The complete and utter failure that was the Quilotoa loop

Well well well. Sorry I have neglected you my faithful followers.

It has been a rather rollercoastery 10 days or so since my last post. Shall we try and pick up where we left off? I think we shall...

So, left Quito on the morning of Saturday, 13th February. Which also coincided with the first day of the Carnaval holiday. As it was a weekend day, the trole bus was running to a different schedule and by the time I got to Quitumbe station in Quito I was cutting it very close if I wanted to get to Latacunga in time for my connection to Quilotoa at 11am.

I raced through the terminal after buying my ticket only to find that the line for buses to Latacunga was over 100m long. As Ecuador is a developing country, not many people have private cars and many rely on public transport to get around (including going away for holidays). The buses were pulling in and out with no apparent method to their madness and the people in line were getting angrier and angrier. People kept changing lines and jostling and yelling at each other which was only making me more on edge as the minutes ticked away and I realised I might have to stay in Latacunga for a night.

I finally decided that come hell or high water I would get on a bus so I sifted to a different line near the front and joined in the throng pushing towards a bus. It was actually like a riot and I nearly lost my bag getting on. But get on I did. However, due to the public holiday and the fact that every man and his dog was leaving Quito, the traffic was terrible and our progress was slow.

Finally got to Latacunga about half an hour after my bus had left. As I was wandering along gazing perpexedly at the bus boleterias, a lovely British guy came up to me and asked where I was going. He then translated for me to the ticket person and I managed to at least find the company that should take me to Quilotoa.

I found the company and a man who pointed to a bus that reassuringly said 'Quilotoa' on the front. I took my seat and waited. Then a bus pulled up alongside of us and about 90% of the people on my bus got off, presumedly to get on the new bus. I tried to ask what the difference was between the two buses. I figured that one might go to Zumbahua and the other all the way to Quilotoa. However, trying to gather this information from the bus dude was somewhat difficult. He was rambling in extremely fast Spanish so I started saying 'mas despacio por favor' but he cut me off after despacio and said 'si, si, esta mas despacio'. He obviously thought I was asking if one of the buses was slower than the other. I have attempted to learn from this mistake by now always asking 'habla mas despacio por favor' when I want someone to slow down their speech!

Anyway, clambered back on bus numero uno and waited for the departure time of 2pm. The bus became incredibly packed and by the time we were leaving Latacunga I had not one but two elderly indigenous farmers in the seat next to me. The whole bus was full of men and women in their cool trilby hats with feathers sticking out of them. I love the indigenous dress that the women wear - it is almost like a uniform the variation from one to the next is so little. Patterned knee-length almost tulip-shaped skirt (usually in dark colours), stockings, little heeled loafer-type shoes, woollen cardie and aforementioned trilby or porkpie hat. Maybe I can bring the Ecuadorian indigenous farmer look to the streets of Melbourne?

Anyway, after a stunning drive (that reminded me a lot of New Zealand - dry, tussocky, mountainous - except more isolated and... Andean) we arrived at Quilotoa. Oh I must mention the little boy that was 'running' our bus. He was so cute. Had slicked-back hair stiff with gel (the little boys are partial to either a copiously gelled-up quiff here or a side part) and was sauntering up and down the aisle demanding money off some and ordering others around. When we dropped off most of the bus in Zumbahua I saw that he had a can of the foam stuff that they spray at people at Carnaval. I was scared. At one point, he opened the drawer, snatched the can and pretended to foam me in the face. I laughed nervously. I managed to get away unscathed but the poor girl who was dropped off before me walked away from the bus govered in the white shaving-cream-esque substance.

So, finally at Quilotoa now. It was magical. I went to have a look at the crater but it was shrouded with mist and I couldn't see anything down the helter-skelter sand-stone path that steeply dropped down to the lake's edge. It gave the whole town an eerie feel - mist creeping out of the crater and swirling around the little settlement. It was also freezing.

I found where I was meant to be staying (the Quilotoa Cabañas - described by one traveller as extremely basic and very poorly heated, I was apprehensive) and roughly managed to ask for 'una habitacion por una persona por esta noche por favor' and was shown to a 'dorm'. It had holes in the walls and was freezing but the double beds were covered in numerous layers of woollen blankets and it was cheap - $10 per night including breakfast and dinner. Apparently it was the best in the town. It gives you an idea of what the accommodation is like in some of these villages. At least they had accommodation I guess!

So, I walked into the communal area and the only other person in there was Ian, a guy from the US that I had met in Quito. Also a guy that had been traveling with Joel. I nearly fainted. One of the most isolated and hard to access places in Ecuador and I happen to run into one of a handful of people in this country that may possibly dislike me. Great. I wasn't sure how much Joel had told him but I assumed whatever he had said wouldn't exactly be positive. At the hostel in Quito we had all come to the conclusion that this guy was a little odd also - another reason why I wasn't exactly thrilled to be in his company.

Anyhow, he didn't seem to know too much or at least he didn't let on that he did, so it wasn't too bad. Some more people trickled in - a nice older Dutch couple, a couple of German girls, some Danish folks, a pair of Portugese dudes and an Irish girl and a Canadian girl who are working together in Quito teaching English. We had a nice dinner which consisted of soup, meat stew and vegetables and a tree tomato dessert, or, what we would call in New Zealand, tamarillo. Delicious! I never knew that one could make such desserts out of tamarillos but I intend to try and replicate this one it was so simple yet yummy.

Before dinner I had taken a couple of neurofen plus as I had a bit of headache from the long day of hustling and bustling. After dinner I didn't quite feel like my dinner was going down and as I lay in bed I felt like something was starting to come back up if you get my drift... So, I went downstairs to the bathroom and threw up. Half an hour later, I ran downstairs and threw up again. And so on. After the fourth time I decided to move to one of the beds downstairs to be closer to the bathroom. By this point I was kneeling on the freezing floor (specked with the remnants of my dinner) in only my undies as I had managed to throw up all over the floor and my own pants during round number 2. I also had nothing in my stomach by this point so it was becoming more and more awful and painful. I threw up all night and into the morning.

At about 10am I had to run downstairs (after thinking it might be over) for about the 12th time and up came a whole lot of black stuff. With blood in it. I was terrified. Here I was, in an extremely isolated area 4 hours from the nearest proper town. No doctor, I supposed, and even if there was a doctor, my Spanish was so limited I wouldn't know how to communicate my affliction. No one at the hostel spoke English and it was really difficult to even explain that I was sick and that I would like to stay another night. I was miserable. I started praying (to who I am not sure) to stop throwing up, and then at least I hoped I would begin the recovery period.

I managed to get up around 1pm and I asked to switch to a single person room. I bought a Sprite as I thought by this point I should try and drink some liquids as I knew I must be incredibly dehydrated. That didn't stay down long however so I went back to bed and slept through until evening. By this point I was managing to keep down some Sprite and water. I was ecstatic. One of the ladies knocked on my door and asked if I would like some food. I declined to be on the safe side but bought another Sprite. I couldn't actually finish this one but hey it was a start.

Ok well this is long and probably boring so I will finish this blog here and pick up where I left off shortly!

Goodbye Quito... you dirty hole of a city you

Well, as you can tell from the subject line - I have made a few not so tough decisions and I am leaving Quito tomorrow! Decided it was no longer conducive to my mental health to sit around pondering my life's direction in this city.

Not that I dislike the place but I definitely have mixed feelings towards it. It certainly is no Rio de Janeiro.

For one, the men are incorrugible! And the women. It seems a white face around here means a meal ticket to lots of the locals. And I don't mean to sound callous, but it just seems that is the way it goes. So many of the young guys staying at my current hostel are casually seeing Ecuadorian girls. One British guy, who is 19 (!), has managed to get himself into a rather sticky situation. He speaks no Spanish, she no English and apparently she expects him to pay for everything when they do together. I deduced that it must be a purely physical arrangement, but apparently not so. What, then, is the point one must ask?

So, I can't say I love that side of the culture here. For example, I went to buy some fruit this morning. I had just woken up and not showered. I was hardly looking my best. And, no exaggerration, literally 90% of the cars that passed me beeped at me. I got one guy smooch out of his window and another slow his car down and leer 'bonita!' at me. I think they just see that I am Western (I'm not even sure how really as I am rather tanned at this point... instinct?) and it is automatic to harrass in some manner. I find it really threatening and intimidating.

So it will be with an optimistic and eager spirit that I will leave Quito tomorrow. I am heading to 'one of the most spectacular sights' in Ecuador - the Quilotoa loop. Picture attached. It will be physically challenging in more ways than one. The roads are really bad and to get to the various villages it requires a combination of hiking, milk truck riding (sometimes on the top!), mule-riding or cycling. And the accommodation is apparently rather basic at some of the villages. And it is cold. And did I mention at a height of 3500m? So that is where I will be for Valentines Day. And Carnaval. Chilling out with some indigenous people by a huge lake. I am excited.

After Quilotoa I intend on going to Baños for a few days to soak my sore muscles in the hot water pools. Then on to Cuenca which is apparently beautiful and perhaps Vilcabamba before heading to Montañita, a small surfing village, where I am undertaking a Spanish course for a week. It is combined Spanish and surfing - 4 hours of Spanish a day and two hours of surfing. I can't wait!

Then hopefully perhaps a bit of the Amazon on my way out of Ecuador to... Colombia. I know this was not initially on the itinerary but I have heard SO many amazing things about Colombia I could not pass up the opportunity. And then the US. I will explain later.

Ok, love you all so much (whoever is reading this). Thank you all for the supportive messages during this somewhat gruelling week.

Reflections on Pululahua

Well I did not have much internet access inside the volcano so have had to save up my thoughts until now!

I just arrived back in Quito to the hustle and bustle and the wolf-whistling. I even got squirted by a guy from a bus - he was actually an employee of the bus company. They love squirting water and other liquids here it is bizarre!

So had a few interesting days in Pululahua. A mixture of sadness and relief to be back in Quito.

First of all, I don't think I have ever physically exerted myself to such a degree as I did in the past few days.

I may as well be chronological about this so here goes...

Day Two:
I woke up and went on the agua termales trail which was meant to take four hours. As the walk the day before had taken me half the time recommended and I fancied myself pretty fit after numerous hikes in Brazil and wandering round the hilly, high altitude streets of Quito, I thought it would take me 3 hours max.

I was wrong.

I took a few wrong turns and ended up getting back to the hostel 4 hours after I set out. I was physically ruined. The hilly parts of the walk I actually had to do in 10m spurts. I don't know why I struggled so much - I am going to blame it on the altitude as I am pretty sure I am not unfit but who knows! Feel free to let me know if anyone has any bright ideas.

So, was so pleased to be back at the hostel.

However, by this point I was starting to feel a little lonely and isolated. As mentioned in my last post - Renato the host spoke English and the only other English speaker was the other guest - 100 year old Bill from Atlanta. It was somewhat isolating and as I lay in bed that night reading (it was only 8pm) I was starting to feel like I was going a little crazy from the lack of human contact.

So, I decided to leave the next day after another hike (the hardest one - recommended 6 hours). I told Renato and got up early and asked for a packed lunch.

I set off on my hike at 9am and returned at.... 3pm. I seriously thought I was going to die. It was the hardest thing I have ever done (physically). I swore, I yelled out 'I can't walk up there!' and I nearly cried when I walked to the highest mountain in the area (3200m) by mistake - had taken the wrong path and had to backtrack...

I cannot describe the relief when I arrived at the crest of the mountain and saw the hostel far down below (at roughly 2pm). The walk was interesting enough combining rainforest, scrubby hills, primary forest and wildflowers including orchids. I was followed by a cow at one point - she got awfully close and I'm ashamed to say I swore at her too because every time I sat down to eat my lunch I would hear an approaching moo and here she would stroll around the corner... I tried 3 times at different spots to eat my sandwich!

Anyway so I got back to the hostel at 3pm. By this point, I had decided that leaving that day was out of the question. I would get back to Quito too late and I wasn't even sure if the hostel in Quito that had all of my baggage had room for me. And the main reason was, I'm ashamed to admit, the hike out of the volcanic crater involved climbing up a RIDICULOUSLY high hill (i will show you photos later so you know i am not lying). I just could not do it after 6 hours hiking and 4 hours hiking the day before.

So, I got back. Well, I basically fell into the hostel from exhaustion and what do you know - Renato, the owner, was nowhere to be found. The cleaner-cook told me he was in Quito and would be back that night. Hmmm, I didn't know what to do as I wanted to ask him if I could stay another night.

To be honest I was too tired to really care and ordered a piece of chocolate cake and a coffee and sat outside and finished my book. It was blissful and the image of that moment was the only thing that got me through the last half of the hike.

One amazing thing about the hostel (which I only discovered on my second day) was that in their patio they had numerous bird-feeders. I was walking past the patio on my second day and I heard this weird buzzing sound. I had a look around me to try and source the sound and I saw a hummingbird! And yes now I know how they came to be named that way!

So, on the third day I resolved to sit there and watch. I actually kept being distracted from my book as they are the most playful birds. There was a certain type of hummingbird with a long tail and I saw two of them dancing in the air and spiralling down - their tails together almost made a propellor. I took some amazing photos and just sat there enjoying the peace and quiet except for the occassional hum.

And then out came Victor, the guy who had picked me up on the first day, with two banana smoothies in his hands. Now, Victor does not speak a single word of English. So he sat down next to me, gave me a smoothie and we looked at each other rather awkwardly. The next half an hour was composed of a disjointed conversation in Spanglish but I actually felt myself progress as I forced myself to try and understand and often guess what he was trying to tell me. After he left I actually realised I was the happiest I had felt since I arrived at Pululahua. Nature is beautiful and all but, as Christopher McCandless (the guy that Into The Wild is based on) said 'happiness is only real when shared'. I thoroughly enjoyed the human contact with Victor and his generosity towards me. There were moments when we both just cracked up laughing as we realised the other had no idea what we were going on about.

So dinner that night was actually really enjoyable as Bill and I tried to ask Victor questions about his life (in very broken Spanish). I gathered that he had a wife who lives in Quito and he was about to go to the coast for a beach holiday. I also managed to figure out what hours he worked, whether he enjoyed the work and whether he found it difficult. I mentioned I was cold - frijo - and he said something about agua caliente (hot water). He ran into the kitchen and came out with a hot water bottle! It was so cute and pathetically made my night! After dinner he put the kettle on, filled up the hottie, wrapped it in a tea towel and handed it to me! I was extremely happy and grateful.

So, went to bed feeling pretty satisfied with everything. Another thing I must say about Pululahua is it is the most quiet place. At night all you can hear is an occassional bird out the window chirping. It truly is special.

And I am not sure if I have mentioned this but apart from the hostel, the only other inhabitants are indigenous farmers. They were friendlyish but I could tell they were rather wary of me and my high-tech backpack and rain jacket. It was amazing though, it was like something out of a book - they all cruised around either on foot, horse or mule with their little trilby/porkpie hats and colourful clothes on. I had a few try and have a conversation with me - one old man was very insistent and I managed to take a photo of him on his horse.

So I left Pululahua with mixed feelings. I was looking forward to getting back to the hostel in Quito and seeing some of the people I had met there but I had really grown to love the place despite its isolation. Making friends with Victor and, to a certain extent, Bill was a real turning point for me. And, even Renato pulled out all the stops for my departure! As I was about to start the (also horrible) hike up the hill to the edge of the crater, he came out with a big snaplock bag full of organic coffee beans that are grown inside the crater! I was really blown away as I know that they sell it for quite a high price. Just had a cup then - extremely delicious! Renato also made me breakfast this morning in preparation for my departure - cheesey egg omelette (made with organic eggs from the farm), fresh organic coffee, organic fruit salad and yoghurt and granola! All for US$3!

But back to the mixed feelings of isolation and happiness I felt - I have looked upon this time travelling by myself as a certain challenge. I guess I feel like I have always relied on other human contact and I get lonely by myself very quickly. So I have tried to focus on the rewards of this time travelling by myself rather than despairing at the ensuing loneliness.

However, in Pululahua I realised that in order for me to be happy - I need human interaction. And perhaps I should stop fighting this urge to be independent. Is it so wrong to require interaction with other humans in order to feel completely content? I am not sure, but it is something I intend to explore for the next two months while I am on my own.

(As an aside for those of you who do not know, I am no longer travelling with Joel. He said some extremely hurtful and personal things about me to some other people who were staying at the hostel in Quito and one of them told me. I never want to see him again, he is an extremely toxic individual who enjoys getting into other people's heads, manipulating them and making them doubt who they are. It has been a bit of a learning curve for me and I have been feeling somewhat vulnerable and shaky this week as a result of finding this out but I hope I can bring myself together and put it (and him) behind me once and for all!).

Pululahua - inside the volcano!

Had an amazing day today - arrived in Pululahua. Nearly didn't get here after following the Lonely Planet's directions to transfer buses at a certain metro bus station. It turns out I didn't need to change and should have stayed on the bus until the end of the line! So had to go back to the station I thought I had missed, then find out I didn't miss anything at all, then go back in the direction I was going in originally. When I finally got to Mitad del Mundo (where the equator is) it took me a while to figure out where the Museum was that I was meant to be meeting the driver. Finally found the Museum but no driver... I was busting and stressed so headed into the museum complex to go to the bathroom. En route to the bathrrom I saw that there was another entrance that I had missed.



And what do ya know. There was the gold van and it even had a sign with ' LUCY PATCHETT' on it! Ha ha. I hurried over and breathed a rushed 'hola!' at the guy standing by the van. He looked just as pleased to seem me as I him. So I jumped in and he attempted to have a conversation with me in Spanish. I managed to tell him how long I had been in Ecuador and how long I intended to stay at Pululahua. However, after these basic exchanges I struggled to grasp what he was asking me. I know he used the words for work and live - trabajo and vivo. But no idea what he was trying to ask me!



Anyway, 40 minutes later after a very long, very bumpy, very slow drive through valleys and over hills all shrouded in mist - we came to a little settlement of farming plots and we turned into the hostel entrance. Renato greeted me with a strong US English accent. A nice guy if a little odd. I got akwkward so just asked him heaps of questions about him and the place. I had lunch with him after putting my stuff away - quinoa soup followed by chicken with a mushroom sauce, a little bit of rice fritata, salad and then coffee and choclate cake for dessert - I could get used to this!



I had a pretty good chat with him and the only other guest here - an awkward old dude (seriously about 75-80) from Atlanta who has purchased a farm here that he intends to use to farm organic products and possibly open up a hostel.



With a very satisfied belly I headed off on my first hike. I decided on the 2 hour walk to the water spring. For some strange reason I nearly died after the first few minutes uphill. The hikes here are very steep and because it's at such a high altitude I find it really challenging!

Or maybe I'm just super unfit who knows...

Anyway the walk was nice enough, got back and sat in the lounge waiting for dinner. Which was a spag boll type of thing with chocolate cake for dessert - yum!

I went to bed pretty early in anticipation of an early start the next day and a big hike!

Quito - Day Two

Woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck and could sleep for a week. Managed to get up at about 9:30 though and headed up to Parque Itchimbia (about a ten minute walk from the hostel up many sets of stairs!). The view over Quito was fantastic from up here and I started feeling like I was beginning to orient myself with the city.

I headed down the hill to the old town and had a wee walk around some of the famous sites such as the Grande Plaza. I managed to find some fresh fruit including a piece of fruit I had never seen before but decided to try. It was bright orange and had a very hard skin - the shape of a tamarillo but quite a bit bigger. When I got back to the hostel and cut it open I realised what it was - passionfruit or maracuja (in Brazil not too sure what the name is in Spanish). I had heard that the passionfruits (questionable grammar right there) were huge here compared to back home and was pleased to find that I had stumbled across one.

So anyway, enjoyed a very tasty breakfast of fresh fruit, granola (hard to find muesli here) and yoghurt and the organic coffee that the hostel provides.

Belly full it was time to explore. It had started raining by this point so for the first time I extracted my new rainjacket from its little sleeping bag type home and put it on (Dad you will be pleased no doubt!). I figured it wouldn't be too wet and I would survive with my jacket and taking cover in historic buildings as I went about my sightseeing. I was wrong. Half an hour in I was saturated and freezing and getting bizarre looks from the guards at the old beautiful churches I was trying to visit.

I managed to have a look in Quito's cathedral though which is located in the Grande Plaza along with the presidential palace, the Archbishop's cathedral and the local municipal building. It housed a lot of religious artefacts however I didn't quite get the real significance as the guide only spoke Spanish! (I have inquired at various Spanish schools as I have realised that if I am going to be here for a few months I definitely need to work on my limited espanol! It is HIGHLY frustrating not being able to converse with locals and I really feel like it is limiting my experience here. I also really want to do some volunteering while I am here and this is difficult with a minimal amount of Spanish).

Next stop was La Compania - a church built in the 16th and 17th century by Jesuits and described in my rough guide as 'bordering on opulence gone mad' for the amount of gold covering its interior. A beautiful church however and a good place to escape the rain.

I decided to finish my sightseeing and head back to the hostel with a quick trip to Central Mercado - a massive market house in a hall really close to the hostel. This market has fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, flowers and nearly every kind of fresh produce you can think of! It also has food stalls which are incredibly cheap. I bought a plate of rice and a kind of chicken stew with a slice of avocado and an egg for $1.50! It was great. I'm about to head there soon actually for round two - sea bass or corvina as it is known here. Lunch seems to be the major meal here with most restaurants shutting around 7pm. Bizarre I know.

So anyway got back to the hostel drenched but sated. I put some dry clothes on whilst talking to my roommate Attila. Very interesting guy from the states, he is traveling with his friend John who is actually volunteering at the hostel. We will hopefully become hiking buddies as Attila is keen to do some hiking through the Quilotoa loop and Cotopaxi (which is a volcano). Exciting stuff!

Clothes dried I made myself a hot chocolate and continued to chat to the other people here and read up on where I want to go to next.

John, the guy who works here, decided it was his mission to get me drunk that night. I was scared. I have avoided raucous nights out here as I don't really enjoy being hungover and I like to get up early and see the sites rather than lying in bed clutching my head. Anyhow, he managed to succeed somewhat - concocting all of these interesting (yet foul-tasting) drinks for me to sample. We headed out to what was meant to be a reggae bar in Mariscal which is what the locals call 'Gringoland' because it is where all the hostels, bars and restaurants are. Hence why I stayed in the Old Town as Gringoland did not exactly sound appealing to me. But anyway it was really an RnB bar. I have long since given up that I will actually hear music in clubs and bars here that I like. It all seems to be the same - bad pop from the US, reggae (I can't tell you how many times I have heard Jack Johnson on this continent) and Latin American dance/hip hop style stuff. There is this one song that goes 'one, two, three, four. Unos, dos, tres, quatro.' It is rather hilarious. Have heard it wherever I go!

So had a little dance but decided I felt sick and got a cab home by myself. Probably not the best thing to do as the cab driver kept slowing down and trying to make me sit in the front next to him. In Melbourne this has happened to me and I was rather horrified but here I guess its just part and parcel of the experience. He then tried to shortchange me about $20 which is quite a lot considering the currency here is US. I told him where to go in my limited Spanish!

That is one thing that is constantly disappointing here - the myriad of people trying to take advantage of stupid Westerners that cannot speak Spanish. It is also another reason why I really want to learn the language!

Another observation I have made since arriving here is how conspicuous I am here. After a week in Brazil my level of tan was getting rather ridiculous so in Brazil I did not really create any attention as I very easily fitted in to the plethora of bronzed Brazilians. However, here it is not so. Yesterday on my power walk in the morning it was actually quite unnerving the amount of tooting and yelling out I received and it started to make me quite angry. It was ridiculous as well considering I was wearing running shoes and leggings and looked very bleary-eyed! Especially when I was walking up a hill and a taxi was creeping along at the same pace next to me with two Ecuadorian men continually 'psst'ing at me! It is a real shame and I must admit I do miss the Brazilian friendliness and nonchalance. They really don't seem to notice Gringos as much there and if they do try and sell you something I found that when you refuse they straight away leave you alone.

So yes, a few challenges lie in wait for me in Ecuador but hopefully with a few Spanish lessons I will be able to tell the seedy men where to go (I have decided the best approach to the sleazy man problem is to look as weird as possible. My clothes choice has become weirder and weirder since I got to Quito - today I went sight seeing in a flanelette shirt, leggings, running shoes and my raybans.) The problem for me is that I love my independence and I want to be able to walk the streets on my own. I am not stupid of course and would never do this at night and avoid the obviously dangerous areas but I guess its a shame to become paranoid when there is so much to see and experience here.

Speaking of which, tomorrow I have decided to go to the aforementioned organic farm to chill out for a few days and hike around the extinct volcano. From there I will probably go to the cloud forests of Mindo (which sound amazing) and possibly the 'best market in Ecuador' in Otava. I will keep you all (if there are any of you) posted!

First blog! Let`s see how this goes...

Well well well. I have finally propelled myself into the 21st century by creating a blog. I do not totally agree with the concept of blogging, as it seems somewhat self indulgent. But for the purposes of the convenience of recording my travels somewhere online, rather than a book I have to lug around 24-7, I have succumbed to my yearn to blog.

It seems rather stupid that I have created this now as tomorrow will be my month anniversary of traveling but hey better late than never right?

Well, the day started rather arduously - had to leave the hostel at 4am to catch our flight to Lima and then to Quito. We stupidly decided not to go to bed and stay up til it was time to go to the airport and so we had a few drinks... Suddenly it was 3am and I was feeling tired and hungover and rather weird. Decided to lie down for an hour - had a weird intermittent sleep as I kept stressing out that my alarm wouldn't go off and we would miss our flight. Anyhow, we woke up and left on time and made it to the airport in record speed thanks to our taxi driver driving like a possessed man. Got to the airport, checked in, went to the departure lounge. Dozed for an hour. Got on plane. Dozed for 5 hours, ate some plane food (which was actually good). Actually, I must mention that TACA was exceptional to travel with. Well perhaps exceptional is a rather strong word but TACA was far superior compared to Aerolineas Argentinias (spelling??). We got nice blankets and free (good) food and even a movie!

So, got off at Lima, dozed for another hour. Got on plane to Quito. Dozed for another hour. Finally arrived at roughly 1pm Ecuadorian time which was actually 4pm Rio time. Suffice to say we were both exhausted and had stopped talking to each other by this point.

It was obvious however that we had arrived in a very different land to the glorious lazy haze of sun and sand that is Rio de Janeiro. I was immediately enthralled and quickly forgot my lingering sadness to leave Brazil. After a month in that bright and bubbly utopia I had started to feel rather at home. And leaving Rio until last was a surefire way to end on a high note however also creating a certain amount of regret on one's departure.

However, it was obvious upon arriving in Lima (even though we didn't leave the airport) that we weren't in Kansas anymore Toto. The main difference being of course the abundance of indigenous-looking people. I immediately felt like I had landed in the 'real' South America. As Brazil and Argentina (Buenos Aires anyhow) are undoubtedly more European-influenced than most of their Western counterparts. Suddenly there were gorgeous long faces with almond shaped-eyes everywhere framed by sheets of sheeny, glossy black hair. And the traditional clothes of course.

So anyway, there we were shunting along in the cab and feeling very strange after a minimum amount of sleep. However looking out at the bustling activity of Quito and the excitement of being somewhere new were enough to prevent the usual slip into melancholy that often accompanies my move to a new locale. I have realised a pattern that these times are usually the absolute lowest of the lows. As it is usually after a long bus-plane ride with little to no sleep and this combined with the sudden collapse of the 'security' you have created for yourself for the previous few days has proved to be just the right ingredients for a wee Luther cry.

Finally got to the hostel, checked in with a jolly Iowan native called John who showed us round and reeled off some info before making myself a mug of steaming hot organic coffee that comes from one of the owner's parents farms. I was happy. Sat on the terrace roof sipping my coffee and reading information on Quito and Ecuador. Wow, there is so much to do here! It seems to be an adventure-lovers paradise - hiking, biking, horse-riding, volcano climbing, thermal bath bathing... the list goes on!

I have even found a 'hostel' that is about 40 minutes out of Quito which is situated on an extinct volcano right next to the equator boundary line. It sounds like absolute heaven. They have their own chef onsite along with organic chickens, guinea pigs (that they sell 'live' and frozen - ha!) and various fruits and vegetables. $7 for lunch and dinner and $3 for breakfast! And they offer so many different hikes and tours and horse rides it just looks amazing. I am thinking of going there by myself for a week or so to zen out and try and learn how to do something proactive like meditate or write a novel or something. Hmmm... watch this space.

So the afternoon was spent doing research into various activities, the sights of Quito and surrounds and the possibility of Spanish lessons here - there are copious amounts of schools it is actually rather overwhelming trying to choose one!

Joel woke up around 6 and after we both showered (best shower of my life) we headed out for dinner. Our roommate Atilla (ha ha) told us about this little Ecuadorian place close to the hostel so we set off with grumbling bellies. What I have also failed to mention is the glorious change in climate from the humid oven that was Rio. Even though Quito is on the equator, the altitude means that the climate is actually incredibly pleasant - it was about 20 degrees Celsius when we landed - heaven after two days of migraines in Rio!

We found the Ecuadorian place and were given a plata each which consisted of fried chicken, corn, spuds and salad. And we shared a longneck of beer. And the bill came to? $4.20US. $2 each. Wow.

I'm going to end this blog on that note. I don't know how I will keep these up if every day will be this length... Hmmm.