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August 31, 2005

Mindo & the Quilotoa Loop

We have travelled through a good part of the country in the past month and have done it all on the local bus system. The buses here are definitely an adventure in themselves and require a bit of describing. I was pleased to see that the buses were quite comfortable, and of similar style to the greyhound buses back home. After travelling in Central America, I was prepared for rickety old school buses whose shocks have long since ceased to function. The nicest thing about travelling by bus in Ecuador is that if you forget to bring food or drink, you won't go hungry. People are constantly getting on and off the bus selling everything from water and bread to roasted chicken on a stick (I tend to stick to the baked goods). It isn't uncommon for someone to board the bus and give a full ten minute presentation about the excellent product they are trying to sell. I´ve seen one person go on for fifteen minutes about the high quality of a chocolate bar.

The actual bus journeys vary from tame to hair raising. I´m not sure how the drivers make their wages, but it seems that the quicker they arrive at their destination, the more they get paid. Some trips have been on narrow windy roads with the driver racing at speeds suitable for an indy car, while passing another bus on a blind corner. I try to put my faith in that the driver knows what he is doing, but passing rows of crosses lining a hairpin corner where the gaurdrail has been taken out does little to calm my nerves. This is all while Sinéad is reading in the paper that bus crashes are the leading cause of death in Ecuador.

This past week has been filled with some great activities in beautiful settings. We made the transition from the coast to the highlands town of Mindo, famous for bird watching. The idea of getting up at five in the morning to look through a telescope at some distant birds wasn't drawing us in, but we were intruiged by the nearby waterfall and the possibility of tubing down the river. A tubing trip was arranged, but it didn´t end up being all that we thought it would be. This was in part due to our lack of Spanish and the guide´s eagerness to sign us up. Our tour consisted of five of us in tubes that were tied together as we headed down some class 2 rapids. The water level wasn´t too high, so as soon as one tube hit a rock, the entire train would stop. There were a few good sections, but nothing too outstanding.

Our spirits were uplifted once we walked to the waterfall. Located right above the falls are a couple good swimming holes with a manmade waterslide dropping into one. Sinéad played the guinea pig, testing the slide out first. After watching her successful trial run I decided it was safe for me. Looking down the slide I pictured myself scraping against it's dry walls, so I flooded it as much water as I could and took off. By the time I headed into the banked corner I realized that I was going way to fast and possibly about to head over the edge. I managed to stay in the slide but got turned around backwards and was thrown into a pool that was not nearly as deep as I had thought. Luckily no injuries occured and we did a few more runs, much to the dismay of the old man who kept telling us to slow down. We think the slide was intented for kids and not for late 20´s adults.

For the past couple days we headed off the beaten track a bit to check out the Quilotoa loop, a circuit through some of the most scenic parts of Ecuador. We started in Chugchilan, and then undertook the six hour trek to Laguna Quilotoa, a lake in the crater of a volcano. Armed with a pocketfull of rocks to fend off the wild dogs, we trekked down and up a steep ravine and through some farmland where life appears as if it hasn´t changed much for hundreds of years. Locals working in their fields gave us some mildly interested stares as we passed by, but otherwise paid no mind to the two gringos stumbling up the path. Although the hike was tough, it came with a great payoff as we climbed up to the crater´s edge to look down into the beautiful emerald lake. Our luck with the hike changed somewhat as we took a wrong turn and headed down part of the crater along steep paths and right through some herds of sheep. A point came where it looked a little dangerous as a somewhat wild looking dog gave us a piece of his mind, but one hurl of the rock and he took off running. We eventually made our way back up to the crater rim and to the safety of a hostal. Unfortunately the last bit of our trip was tainted by a local that walked in front of us as our ¨guide¨, and then demanded $5 each for his troubles. In my poor spanish I tried to explain that we didn´t ask for his help, but he was very insistant. I finally gave him $2 and we walked away feeling ripped off and frustrated at our lack of communication skills. Luckily such a small event didn´t tarnish the great day that we had.

Click Here to see the photos

Posted by brett at August 31, 2005 09:51 AM

Comments

Posted by: Eoin Colquhoun at August 31, 2005 03:23 PM

Posted by: Gregory Baillie at September 1, 2005 03:01 AM

Posted by: sheila mcginnity at September 14, 2005 06:44 AM

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