Yoo 602 - The Last of Ecuador

Our final day in Ecuador! Dawn struck Otavalo and this was the view from atop our hostel. I wish I'd had more time there because I wanted to explore the city and surrounds. But we had a market to hit! Alisha needed to buy all the things because it was her birthday. THIRTY YEARS OLD.

Laundry was strung out on paracord tied throughout the hostel room and Greg was down for the count with a migraine. I medicated and left him to rest while Alisha and I set off to market.

We passed at least 20 piles of poop (really) on our way there and I couldn't find a bakery to save my imploding stomach. I was so hungry I paid $3 for a chocolate crepe at some fancy street bistro. It was lame but life goes on.

The game plan was to hit the market early, buy all the things, explore Otavalo a bit, and then head back to Quito. Except we spent all morning at the market. It was a slow start and the market is huge, but once we found the sweet spot our game faces went on.

My bartering game wasn't A+ and there was this super wool llama blanket that I wanted with my whole heart because it was crazy but no one would sell it to me for $15. I ended up with a $6 rain stick, $15 fancy chess set, wooden nativity figures, and a few clothes for the baby we don't have. And a llama magnet.

I'd list what Alisha bought but suffice it to say, everything.

^^ another awesome $2 lunch...with coke to kill all the things ^^

A $1 taxi ride got us from the market back to the bus terminal and not 5 minutes later we were on a bus en route to Quito. I really love buses in Ecuador.

Then we kind of got ripped off for a $10 taxi ride to the equator, just north of Quito. The driver was nice though and actually had lived in Chicago for a while so he spoke good English. Greg and him talked excitedly about the NBA for the whole of the ride and Alisha and I snuck pictures from the back and talked about how glad we were that Greg could do all the talking.

^^ alisha, suddenly faced with complex packing problems due to excessive souvenirring ^^

^^ problems solved ^^

It's the equator! Except not really. This monument was built before they had GPS to tell where the actual equator is. It's actually a few hundred meters off.

We had to pay $3 to get in and the whole place is a tourist trap. But oh well. We got a really great dancing video on the equator wearing our huge packs that is quite the gem. I'll have to post it sometime.

^^ i think we're fighting over which half of the world we're going to be on? ^^

^^ the real equator! ^^

The people at the real equator (it has some fancy name...that i forgot) were not super friendly or helpful and the museum/demonstration cost an additional $4. I thought it was a better deal than the "fake" equator though.

Problem was it started pouring rain during our tour and we spent most of the time running back to save our stowed bags from a sudden waterfall and digging out the rain gear.

^^ balancing an egg on a nail ^^

^^ success ! ^^

They demonstrated the rotation of draining water on the equator, a couple meters south, and a couple meters north. It worked too! Right on the equator the water went straight down the drain. North and south drained counterclockwise and clockwise respectfully. I know there's debate and this can be random depending on different factors. But I saw it happen....

^^ soaked and repacking ^^

We snuck out of the tour early, had our complimentary umbrellas snatched back by an angry employee (he was not friendly!), stamped our passports at the equator, and then repacked for a jaunt in the rain. All while the hut we were taking cover in slowly became a lake.

^^ ecuador, we'll miss you too! ^^

We finished our equator explorations early evening and decided to just head to the airport for our morning flight. The "Quito" airport takes at least 90 minutes to get to from Quito and we didn't want to risk it. So we stood on a corner in the pouring rain waiting for a cheap taxi.

The first one that stopped wanted to charge us $50. A few seconds later another taxi driver hopped out, asked what the other driver wanted to charge us, and then offered $30. Sounds like a lot but it was a steal. We were in the back of that taxi for 2 hours! Totally worth it.

^^ time to leave ecuador...sad ^^

There was a nice restaurant with comfy booths and cheap food that became our home for the next couple hours. After we'd changed into "dry" clothes in the restrooms. Then it was time for bed on the bench below.

^^ long night. also, alisha in her technicolor dream coat. ^^

There were a couple dozen or so other airport sleepers so cushioned bench space was limited. Greg was on the floor and Alisha was curled up and had to be playing footsie with the guy passed out next to her. I was on the end with my head hanging off. They never did dim the lights and the cleaning guys were super loud for three straight hours and the radio was BLARING all thru the night. I didn't get much sleep and eventually traded Greg my bench spot for the floor. I curled up under a chair and actually was more comfortable.

At least the free wifi was decent.

^^ our accommodations ^^

An airport security guard came around at 5am and nudged all the airport sleepers awake, announcing that it was 5am. I don't know if that was a courtesy or if they were trying to get rid of us so the place looked better for day travelers...

^^ final sights in ecuador ^^

The flights back were fairly routine. Alisha almost lost her didgeridoo due to some weird baggage policy but it was safely recovered. We had a long layover in Mexico City again so we set off to explore the Zocalo.

It was absolutely packed. I just wanted to eat more delicious street food but it was Sunday and they were all closed. Eventually we found a restaurant that was open and looked decent. I'm also 100% certain that I found and ate at the same restaurant back in 2008 when I was in Mexico City on my travel study. Fun times!

Oh! We had a really fun experience buying bus tickets at the airport. There's a kiosk machine and it ate 50 pesos without loading our bus card! It was a sad day. We tried really hard to explain what had happened to our bus driver when he pulled up. This involved making sound effects to mimic the machine with the three of us interchangeably blurting out the few words we could come up with in Spanish. I'm pretty sure he didn't have a clue what we were trying to describe so we just went on with our lost pesos.

We traveled all day and got to Houston just before midnight. I NEEDED to brush my teeth and, thinking we were thru customs, dug out my toothbrush and went to town as we were walking out. Except I soon found out we hadn't made it all the way thru customs and I had to clear the passport check with a mouth full of toothpaste. Fun.

Then we drove all the way back to San Antonio and it was a super huge struggle to stay awake but I kept thinking about the furry face waiting for me and the excitement got me thru to the end.

He was so excited to see us!

I loved loved loved Ecuador and would go back. Even for my next vacation. I feel like there is so much more to see there, most of the people are so friendly, it's pretty cheap, and super fun. A variety of adventures!

My little sister is on her way to do a nursing rotation in Ecuador in a couple days and I'm so excited for her! I'll miss you Morgie but spoil your guts silly for the next month.

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 601 - Biking DOWN Cotopaxi

Ecuador Day Eight had us biking down Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. We hit it on a cloudy day, but the sky broke thru on occasion to reveal this stunning mountain.

For the record, it's an active volcano with recent seismic activity and the last major eruption in the early 1900s. Does that make this sound cooler? I'm trying here.

We successfully woke up in time to catch the 7am shuttle. And by shuttle I mean the back of an old Land Cruiser. Cozy and we had the trip to ourselves!

^^ altitude. getting chilly! ^^

^^ those gas prices are PER GALLON. ecuador has its perks. ^^

We stopped at the cafe at the Cotopaxi National Park's visitor center on the way up and were treated to carb heaven. Ok, we had to pay an extra $4 but there was hot chocolate and biscuits and granola and bananas and probably more that I don't even remember. Oh yes, cheese too. One of our more expensive meals in Ecuador!

^^ clearly i need to practice my overhead-bike posing because everyone looks cool except me! ^^

The parking lot is still several hundred (maybe more...) meters below the summit. There were a few groups preparing to hike to the top while we were preparing to careen down on bikes.

^^ right in the thick of the clouds! ^^

^^ our guide was super. one-hundred and ten percent recommend biking dutchman. ^^

^^ "hypothetical question, were would one go to poop out here?" ^^

Except not hypothetical because it actually happened just seconds later! There was NO WHERE to take cover except to disappear over a steep but still navigable ledge out of site of the parking area but unfortunately still in full site of the road.

It was basically Alisha's favorite moment in Ecuador

Oh yes, and a passing tourist van's favorite moment as well, I'm pretty sure.

:-)

All of the bragging about how well her body was handling Ecuador finally caught up!

^^ and they're off! ^^

^^ hoping the brakes work! ^^

The first half of the ride was a combination of steep and wash-boarded roads. Our arms were pretty pumped at the bottom. And Greg blew a tire! We took a couple minutes to relax before continuing on the more scenic but less demanding bottom half.

The bottom half wasn't as bone-rattling but it was scenic and peaceful. There wasn't anyone in sight and we just pedaled on, barely below mountains draped in clouds and over dirt-packed roads winding thru a lush carpet of grass and wildflowers.

I had to keep pinching myself.

Our guide followed way behind in the Land Cruiser and occasionally caught up to direct us at road crossings.

Wild. Horses.

They galloped past us and it might as well have been a movie. Too cool.

Pics or didn't happen. Oh, it happened!

Greg almost looks hard-core in this shot. Love him.

Hehe...

LUNCH was something amazing. We parked next to a creek and our guide whipped out a pasta salad and some spinach egg pastry thing? I don't know what it was but I ate at least three. Good stuff. And brownies. Alisha is a brownie and cookie and cake snob but Greg and I are not. Loved the brownies.

Then Alisha bought a bunch of hats from a lone lady and her shopping hut before we were back on the bikes. This time going down a gravel road past farmland and cows and everything that's amazing in the country.

I'm seriously pining to be relocated back in the country but that's a post for another time.

The last bit of our trip was over too quick and it was time for one last "restroom" stop before a bumpy ride back to Quito.

We knew we wanted to be in Otavalo, a couple hours north of Quito, by morning for their famous market so we tried to figure out how to make that happen. Our efforts to hail a taxi were futile and we wandered around until I saw a bus with a sign for "North Terminal" in its window. I was pretty sure that's where we needed to be to catch a bus for Otavalo so we hopped on with our massive packs just in time for rush hour.

Hooray!

And it really took us at least an hour to drive a few miles to that bus terminal. Then we got there and some family in line ahead of us held the ticketing process up for about another hour. We have no idea why but our Spanish is limited so what can you expect?

The obligatory photo. Look at that line behind us! It stretched waaaaaay past this picture frame. We'd set up camp on our packs and I'd read about half of Atlas Shrugged (kidding! i'm only two-thirds of the way thru that book and i started reading it over a year ago...) when the line started moving again. We were a little disgruntled when we got our tickets at about six and they had a departure time of 8:30 on them. More waiting!

Or so we thought.

Alisha pushed her way to the buses and we'd boarded one bound for Otavalo before we really knew what was going on. Success! As weird as it seemed that Greg, Alisha, and I were traveling together, it was fun to see our strengths come out at different times. We each had our moments on the trip were we shined and got the group out of difficult situations or helped avoid them all together. It was a surprisingly easy, fun, and beneficial arrangement.

But we still think Alisha should get a husband someday. I mean, mainly so we're splitting costs between four people instead of three. :-)

And, long story slightly shorter, we made it to Otavalo! Alisha had the world's fullest bladder and everyone was denying her restroom access and finding a hostel wasn't the easiest thing we've ever done but we rounded up a good one, utilized yet another tiny sink for some laundry, and had a relaxing "Alisha's Birthday Eve". Complete with more rickety bunk beds!

Have a great day :-)