Where's Andrew

QUITO, LATACUNGA & BANOS ECUADOR - SEPT. 12 TO 19

On the the 12th, I land back at the Quito airport a little after 4:00PM and return to L'Auberge Inn where I had a reservation and where I had left my large pack before going to the Galapagos Islands. It had been a while since I had done any hikes, so the next morning I decided to go hike to the summit of Rucu Pichincha. Looking back, it probably wasn't my best decision as I had been at sea level for over 8 days and it should take a couple of days to readjust to the altitude at Quito. To make matters worse, the hike did not actually start in Quito, instead, I had to catch the Teleferico (Gondola) up to the top of the mountain on the east side of Quito.

The elevation at the top of the Teleferico is about 4200m which is where the trail begins. It's a 5 hour hike to the top of Rucu Pichincha and back and the trail steadily climbs to about 5000m. It is around 11:00AM when I start and the views of the city from the trail are awesome. The trail varies from a steady moderate uphill climb to a totally steep climb. By the end of the first 20 minutes, I'm already totally out of breath. I find I'm ok on the moderate inclines but the steep stuff is tough and I need to stop every couple of minutes for 20 to 30 seconds to catch my breath.

I also find that my hands and fingers have a slight tingly feel which I know is a sign that my body is not processing enough oxygen in the blood to my extremeties. I consider stopping and returning to the Teleferico but I continue on. Rucu Pichincha is a large rock face in the distance and I trudge on for a couple of hours. When I get to the bottom of the rock face the trail turns and traverses along the side of the rock face. I'm now at about 4800m and there is a steep drop to my right along this next section of the trail. After about 10 minutes, I start to notice how dizzy I am feeling and how narrow the path is and I finally realize that I'm just asking to take a nasty fall. I'm so close to the top which is only 500m farther up the trail but I turn around and descend back to the gondola.

The next morning I get up early and say goodbye to Quito and catch a bus to Latacunga which is about 2 hours south. The view from the bus that day is dominated by Cotopaxi which is Ecuador's famed snow capped, perfect cone shaped volcano and 2nd highes mountain at 5897m. Latacunga is a small city in the highlands right along the Pan-American Highway and I get a room at the Estambul Hotel for $12US. The town is nothing special although is does have a nice central plaza but it is a good base for some day hikes.

The next morning I catch a bus to La Luguna de Quilotoa which is a scenic crater lake. I am expecting a short 45 minute bus ride but it takes more than 2 hours and the bus goes uphill the whole way. There is supposed to be a nice 4 hour hike around the crater but when I see the lake, the hike looks much easier and shorter than the one I did a few weeks ago near Otavalo. It is just after noon now and the last direct bus back to Latacunga is at 3:15PM and I think I may just make it. A young German couple got off the bus with me and we decide to do the hike together.

The terrain here is very dry and the path around the lake is made of sand. It's like walking on really dry sand on the beach. It is also extremely windy along the top of the rim and either I'm sweating to death on the climbs or freezing in the wind. We quickly find that the trail goes up and down way more than it looks and much of the trail is on steep terrain so much of the trail slants sideways quite steeply which becomes hard on the feet and ankles. We are surprised to find that it takes more than 2.5 hours to get half way around where we stop for lunch and I'm starting to worry that the 1200ml of water I brought will not be enough. The trail is at about 4000m and I think the altitude is taking its toll again.

By about 5:00PM, the end is in site about 3kms away but there is one last long and steep climb and both the German girl and I are just about done. I'm thinking how much I want to stop but I'm in the middle of no where and it going to be dark in just over an hour. So, all I do is keep my eyes on the feet in front of me and focus on the next 100m. When we finally get to the top of the climb, I get a second wind and the last 1.5kms is not too bad. I drink the last of my water just as we are coming into town at 6:15PM as the sun goes down. This hike has kicked my butt. We catch a Collectivo down to a nearby town on a main highway and are soon on the bus back to Latacunga. For some reason I can't sleep on the bus like normal even though I'm exhausted. I have some fruit and snacks I keep for travelling at my hotel and I'm too tired to go to a restaurant for dinner so I just go back to my room and eat what I have and go to sleep.

The next morning I catch a bus to Banos which is only about 2 hours south. I was going to stay another day and go hiking but I am not up for it after yesterday's hike. Banos is a beautiful little town  nestled between the Rio Pastaza and the Tungurahua Volcano. The terrain reminds me a bit of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregan only with big mountains and volcanos. I'm looking forward to trying some of the famous hot spring baths that the town was named after and I find a room in a really nice hostal called Plantas y Blanco for $14US. I have been travelling for just over 6 months and surprisingly, I have not had any stomach problems that are usually associated with travelling in this part of the world, but that evening my luck runs out. I spend the next couple of days never letting a bathroom out of my site, hardly eating anything and not wanting to go anywhere near a bath.

Cotopaxi

After a couple of days, I'm finally feeling better and the MasterCard that I've been trying to get replaced for a couple months now has arrived at the Fedex depot in Quito. So I leave by bags at the hostel in Banos and catch a 7:00AM bus back to Quito which takes about 4 hours. The Fedex depot is on the other side of Quito from the bus station and it takes over an hour to get there by the city buses. Surprise, surprise the card is there, I kind of expected it not to be. So, I'm soon in a bus heading back to the south bus terminal and then catch another bus back to Banos and I get back around 6:00PM. What a long day of riding a bus but at least my stomach was back to normal.

Tomorrow I will catch an early bus to the coastal town of Montanito to meet up with Shane and Seleka who I met in Guatape to help celebrate Shane's 25th birthday (for the 11th time). Montanito is a well known surf town with one of the best beaches in Ecuador and it will be nice to see the mainland coast before heading to Peru and it will also be nice to catch up with friends.

During my time in Ecuador, I have really become aware of how many head hazards there are when you are my height travelling in Latin America. I have hit my head on something so many times that I have a permanent bump on the top of my head. This has been a problem ever since I left Mexico. It seems that there are no building codes or at least they are not inforced when it comes to heights of structures. The worst are doorways into bathrooms; for some reason there seems to always be a step from every hotel room up into the bathroom and the doorway is always low, but the doorway is just high enough that it is out of my field of view. The number of time I have hit the top of my head on the bathroom doorframe is too many to count. Stairwells with a ninety degree turns are also bad. The height above where the landing is never high enough and I always hit my head. Every doorway on Encantada, the boat in the Galapagos, was a head hazard. When I caught all the buses to Quito to get my credit card and then return to Banos was also interesting. I can't stand straight up on any bus but there is a hand rail that goes around the perimeter at less than my eye height. Many of the local women and some of the men can't even reach it so they have straps that hang down 6 or 8 inches. I've even had local people wanting to get my picture because I'm so tall and I often get interesting looks from people when I pass them on the street.

Adios for now amigos.