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We absolutely loved Ecuador! Its such a beautiful place, especially Baños. We managed to tick off a few things on our list of things to do before we're 30 (...well, I´ve had to change mine to "before I die"!)
In Quito we did a city tour which included a few churches - one of which, the Basilica, instead of having gargoyles protruding from the sides, it had animals from the Galapagos Islands and the jungle - very unusual but we like it! Another which took over 100 years to complete was totally covered inside with pictures and carvings made with real gold leaves. Practically the whole of the inside of the church was real gold! Pretty cool.
The tour included a trip to the museum right on the equator. That was fascinating. It had a few different experiments to prove that we were right at the middle of the earth, including showing how the water goes down the plug hole clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere...and straight down the middle on the equator.
Will have to finish this blog another time.....time has run out...
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Quito and Banos, Ecuador (8th - 17th March)
Ok so where were we ..... oh yeah, El Mitad Del Mundo - the Middle of the World!
The water down the plug hole thing was really interesting. Another experiment we were shown was how you can balance an egg on a the head of a nail, proving that there is no magnetic pull to either side on the equator line. We both succeeded in balancing the egg; took me a few tries but I managed it in the end! Rob did it first time ;)
We heard that Iron Maiden were touring around South America and were playing a concert in Ecuador while we were there. Funnily enough we bumped into them while we were at the equator - how cool! We didnt get a photo cos all the staff were badgering them for pictures so we just let them be!
That same day we also visited a little village which the Indigenous people of Ecuador had constructed in the crater of a dormant volcano over 400 years ago. Its only reachable by foot or on horseback so we didnt go right into the village but got a misty view from the top of the crater. At the end of the day we visited another church without the guide. We were approached by a man who said he was a priest and asked if we would like to be shown around and he would explain a few things. We didnt like to be rude so said yes, although both of us thought at the same time that would be another tip and we had already paid the guide US$10 for the whole day. Anyway, he showed us around and was actually full of interesting information. But at the end he took us to the darkest quietest part of the church and asked for a donation. We said we didnt have any change at all as we had just spent our last cents on a candle to light in the church for the family, which was true. But he insisted it was a donation for the church and pleaded with us to give some. We asked if he could give us $15 back and we would donate $5, but he pleaded for $10 as it was "for the church". So we didnt have any choice and gave him the money. When we left the church we realised that it was a bit dodgy how he asked for the money in the darkest part of the chuch, and he wasnt wearing a dog collar or anything to prove he was a priest! He was probably just some local trying to rob tourists in broad daylight and he probably hung around in that corner all day for the gringos! Well, we will learn from our experiences for next time....
The first thing we managed to tick off our list in Ecuador was hiking up a volcano called Cotopaxi. It was exhausting work. We did it with a guide and we managed to get up to the refuge at 4,800 metres above sea level. Being so high up it was difficult to catch our breath so we had to keep stopping for breathers. The volcanic sand meant that we took one step forward and 3 back. It was a great achievment when we finally reached the refuge though. Was strange going from really warm sunshine at the bottom to hailstones at 4,500 metres up! The road on the way to Cotopaxi was nicknamed Volcano Avenue - all the way along on either side of the road were volcano peaks. Not something you see every day...
After Quito we spent 3 days in Baños which was a lovely little town and very friendly. We also did a bike ride the first day to the waterfall, Pailon Del Diablo (The Devil's Cauldron) which was fun but very tiring. We were fine going downhill but had to get off and push every time we came across a little incline! We did manage the long downward hike to the actual waterfall though, and all the way back up. Exhausting!
We hiked another mountainous area one day to try and see the volcano Tungurahua which is still active, blowing smoke from the top. But it was really cloudy so we coundnt see much unfortunately. Bit disappointing after all the climbing cos that was knackering! We've both realised how unfit we've become since leaving home! We treated ourselves afterwards to a facial (me) and massage (Rob), which was well deserved! We were so not living like backpackers in Banos! The posada we stayed at was also lovely, the food amazing, so we didnt cook for ourselves at all while we were there.
The other things we managed to tick off our lists were white-water rafting (Rob ended up with a busted lip after being whacked in the face with a paddle and falling out of the boat!), swing jumping (jumping from a bridge attached to a rope and swinging like a pendulum) and swimming in natural hot pools heated by the volcano. These were cool, there was one which was freezing cold, another which was really warm and a third which was a scalding 48 degrees C. I asked the basket women (in perfect Spanish I might add!) to show us the "ojo del agua" where the water gushes straight from the earth at 48 degrees. We tested it by sticking our hand in and it was definitely scorching hot! All great fun, we loved Baños!
We also tried some sugar cane which they sell everywhere in Baños - bit strange, very sweet, most of it went in the bin - it was like chewing on bark from a tree but which gave you some sweet water from it, wierd! And also the local taffy which was pretty good. We did see whole roasted guinnea pigs in the street but neither of us wanted to try it (at least I've got a good excuse !).
We loved our time in Ecuador and would definitely recommend Baños to anyone going. Next on the list is Peru......
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