It´s hard to believe I´ve only been out of Quito for 5 days. It feels like ages ago that Trishy and I were sitting in Spanish class during the mornings and spending the afternoons trying to stay dry and awake (hey, Spanish is intense when you have 4 hour one on one lessons). Thursday afternoon I said a sad goodbye to my teacher Kathy. We exchanged email addresses so we can keep in touch and I can continue to practice my Spanish with her. I´m going to miss my new Ecuadorian friend but at the same time I was more than happy to end our lessons since I was exhausted. No class= no homework! Now I remember why I was so happy to graduate college. Trishy and I rejoiced in our commencement of lessons and treated ourselves to a cocktail.
Friday morning I had an early appointment at the U.S. Consulate to have my fingerprints done (required by the JET Program for my FBI record). The technician went over my paperwork and asked me why I needed my fingerprints. I thought my answer was clear but apparently it wasn´t as he asked me, ¨Are you applying for a job with the FBI??¨ Ha ha. I wish I would have had the nerve to say yes but I was honest and didn´t want to joke. You don´t mess around with the people at the U.S. Consulate. They mean serious business. After slathering up my fingers with ink and rolling my prints on stock cards I gathered up my things, wiped my hands clean and paid the $85 (yep, I couldn´t believe the price either). I sent my second DHL package for the week (the first was my JET application going to San Francisco) and finally felt free and ready to leave the city.
We set out northbound for Otavalo to see the huge Saturday market. We arrived mid-afternoon and walked around the rainy streets to see what town looked like pre-market day. Otavalo is a sweet little town mostly inhabited by indigenous people...or at least from what I could tell. We got to bed early so we could rise early on Saturday to watch the vendors set up shop. The Otavalo local market is in full swing by 8:00 am with produce, livestock and household goods on sale. The tourist stalls were still being constructed so we had time to plan our attack of purchases. On Saturday the market based in Plaza de Ponchos (yep, real name!) expands to almost every street in town. The stalls line the sides of the streets with handicrafts, ponchos, paintings, weavings, jewelry and more. Trish and I managed to escape spending under $40 on souvenirs. After a few hours of poncho street after poncho street we tired and moved on. Since it was raining we decided to skip the trek to the nearby lake and continue on our way to our next stop: The Quilotoa Loop.
In order to begin the incredible adventure through the Central Highlands of Ecuador you have to stop in Latacunga. This is the base city where you can arrange treks to Ecuador´s second highest volcano Cotopaxi or hop on a bus to wind your way through the mountains to visit indigenous communities. Unfortunately Latacunga is stinky (mostly due to urine and vomit) and dirty so we just spent one uncomfortable night before continuing on.
To divulge a few of the ugly sides of travelling here are some of the gritty details about our lodging in Latacunga:
-Grimy room. The walls, curtains, sheets, etc. probably haven´t been cleaned in ages....if ever. We opened a window in hopes to air out the room but the sound of mice scurrying over our heads quickly changed our minds and we dealt with the musty scent.
-Small shared bathroom. We had to stake out the bathroom since we were sharing it with at least 6 other people. As soon as we would hear the door open we would literally run to use the toilet when it was free. Never knew when we´d get another chance so we had to run for it.
-Half a bed...We slept on bed frames with something resembling a mattress on top but it certainly didn´t function as one.
-No curfew and a locked front door meant that people rang the doorbell at all hours of the night to get in. The doorbell sounded like a fire alarm so every time I settled in and started to doze off the bell would buzz and I would wake startled, reaching out for my shoes ready to run.
-No hot water. I had a very, very cold shower that certainly helped to wake me up on Sunday morning.
This combination made it very easy to leave Latacunga. Despite my lack of sleep and desire to nap on the bus I kept myself wide awake to enjoy incredible views out the bus window. Within mere minutes after leaving the city and winding through the hills we were looking at lush farmland, rolling hills and a few indigenous villages doting the mountains. I couldn´t get enough of the view and wanted to poke my head out the window to take it all in. Luckily we had the opportunity to enjoy 360 degree views since the bus only took us as far as Zumbahua, a tiny town 14 kms away from Laguna Quilotoa. A truck driver said he´d give us a lift the rest of the way for $5 each so we hopped in the bed of the truck and held on for our lives. It was a chilly, bumpy road but we didn´t care--the view was spectacular. Trishy and I decided it was worth risking our lives by taking our cameras out to snap photos of the landscape while holding on to the truck with one hand (keep in mind, we were standing up for the entire journey). The Quilotoa Loop is possibly the most beautiful landscape I´ve ever seen. When I find an internet cafe that I can upload photos I´ll be sure to put a few on this blog so you can see for yourself.
The truck dropped us in front of a hostal in the tiny town (one road) of Quilotoa. Winded and cold we jumped out and checked in to a dorm room. Upon setting our bags down we took notice of the 4 or 5 wool blankets on the bed. We knew we had a cold evening ahead of us.
The only thing to do in this little indigenous town is to visit the volcanic crater lake, Laguna Quilotoa so that´s what we did. I didn´t quite believe the hostal owner when she said the lake was only 3 minutes away since we couldn´t see anything. I know my Spanish is bad, but I know the difference between and 3 or 30 minutes. Fortunately she was correct and after walking through the town´s road we came to the lake entrance and started climbing through a crevice which soon revealed the awesome sight of Laguna Quilotoa, sitting 3800 meters above sea level. I sort of felt like we stumbled upon a hidden secret once we emerged through the downhill hike into the crater. It was only about 45 minutes down to the lakeshore but we had to stop to let sheep, horses and llamas pass. After climbing down rocks and sandy paths we sat and enjoyed some fruit while staring at the crater lake. The lake was peaceful and unreal. All we heard was the passing sheep and llamas as they climbed the mountain. We finished our apple and banana then prepared to hike back up the hill. As soon as we started to climb I knew why locals would pass and ask if we wanted a horse ride back up---3800 meters above sea level is no joke. The altitude hits you immediately and slows you down as you try to journey uphill. The climb that only took 45 minutes to descend was over an hour in return. I´m apparently easily affected by a change of altitude and had to take the climb very slowly. It felt incredible once I finished since I had to stop a few times and didn´t think I´d stand back up again. We sat at the top of the crater with other onlookers as the clouds started to shroud the rim. We thanked the rain gods for not pouring on us during our climb as we saw the dark clouds approach. Let me remind all of you that we have not had a single day without rain for the past 3 weeks so we get excited when we see the sun.
We stopped at a local restaurant for a hot cup of tea to warm up our bones. When we returned to our hostal we found that sometime during the afternoon the town lost power and running water. Uh oh. It was painfully cold and we were desperate for some hot water but we found there wasn´t any water. The owner mentioned it would come back on by 5:00, but I think she was just trying to make us feel better...the electricity and water never came back on. It was quite sweet though to have dinner by candlelight. The town is so small that all accommodations offer breakfast and dinner since there are no shops in town so we ate at our hostal. We sat inside with the other travelers as long as we could, enjoying the heat from the kitchen. By about 8:00pm we climbed into bed with nothing left to do. It was pitch black and freezing. It started to rain and a small leak began dripping rain onto my bed. I managed to curl up into a ball and doze in and out of a light nap for the entire night never officially falling asleep due to the cold. I have a feeling it reached almost freezing temperatures but I don´t want to know. It was painful, but absolutely amazing at the same time. We were two of five people in town and ate amongst the local indigenous folks trying to exchange words when we could. The people of Quilotoa don´t see many tourists and are amazingly kind and friendly to everyone. We were happy to leave to find a flushing toilet but sad that the experience had to come to an end.
Monday morning we left Quilotoa aboard the same truck to move on to the next town, Chugchilan, along the Quilotoa Loop. Children waved and shouted ¨hola!¨ from the side of the road as we passed through the mountains. The journey to Chugchilan gave us another hour to ogle at the Andean landscape in awe. As the morning drizzle began we rolled into town (another one-street town, but this one had a paved road AND a shop!). I gave up hope on a hot shower after Trish had a painfully cold shower here in Chugchilan. I decided then and there that I just wouldn´t bathe until I was somewhere that could guarantee agua caliente when it was so painfully cold outside.
We took another lovely walk in the afternoon along the road passing pigs, cows and horses. Some children would stare at us like we were aliens while others broke into wide grins and said hello. Whenever we wear our rain ponchos we tend to receive stranger looks from everyone in general so it could be the plastic coverings that scare the locals. We´ll never know.
We returned to town hungry and in need of a good meal but since there are no restaurants in town we just wandered down the road. The hostal next to ours waved us in and I asked if they served lunch. I knew the answer was no but the owner took us in anyway and had the girls in the kitchen start whipping up an incredible filling lunch. He showed us the grounds of his hostal. Each room had a terrace that provided amazing views of the rolling hills across the road. The rain continued so we moved indoors to enjoy our large almuerzo of soup, french fries, omelet with tomato, cucumber & rice with fruit for dessert. There wasn´t much to do in the afternoon other than read and take in the incredible views. By about 5:00 pm we moved downstairs to have a cup of tea and wait for the hours to pass until dinner would be served. We ran into the same Israeli couple from the night before but this time had our meal together in a well lit space with a flushing toilet right next door. What a treat! To our surprise we had some entertainment after dinner. There was a group of school girls that came by to perform a few traditional dances for us before dragging us all up on our feet to try twirling around the way they do without collapsing from exhaustion. Those little girls did not tire easily! I was completely beat after dancing and found myself quite overheated. I had to step outside in the rain to cool off. Unfortunately Trish and I couldn´t sit up and listen to the tales of local town though. After one glass of disgustingly bad wine from a box (courtesy of the Israeli couple they purchased at the local store for $1) which tasted more like cough syrup than anything else we called it a night since we had to catch a bus this morning at 5:30am.
For the first night in weeks we woke before the roosters, put our clothes on and grabbed our bags to wait down the road for the 5:30am bus out of town. We completed the Quilotoa Loop this morning, briefly pausing in the neighboring villages before winding back up at Latacunga. The rest of the journey continued to amaze our eyes and we found everything painfully gray and dismal in comparison once out of the Highlands.
Three buses later we have arrived in Riobamba, our stop for what should be a thrilling train ride down Nariz del Diablo tomorrow. It´s strangely comforting to be in a large city again where the lights turn on when you flip the switch. I had the most amazing hot shower today when I arrived that made it difficult to get out. It´s been about four days since my last warm shower. If it wasn´t so damn cold I wouldn´t mind the lack of running water. I never thought I could be so in love with running hot water, but I am.
I´ll try to write once more before we leave on Saturday for the Galápagos but if not I´ll definitely write before we move on to Peru. Ciao!
