Quito, I Quit!

The other day I dusted off my little notepad I kept while we travelled as some friends are off to Colombia shortly, I'm so very envious and the more I read back, the more that came rushing back to me. Sometimes those memories fade away so quickly when you're back to normal life doing normal jobs and paying rent!

I have to say, I can't believe where this year has gone, it felt like only yesterday that I got caught up in the whirlwind of being offered a job in Norwich, and everything fell into place, I moved into our lovely little house and shared it with our landlady for a month before Nick and Kelly joined me in August. Now, we're coming into our last month in the house, and I'm packing up all my things again!

It was always my aim to have recorded all of our adventures within the year of being back, we arrived back last June 4th and now we're into July a years later and I still have left so much of our time in South America tucked away in my crinkled pages. Here's to playing catch up and talking about the next leg of our journey...



We left the jungle of Misahualli at completely the wrong time, and coming into Tena and then onto Quito we realised this. It was the beginning of Semana Santa, which is their Easter celebrations. The bus terminals were completely manic and we arrived into Quito about 9 in the evening after travelling all day. We took a taxi to the newer part of Quite, Mariscal, which took 40 minutes because of all the traffic.

We decided to stay at Backpacker's Inn, a friendly little place run by a lady called Lilly and totally made you feel like you were staying the house of someone's abuela. We dumped our bags and immediately went looking for food.The streets were so busy due to the national holidays. The main square was illuminated with lights and had hundreds of restaurants. This was far too contrasting from where we had woken up that morning, so we escaped off the main route and found a really nice little Mexican called Tarzan's where I had shrimp burritos and a mojito. I remember being slightly perplexed by the restaurants there as none of them had any front walls, just metal shutters they rolled up when the restaurant was open, meaning it was freezing inside!

The next day we washed our stinky jungle laundry and tried to get tickets to escape Quito as we had really had enough of cities by this time, but due to the holiday it was ridiculously busy, the queues were so long they led all the way into the street. Other travellers were running up and down the line, looking for foreign faces to try and get a group together to afford a taxi. Unfortunately we couldn't join in as we had left our bags back at the hostel.

We decided to explore the town and hope that the crowds died down a little later. In the town centre there were hundreds of people heading in one direction so we decided to follow. They led us to the Basilica where there was a procession for the holy week.

Everyone involved was wearing a purple tunic with a pointy purple hood with just two holes for eyes, they had chains around their wrists and ankles and some of them carried huge logs or crosses. In the midday heat they all looked uncomfortable and it all got a bit too much stood amongst the crowd, so we ducked out shortly after.






We got some food and this was the first time I ever tried coconut water. On every street corner there were people with little metal trollies filled with coconut water and ice, it was so delicious, we unwound in the square for a little, and escaped the madness of the city on the trolebus which took us to the botanical gardens. This was slightly eerie as there were lots of people working there, but it looked so run down and dried up and shrivelled. Nick tried out one of the worst toilets we'd witnessed so far, and we escaped back to the hostel.

When we got back, we explained to Lilly our problem with the transport, and she cut a deal with us, and made her son and her son in law drive us the 1 1/2 trip to Otavalo, a little market town in the North. The guys didn't seem to mind, in fact they seemed to enjoy the temporary new found freedom, and laughed and chatted with us all the way there, again showing us how amazingly friendly the Ecuadorian people are. They dropped us right at the door of our hostel in Otavalo, and even got out to have a nosy around and swap some business tips with the manager of our new hostel.

Quito may not have won us over, but the people definitely did!


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Misahualli, you give me butterflies!

The more we travelled around Ecuador, the more I loved it. Leaving Baños ever thankful to the owner of La Princesa Maria for helping me finally get the medical care I needed, we started the long journey to the East of Ecuador where civilisation thins out and the jungle takes over.

We took an incredibly busy bus from Baños to Napo. It was so busy Nick and I took separate seats and I ended up sat next to a boy who was sleeping. Eventually he woke up and instantly started to chat to me, asking where I was from, what I was doing, where I was going. He was also happy to answer all the questions I had wanted to ask the people we often saw but didn't get chance to speak to. His name was Pato, he was only 25 but was the main provider for his mum and his insane amount of brothers and sisters. He had been travelling since 2 in the morning to go to Otavalo market to buy provisions for his family, and was now heading back and was expecting to get back to his village at 3 in the afternoon. His older brother was studying in Quito and he desperately wanted to travel, but had to look after his family. He also told me he really wasn't religious and loved to watch South Park. It was the first time I ever felt like I'd had a really good conversation in Spanish and I was slightly dismayed when he told me it was his stop and he wandered away from the bus carrying two huge white sacks. I still had so many questions!

From Napo we took a local bus to Misahualli, it was so full that Nick had to ride in the doorway, with one leg hanging out of the bus! I was really relieved when we arrived at the main square of Misahualli.

Missahualli (Miss-a-why-ee) is a tiny town at the very mouth of the jungle, and apparently used to be incredibly popular a couple of decades ago with tourists, but with the amount of tourism traffic flowing into the jungle, many of the animals were scared away and so the tourism died off again. We decided to visit the jungle from this spot as the doctor in Baños had spoken so highly of it.

After a quick browse on Trip Advisor, I found a company that ran jungle trips called EcoSelva, and it was owned by an ecologist. EcoSelva was on the tiny square so we headed there and met Pepe. He is a really nice, friendly man who really loves what he does. We found out later on our trip that he really wants to help the communities that live in the jungle, so he helps to school the children, and runs football matches for them too. We got a really good feel for his company and what it put back into the jungle, so we booked a 2 night, 3 day trip.

The other top recommendation on Tripadvisor was the Butterfly House. I asked if Pepe would recommend it and he said definitely, so we decided to take a stroll up later that day. As Pepe had suggested the hostel next to his business, we went to check it out. It was a small house run by a mother and daughter and the rooms seemed clean and homely enough. It was also the very 'normal' names of the rooms that sold it to us.

Having checked in, we went for a spot of lunch at another restaurant in the square. Most of the restaurants were open at the front, so we walked in and were pretty shocked to see that the furniture was strewn all across the floor. The owner appeared from the back and apologised about the state of the restaurant apologising profusely. She explained that it was the local monkeys of the town who live in the trees in the square. When they're feeling mischievous they steal food and toss the furniture around when the owners are siesta ring. We sat and ate lunch, watching the naughty monkeys laze around the square.

Luckily, we managed to catch a glimpse of them at their most mischievous when a rather large American Tourist walked through the square. He was wearing a bright hawaiian shirt, explorer shorts, socks, sandals, sun glasses and a floppy sun hat. He decided to stop and play with the monkeys, who entertained him for a bit, before they decided it would be far more fun to take his wallet out of his pocket. They ran up into the trains then started to empty the wallet, throwing the contents, including wads of cash, onto the floor. No matter how much he shouted and flailed around, he didn't get his wallet back until a local climbed the tree to retrieve it.

After that spectacle, it was early evening and we walked to the butterfly house to see if it was still open. We were surprised to be welcomed in by Pepe, it turned out that he had built a butterfly house in his garden because of his love of butterflies. He started the collection by collecting eggs on his visits to the jungle, caring for the caterpillars and then letting them loose into the enclosure. It turned out that dusk is the perfect time for butterfly spotting as they go for one more flight to bring up the temperature of their body before sleeping for the night.



It was really amazing to watch them floating around, and really nice to listen to Pepe talk about his butterflies. His love for all things natural really shone through and made him so interesting to talk to.





As it grew dark, we decided to see what else the town had to offer. There wasn't all that much, but we went to the river and watched the sunset. It was exciting to know that the next day we could be heading into the jungle and taking a canoe on that same river.


We went to bed early that night to prepare ourselves for our early start tomorrow, and just as we started to drift off we heard the rain start to fall. Weird shadows crept across our walls, and when I looked out of our window onto the square, I realised the shadows were the monkeys running to take shelter from the rain. It was really pouring down and the roads had turned to clay rivers. It was the first time I really understood why we call it the rain forest.

The rain didn't stop though, and half way through the night, Nick shot up in bed as the roof had started to leak and rain was pouring through the hole in the ceiling onto his foot. I can't explain how much it was raining, I've never seen anything like it in my life.

We got up bright and early the next day, feeling a little weary after our rude awakening. We went to meet Pepe who apologised for being a bit delayed, but the rain had been a bit of an oddity and his whole house had flooded, the butterfly enclosure had collapsed and all of his butterflies had either flown away or had been killed. It was so sad to think of him the day before, peacefully walking through the trees surrounded by butterflies telling us how it had taken him years to grow his collection.

Yet, he didn't linger too long as he said it was time for us to go and meet our guide, Gregorio.

I'm going to split our Misahualli adventures into a two part drama filled event as I've already typed more than I like to! I'll continue next week when we start our trek into the jungle!

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Travel Tuesday: Bathing in Baños

Whenever we asked for recommendations for Ecuador, Baños was the first place to roll off the tongue from our fellow travellers. Knowing a bit of Spanish the first time I heard it, I pictured it as a big, old toilet. I'm so happy that my preconceptions were wrong!

We arrived horribly early one morning. When we got off the bus we did our usual checks after we get off the bus, and realised that our Lonely Planet was no longer with us. We'd sadly left it on the bus. Checking the iPad for a map was the next port of call, but unfortunately there was no battery, meaning we had no way to navigate ourselves to our hostel, and it was going to be hours before there would be a sign of life to point us in the right direction. We waited in the bus station until the sun came up, and then went walking around the town.

Luckily it was incredibly small, we had a vague memory of what the hostel looked like and in what direction it was in, so it only took a few minutes before we'd found our hostel, Princesa Maria. This turned out to be an amazing hotel with an incredibly friendly owner. He didn't really speak much English, but it was a perfect opportunity to practise and he was so eager to help. What he lacked in English he made up with his son who was a professor of English at the uni and could speak about another million languages.

It was in Baños, with the hostel owner's help that I finally went to a doctor at a hospital who was really helpful and managed to cure me of the illness that had been following me around. As I waited for my test results there was a huge rumble that sounded like thunder. Seeing my worried face the doctor told me not to worry, it was just the volcano. Not seeing how this could be at all reassuring, I asked him if it was going to erupt, and he explained that it had been erupting for the last ten years. I guess that made it a little better!

Feeling like we were on the mend, I decided to get a massage from a little shop in the centre of the town, which obviously did the trick, as when I woke up the next day, my meds had kicked in and I felt great. I felt so great that we made the decision to hire bikes and ride the road from Baños to Rio Verde.

It's a popular route for Ecuadorian and foreign tourists alike. It goes through a valley and follows the path of the river. You're surrounded by green mountains and gushing water. Every now and then there are little pit stops where you can do other activities like bungee or canopy. Feeling like I didn't want to tempt fate with only just feeling better, I sat this one out. There was a little restaurant along the path which served BBQ'd fish cooked in corn leaves, it was absolutely amazing, and if you ever find yourself down this road I'd highly recommend it. The owner is more than happy to talk to you about his fresh produce and the fact he used to run jungle tours for foreigners before all the animals started to disappear.






Before we knew it, we'd got to the small village where you can hop on a pick up truck with your bike, which takes you back to Baños. By the time we got back, the rain had set in, which meant we had to cancel our trip to 'la casa de arboles' a huge tree swing high up in the mountains. We substituted this for a nap.

In the evening, it was time to see what the town was all about and visit the public hot baths.There is a waterfall that runs behind the baths which is lit up at night and looks really pretty. It was a nice bit of scenery to look at while we soaked. It was a really nice atmosphere at night, everyone wore shower caps that made them look like jelly fish bobbing up and down in the water. There were a couple of pools, varying from really hot to freezing cold. Needless to say I wasn't brave enough to try out the cold one.



We were eventually forced out of the pool because of our rumbling tummies, so we got out and headed to Comic Burgers, a Marvel themed burger restaurant.



The next morning we were woken right on time to get ready for our bus by the volcano! A pretty fitting end to our lovely time in Banos.

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Travel Tuesday: Ecuador's Hippie Surf Retreat, Montanitas

From Cuenca we headed West to Montanita, a Surfer’s Paradise on the coast. To get there from Cuenca we had to get a bus to Guayaquil, then another bus to Montanita. Half way to the coast Nick realised that his beloved football team were playing that afternoon, and with Guayaquil being a major city he could probably catch it here. Not being a football fanatic, I decided to carry on to the tiny town and hopefully catch some rays and find a hostel for us as we had decided to turn up and see what happened.

The journey took a lot longer than expected, we spent a long time driving along the coast. Every so often the bus would come to a stand still at minute coastal villages with lots of half finished buildings that people had moved themselves into, I couldn’t help but hope that this wasn’t going to be my destination as I didn’t feel too comfortable wandering around places on my own yet. The bus would normally just pick up a couple more people and along we’d go.

Eventually, there were signs for cabins and night clubs, surf schools and restaurants, so I knew we’d arrived. The bus pulled up at the side of the road and left everyone to get off. There were lots of hostel owners waiting there, swooping in on bewildered looking foreigners (like myself). I decided to wait until everyone had gone before I got my sense of direction. The heat was stifling, I hadn’t experienced anything like it since Chile, and it made the bag on my back feel a lot heavier, therefore I decided to go for the first sign I saw.

Luckily this sign was for Nativa Bambu Ecolodge. A newly developed set of bamboo cabins, set on the hill side overlooking the town. Each little cabin had an ensuite bathroom, a cosy bedroom and a porch with a hammock. It was a little over our budget at almost $50 a night, but it was so nice, and I was so hot that I couldn’t resist it. I’m so happy that we didn’t as it was one of my favourite places that we stayed. The cabin and location was beautiful, the manager was falling over himself to help us, the breakfast was great and it was nice to get a little peace, away from the busy town.




When Nick’s bus pulled in a few hours later the sun had set and the town seemed to come to life. We’d found out that our lovely friend, Vera, was also in town so we arranged to meet her for a drink or two and catch up on what we had seen and done since we last saw each other.

One of my favourite things about Montanita was the cocktail alley. A short road lined with lots of bamboo huts, all serving cocktails which the guys would mix for you as soon as you ordered. We managed to have a couple of these before feeling so drowsy that we had to start the long trek back up the hill to our cabin.

The next day we spent at the beach, and after Huanchaco, Nick felt brave enough to try out the surf too. Although he did admit that the waves were a little big for him too. I really liked it on our beach trips when people walked up and down the beach with interesting things they’d trying to sell. The best on this beach were mojitos made to order out of a little polystyrene box and brownies. Yum!


Montanita at night is really pretty and lots of fun, with lots of shops, restaurants, street performers and clubs. It seems to be a magnet for travellers, so isn’t really an ‘authentic’ experience, but is a great place to surf, wear too much shell jewellery and walk around with no shoes for a few days.

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Travel Tuesday: Ecuador!

Before I start, does anyone remember this song? As soon as we got to Ecuador I couldn't stop singing it and Nick had no idea what I was going on about!

I was so ready for a new country when we arrived in Ecuador I was so excited about it, even though we'd been travelling all night and hardly had any sleep.

We arrived at the little bridge over the river which denotes the end of Peru and the beginning of Ecuador. The first thing I noticed was how hot it was. We were surrounded by huge, lush green banana plants and flowers. There were a few street vendors who sat on either side of the bridge, who seemed more content to sit and assess the tourists crossing, rather than sell anything to us.

Unfortunately we hadn't been given the right information, so had to make two trips over the bridge in the sweltering heat! Phew!

Once we had collected our stamps and were legally inside the country, it was onwards to Loja, a small town North of the border.


We arrived late at night and when we followed the Lonely Planet's Top Choice to a Hotel Londres. When we pulled up it looked like Norman Bates was going to come to the door. It was totally run down and in darkness. It was that bad that the taxi driver asked us if we wanted him to wait while we checked in. We told him to head off, but no-one came to the door. It looked like no one had been coming to the door for a few years! So if you find yourself in the Loja area, don't try this hotel!

We finally found a welcoming hotel further down the road, and ordered in pizza and had a bath!

The next day we took a look around the town, but on a rainy Monday afternoon there wasn't much to offer us, apart from an entrance gate that wouldn't look out of place in Disney Land. We grabbed some lunch and then decided to head to our next stop, Cuenca.


We arrived at Cuenca and checked into the Alternative Hostel. It was a bright and airy, open plan hostel with private rooms that were only a dollar more expensive than the dorm rooms. The only down side to this hostel was that because it was open plan it got pretty noisy.

In the morning we took a walk around the little town of Cuenca which was very charming, and looked around the huge museum that was opposite our hostel. The museum was called Museo Del Banco Central De Ecuador, inside the national bank of Ecuador, meaning there are some pretty scary guards standing outside 24 hours a day. Inside is a floor dedicated to Ecuadorian ethnography, and the main pull to it is the shrunken heads on display. They are pretty fascinating to look at! There are also some traditional style huts set up which you can walk through, all really interesting stuff!


The museum was really interesting and they have an outdoor archaeological site which, links onto a nice little park with ponds, nice flowers, llamas wandering around and a tropical bird aviary too (although the birds all seemed pretty distressed to me). A really good, free way to spend an afternoon.


In the evening, we decided to give ourselves a little taste of home by making a Full Enlish for dinner. Yum!


Another recommendation for eating is El Maiz restaurant, although it's a little pricey(er) the food is amazing! It was nice to have a break from all the chicken and rice that we had lived on in Peru!

We only spent 2 nights in Cuenca as we had decided to move quickly through Ecuador to get a full month in Colombia. So the next morning it was off the coast to Montanita!



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