(Sept 30, 2012)
As we planned our final days in Colombia, we did some reading on the safest way to leave the country. What we found was that, while most of the conflict in Colombia has abated, that which remains is in the south. Thus, we settled on the Ipiales/Tulcan border crossing, which has the most traffic and seemed to be the ideal choice.
We had, however, read stories on the internet about buses stopping on the way south to pick up "passengers" who would proceed to rob the entire bus at gunpoint. As per usual - we took this as an opportunity to do some safety-ensuring research.
We found that there was one bus company that was especially recommended mainly because it didn't stop for passengers at the side of the road. Naturally, we decided to take this one. We also squirreled away our valuables into our main bags kept in the luggage hold, keeping a few selected "semi-important" items to be sacrificed to appease potential thieves. Luckily, the bus ride turned out to be uneventful though (yay!) and we arrived safely in Quito in the late afternoon.
Our couchsurfing hosts in Quito were a lovely family, Axel, Andrea and there 8 month old daughter, Luana (yes she was absolutely adorable. Robin, don't get any ideas! [Editor's Note: I didn't]). Axel and Andrea are avid bike enthusiasts and Axel completed a trip from Alaska to Argentina on his bicycle, traveling more than 20 000kms (you can read about his travels at http://rutasapedal.com/ however it's mainly in Spanish. The pictures, however, are universal).
Our first day in Quito we headed downtown to see the sights and explore. Quito turned out to be quite a pretty city built in a valley and surrounded by mountains with some beautiful colonial architecture. We checked out a Basilica (we were able to climb both the bell tower and a second spire, check the pictures which are coming up later), a convent (where the nuns aren't allowed to be seen by the public, however they sell creams, salves and various food items by way of a lazy susan-like thing), and a museum (in a 400 year old hospital. It had undergone extensive renovations since then).
Ecuador uses the American dollar as its official currency (though it has it's own coins) so we've been spending the past week in price shock. In Colombia, the exchange rate is roughly 1800 Pesos to 1 Dollar so you do lots of approximating. Ecuador IS cheaper than Colombia however we've been marveling over many "cheaper" prices which I later calculate to be similar to Colombia. It is nice to NOT need to convert currency, though.
Our second day, we headed up the TeleferiQo. The TeleferiQo is a cable car that travels up one of the mountains surrounding Quito to an elevation of 4000 meters. Once we reached the top we were treated to some wonderful views over Quito and the surrounding mountains and valleys.
We had planned to do a hike up a nearby peak however we were warned by some other hikers that it was dangerous to do it this time of year. It had been quite thunderstorm-y in Quito for the past few days (off and on) and apparently the rocks on the peak we were heading to had a high iron content - not to best destination when there's a lot of lightning crashing around.
We decided we had seen enough and headed back to our hosts house to learn to cook ceviche (delicious!). We hadn't really made plans for what else to see in Ecuador so we spent the next day researching, planning and deciding what to do for the rest of our time in Ecuador. This process was mainly me skimming endless articles and Robin studiously reading amid exclamations of "WOW! Let's do THIS!"
One thing we decided we wanted to do was climb the Cotopaxi Volcano (Info). Luckily for us, Axel is a trained mountain guide and has climbed Cotopaxi many times so we promptly starting discussing plans to go climbing. We decided to attempt the climb next weekend and are excitedly anticipating it.
We needed something to do for the next week and decided to go to Banos, which is where we are now. Banos is a small town nestled in the centre of Ecuador and known for it's adventure sports (for some reason, Robin keeps angling us towards this "adventure destinations"...). We're staying with a lovely couchsurfer, Maria, from the States (but more recently Mexico) and her adorable basset hound, Rosie ('Rosiekins' to her friends).
We plan to be around here for the week (I think Robin mentioned something about mountain biking, waterfall climbing, zip lining, and bungee swings?) and then back to Quito to climb volcanos!
Stay posted for pictures coming up today or tomorrow!
 | |
| The border crossing into Ecuador. |
We had, however, read stories on the internet about buses stopping on the way south to pick up "passengers" who would proceed to rob the entire bus at gunpoint. As per usual - we took this as an opportunity to do some safety-ensuring research.
We found that there was one bus company that was especially recommended mainly because it didn't stop for passengers at the side of the road. Naturally, we decided to take this one. We also squirreled away our valuables into our main bags kept in the luggage hold, keeping a few selected "semi-important" items to be sacrificed to appease potential thieves. Luckily, the bus ride turned out to be uneventful though (yay!) and we arrived safely in Quito in the late afternoon.
.jpg) |
| In Quito with our hosts! |
Our first day in Quito we headed downtown to see the sights and explore. Quito turned out to be quite a pretty city built in a valley and surrounded by mountains with some beautiful colonial architecture. We checked out a Basilica (we were able to climb both the bell tower and a second spire, check the pictures which are coming up later), a convent (where the nuns aren't allowed to be seen by the public, however they sell creams, salves and various food items by way of a lazy susan-like thing), and a museum (in a 400 year old hospital. It had undergone extensive renovations since then).
Ecuador uses the American dollar as its official currency (though it has it's own coins) so we've been spending the past week in price shock. In Colombia, the exchange rate is roughly 1800 Pesos to 1 Dollar so you do lots of approximating. Ecuador IS cheaper than Colombia however we've been marveling over many "cheaper" prices which I later calculate to be similar to Colombia. It is nice to NOT need to convert currency, though.
 |
| The path off into the clouds after taking the TeleferiQo. |
We had planned to do a hike up a nearby peak however we were warned by some other hikers that it was dangerous to do it this time of year. It had been quite thunderstorm-y in Quito for the past few days (off and on) and apparently the rocks on the peak we were heading to had a high iron content - not to best destination when there's a lot of lightning crashing around.
We decided we had seen enough and headed back to our hosts house to learn to cook ceviche (delicious!). We hadn't really made plans for what else to see in Ecuador so we spent the next day researching, planning and deciding what to do for the rest of our time in Ecuador. This process was mainly me skimming endless articles and Robin studiously reading amid exclamations of "WOW! Let's do THIS!"
One thing we decided we wanted to do was climb the Cotopaxi Volcano (Info). Luckily for us, Axel is a trained mountain guide and has climbed Cotopaxi many times so we promptly starting discussing plans to go climbing. We decided to attempt the climb next weekend and are excitedly anticipating it.
We needed something to do for the next week and decided to go to Banos, which is where we are now. Banos is a small town nestled in the centre of Ecuador and known for it's adventure sports (for some reason, Robin keeps angling us towards this "adventure destinations"...). We're staying with a lovely couchsurfer, Maria, from the States (but more recently Mexico) and her adorable basset hound, Rosie ('Rosiekins' to her friends).
We plan to be around here for the week (I think Robin mentioned something about mountain biking, waterfall climbing, zip lining, and bungee swings?) and then back to Quito to climb volcanos!
Stay posted for pictures coming up today or tomorrow!
Peter,in the photo with Robin, Axel, Andrea and Luana you look a lot like a mash-up of your uncle Bob and cousin Chris. It's mostly the (amount of) hair, both head and chin, combined with face shape!
ReplyDeleteI'm catching up!
ReplyDeletelove
Tante Heloise