Ecuador - Part 1 - Quito, The Amazon & Quilotoa

We arrived in the Ecuadorian capital city Quito, on a Friday night and set off to stay in the Mariscal district where I (Claire) had stayed previously…. It was very different from the area of the city I first visited 9 years earlier… every street now has a dozen or more hostels, bars, clubs and restaurants and not at all dissimilar to Koh San Road in Thailand for those that know it! Total tourist-ville, as oppose to the relatively un-touristy area I remembered - a little disappointing to see it go this way! We decided to have a few beers and try and make the most of the situation but alas that was not to be. We managed to time our arrival perfectly with the national elections. Over the 3 days period whilst these were going on (Fri, Sat and Sun), the whole of the country was alcohol free…. There was a ban on the consumption and buying of any alcohol anywhere by anyone to avoid any trouble and surprisingly, there was not one place that would relent!

We also knew that whilst in Quito, we would need to spend a few days acclimatizing, due to the fact it is situated at 2800m above sea level, so would need to relax and chill for a couple of days before attempting anything much. Fortunately on the saturday the famous indigenous market at Otavalo (about 2 hrs out of Quito) was on, so we jumped on a bus for the day up there. Whilst the market is largely targetted at tourists, alot of the handicrafts, paintings & such were of a really nice quality-hence we managed to spend a few dollars on some souveniers (yet more stuff to carry in our already oversized bags!).

Quito also has some beautiful colonial buildings of the ‘Old town’, an UNESCO heritage site since 1978, so we spent some time taking in the city & sampling a few of the local bars & restaurants during the course of it.

We took the newly built Teleferiquo (or cable car to the rest of us) up the flanks of Pichincha Volcano to Cruz Loma at 4,200m, from where you can continue to hike to the top of the volcano, or take a horse ride around part of the volcano as Paul & Leanne decided to do. Fortunately the cloud cleared enough for us to get some great views over Quito & the surrounding mountains.

One of the highlights of the Quito city visit was a visit to the house and now museum of ‘Oswaldo Guayasamin’, an indigenous painter from Quito whose world renowned paintings hang in many galleries and public buildings worldwide. His last work of art was a giant monument/museum called ‘The Capilla del Hombre’, a tribute to the suffering of the Latin American indigenous poor and the undying hope of a better world. He has some really impressive paintings - predominantly various depictions of the human condition, we bought a couple of replicas of his works at the Otavalo market earlier in the week.

After a few days in Quito we decided to embark upon a 5 day trip to the jungle of the Amazon basin, travelleing light for our 'side trip' & leaving the majority of our luggage at the hostel in Quito (bliss travelling with only one small bag!). We shopped around a bit & eventually opted for the campany that seemed to be the most ecologically & environmentally responsible tour operator, and decided on a jungle lodge close to both the Peruvian and Colombian border, in a place called the 'Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve'.

We travelled for 8 hours overnight by bus to a place called Lago Agrio, an edgy frontier town that is now largely home to oil workers (being one of the main oil extraction locations from the Ecuadorian Amazon basin), ex-guerrillas and drug smugglers - but also the main entrance to the Cuyabeno jungle reserve. We travelled for a further 3 hours in a minibus and then a further 3 hours by motorised canoe to our lodge. The lodge was basic… a bed, mozzy net, cold river water for a shower, no electricity, hammock, poncho, wellies and 3 meals a day… however once we got over the fear of the insects (both size and quantity) and realised that the mozzy nets really did keep all insects out at night, we managed to relax and enjoy the whole experience.

We were very lucky the first day as there was only the 3 of us and the guide and after a 2 hour walk through the jungle and lunch, we took a dugout canoe along the smaller river channels - floating along about an inch from the water that has an abundance of Caiman alligators & Pirahna fish in -where we saw monkeys, an anteater, kingfishers, toucans, cuckoos, parrots and many more birds.

We were joined the following evening by another 5 people and we spent the days on the river watching pink river dolphins, fishing for piranhas, night time Caiman alligator spotting, visiting a local Amazonian community downstream, as well as hiking in the jungle with our guide and native guide who explained the medicinal use of a lot of the flora and fauna to be found. The guide also did night tours to see the many insects and animals that are nocturnal… Leanne and I decided against the trip for obvious reasons, though Paul went along - fully covered from head to toe to prevent any unwelcome insects or spiders hitching a ride!

We then made the long journey back to Quito, spent a couple of nights there again before heading off to Latacunga, a main town on the panamericana highway and starting point for the 'Quilotoa loop'. The Quilotoa loop involves a series of mountain dirt roads linking some remote Andean villages where transport is limited but has great hiking opportunities. We took a bus to the village of Quilotoa to see the Laguna Quilotoa, a stunning turquoise blue volcanic crater lake before heading back down the road to the town of Zumbahua as we had heard a fiesta was going on…. The running of the bulls… although not quite Pamplona style! A makeshift bull ring had been constructed and all the villagers were eagerly watching the entertainment… young boys teasing the bull before legging it the minute the bull all but looked in their direction! All the women were strolling or staggering around with boxes of peach schnapps and the men bottles of moonshine, rum or beer… after a few hours, everyone was very drunk and dancing outside the bull ring. There were also frequent attempts (much to our amusement) of drunk men trying to get on, stay on and ride their horses home! We were only 3 of no more than about 7 or 8 toursists at the event, & were made to feel very welcome by all the locals - a really entertaining day.

Once we had had enough, we managed to find a truck driver (relatively sober!) that would take us to the next village along the loop called Chugchilan, from where in the morning we wanted to embark in a hike to the village of Isinlivi, and so began the 2 hour journey, standing in the back of the truck along narrow, high, windy Andean roads…We were making friends with the locals also in the truck by sharing around our bottle of Lemon Rum we had bought to get into the swing of the festivities. At every stop off the driver was asking for a shot of rum - to which we made him wait until he had safely dropped us off at our destination!

There are only 2 hostels in Chugchilan, both next to each other so no trouble to find accommodation. After a good nights sleep we wake bright and early ready for the hike. We were given some basic instructions which we managed to completely misinterpret and got lost, not just once but 3 times which resulted in the 4-6 hours hike actually being 8 hours!

Had it not been a glorious sunny day, absolutely stunning scenery and having nothing to get to Isinlivi (the next town on the loop) early for, we might have been a little worried - but many locals gave us friendly smiles and waves (and directions) en route, and we did eventually make it to Isinlivi. We actually arrived to an empty, locked up hostel (the only one in town), where a friendly local had to go and find the owner. Once settled, she whipped us up a 3 course meal, lit a log fire and we settled down to a quiet night… well until 6 am when the brass band we had heard rehearsing the previous evening started up again walking up & down the streets of the town, to kick start the festivities off in that village!

The only way out of Isinlivi is by truck, in this case, the milk truck. At 9.30 we climbed in the back of the milk truck on its rounds around the area where local farmers hand over their un-pasteurised milk in exchange for money or pasteurised milk. We continued around the loop for another 2 hours, clinging on in some parts as we ascended over some high mountain passes, rewarded however with some stunning views over the Cotopaxi Volcano region. All in all a fantastic few days - one of the highlights of our Ecuadorian trip.

We head back to Latacunga to pick up the big heavy bags again and take a bus to Banos. This was quite a disappointment for me from the memories I had from my previous visit here, as the town is situated in such a beautiful cloud forest valley but is now marred by the neon lights everywhere, bars and clubs, hundreds of hostels and tour companies offering bungy jumping, quad bikes, off road buggies - you name it. A bit of shame. We did however manage to find a great hostel however, more like a 4* hotel for $7.50 a night which was the bargain of the trip so far. It was probably just as well it was such a nice hostel, as Paul was ill for the entire time we were in Banos & was barely able to leave the room...