Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The journey from Huaraz up to Ecuador was long and made over three sittings. The first port of call on this stretch of the Panamerican highway was the small resort town of Huanchaco, an out of season surf and fishing town three quarters of the way up the Peruvian coastline. Not much going on there, but I did hook up with a Jaime, an Irish vet also on his way to Ecuador, so we teamed up for the journey. Next up was Mancora, the Peruvian surf town that I had already visited / blogged so no need to go back through it again here. This was to be my final destination in Peru as we left for Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, the following morning.
The border at Aguas Verdes has the dubious reputation as 'the worst border crossing in South America'. Looking out of the window of our coach this appeared to ring true as the scene was one of complete and utter chaos - legions of vendors, beggars, contrabandistas and who knows who else flanked the streets of skank, and we saw somebody dragged from a car and bundled into a nearby house. Pretty glad we weren't stopping! We got to the border itself and it transpired that Jamie had lost his immigration card, so he slipped a $10 note into his passport and with a nudge and a wink we out of Peru and over into Ecuador.
The journey up to Quito was an overnighter and we arrived early in the morning. We had both opted to stay in Quito's old town area, as it's considered safer than the busier, brasher New Town area. I stayed at the Secret Garden, which turned out to be a good move, very social, good food, some ridiculous pub quizzes and the enjoyment of watching people's reactions when they heard that Michael Jackson had died. Each night we got a taxi into the New Town though, clearly that's where the action was. The Old Town itself is described in my guidebook as a 'myriad of smells.... breathtaking architecture' but in reality the only 'smells' came from the ubiquitous fast food joints and the 'breathtaking' was the climb up The Basillica's bell tower. Guess I had been spoiled by my time in Arequipa!
Rejoice! I received an e-mail from Kev and Claire, friends from Brighton who had started a round the world trip in Central America. We were hoping that our paths would cross, though we had not really stayed in contact much but now Kev and Claire were to arrive here in Quito after the weekend. As I had already had my fill of Quito I decided to head to Banos for the weekend, with two English guys I had met, Taj and Will. But not before we made a half day trip to the equator line, which is not far out of Quito and a pleasant enough time filler / hangover killer.
So Banos - a tourist town 4 hours east of Quito made famous by their thermal baths (Banos translates as 'Baths') and the adjacent Volcano Tungurahua which has a nasty habit of blowing its top, the last time being in 2006 which caused the evacuation (and subsequent looting) of the town itself. This place is as tourist as it gets, both with Ecuadorians and foreigners, and features the usual gambit of trekking / rafting / zip-lining / mountain biking / etc. We ourselves opted for hiring some quad bikes and getting shoulder to shoulder with the natives in the thermal baths, and playing them at pool in the numerous bars on offer. I'm glad I came here at the weekend, the place on Monday was a ghost town. Still, it served as a good respite from Quito, though I was now on my way back there for hook ups with Kev and Claire!
- comments