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This is a rather late blog since I haven't had the time or energy to write it. I am also clumping a few places together. Starting with Quito, the highest official capital in the world. Quito was better than Lima and La Paz but still just a massive city that overwhelmed me. When we arrived to Quito, Michelle and I were initially excited because there was a lot of things to do there and around that interested us but we were soon overwhelmed. We visited the vivarium (reptile and amphibian house) for $3 USD, it was well maintained and had interesting animals but we were not allowed to take photos. While we were in Quito we made friends with a Dutch guy named Harold who was really fun to spend a few days with. On another day we left New Town, which is more commercialized, and ventured into Old Town, which is more prominent in colonial buildings and churches. Since I have little interest in that I did not venture long in Old Town but it was still pretty.
On another day, Michelle and Harold went to ride the teleferico (urban gondola) and I had a day to myself where I visited the botanical garden and museum of natural sciences (both are in Parque Carolina and right next to each other). First I visited the massive garden for $3USD and spent about two hours in the maze of this place. It was so beautiful and hardly anyone was there so I simply got relaxing alone time. I took so many photos of plants and flowers though, I felt like Michelle haha (for those who know how she is with plants). After the botanical garden, I walked over to the museum of natural sciences which cost $2 and only spent about 30 minutes there. It was rather small and lacked in depth information on their specimens so I called it a day.
During our time in Quito before and after our trip into Cuyabeno, we spent a lot of time in a restaurant/cafe called the Magic Bean and figuring out the local metro bus transport system. The Magic Bean wasn't cheap but the food was good and we weren't finding many places for vegetarians so we splurged a bit and ate well.
The thing about Quito though that I will sadly never forget is how I got pickpocketed on the bus. I always have my fanny pack in the front and am cautious with my surroundings but seriously in a span of two minutes my fanny pack was unzipped and my coin purse, which had a little over $300, was gone. Of course I was incredibly upset and cried for a bit but I got over it. Nothing I can do about it and it could easily have been a worse or dangerous situation.
I will say though coming back to Quito from the Amazon was horrible. We went from falling asleep to sounds of insects and frogs to traffic and sirens, big cities are really not my cup of tea. Quito really isn't bad but I was anxious to get out and move on.
From Quito, we made a trip to Volcan Cotopaxi, the second highest active volcano in the world. We went with Harold and his man friend he made through Grinder app, his name was Wes and he was also from the states. We left our hostel and took the metro bus to the Quitumbe bus station so we could get dropped off at Cotopaxi National Park. We got a bus that was bound for Latacunga and after about an hour outside of town we were dropped off on the side of the highway. Upon arriving there were a few pickup trucks waiting to take people into the park. The four of us each paid $20, $10 of which is the park entrance, so we had our way in and a guide as well. He was very friendly but not very talkative so we didn't get much information from him. But he took us to Laguna Limpiocunga which was a small lake but still beautiful. After that we drove about an hour uphill on a very unpaved road to the bottom of the refuge camp.
From there the four us (guide stayed behind) started climbing up the sandy steep mountain to make it to the refuge camp. It was about an hour walk and was strenuous from the altitude and the fact is was intensely windy and light rain. We made it to the refuge base lodge (which was under renovation so no one could stay there or use the facility to warm up) where the weather changed from rain to snow. We made it to 15,953 feet but then climbed another 20 minutes through snow and volcanic rock to see the glacier nearby at 16,405 feet. By this time the weather was pretty bad and we couldn't even actually see the volcano the whole time we were in the park. We found out later from our Cuyabeno friends that there is a place to stay further down the volcano but within the park and from there you can hike around, rent bikes and actually see the volcano in the morning before the clouds roll in. This place is called Secret Garden and is $35 a night so we skipped this since we found out after. After we hiked around, we basically ran down the mountain since it was easier than walking and got back to the warmth of the truck. We drove back out from the park and back to the side of the highway waiting for a bus that was Quito bound.
After Quito we went to Otavalo for the Saturday market, evidently the largest outdoor artisan market in South America. We got a bus from Quito to Otavalo which took about four hours, longer than we were anticipating. And on the way I saw something that has been in my mind and will forever be there anytime I am on a bus. At one point I looked out the window and saw about six locals standing on the side of the road, one woman was holding a crying baby with an incredibly bloody face and another woman next to her also had an injury below her eye and was bleeding. Next to these people was a stopped bus and as we drove by we saw that the back of it was smashed in by about 10 feet. Behind this bus was another bus but the front window was completely smashed. So we just missed a major crash and I could not help thinking that at any time in travel or really anytime there could be a car accident/bus accident and it is out of your control. Also the image of that baby nearly killed me. So for the rest of the bus ride to Otavalo I was highly alert. But we made it and no more accidents occurred.
We made it into Otavalo and went out for some Chinese rice, which you can always count on that being cheap for good portions, good for vegetarians and simply being open. The next day was the Saturday market and people were setting up for it as early as 5:30/6am. We stayed at a hostel overlooking the market, The American Inter Hostel which was $10 a night. It was great because Michelle and I did quite a bit of shopping and we were so close to our hostel to drop it all off. I'll just say I got new things I wanted, more souvenirs and spent too much money but all worth it. After we visited the market we tracked down a taxi and tried going to Parque Condor, which is a birds of prey rehabilitation center, but after we got into the taxi it started hailing drastically. The driver said it has never hailed as hard as it was before, they were marble sized.
So we canceled the park and hid in our hostel for the rest of the day. We left Otavalo and made our way south back to Baños so we could meet up with our Cuyabeno friends there. Some words of advice though for Otavalo. If leaving from Quito leave from Carcelen station, not Quitumbe otherwise you'll be on the bus for an extra hour and pay almost twice as much. Upon getting to Otavalo just stay in a hostel near the square where the market takes place as there are several. Lastly, always bargain for cheaper prices. There are a lot of people selling the same or similar items so you really can get them to go down.
For my next blog entry I will be updating my Baños blog since we returned and spent five more days there and then onto the Ecuadorian coast.
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