Cotopaxi

Today Jordana and I set off with an Israeli girl named Einat as well as our guide Jose for Cotopaxi National Park. Its the highest climbable peak of any currently active volcano in the world (at least according to their museum).
We drove up to the 4500 and from there hiked up to 4800m where we took a break and had lunch. The altitude made it somewhat hard to breathe, but the view was amazing so we continued up to the level of the snow/glaciers at over 5000m. It was pretty funny watching all of the Ecuadorians playing in the snow, which is obviously not so novel to us Canadians!

Tomorrow we head out on a 3 day adventure which should take us through some small towns and to a crater lake at Quilotoa. I´m looking forward to it!

Latacunga

Straight from the airport in Quito we went to the bus station to catch a bus to Latacunga (a small town south of Quito). We spent shabbat wandering around the town - through the markets and quaint shops. One heck of a lot of window shopping for me!

Tomorrow morning we head out with a guide to the nearby volcano, Cotopaxi. We won´t be doing that much hiking, but the views should be incredible. This will be in preparation for the next few days as we set off for the Quilotoa loop - a 3 day journey through various small towns that includes hiking the outer perimeter of the extinct Quilotoa volcano - now containing a crater lake. Should be awesome, and hopefully I´ll have the stamina to keep up with Jordana!

Galapagos

There is no way I can do justice to all of the amazing things I saw in the Galapagos Islands without pictures.. so consider this posting to be a ¨place holder¨. We spent 8 days aboard a lovely yacht with an interesting array of passengers. Each day we went to a different island and saw tons of colourful birds, iguanas, playful sea lions and more.. and we went snorkeling with colourful fish, turtles, penguins, sharks and again sea lions. It really felt like we were on another planet at times.

I´ll fill this in properly with stories and pictures once i´m back home next week.

Not-so-quiet Quito

This morning we returned to Quito.  After dropping our bags at the hostel we set out on a self guided tour of Old Town. Not 5 minutes from our hostel, a man tapped me on the back and offered to help clean the mustard off my back (which had suddenly appeared)... Now, for anyone who isn't aware, the "mustard trick" is listed EVERYWHERE.. i.e. someone will spray you, and in offering to help, will distract you and take your wallet, etc.  So Jordana and I were on the ball, and did not accept this man's assistance. Which meant I kept all of my belongings.. but didn't change the fact that I now had mustard all over my shirt and skirt.  Oh well, could've been worse.  

Our walk through town consisted of walking through many parks, seeing many old churches as well as eating ice cream in a really old (but very delicious ice cream parlour).  I was bit on edge all day and the many locals who stopped to tell Jordana and I to be careful didn't help matters.  I guess you need to be vigilant if you are going to spend time in a big south american city..  but I am REALLY looking forward to the change of pace as we head off to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow.   Don´t know how much blogging I´ll get to do until I return from the Galapagos so to anyone who is reading.. have a great week and I'll catch you on the flip side!

Hiking is more than walking somewhere pretty...

We set off this morning to the lookout point above town.. it was 45 mins of what felt like a vertical climb. The view along the way (as well as at the top) was beautiful, so I didn´t mind stopping every so often to catch my breath (Jordana was very patient!). From the top we set off for a small town called Runtun. I had misunderstood and thought we had no further uphill to go. I was wrong.. up we went, and then up some more. Parts of the trails were carved out of rock below the level of tree roots on either side - pretty awesome. The trail wasn´t well labeled, and involved cutting across the road a few times, but eventually we made it to the small town. Lots of cows, horses and chickens along the way to keep us entertained. On the way down we passed an ``adventure spa`` with clear blue pools and fancy villas.. certainly beyond our budget!

Back in town we had ice cream, wandered through the market and then went to the thermal pools at the base of a waterfall in Banos. Very relaxing.. though my sun burned arms did not appreciate the hot water! It was nice to see so many locals using the pools, and I especially enjoyed the little kids (in the water) and the cute old people with hats (who were outside the water).

We decided to explore some local live music, so together with some others from our hostel, went to a bar. Well, you know it is low season when the bar only opens because you have shown up! The singing and guitar were a lot of fun though hardly "traditional folk music" as the guide book had listed.. I recognized La Bamba and one other song as well.

 

Tomorrow it's back to Quito and on we`re returning to Quito and early Friday morning we´re off to the Galapagos Islands.

Beautiful Banos

Jordana and I set off this morning on a 61k bike ride, from Banos to Puya. We were told the route would be mostly downhill, mostly on paved roads, and with several opportunities to hike and see waterfalls. In actual fact, all of these things were true!

We set off around 9am and within a few km of Banos, Jordana noticed that her bike pedal was falling apart. Fortunately, she had suggested that we bring along duct tape, and the problem was mostly solved. Our first official stop was 12k out at the Agoyan falls. A man asked if we wanted to go repelling off the somewhat sketchy looking bridge and we declined. Several km futher we came to Manto de la Novia waterfall.. and feeling brave, took the cable car across the canyon to get a closer view of the falls. Not nearly as scary as I feared, the view was great, and the flowers on the other side were stunning.

Bike on our bikes, the next stop was the Cascada Pallon del Diablo. Here we hiked down to a suspension bridge and then up a little further and got very close to a powerful waterfall. I´m clearly spoiled by Niagara Falls, but getting this close was breathtaking (literally.. I had trouble breathing) and the cooling mist was very refreshing!

Shortly thereafter we passed over the Rio Verde (which really was green) and arrived at the Cascada de Machay. We hiked down a very steep 2 km and saw a few small waterfalls as well as a mid sized on. A little further along, we hit the Rio Negro, a brown looking river, due to all of the minerals inside. By this point, we had another 25 km to go to get to Puyo, with only stops in small towns left on the schedule. We had been warned this last stretch had many ups and downs.. and we figured that since we still had energy, we should do it. On we went, very slowly at times (walking along the side of the road at times) and finally we saw signs indicating we were near the town Shell (not a gas station, but a cute town). The skies had been getting darker for the last hour but we nearly in Puyo, so on we went... it may not have been the best idea as the moment we were beyond Shell, the skies opened up and we got completely soaked. Nonetheless, we made it to Puyo (which is on the border of the Amazon region), looked around briefly (amazing vegetation and saw some cool yellow tailed birds) and threw ourselves and our bikes onto a bus back to Banos. We were treated to a beautiful rainbow as we arrived back in Banos and the sun made a reappearance.

We were thankfully rejoined with our luggage at the hostel and I had one of the best showers ever (i was COVERED in dirt), knowing I could put on clean clothes. Simple pleasures.

Ecuador isn´t Europe..

I´m finally off on another back packing adventure - this time in Ecuador (and I didn´t feel like making a new blog address).

Flight via houston was uneventful but for nearly missing our connection to quito. We made it, but the bags didn´t.
Service people were less than helpful but eventually sorted us out. Managed to find our hostel and settle in for the night... and we reminded why we should think twice about dorm styles as Jordana was awoken by a beligerant aussie who claimed she was in HIS bed. Eventually he settled on the empty bed. .but we´re pretty sure he continued his strangeness by urinating on the floor shortly thereafter. Gross.

This morning we got out galapagos package from the Tour Company, confirmed with Continental where they would send our bags, and set off to Banos by bus. My first experience with south american buses.. people jumping on and off at random points.. eventually we arrived in Banos. It is very lush and beautiful here.. waterfalls and hot springs galore. We´re looking forward to going mountain biking tomorrow.

Not sure how often i´ll update but figured this is easier than attempting to send repetitive emails...