next morning for Otavalo, which ended up being a great decision. Thanks to Lonely Planet, I was pretty sure there was going to be a festival when I got there, and there was! Woohoo! PARTAY!! Festival del Yamur. The first day I wandered around, organized a couple trips out of the city for the next couple days and then I noticed that there were chairs being lined up along one of the main streets...hmmm...this looks just like Santa Barbara when there is going to be a parade. So I explored a little more, watched some street performers, and then the crowds started to form. And eventually, a parade celebrating all the different cultures of Ecuador started to proceed. There were lots of dancers wearing many different colorful costumes, bands, and some floats. There were even some dancing horses like in the Fiesta parade. So pretty much, I felt at home. ;) Although, in Otavalo, people were drinking in the streets, and drinking in the parade...why won't they let us do that in SB? Ah well, I guess you can't have everything.
The next day I went to the markets. Otavalo is famous in all of South America for its markets. There is a huge sprawling "crafts" market where they sell...crafts...AND clothes, toilet paper, fruit, veg, watches, shoes, cleaning supplies, cds...pretty much everything. I also went to the animal market. And that was quite the site....there are people selling animals...guinea pigs (bunches carried around in large bags), chickens, cats, dogs, cows, pigs, geese, and more! It was pretty crazy. Later in the day I went hiking around Lagunas Mojandas which was very beautiful in the Antiplano. A couple from Holland and a guy from New York (Josh) were on the hike with me. Later that night, Josh and I met up to go to the crowing of La Reina del Yamur. It ended up being sort of half concert, half beauty pagent. One of the performers was Fausto, a famous pop singer in Ecuador...and boy did the girls go crazy for him! Ha! The girls running for la reina were all between 16 and 20. Nathaly won.
The next day, (yesterday,) I went on a tour of indigenous communities. Josh came too, which ended up being really good because the guide only spoke Spanish and Josh is bilingual (he was actually born in Ecuador and moved to NY when he was 5). After the tour we went to the Condor Park and then to the bull fighting (part of the festival del Yamur). I then headed back to Quito. At the hostal I reunited with Simon and couple other travelers I had met my first night, as well as meeting several more backpackers (including 2 Israeli’s that had just arrived from working Jewish summer camps in the U.S. – one in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin!).
This morning I explored Quito. I went to La Compania de Jesus – a church that is plated with gold inside. I also saw the changing of the guards at the El Palacio del Gobierno - quite the event! I then went up to the Basilica and decided to risk my life climbing to the top of the tower. Oh my dear, it was just about as bad as bungy jumping. I had to walk across a wooden plank bridge and then climb several steep ladders. It was pretty scary but somehow I made it!
Now I am I Mindo (highly recommended by several people I have met so I decided to add it to my trip and spend less time in Quito). Tomorrow I have to get up at 5am to go birding. I think I will see many many colorful birds…including the world’s largest humming bird. Super excited!
I arrived safely in Quito, a little late but I made it! I shared the ride to my hotel with an English guy, Simon, who is going to bike from Quito to Ushuaia, the most southern tip of Argentina! He might be a little crazy to do it, but I admire his courage and it is going to be an amazing trip.
I left the next morning for Otavalo, which ended up being a great decision. Thanks to Lonely Planet, I was pretty sure there was going to be a festival when I got there, and there was! Woohoo! PARTAY!! Festival del Yamur. The first day I wandered around, organized a couple trips out of the city for the next couple days and then I noticed that there were chairs being lined up along one of the main streets...hmmm...this looks just like Santa Barbara when there is going to be a parade. So I explored a little more, watched some street performers, and then the crowds started to form. And eventually, a parade celebrating all the different cultures of Ecuador started to proceed. There were lots of dancers wearing many different colorful costumes, bands, and some floats. There were even some dancing horses like in the Fiesta parade. So pretty much, I felt at home. ;) Although, in Otavalo, people were drinking in the streets, and drinking in the parade...why won't they let us do that in SB? Ah well, I guess you can't have everything.
The next day I went to the markets. Otavalo is famous in all of South America for its markets. There is a huge sprawling "crafts" market where they sell...crafts...AND clothes, toilet paper, fruit, veg, watches, shoes, cleaning supplies, cds...pretty much everything. I also went to the animal market. And that was quite the site....there are people selling animals...guinea pigs (bunches carried around in large bags), chickens, cats, dogs, cows, pigs, geese, and more! It was pretty crazy. Later in the day I went hiking around Lagunas Mojandas which was very beautiful in the Antiplano. A couple from Holland and a guy from New York (Josh) were on the hike with me. Later that night, Josh and I met up to go to the crowing of La Reina del Yamur. It ended up being sort of half concert, half beauty pagent. One of the performers was Fausto, a famous pop singer in Ecuador...and boy did the girls go crazy for him! Ha! The girls running for la reina were all between 16 and 20. Nathaly won.
The next day, (yesterday,) I went on a tour of indigenous communities. Josh came too, which ended up being really good because the guide only spoke Spanish and Josh is bilingual (he was actually born in Ecuador and moved to NY when he was 5). After the tour we went to the Condor Park and then to the bull fighting (part of the festival del Yamur). I then headed back to Quito. At the hostal I reunited with Simon and couple other travelers I had met my first night, as well as meeting several more backpackers (including 2 Israeli’s that had just arrived from working Jewish summer camps in the U.S. – one in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin!).
This morning I explored Quito. I went to La Compania de Jesus – a church that is plated with gold inside. I also saw the changing of the guards at the El Palacio del Gobierno - quite the event! I then went up to the Basilica and decided to risk my life climbing to the top of the tower. Oh my dear, it was just about as bad as bungy jumping. I had to walk across a wooden plank bridge and then climb several steep ladders. It was pretty scary but somehow I made it!
Now I am I Mindo (highly recommended by several people I have met so I decided to add it to my trip and spend less time in Quito). Tomorrow I have to get up at 5am to go birding. I think I will see many many colorful birds…including the world’s largest humming bird. Super excited!
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