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Well we have arrived in Quito a day late but finally here.
Met a lovely couple, Kat and Doug, on the plane who had just finished 6 months backpacking around Europe and had 4 ½ months in South America. They had quit their jobs for 12 months, half their luck. After getting through customs and immigration in record time we were ready to face the throngs of people at the airport.
Tip of the day:
Have a transfer to your hotel organised especially if arriving at night.
We were so happy to see a driver with our name on a card waiting for us in with the huge number of people at the airport.
Bags loaded into the car and we were off. Appears taxi drivers aren't quite as insane as in Buenos Aires but close.
Arrived at our Hotel, the Posada del Maple pretty keen to just relax and get some sleep but decided we should probably find some food.
As we were leaving ran into an Aussie who had his own tour company in Quito and had lived here for 10 years previously, who advised us we weren’t in the safest area and needed to be very alert however we were close to an area with lots of people which was safer. Turns out we were in the Mariscal area not the new town as previously thought.
So off we went. As it turns out we were only 2 streets away from a number of bars. Grabbed some takeaway and started to head back to the hostel.
As we were walking back we then noticed a number of what appeared to be army. Surprisingly I was the one who noticed the fully automatic guns and not Phil. Suddenly we felt a whole lot safer as it appeared they were there on a 'walk through’.
Back to the hostel and off to bed.
Up early and into the day. We were off to Otovalo, a town about 2hrs north. After a taxi ride to the bus terminal we thought we were in for a culture shock of what is an Ecuadorian bus terminal. It wasn’t to be. Our taxi driver stopped just short and let us out onto a waiting bus to go to Otovalo.
Concern of the day:
The speed in which our bags were taken from us and put (hopefully) on the bus.
Onto the bus. Bus ride for 2hrs cost $2 each!
Disappointment of the day:
No Jean Claude van Damme movie as I had read so much about, we had to settle for the Dolph Lundgren option. Interesting trying to work out what is happening when it is in Spanish.
Things about the buses:
People get on and off in regular points to sell pretty much any type of food including a lot we had no idea what it was.
The bus driver doesn’t mess around in getting places.
Diesel is $1.02 a gallon. So equates to 25c a litre!! Petrol is only slightly more expensive at $1.40 a gallon or 35c a litre!
Arrived in Otovalo and booked into our hotel, Rincon del Viajero, turns out is run by an expat Yank and his Ecuadorian wife. Nice hostel and close to everything.
Off for some lunch and a piece of amazing blueberry pie from the Shanandoah Pie Shop and then it was off to Parque Condor for a look at the birds of prey (raptors) of South America.
The must see of Otovalo:
Parque Condor is perched on a hill overlooking Otovalo with stone paths and buildings. There was a large range of raptors with reasonable sized enclosures much to our relief.
Of course the highlight was the Andean Condor. It was so much bigger than even we expected and we were lucky enough to see it fly in the enclosure. I would hate to be its prey, I recon you would just have a heart attack if it came at you. With any luck we will get to see them in the wild when we get to Peru.
The unexpected highlight was the Stygian Owl or as I have renamed it ‘the huffy’. It puffed itself up, blinked its yellow eyes and huffed at us as we came close. Funny thing too was it looks like it has ears. The female wasn’t so bothered maybe because the man was putting on such a show!
We even got to see a bald eagle and a juvenile bald eagle which we initially thought was a wedge tail eagle but we were told by the owner they don’t get white heads until they are adults.
After we had finished walking around (unfortunately due to rain there wasn’t a flight show) we were convinced we would have to walk the 5km down back to town. Now the walk wasn’t the problem more the fact that the road was now kind of mud and the rocks inlaid on part of it had me convinced I’d probably fall down. As we were leaving a couple from Holland arrived in a taxi. We were pretty stunned as we thought there was no way a taxi would get up there. Tony and Tessa generously invited us to come back with them so we had a further look at the birds while they walked around.
We left the park and started driving up the hill only for the taxi to pretty much immediately start slipping around. We all got out and walked to the top to reduce weight and probably also because we thought we would be walking.
After about 3 attempts the driver actually got the taxi to the top much to our huge surprise and a nice tip for him once back at Otovalo.
We decided a cervesa was in order and finally found a place. Who would think it could be that hard to find a bar in Otovalo?
After ordering 4 beers we found that they only had the grande size of 750mls at $1.50 each, geez we were all devasted.
After a good chat we parted ways and had an early night. I think our bodies are still getting used to the time change.
Loving it so far and the language barrier hasn’t been as bad as we thought.
Language considerations:
It’s amazing how much hand gestures actually work
What we say sometimes actually doesn’t mean what we want it to
Eventually even if the taxi driver speaks no English we have been able to have a chat with him!
Buenos noches.
- comments
keith and deidra hi charm and phillove your commentary, keep it coming.keep safe and enjoy. love mum and dad.p.s has phil found a drinkable beer yet ?
Fi and Glenn Hi guys, finally got your blog site as sent email to old address, you'll be impressed Dad worked out the forward button ;0Love the blog, feels like we're with you but very far away! the huffy is cute :) How many hours did you end up flying? Keep the pics coming! We thought we'd share some south america experience and went to the zoo yesterday and hand fed the lemurs and sqirrel monkeys.Stay safe and have a beer for us, hopefully they have escalated to dog pee Phil! Maggs is having a ball, mum is giving her hot water bottles Chars, one spoilt kitty coming up! xxxx
jaimealberto hola me gustaria saber donde esta esta aguila juvenil exactamente gracias !