Meeting Old Friends

We had a lovely day today. We had a busy morning racing to the old town to buy some last souvenirs and then back to the new town for our favourite chocolate cake and hot chocolate in a café we found the previous week. After lunch we got a taxi to the charity office and were taken to a community outside Quito to meet the child we sponsor. It was so nice to meet him after writing for so many years. His family were very friendly and we chatted easily for a few hours before we went back to Quito. Even though his family don’t have much they were so generous and warm to us it was a humbling experience. We finished a great day with a lovely Thai meal at Siam restaurant in the new part of Quito.

Inca ruins

Yesterday we visited some Inca and Cañari ruins at Ingapirca, about 70km away from Cuenca. We don´t usually do tours but were pleased we had a guide as he was really informative and we spent 2 hours at the site. On our tour we met a Canadian woman who lives 5 streets away from us in Ottawa! It´s a small world.

We had a cat nap when we got back and went for ice-cream by the main square. In the evening we went to Cafe Eucalyptus, where we have eaten every night. It was Ladies´Night, so after paying a $3 cover charge, Sarah got free drinks and woke up with a hangover this morning.

We´ve had a lazy day today wandering around, watching TV and playing cards until our flight back to Quito.

Heads and Hats

We flew down to Cuenca yesterday afternoon after leaving Bellavista and dropping off the hire car. It was a short 40 minute flight with TAME, Ecuador´s national carrier. We checked into a lovely and reasonably priced hotel - Posado del Angel and had an excellent meal at the Eucalyptus Cafe.

This morning we had a little lie in and then went to the historic centre. We visited the newly renovated Catedral Vieja which was unusual as it didn´t have any pews. Opposite this church was Parque Calderon, which we really liked and think is the most beautiful square we have seen in Ecuador. Before heading into Cuenca´s most notable Church we had icecream and frozen yogurt at a little cafe. Then we went to Catedral Nueva. The outside has distinctive, large, sky blue domes and the inside is beautiful but so large it feels rather empty. Afterwards we walked across the road to the small but highly perfumed flower market.

We walked down by the river, taking photos of the blue domes, and headed to the Museo del Banco Central. The exhibit on shrunken human heads was particularly interesting, although we were disappointed not to learn how the heads were shrunk. This custom was performed as punishment for murder and is now illegal in Ecuador.

After pizza for lunch we got a taxi to Homero Ortega & Hijos factory, famed for its Panama Hats. We had a tour around the factory and learnt how the hats are made. We knew that Panama hats originated in Ecuador and we learnt that the name stems from the fact that the men building the Panama Canal wore these hats. Hence the name! Some were priced at $500!

After another cafe stop at Hotel Santa Lucia we did a bit of window shopping and visited the Museo de Esqueletologia, which had a collection of skeletons. The tiny hummingbird frame was particularly interesting.

Room with a view

We finally managed to get to Bellavista Cloud Forest today! We are staying in 'The Dome', which has panaromic views over the tree tops. It is charming yet simple accommodation and one of the most unusual places we have stayed. There are hundreds of hummingbirds buzzing around the grounds. We´ve also seen a turquoise jay, blue winged mountain tamager and a masked trogan.

We had a nice lunch talking to an English couple and then did our own walk through the cloud forest where we saw a plate-billed mountain toucan but not much else because of the clouds and rain. We still enjoyed the atmospheric scenery.

After dinner we played Cuban dominoes with an Australian father and son, whilst a heavy thunderstorm raged outside.

These little Piggies went to Market

A really early start today to get to Otavalo´s animal market, where we saw pigs, sheep, cows and llamas being exchanged. Although it was noisy, rainy and muddy we enjoyed it as much as pigs in mud! It was a real insight into indigenous Ecuadorian life.

After the animal market we went to the fruit and veg market, which was extremely colourful. Then we went onto the artisan market where they were selling rugs, bags, hats, tablecloths and carvings. There were a lot of people but so many stalls that it wasn´t too overcrowded, even though this is one of the largest markets in South America.

In the afternoon we tried to get to Bellavista Cloud Forest but after 2 hours we were told the road was too rough and we had to turn back. We went all the way back to Otavalo and then onto Quito, where we treated ourselves to a night in the Marriott.

Middle of the Earth

This morning we went back to a couple of churches in Quito's old town that had been shut previously. Le Merced has a nice Baroque interior and pink and white plaster that looks like icing on a cake. Then we went to another colonial house, Casa Maria Augusta Urrutia, owned by a wealthy Ecuadorian who was widowed at the age of thirty and dedicated her life to charitable works. We prefered this house to the one we visited yesterday.

We picked up the hire car again and drove to the village of Calderon, famous for its brightly coloured dough decorations. We then drove on to Mitad del Mundo, the monument marking the Equator. However, the site for the monument is based on a French expedition in the 18 century and is 250m off (it has since been shown that previous indigenous cultures had correctly found the Equator prior to the French). After the Equator line we drove to a nearby crater but the view was obscured by heavy cloud.

Finally, after a tense drive, because we did not know if the road would be open or not, we arrived in Otavalo.

Colonial Quito

This morning was clear so we got a taxi up to El Panecillo for excellent views of old Quito below. At the top of the hill there is also a statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city. Back in town we visited Casa de Sucre, home of Field Marshal Sucre, Ecuador's liberator. It was a beautiful late colonial home but we weren't that interested in the military displays and maps.

In the afternoon we went to the new town and saw some protests on the way there. The new town has lots of bars and restaurants aimed at tourists. We walked down a main shopping street, Avenue Amazonas, and spent the rest of the afternoon in Museo Banco de Centro. We would really recommend this museum for its good displays of Ecuadorian history and gold jewellery.

After the museum we relaxed for a couple of hours in a cafe and had lovely chocolate cake. We finished a very nice day with a great Thai meal in Siam restaurant.

Free at Last

After two days stuck in Latacunga playing cards, watching films and following protestors around town, we woke to the sound of traffic and quickly switched on the news thinking that traffic meant that the roads were open. They were! So we packed quickly and paid the hotel. We drove through burnt roads and saw the army moving the last of the road blocks. We made it to Quito and checked into the San Francisco de Quito hotel in the old town.

We walked around the old town admiring the very pretty frescoed buildings, squares and churches. We particularly liked La Compania inside and the Basilica outside. We also liked the Archbishops Palace that has been turned into a modern shopping centre. It was just great to finally be doing something that we had wanted to do.

Plan C

We´re redoing our plans again today because when we went for breakfast the hotel receptionist told us that all the major roads were blocked because of civil protests. We seem to have stumbled on some political disturbances in Ecuador. Apparently people are protesting about a trade agreement with the US. There are also street demonstrations at the moment. We can hear them. The guy at the hotel said that the demonstrations might continue for a few days. We have phoned the British Embassy in Quito and they recommended we stay put and phone them again in the morning for an update.

We watched the news, even though it was in Spanish, and saw the protestors gathering in the main square just down the road from us! We switched channels and watched "Out of Africa" whilst we played cards. For a brief moment Sarah was very happy to be holed up in the hotel as she won by 100 points.

After the film we took a walk into town again. The main square is pretty and we walked to where the protests had been. It was very quiet now. We´re staying tonight, but hope to get to Quito tomorrow.

Road Block

Even though we had a long day travelling yesterday our plan was to drive south from Quito to Cuenca, an 8 hour drive. We awoke all enthusiatic and were keen to hit the road. We picked up our hire car from the airport and promptly got lost and took an hour to get out of Quito! We eventually got onto the Panamericana highway and enjoyed the scenic drive south. The mountains were spectualar and we were amazed by the near vertical strips of cultivated land on the hills. We weren´t so impressed by the kamikaze tactics of the bus drivers who repeatedly squeezed three lanes of traffic out of two. Also, the road near Ambato had suffered from several landslides and we had to weave between the boulders. However, we were still enjoying our adventure! It was just after Riobamba, about two-thirds of the way to Cuenca, that we joined the end of a traffic jam. We got out of the car and walked with everyone to find out what was wrong. There was a huge tree right across the road. It was impossible to continue so we all turned back. We tried another route but there were other road blocks and it was rainy and foggy so we came up with Plan B. We turned back and drove to Baños, a town famous for its thermal baths. Slighty disturbing was the smoke pouring out of Tungurahua Volcano and all the traffic leaving Baños. We arrived at the town and quickly left. We eventually stopped at Latacugna, a quaint town only ninety minutes from Quito. We found a good, albeit noisy, place to stay at the Hotel Makroz and walked out for pizza. We spent the rest of the evening trying to reorganise our itinerary and wondering how we´ll get to Cuenca. It was a long day!

A Hop, Skip and a Jump

Another early start but we´re used to them now due to our noisy neighbours. We had a short flight to Toronto, waited, a slighty longer flight to Miami, had a long wait in grotty Miami airport and then our final flight to Quito, Ecuador. The airport was really modern and we got electronically printed entry stamps in our passports. Someone met us and took us to our hotel, La Cartuja, which was comfortable and had a lovely courtyard.

Noisy Neighbours

We’ve been having trouble with our neighbour in the flat above ours. He has taken to stomping around and moving furniture at all hours of the night and it wakes us up. We’ve complained to the letting agents and they have sent him warning letters but he continues to wake us up. After more than a month of this we have decided to move out.

Spread the Weight

Last weekend we decided to do as the Canadians do and get out into the countryside. We went snow-shoeing in Gatineau Park. We hired metal tennis rackets from the visitors centre, strapped them to our shoes and headed off into the woods. It is not as easy as it looks, as you have to walk with your legs slightly apart so the snow-shoes don’t hit each other. We made it harder for ourselves by taking a turn off the laid-out trail. Our route quickly turned into a steep climb on deep, powdery snow.

After the exertion of last weekend we thought we deserved a relaxing day this weekend. So we went to the Nordik Spa for a massage, sauna, steam room and hot pools. It was the first time I’d had a massage and it was very relaxing. Except the bit at the end when the masseuse put his hands over my eyes. I think the idea was to cut out stimulation to my eyes to make me relax more, but I kept thinking, “you’ve just touched my feet with those hands”. We also had another first for me when we had chocolate fondue in the spa’s restaurant. We had such a nice time at the spa that we had to go home for an hours snooze.