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!
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