Friday 4th November –Volcán Pasochoa
I must be
acclimatizing a bit because I managed to get a much better sleep last night. Mind you that was probably more to do with
the fact that I was completely exhausted after all the climbing, jumping and
mountain biking. And today it was time
for another six hour trek to Volcán Pasochoa.
Again the altitude affects us all, and we need loads of stops to get to
the top. But the walk is
spectacular. At times when we stop and
sit down for a much needed rest, I think to myself, ‘Ok, I’m trekking through The
Andes. How did this happen?’ It really is a pinch yourself moment. There are mountains all around with amazing
views into the valleys. At times the trail
under our feet is made from volcanic ash and in the areas cut for the road you
can see the layers which I assume are from the different eruptions, but I could
be wrong. The closer we get to the crater, the steeper it gets. But as we are approaching, it is pretty clear
that it’s not clear. There’s a bit cloud
overflowing from the crater and sure enough when we get to the top and peer in
we can see nothing. Apparently inside
the crater is a forest and the crater is huge.
But I’m not too disappointed that this time the weather has not worked
in our favour as the walk was great. As we begin our trek back, Chris, our guide
asks if want to take a detour and attempt to find a large waterfall. Being an adventurous bunch we all say yes,
not quite expecting what happens.
Once we leave the
trail it starts easy enough but soon we are in amongst trees and only following
the noise of the cascading water and creating the trail as we go. Eventually we find a stream and start to
follow that down, which leads us to the base of the waterfall. Exhausted I sit
while the others venture more. I wish I
had gone with them. I though there
wouldn’t be much more to see, but apparently they found caves and walks under
the waterfall. Ah well, I’ll know for next
time not to miss out. Then to get back
to the hostel all we need to do is follow the river. Which works pretty well for about 20 metres until we come across a large waterfall that there is no hope of descending. Time to start creating our own trail
again. But with more difficulty. David trail blazes. We aren’t even on solid ground anymore. We are literally climbing through trees,
using tangled branches and moss as foot holds.
Too many times when I grabbed a branch to haul myself up it crumbled in
my hand. Daylight can’t even be seen
anymore. But finally a shout from David
means we can escape. It was getting a bit
hairy, but the relief at the sunlight was worth it. Then we found ourselves at the waterfall we
did the jump from yesterday. No jumping
today though. Once was enough.
After getting back
to the hostel, Lauren, David, Elisha and I get fed and jump in a taxi/jeep to
Machachi to get on a bus to Banos. The taxi
stops, changes driver and we pick up a guy and some woman with a baby. Not uncommon in Ecuador it seems as this has
happened before. After setting off
again, all is going well until the driver begins to get agitated as there’s a
police checkpoint ahead. What’s going to
happen here? After showing ID the driver
is taken from our jeep and photographed.
The jeep is photographed. He
spends a lot of time discussing matters with the police before handing over a
bribe so we can get on our way. The guy
that jumped in the back earlier has disappeared. Apparently he legged it across a field as
soon as he spotted the police too. Just
another day travelling in South America.
We finally reach Machachi and have to flag a bus as we stand on the side
of the Pan-American Highway.
After a three hour
bus ride, we reach Banos. I like it
immediately. It seems really chilled and
we have arrived on a weekend when all the locals are on holiday too. There is a great atmosphere about the town
with bands playing in the square and lots of kids riding on a road train around
the town. After checking into Plantas y
Blanco we head out for a bite to eat and at really nice Italian place.
Canyoning – abseiling
down waterfalls - booked for early tomorrow.
Going be yet another challenge for my fear of heights. Maybe it won’t exist any more?
Saturday 5th November – Canyoning
Another new activity
ticked off the list. It was both a
little scarier than I expected but also a bit easier. After getting kitted up in our wet suits and
canyoning trainers we were taken to the first waterfall where we had to get our
harnesses put on. My fear started to
kick in at that point and when I noticed that one of my straps was broken and
would not click in properly, I asked for it to be changed. They laughed and said it was fine. I panicked and said it was not fine. Thankfully Elisha was on hand to help
out. She trains abseiling, so we found
another harness and she helped me get it on right. Now feeling a little more confident we head
to the first waterfall. It’s about 8 m
high. There are about 15 people in the
group and the instructor starts explaining in Spanish how we do it. At this point I’m starting to feel very under
prepared and in big trouble. But Lauren,
who claimed to only have a little bit of Spanish, starts to translate for
me. Thank god! Being a little apprehensive about it all I
hang back as long as possible, but eventually it’s my turn. Lauren was as afraid as me and went before
me. So once I saw her at the bottom and
happy my panic eased. David gave me
loads of instructions - he used to do abseiling too. I’m definitely the novice in our travelling
group. Everyone has something to offer. All I have is panic and too many questions. But I did it!
It was much easier than I expected - except for whacking my knee at the
very end after swinging out too far and losing all my coordination. The next waterfall was just going down like a
slide while attached to a rope. Then the
final one was a different experience altogether. After abseiling down about two metres, we were then attached to a rope and no more abseiling. We had to clamber off the side of a ledge and
get dropped 30 m. This brought back memories
of the Tarzan Swing when doing the zip lining in Costa Rica. And the same absolute terror kicked in. But it was brilliant. I think the instructor dropped me down a
little slower than the others as he knew I was terrified. So my fear of heights is still there, but now
not stopping me. A big improvement.
After strolling
around Banos, we went out that evening to the Swiss Bistro. Amazing food.
And then hit the bars of Banos for an evening with the partying locals. It’s hard to choose a bar, but not in a good
way. It’s a lot of loud, bad music. But eventually find a rock bar closely
followed by The Leprechaun Bar. The
least Irish looking Irish bar I have ever been in. But it had a big fire out the back so we could
chill and get ready for some dancing – at which point all music stops and we
are ushered out. That plan didn’t go too
well. But a lot of fun was had after
another adrenalin rush day.
Sunday 6th November – Decision Made
Sadly Lauren and David
left today for Lima. But if plans work
out right, I’ll hopefully see them at some stage again in South America. There’s talk of Christmas/New Year in Buenos
Aires!
Another Sunday in
Ecuador – but thankfully Banos didn’t shut down as much as Quito. Today after doing a few calculations and
being convinced by a few people, including Elisha, that not going to the
Galapagos would be something I’d regret forever, I have decided that it’s a
must-do trip. Now it’s time to get back
to Quito and book a boat. It’s going to
be some experience. A place I have
wanted to visit all my life and it’s finally going to happen – I hope.
Monday 7th November – Back To Quito
On the bus back to
Quito Elisha and I decide that to improve our Spanish we are only allowed to
speak to each other in Spanish on the bus – a three hour journey. This doesn’t work so good. Elisha - being very dedicated and determined
- insists I recount a story from Bogotá completely in Spanish. After taking 15 minutes to say one sentence
my brain begins to implode. The two Ecuadorian
guys sitting opposite us can’t stop laughing.
I tried, that’s a start. I may
have failed but at least I tried.
After an interesting
music selection on the bus which ranged from local traditional music to Ace of
Base, 2Unlimited and Vanilla Ice, we eventually get back to The Secret Garden
hostel. Right away I bump into Richie
who I met in Panama City. Himself and
Dee are here to get to the Galapagos too but will be leaving before myself and
Elisha can. Then bump into Rich who we
trekked with in Cotopaxi. He’s getting
his Cotopaxi climb sorted. I’m jealous,
but still think I can’t make it up. It’s
something I’m putting on my list of things to do on my next trip to South
America – whenever that may be.
Tuesday 8th November – Galapagos Booked
Today, Elisha and I
headed into the centre of Quito to get a last minute deal on a boat for
the Galapagos – and we got it on a boat called the Valkiria. It looks like we are also going to be joined
by William who we have been bumping into in Quito and Cotopaxi hostels.
Wednesday 9th November – Leigh’s Birthday Drinks
Although I’m very
excited about the Galapagos trip, it’s really started to frustrate me about how
I have to pay. After several trips to ATMs
and then being told I could pay by card with a 10% charge (no thank you!) I’m
now being told I have to transfer money from my account. This is all starting to sound a little bit
dodgy and right now if I get on the boat at all I’ll be amazed. But I’ve bitten the bullet and transferred the
money. Now it’s time to cross every
extremity and hope I have a place on the boat.
It was Leigh’s
birthday today, one of the guys working at The Secret Garden, so after a few birthday
drinks at the hostel, we all headed over to the Mariscal area for a night
out. The first bar we hit was full of
Gringos, so we quickly ditched that to try to find a salsa bar. But for some reason as soon as we walked into
each bar they would change the music from local salsa to rubbish Gringo music. Once we managed to convince a bar to keep to
the local music, we ended up having a great night. Some of the guys we were out with could salsa
to a level that was amazing to watch.
Obviously I stood away from this as all I could do was step on people’s
toes. Elisha attempted to give me a
quick lesson. It was a disaster and the teacher
wasn’t to blame.
Hostel life always throws
up its little surprises. After we got
back from the bar at 3 a.m. I was met by Elisha and Ellen coming out of our
dorm laughing. It was pretty clear why
when I went in. Someone was sleeping in
my bed. Feeling like of the Three Bears
and being a little bit the worse for wear and confused I had to investigate why
this was and asked the girl why she had decided to use my bed. She seemed as perplexed as me. But it turned out the security guard had let
her in and pointed her in the direction of the nearest free bed. He obviously failed miserably in his mission
as my bed was quite clearly not free. I
was able to jump into a spare bed in the dorm.
Will sort this mix up out in the morning.
Thursday 10th November – Finally – Galapagos Tickets
After getting a haircut
(trust me this was a more scary experience than it sounds as I had to ask in Spanish
for what I wanted – and so far I have pretty much never got what I asked for on
my first ask), Elisha and I went to our tour agent and finally got our tickets
for our Galapagos trip in our hands. A
huge relief.
In the evening Rich
came back from his Cotopaxi climb. He made
it to the top but said it was a very tough climb. But he made it which was amazing. Still really jealous of all these people
doing it. There are volcanoes in Peru
that I’ll definitely will have to attempt now.
I need to be able to say I achieved one of the major climbs by the time
my trip is over.
Now – time to pack
for the Galapagos Islands. Cannot
believe I’m actually saying that. The excitement
just keeps growing.
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