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Crossing the border between Ecuador and Peru is not a pleasant thing. When I got off the bus in Huaquilla (Ecuador) about 20 men came around me trying to sell transport to Peru and offering to exchange dollars. One caught my backpack while the others fought for deciding who was going to take me. The place was horrible. It looked like with some parts of Ciudad del Leste (in Paraguay). I walked about 400m to the bridge on the border. I was carrying my backpack and always begging them to leave me alone. They continued walking with me, they were all talking at the same time and trying to sell me something.
On the bridge, I ran into a policeman and asked him there was a place to stamp the passport. I also wanted to know if there was public transport to Tumbes, I didn’t want to go to Peru with any of those guys that were harassing me. He was not precise in any of the answers. Moreover, “my friends” were talking the whole time, it made even harder to understand him...
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Cuenca is one of the biggest cities of the southern mountain range of the Ecuador. It has a Spanish architecture and tradition in open markets. On my first day in the city, early in the morning, I could see the commemorations of Pichincha battle day. It was a national holiday. One more time many people in uniform and armed in the central square. The ceremony did not last very long; it was about an hour, there was a band and politicians speech. It is incredible the amount of armed military one can see in Ecuador.
The city market is famous in the region, mainly on Thursdays. The colors of the clothing and from the fruits and vegetables make the place a great rainbow. I spend almost the whole day there, talking to the people and photographing.
I decided to visit Ingapirca, the only Inca ruin preserved in the Ecuador. This place was previously inhabited by Cañari indigenous, the Incas had conquered them and used the place as main point linking Cuzco to the north villages...
I woke up early to go the famous train tour to the Devil’s Nose. The train leaves Riobamba at 7am. The tourists arrive a lot earlier to get a good place, the majority go on the roof of the cars to enjoy the landscape. It was cold and a bit rainy.
As soon as it leaves Riobamba we can see the countryside of Ecuador. Mountains squared by the plantations. Farmers working. Some people stay sitting by the railroad to see the train passing by (it works 3 times a week). Kids wave to the tourists. It must be funny for them to see a train crowded with tourists on the roof.
The train stops all the time to local people get in and off with their loads. The last stop before the Devil’s Nose is Alausi, a small town in the mountains. There some more tourists squeeze themselves to get to the roof with their photo and video cameras. The train continuous to the valley.
The way is interesting...
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By noon I left Baños (1800m) to Riobamba(2800m). At 2 o’clock I got in town and arranged a tour to see the volcano Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador. They say it is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. This time there was a Dutch couple, a guide, a driver and me. My expectations were very low since the day was cloudy and I had stayed a week in Baños trying to see the top of Tungurahua, what I couldn’t because of the clouds.
As we begin to go up, the sky seamed to clear. We started to see a little of the mountain, sudently it was there, the white top of Chimborazo. It was beautiful, as if we had gone higher than the clouds, as if we were looking from the top. The happiness was general, the Dutch couple was also frustrated for not being able to see the Tungurahua. On the way to the refuge we saw some llamas and vicuñas.
At 4:30 we got to the refuge (4800m) and started the walk to the second reguge (5000m)...
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Baños, a small town south of Quito, attracted me as I got off the bus and could see the mountains surrounded it. With a population of less than 20.000 inhabitants, the city is located in the botton of the Tungurahua volcano. It is active and has probabilities of erupting any time. In 1999 the city was evacuated for being considered dangerous. As the volcano didn’t erupted, the inhabitants came back even though the it is still active. The population complain that their things were stolen when they were away. They even distrust the police that made them leave.
In the weekends the city is croweded with people from the nearby villages. They all come to the mess, to here the band play in the square or to eat marmalades. It gave me the feeling of traveling back in time...
Leia Mais... / Read More...We (an Australian couple, an English girl, a guide and I) left Baños early to spend a few days in indigenous huts in the jungle. The trip to Puyo was great. We rode on the roof of the bus van, it was the best place to see the scenery. We passed through some beautiful waterfalls. Before going to the camp site we stopped in a place called Reserva Fátima, a natural reserve for animal and environment. The infrastructure was really simple, it looked like a house with a patio full of animals. They take care of turtles, alligators and snails. There are also parrots, macaws and monkeys that the police apprehends and brings there for rehabilitation to the environment.
In the afternoon we got to our campsite to leave our stuff and left for a 4 hours walk in the jungle. We stopped to see some medicine plants. As it was rain season, we walked (with rubber boots) the whole time on the mud. The end of our trail there was a waterfall where we took a shower...
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Today I passed the day in the museums. As it was an ugly cloudy day, in the morning I visited the museum Antiguo Cuartel of la Real Audiencia in the center of the city. The building was restored and has a great collection of sacred art. University students guide the visit showing the different faces of the museum. The majority of the pictures did not have author, according to the guide it is because they were done by mestizos and indians, and these did not have the right to sign their paintings.
On the afternoon I visited the Casa de la Cultura, a complex with diverse exhibition halls, museum and cinema. The Museo Nacional has an excellent display of art from pre-Columbian period to nowadays. Here it impressed me their organization to the pre-Columbian art area. This art is displayed in dark rooms, black walls, shown inside of illuminated windows. It is all catalogued by tribe and time. Together, there are maps of the Ecuador showing the region where the tribe inhabited...
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Again, I went to see the open market in Otavalo. From there I decided to visit the Cuicocha lake. I caught a bus up to a small town called Cotacachi; from there I got a taxi to Cuicocha. The name of the lake is due to the fact that in the region there is a lot of “cui”. Cui means guinea pig and cocha, lake in Quechua. At an altitude of 3070 meters and a depth of 180m, the lake was formed in the crater of a volcanic eruption. It stored water in its interior and has an island in the middle.
I did a boat tour to go around the island. It didn’t take long but it was worthwhile to see the wall of the volcano from inside. I could see water bubbles from gases that come up from the depths. The color of the water, sometimes dark blue, other dark green, makes the landscape to be a good excuse do go all the way there. It gives a great peaceful feeling.
A week in Santa Cruz Island was enough to everybody knows me there. Beyond the fact that Puerto Ayora city is so small, there was also not many tourists around, it was low season and the airport was closed. The island has good attraction; one that I liked was bird watching sitting by the dock, especially watching pelicans and herons feeding themselves. Another activity was to see the enormous turtles in Charles Darwin Station.
The Tortuga Bay, about 3 km walking distance from the city center, is one of the most beautiful places in the region. It is a white sand beach, waves in the sea and some natural pools. I also rented a bike to visit the countryside of the island, to see small towns like Bela Vista.
I was there because i wanted to go diving. I stayed inland and got a boat every day to the dive site. As there was not so many tourists on the island, there was not many options of diving tours. I end up doing 6 great dives. The first two dives were in a place called Gordon Rocks...
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