Wednesday 27 July 2011

Banos - Rain - Volcanos

So as the post notes we have arrived in the town of Banos which is shadowed by the looming presence of Vulcan Tungurahua. This volcano is still active and has erupted as recently as 2006 and 2008!

The Volcano rises to 5023 meters however cannot be climbed due to the fact it may go off at any point!

Banos sits at 1800 meters in a small valley surrounded by green mountains, it kind of looks like a swiss ski resort.


Our first day was good weather and we decided to hike up the mountain to the left of the picture, it was a pretty steep climb up to around 2500 meters.


It took about 40 minutes to reach the first viewpoint over the city, this is where the first picture was taken from.

After another 30 minutes of climbing we reached the Cafe Del Cielo the views from here over the city were stunning.


With our friend Lori
After we had an amazing cup of coffee in the cafe and the girls had dreamed about staying at the attached hotel we started the slow descent back to Banos.

About half way down the mountain we heard a siren begin.....the girls were not sure what it was but having read a leaflet at the hostel I was concerned. What we were hearing was the Volcano alert siren !!!!!!

Now from reading the leaflet this siren was supposed to be short blasts for a test....

So I listened....

It was a long blast no breaks........

Hmmmmm that didn't sound good. Slightly anxiously I explained to the girls that it was the volcano siren...However as you can guess eventually it stopped and nothing happened so we guess it was a test???

As per the fact the Cotopaxi summit trip has had to be abandoned, the weather in Ecuador is not being kind to us. For almost every southern town - village or city rain is forecast for the next 10 days!!! We only planned to be in Ecuador for another 10 days so we are considering just moving on to Peru early where the weather seems slightly better.

Anyway all will become clear in the next few days unlike the sky!

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Cotopaxi Summit trip Postponed

Unfortunately our Cotopaxi summit trip is on hold due to adverse weather conditions.


We don't want to be climbing 6000 meter volcanoes in Lightning storms!!!

We have now headed 2 hours south to a small town called Banos, we can return to do Cotopaxi from here however due to time lines it may be unlikely.

Monday 25 July 2011

Quilotoa to Chugchilan hike

We awoke the day after arriving at Quilotoa with slight altitude headaches, and it had been a restless cold night for some of us... Sarah had found that her extreme cold weather sleeping bagged worked brilliantly however!!

We ate a good breakfast and set out apprehensively in to the gale force wind at the crater edge.

At the start of the hike there is an information board giving some helpful information on the hike, what it didn't say was some local guides had sabotaged the hike markers in order for people to need guides and not walk alone! brilliant.


We had discussed with people the correct way to go but had come to the decision we would try to follow the markers.

The walk started beautifully with us wandering alone through the valley without a care in the world.



After 40 minutes we found ourselves in a farmers back garden with no where left to go....

When we asked the house owner for directions to the main path he advised for the fee of $25 he would guide us. In broken Spanish we advised we only wanted directions however he was not going to budge.

So Sarah put on her negotiating hat and started with an offer of $5, the guide said $15 and Sarah said......$5 the guide said $10 and Sarah said......$5 the guide said ok.

I like to think its facts like these that led Ernst and Young adding Sarah to the Mergers and Acquisitions team!


So our trusty guide "Olande" saddled up his horse and led the way, he kindly offered me to ride the horse however I had to decline.

Along the way we were met by two young boys who could only have been 4 or 5 years old, who were out in the mountains herding their sheep. Children in England can't dress themselves at this age???? Let alone their parents asking them to go and move the sheep! 
I offered the boys some almonds and walnuts which they took  without hesitation, Olande had a sad look on his face so I offered him some too, which he gladly accepted with a huge grin.


After an hour or so we arrived at the main path, Olande announced that we could make it from here alone. We gave him some biscuits and a lolly as a tip and as quickly as he had joined our little adventure he jumped on his horse and disappeared. 

We now walked for about an hour down a road enjoying the views ahead of us of the sprawling Andees.


The next village we reached was Guayama, there was little more here than a school a few house sand a closed shop.

Below is evidence of Indiana Jones style bridge crossings.




We had to navigate a very large valley but once done we had a view back to where we had started.

Start point the far right spike, you can also see the valley we crossed




The walk took us about 4 1/2 hours.

The village of Chugchilan is very small it only has around 100 people who live there, but as with all South American villages they still have a church.



We stayed the night at a hostel named Cloud Forest, we again paid $10 dollars for a double room with dinner and breakfast included.

We had read in the Lonely Planet guide book for Ecuador that there was a Cheese factory near the town so with two Americans we met at our hostel we ventured out in search of the cheese factory. It turned out that the Cheese factory was actually a three hour car ride away....end of that plan.

We wondered around Chugchilan for a a bit, that takes around 4 minutes. Until we heard some drums beating...We followed the sound until it led to the village school...intrigued we tried to look over the fence a small boy told us to go in.

We were met with a group of school children practising for a parade they were in the next day, they paraded around the school playground for 2 hours practising


Dinner at the hostel was good and the temperature much warmer, we were still at 3500 meters but it seemed far more sedate.

We headed back to Latacunga the next morning to try to organise our Cotopaxi summit attempt....

Once back in Latacunga we stumbled across two French guys we met in Quilotoa who were heading to Cotopaxi that day they had not gone due to bad weather which seems to still be causing issues.

So the summit attempt is awaiting weather improvement, I'm crossing everything it happens....

Unfortunately in amongst all this I missed Hamilton winning the German GP, I bet that upset Vettel :-)

Sunday 24 July 2011

Quilotoa Lake

Latacunga- Quilotoa (22nd -23rd July)

So we set out with just our small backpacks and left our big bags in the hostal (with slight anxiety). We stocked up with breakfast and walked to the bus terminal.

Sarah 'packing' the night before !!!!

The bus directly to Quilotoa left the bus terminal in Latacunga at 09.00 am, it cost $2.00 for the 3 hour bus ride.

The bus was rammed with "Gringos" on the trail and locals going home for the weekend.

The interesting thing in places like this is that the locals are not the main attraction. The "Gringos" to some of the younger children are fascinating. You know they are looking at you, and you turn around and they quickly look away, they then look out of the corner of their eye so as soon as you look away they can get another look.

James' admirer!

The bus journey was fairly uneventful however driving over 4000 meter passes we spent much time in the clouds with no visibility. I am not sure the driver could always see where the road went....these mountain roads have very steep drops on one side with no barriers...

Anyway we arrived at Quilotoa around 1 pm and were greeted by 3 young members of the 150 person community that lives in Quilotoa. These three young entrepreneurs (probably 5 years old) were keen to help us find our hostel Pacha Mama for the handsome fee of 10 cents each, we felt this was a bargain. 

The hostel was very basic but clean and great value for $10 per person in a private room with en suite, with breakfast and dinner included!!

The main attraction at Quilotoa is the volcanic crater lake, this crater is the only remains of a volcano that erupted and collapsed over 800 years ago.

Now as we arrived we immediately realised how cold it was and how windy it was at 4000 meters, so Sarah had to get involved in some Llama based products.


The view from the village of the lake is breathtaking and on a clearer day I think the lake would be a deeper green colour.


You can walk down to the lakes edge for a closer look and for our acclimatization was vital, the walk takes you from 4000 meters at the village down to around 3500 meters.




Unfortunately you cant swim due to the sulphur content of the water, which disturbed me as the donkeys were drinking it! However due to the temperature it would be a brave person to even attempt it!!

The walk back up the crater was supposed to take 1 hr 30 + however Sarah and I managed it with little effort in 50 minutes, with breaks. So I am hoping that's good for the summit attempt!

A few more photos from the crater edge.



So as we had more time left in the afternoon we ventured out on the crater rim walk, this walk is supposed to be dangerous and a little bit scary but we felt comfortable.

We were privileged to experience probably one of the best sunsets we have seen on our trip, albeit out of the moderate warmth of our bedroom window due to the extremely cold temperature, this photo has not been edited or used and filters to enhance the colour it was awe inspiring.


The sun setting meant the temperature plummeted! We were wrapped up in bed (before dinner) in all our clothes with hats and a sleeping bag.



We all settled around the fire at the hostel before dinner was served, chatting between people about what we had done that day. Sarah noticed the girl opposite us was looking at several rocks in her hands. Sarah asked what they were and she responded that they were volcanic rocks she was collecting as samples.

It transpired that she was a volcanologist doing some work in Ecuador, and was English. When asked where she was from she answered near London, "Where near London, we live near London" Sarah responded. A place called Reading it turned out, actually Wokingham!!!! Yes Wokingham.

The world is a very small place.

Friday 22 July 2011

Quilotoa Loop Hike

So we have now travelled from Quito to Latacunga.

The journey was very easy and the bus cost us $3 for a 2 hour bus ride....that's like £2 crazy!

Latacunga is a very small place but much safer than Quito and far less busy. We are staying in a hotel called Hotel Central, its been owned for 30 years by the same lady so she has great info on the local area and its a good price at $18 for a en suite double room!

We arrived at about 5 pm and planned our trip around the Quilotoa loop, this is a 4 - 5 day excursion with the highlight being a huge volcanic crater with a blue/green lake in the bottom, the lake has so much sulphur in it you cannot swim however.
The crater is situated around 4100 meters at the top and 3500 at the lake so again this provides us some good aclimitization walking.

We will also have the chance to see many small indigenous towns and villages.

We met up with some of the tour operators we have been speaking with in Latacunga regards the Volcano climb next week, as long as this weekend goes well it looks all systems go for the summit attempt early next week! Were both very excited as I think this maybe the most extreme thing we do in South America and should provide the biggest sense of achievement.

Anyway we will be offline for the next 4 days so will update the blog with pictures from the loop walk next week.

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Quito the best and worst

So.....

We have not blogged in a few days however we have done lots, and lots has gone on!

After our huge journey across the continent of South America we found ourselves in the capital of Ecuador Quito! Quito sits at 2900 meters which is higher than most European ski resorts. Due its location on the Equator however there is little snow until much higher, and Ecuador goes much higher, but more about that later!

So as we would spend the next 5 months in Spanish speaking countries we decided we would brush up our Spanish language skills, which are to be honest very limited. We would take 5 days of classes from 8.30 am until 12.30 pm, for anyone who has learnt a language; 4 hours is a long time straight to do this and very tiring.

This left us our afternoons in Qutio to do the tourist stuff.

On our first night in Qutio we were caught in one of the evening rain storms, and when it rains it rains. The water on the streets and pavement was over the tops of our trainers!
So we packed ourselves in to a bus and a little dazed by the rain I had my first experience of being pick pocketed... So some woman tried to get my wallet out of a zipped pocket in my trousers. I caught her, and as I was checking my wallet was in my pocket she had her hand in my other pocket!!! I shouted obscenities at her in English to which she said she had done nothing!!! No harm done this time.

Our first day trip was to visit the old part of Quito which dates back several hundred years, there are lots of small hills to walk and with the altitude this made it quite hard work.




Another afternoon we decided to travel to the Equatorial line to have that memorable picture with a foot on each side of the equator! The journey is 22 km, so about 15 miles "mas o menos" and that journey cost us 50 pence each, a bargin!





Sarah's lunch

Today we managed to meet up with a friend we made in Argentina called Lorri from NYC, unfortunately when we met her she was just being dropped to the hostal by the police after she had been robbed at knife point!!! She was ok, but very upset and shaken and had $800 of stuff stolen, not a great advert for Quito as a tourist destination.

Sarah and I have been planning to attempt to climb the volcano Cotopaxi, this is the tallest volcano in Ecuador and the second highest active volcano in the world. The top in only a few meters short of 6000 meters that's 19000 ft.

Cotopaxi, not my photo we have not been there yet
In order to have any chance of completing that challenge we have to undertake a series of acclimatization hikes. Today (20th July 11) was the first, and we found it pretty easy :-)

First you take the teleferique from the city (gondola to the skiers) up to 4100 meters, there are signs at this point advertising the dangers that this altitude poses.


The walk goes from 4100 meters up to 4800 meters 15000ft, unfortunately the mornings in Qutio are much better than the afternoons, and with Spanish class in the mornings we were restricted to walking in the afternoon only.

The views from the top across sprawling Quito were beautiful.



30 minutes in to the walk the clouds had begun to gather and the summit started to look unreachable.


As we got closer to the mountain the clouds did begin to clear slightly and a glimmer of hope began to shine.


On our march up the mountain (taking no prisoners) we did feel the effects of the altitude. Our breathing was harder (BPM was 120 when we had stopped walking) and we had slight dizziness, however we felt strong and were doing far better than we feared, we walked faster than most on the mountain and took less breaks. Get in!!

We were however beaten by sunlight and weather to reach the summit, we reached about 4600 meters and decided the safest thing was to turn back rather than risk an accident. But all in all this was a real good step towards our dream of scaling the giant Cotopaxi...

Can you spot Sarah?

We head for Latacunga tomorrow to complete a 4 day acclimatization hike around the Quilotoa loop. It sits at around 4000 meters- prolonged exposure at this altitude is of importance.

Next update will be before/during or after the loop. Watch this space....

Thursday 14 July 2011

A day in the life of a traveller

Up until now most blog entries have shown the beautiful places we get to visit and people we meet along the way.

To try to dispel some of the beliefs that this travelling business is all beaches relaxing drinking and partying I am writing this blog.

Today we are travelling to Quito the capital of Ecuador, this is due to be a very long and arduous day! In total the trip will consist of the following transport:

1 x Local bus in Rio
1 x Airport shuttle bus Rio
1 x Flight from Rio to Buenos Aires
1 x Flight from Buenos Aires to Lima
1 x Flight from Lima to Quito
1 x Taxi to the hotel in Lima

We expect the day to last about 19 hours….

So our day began getting out of bed at 7 am, we had decided to spend our last night in Rio drinking Caprinhas, probably not wise!



After a quick shower, we started the tedious task of packing our bags again! we go through this process every few days on average and it is a massive pain in the arse! In the below pic I'm packing my sleeping bag liner, always a joy!



During breakfast our kind hostel staff member Vidar gave us the lonely planet for Ecuador! Essential! After breakfast we left our hostel and walked up the road to our first piece of transport the local bus, the bus was due at 8 am which means rush hour, so there are no seats for the 30 minute journey and we have big backpacks for people to have to climb over! We also missed the bus as Sarah left her lunch in the fridge!



After the ride to the city center we had to make a 15 minute walk to the domestic airport where we could get the shuttle bus to the International airport. A 15 minute walk is ok, however when its 8.30, 20 degrees and you have a 20 kg bag to carry it’s a little more taxing!


Navigating Rio rush hour traffic

The airport shuttle bus

Sarah with our lunch!
So we safely managed to navigate our way to the International airport in Rio where we would board our first of 3 flights for the day. We now had to check in our bags and say goodbye to them until Quito where we were assured they would arrive. This leads to the well known BSA syndrome (Bag separation anxiety) this is an ailment suffered every day by all travellers worrying where their bags are or who is trying to steal them!

Flight to Buenos Aires 11.25 let hope that ash cloud stays away??
 So the first flight was due to be 3 hours and left 30 minute late a great start to the day! However we arrived in Buenos Aires without much drama.
Clear views of Rio
We were now told not to go through customs but to wait in the departure lounge for a representative from our airline to appear, we were stood in the terminal with no boarding passes for 3 hours until someone finally appeared 30 minutes before our flight was due to leave!! and we had not even spoken to the airline at this point....stress ...stress.....stress!!! Sarah however was hard at work balancing the books and telling me I couldn't have a drink, we were broke. 



James was not happy about this and went to sleep occupying as many seats as he could.


However once again everything seemed to work out in the end and we got our boarding passes with no problems, on to Lima...3rd country of the day.



Destination Lima
Now this point was the biggest stress of the day, we only had 56 mins to change planes to get our flight to Quito. So we had to get off the plane, run to the security area where they want to rescan our carry on bags etc...The queue was huge! Everyone was pushing and shouting about how they had to catch a connecting flight, I have never seen such a big queue at security.


When we finally managed to get to the scanners the jobs worth made me go through the scanner about 5 times as the buttons on my trousers were setting the alarm off.


We arrived at the departure gate with only 10 mins until the flight left, but had our bags made it????? BSA (see above)


Final flight this one was only 3 hours, easy!
You need to be aware that the clocks had changed at this point so we lost 2 hours it was really 11.56 when we took off to us! This can be noted in the following picture.


So we landed in Quito at 12.10 Quito time 2 to us, and we were greeted with a 40 minute customs line to get our passport stamped, 30 of these minutes were spent behind a group of very loud excitable Americans....What everyone wants at 2 am.

We got through customs to be reunited with our bags!!!Yes we were all together again, it was a very joyous moment.

All we had to do now was get a taxi to our hostel, we had the address, we even drew a map from google maps, we were home and dry! :-) We even had the lonely planet to back it up. So we found a friendly taxi driver who knew exactly where we were going...........



We drove around Quito for over an hour as the driver refused to admit defeat, by this point it was nearing half past 3 on our time and I was about to go mad, finally I told him to forget it and take us anywhere. At this point  he took us to his "very special friend" for a great deal. I actually beleive now this entire thing was a scam but at 4 am I didn't care.


We checked in to the in expensive very nice hotel and asked the receptionist if we could have a glass of water....They didn't have any water? Can I buy any water??? No....Great

So at 4 am I am messing about with water purification tablets so I can have a drink of water, The reason I was doing this was we are now at almost 3000 meters and I think altitude sickness had set in :-( Sarah however was fine!

We arose early the next day, after only 5 hours sleep. The hotel had no breakfast and no internet access, so we decided we would go to hunt out some clean water, breakfast and wireless access (at least we could use our newly acquired Lonely Planet to navigate us, as the hotel had no map).

As well as the lonely planet we rely on web recommendations to book hostels, so internet is essential to get a good hostel! We wondered into the town found some food and the net, we then spent the next 3 hours wondering between hostels, looking at scummy rooms and walking out with the desire to wash!! We eventually checked into a hostel, conveniently located next to Pacha....hmmm..... We write this blog listening to pumping music and altitude headaches. At least we have water!

Tomorrow we are going to Spanish school for 4 hours for the next 5 days!

So I hope this gives an insight into the trials and tribulations we will often go through getting from one city to another.