Our original plan was to go to Cuenca but when we found out that it was an 8 hour or more busride we changed our minds and decided to go to Baños after all. In the taxi on the way to the bus terminal the taxi driver told us that the direct buses to Baños don't stop there but that we needed to go the Panamerica Desvio instead and catch a bus there. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to flag down the right bus but when we got there we saw that there actually was a proper bus stop and all the buses heading south stopped there. There were a lot more buses to Ambato but we considered the convenience of not having to change buses there worth waiting for and within a quarter of an hour we were rewarded as a direct bus to Baños arrived.

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We took bus from Quito to Latacunga, where we changed to a bus to Sigchos. We actually wanted to go to Isinlivi but there is only one bus a day at 13h00 which we had just missed by 10 minutes or so.

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Jose from Llumu Lama drove us to Sigchos and from there we caught a bus back to Latacunga.

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Two hours south of Quito by bus is Latacunga. Not a very charming town in any regard but a convenient one for visiting nearby Cotopaxi Volcano, the highest active volcano in the world. On a clear day the volcano towers over the city to its south. But the clear days are not so common. So with some reluctance I walked to the tour place in the rain and signed up for a tour to go see the volcano the next day. When I asked the guy at the tour place if it was going to be clear tomorrow he replied by saying that there is an expression in spanish which translates literaly to, "the weather is like a woman." 

On the morning of the tour the weather looked decent, it wasn´t raining and it seemed to be starting to clear up. Our first stop was at a weekly market in a nearby town, which had the usual collection of animals, foods, and junk. After that we proceeded to the national park via a somewhat rough dirt road. It was still impossible to see the volcano as it was totally shrouded in clouds. As we rounded the volcano and approached it from the north side, the clouds began to clear and we finally got a view of the peak and the rest of the mountain. It was really a nice view as the volcano has a near perfect conical shape with an interesting snow line. After taking some photos we drove up to the parking area which is at 4500 meters and then hiked up to the refuge at 4800 meters. It was quite steep and pretty tiring because of the altitude. We passed many people carrying their climbing gear up to the refuge. It is pretty popular to climb to the top but you need to use crampons and ice axe and other gear to make the ascent. I decided against climbing to the top because they didn´t have boots in my size, only up to size 12, and I would have had to leave at 1am with 50 other people in a single file line for the 5-6 hour climb up with a chance of it being totally shrouded in clouds. I thought it would be better to just hike up to the refuge. Even though it was up at over 15,000 feet, when the sun was out and the wind wasn´t blowing, you could have laid out like you were at the beach in southern California. But when the clouds blocked the sun and wind picked up it was probably only a few degrees above freezing with the wind chill. Up around the snow line there were three wolves scavenging for food. They weren´t bothered by the Ecuadorean military taking photos with their camera phones only 10 feet away. Before we started to descend the clouds started to come back in and soon the peak was covered in clouds, talking to some other people who had gone a few days before we were actually quite fortunate to have seen anything.

To the west of Latacunga is the town of Zumbahua, famous for, what else, its market; and the nearby town of Quilotoa perched on the rim of a spectacular crater lake. I took the bus to Quilotoa and the scenery was great once the bus left Latacunga and got out into the countryside. There were llamas grazing on the slopes of mountains with cell phone towers on top and I saw a bridge made from a single tree trunk with hand ropes next to the well paved road. After two hours of winding through these mountain roads and dropping off indigenous people in the middle of nowhere so they could get to their farming plots the bus reached Zumbahua. The town had about 8 streets and I was very glad that I had decided to go straight to Quilotoa rather than spend the night in Zumbahua; I have no idea what I would have done the rest of the day. It was only 12km more to Quilotoa, and it was pretty much straight up. When the bus arrived at the town, being the lone tourist on the bus I had to pay for the $1 tourist ticket to enter the town. The town consisted of about 4 hotels, all including breakfast and dinner because there were no restaurants in town save for two houses advertising that they served lunch. There was a basketball court for some reason, and a few houses scattered here and there and that was about it. I walked around the rim of the crater for a little ways and then hiked down to the lake, which was down over a thousand feet on a really steep path. After some time on the bottom I made the climb back up which was much more tiring than the climb down. As the sun started to set it began to get pretty cold as the wind picked up as well. Most of the people that lived up there wrapped scarves over their faces when they walked around outside to keep the dust and wind off their faces. Dinner consisted of a piece of chicken and rice, they were nice enough to cut up the chicken so that I got the piece of the spine right behind the neck so that there was exactly one piece of edible meat on it. Because they didn´t have any kindling left for the wood stove in my room and the bigger damp wood wouldn´t light I had to sleep under the thick blankets to ward off the 40 degree night-time temperatures.

In the morning they drove four of us back to Zimbahua in the back of a pickup truck that had wooden benches installed. On a bus leaving the market I had the privilege of seeing what must have been at least a 200 pound pig on the roof of a bus struggling to stay upright as its hooves skidded on the metal roof while the bus navigated the windy mountain road. How said pig made its way to the roof of the bus I am not sure. On the bus that I took from Zimbahua back to Latacunga I saw them haul a lamb up to the roof by its leg and then down again later along the route. I guess the livestock are not permitted to ride inside the buses in Ecuador, lucky for me and the other passengers.  

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Caught my first bus today!  $1.50 for a 1.5hr journey ... bargain!!  At every stop vendors would get on to try & sell this, that & the other! 

We found a nice hostel (Hotel Rosim) where I think we were the only guests! 

We set off for some lunch (in the rain!!) & the place was like a ghost town!  Im not sure if it was because it was siesta time or Sunday.  We came across a very friendly place to eat, where Dave & Andy got to practice their Spanish, whilst I sat in silence as I was suffering from the meal!!  I think its pizza for me all the way!! ;-)

When we got back to the room we found that there was Spiderman 2 on (in English!!) - yaaaay!  Luxury ...!

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After a couple of rain lashed days back in Quito, we´ve shifted South to the town of Latacunga. This place is a decent base to get out to a few different places in the central highlands. (One tip though - try not to arrive on a Sunday, very little is open. Having said that we did manage to find a place to serve us the local cuisine, I forget the Spanish name but it´s basically pig, corn, pig, cheese pasty thingies and more pig). 

We didn´t think we would get to see much of the much-vaunted Volcan Cotopaxi as, after a filthy grey Sunday, thick clouds were still dominating the horizons on Monday morning. Eventually we decided to give it a go and hired a guide (the very pleasant Hernando) and mountain bikes to make our way up to the national park and hope for the best.

In the end the best is pretty much what we got. After getting to the car park by 4WD and then panting our way up another 300 metres we got to Cotopaxi basecamp (4,800 metres). As we finished our lunch, the clouds that had been draped around the summit began to part and we got a full stunning view of Cotopaxi´s frozen cone summit. It was a great moment and I won´t forget it in a hurry. It genuinely felt like luck was on our side and, without wishing to sound like a new age hippy toss piece, I was on a natural high for the next couple of hours.

After the euphoria had diminished a little, we biked down the bone-rattling roads away from the summit and back into the flatter territory of the national park. This was great fun (although a little scary to start with) until Andy and I took a wrong turning and ended up trying to pedal our way uphill to where we had gone wrong. Hernando found us and, knackered by the breathless climb to base camp, we gave up and climbed aboard the 4WD to follow Marie (who had taken the right turning) to the park entrance.                      

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Time to leave the jungle and start the journey south.  However rather than heading back the way we came, Dave and I decided to try and complete the loop by staying overnight in Esmeraldes on the NW coast before getting back to Quito.

David kindly offered to give us a lift back to Borbon to catch a bus to Esmeraldes saving us a few hours, but in return for his favour, the road to Borborn was so bad that the suspension gave way on his 4 wheel drive hire car en route.  We continued and got dropped off but I only hope David managed to make it back to Quito (and had no problems returning the rental).

The coast road to Esmeraldes was pleasant and different to what we had seen before.  However on arrival to the as Lonely Planet calls it "notoriously dodgy" Esmeraldes, we immediately hit a police cordoned off area which convinced Dave and I that seeing and staying were 2 different things and quickly jumped onto a connecting bus to Quito.

So back to where I started.  The following day we met up with Marie on her return from the Galapagos (making us envious of her week) to head south. However as we had arrived back in Quito a day early, we gave ourselves a day in Quito before setting off which was lucky as it was a complete wash out.  To get something out of the day and to say farewell to Quito (especially being a Saturday) we hit the backpackers district. Having spotted it previously we had to start at the Victoria Reina (Queen Vic) where Dave had a pint of bitter (surprisingly good) and I had a pint of stout (not so good) complements of Sean Wells US$10 note.  However the place was deserted and overpriced so moved on.  The night was good but amazingly no other gringos but the place was still rammed with locals.  Even got to see a Depeche Mode tribute band amongst all the local music!

Sunday brought a 2 hour journey south to Latacunga to use as our next base for trips to Volcan Cotopaxi and Quilatoa Loop. Latacunga is a nice town with another pretty plaza and really friendly locals. A place that you can really feel at ease without the hustle and bustle of bigger towns.  What we didnt bargain for was that arriving at 2pm on a Sunday in a provincial town would not result in being able to book trips.  In fact every street was deathly quiet and really struggled to find anywhere to eat.  However the cafe we finally sat down in had very hospitable owners (Marcos and Cecilia) who laid down pretty much a banquet for the three of us including the local speciality crackling, sliced pork, boiled corn, popcorn (very common in savoury dishes especially to put in soup), banana and proper chips.  Marcos called me a "latin lover" ! and promptly started rhapsodising about his 27 year old daughter who had just returned from a Danish exchange and got a degree on Vikings !  I saw her and decided it was too early in the trip ;-)   The weather was rubbish so Dave and I spent the next few hours talking to Marcos and Cecilia practising our Spanish.  By the time we left the town was starting to come to life but had a quiet evening watching Spiderman 2 in Spanish.

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One last painful morning of sorting out logisitics for the Galapagos tour. After checkout it was in to a cab to the new town and a bit more running around.  First a pointless 1 km walk (I'm told) that was about a 2.5 km walk to the LAN office that was shut :( So a cab to the real office where I skillfully used my knowledge of Spanish (i.e. I knew some numbers and dates and could point) to try to adjust my flights so that I departed Guayaquil straight after coming back from the islands. I went through all that, only to discover I needed the hardcopy of my ticket which was back at Happy Gringos!!! Grrr! So another walk, then a cab back with my backpacks in tow and the flights were all sorted.

So all that was left was to enter the thief's kingdom of Quito bus terminal.... Apparently there's quite a few scams that go on here so you've got to keep your wits about you.  I actually didn't even go in to the terminal but got on to a bus out at the kerb.  Unfortunately there is a point where, having put your bag in the baggage hold, you have to let it pass from your view since the bus was starting to move (with luggage hold still open).  So all you can do is get a seat near that side of the bus and keep an eye out until the bus is on it's way.  Apparently another common one to look out for is someone on the bus insisting you have to put your daypack on the shelf above.  If you relent they'll grab it or something from it and do a runner, so just keep it on your lap.  

Another Aussie, Peter, that I met at the hostel in Chugchilan said that he got suckered on this bus leg.  Apparently he had his bag on the seat next to  him, and one guy behind him told him to move it so someone else could sit down.  So he carefully put it between his legs.  The ¨someone else¨ then dragged him in to a conversation, which the guy behind used to sift through his bag, while it was still between his legs!

So in to Latacunga which is a bit of a non-event really, would definitely have moved on if it wasn´t already 5 in the arvo.

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¡Latacunga Latacunga!

This is what the guy who hangs off the bus yells as we take off from Quito. We pick up a bunch of people along the 2 hour ride, along with the many people who come on the bus for a couple minutes to try to sell ice cream and fresh potato chips.  Pretty crazy place.

So, Phil´s friend John has been living in Lata for the last two years basically teaching English, and it was really great to meet up with him. He showed us around, and cooked us an amazing vegetarian soup dinner with fresh loaf of bread. yum..still one of my favorite meals so far. He and his Ecuadorian girlfriend, Toty, were great company.

The second day in town we took off early in the morning for Quilotoa, a crater lake a couple hours away. We thought we´d take the bus with John, but his friend Fabiela and her mom and dad gave us a ride instead. We got a typical Ecuadorian breakfast with them first: coffee, fresh juice, chicken and rice! it was very tasty, despite seeming more like a lunch to me. The ride to Lake Quilotoa was great (although cramped)...beautiful scenery, and John told us all about Ecuadorian politics. I´ll try to write more about that later, since it´s important that people realize how much the US is trying to screw over everyone all the time. The Lake itself is a huge crater, and beautiful blue-green colored. It´s salt water and sulphurous. That´s about all I know aobut it. We hiked to the bottom quickly and took a spin on the water with a dude charging wayyyy too much money, but it was fun. The hike back up was completely exhausting, and I took a burro for the last little bit because the altitude was really getting to me. It´s incredible because at home I can run 4 or so miles and feel ok, but going even 10 steps would leave me out of breath.

A great time was had by all and we even saw a rainbow (which I somehow knew the word for in Spanish, amazingly, ¨arco de iris¨) on the way back to Latacunga.

Off to Baños the next day...

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