Got on the road by around 7am. Took a taxi to the bus station, a collective to Ipiales and then a collectivo taxi to Rumichaca getting to the Ecuadorian border around 9.30am.
Had a super smooth run through immigration, walked into Ecuador and then got a taxi to the bus station to find a grab a bus through to Quito. My taxi driver was hilarious and had a large wolf’s tail hanging from the rear view mirror. He insisted on telling me that I had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen and that I should stick around in the north of Ecuador so I could teach him English. I politely declined his offer.
I hadn’t even got out of the taxi at the bus station before two guys had grabbed my pack from the boot and were trying to load me and it into a bus already driving off for Quito. They insisted that their services were gratis for a bonita chica and made the bus stop to get me on. It was pretty funny and they were actually quite genuinely nice. I guess this is what happens when you are the only tourist and single woman within miles.
We had just turned out of the bus terminal when we stopped again to pick up two other touristic looking types. The boys joined me on the backseat and turned out to be excellent company - Louis from England living in Colombia and Juan from Cali in Colombia. We spent the next 8 hours or so chatting, snoozing and sharing snacks as we missioned to Quito.
Once at the bus station the boys couldn’t get hold of the friend that they were meant to be staying with so ended up coming with me to the Secret Garden Hostel. We arrived in time for dinner and the Pub Quiz night so settled in on the rooftop. Quickly assembling a few other total strangers to our multinational, multilingual quiz team which I named ‘Let’s Get Quizzical’ we actually managed to win a few rounds and end up coming in second, 1 point behind the winning team! It was really fun and the hostel had great atmosphere. The only strange thing is that at 11pm they shut all the common areas and tell you to go to bed or go out. Ridiculous. It just means that people end up partying in their dorm rooms and keeping everyone else awake. The whole hostel was still up until at least 1am so most of us just sat around chatting in the dorms.
Another great night with new friends.
