A brief encounter with Ecuador
Jun 17th, 2016, 01:56 PM
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A brief encounter with Ecuador
As we had already spent a lot time in Ecuador, we had decided just go whiz through on our way into Colombia. I have a bucket list which includes travelling the whole of the Panamerican highway in SA by bus, albeit in bite sized chunks!
We arrived in Cuenca after a not very comfortable, 10 hours trip from Peru, in the early morning, in the pouring rain. My back was killing me and I was not a happy bunny!
We joined the queue of a dozen or more people for the taxis only to see the locals completely ignoring it and swarming over any taxi that arrived. This really annoyed a Peruvian businessman who started remonstrating with the culprits - to absolutely no effect. After awhile, I persuaded the English guy in front of me that we needed to adopt the "when in Rome" approach and we forced our way into the next taxi that arrived. The driver seemed amused to see gringos behaving in such a way but hey, I was hungry, tired and wet - not at my best!
CUENCA
After reading yestravel's trip report, I had decided to stay at Casa Montavalo B&B (excellent suggestion YT, thanks!). We were greeted by the owner Sonia, still in her dressing gown but who was kind enough to let us in and showed us to our room for a few hours, much needed sleep.
Sonia is a great host and a talented artist who has put some great design ideas into restoring the place. It walking distance to the main plaza but in a quiet side street making for a peaceful nights sleep, at least until the last night when a group of four, very loud Ecuadorians arrived. Bad enough to have to listen to their very loud conversation and music being played on their phones all evening but at least after a few polite words they quietened down. However, at 03.00am one of the men rolled in very drunk, crying and shouting that he had lost his phone. He managed to wake everyone up, including me. I suggested to him, non too politely, that no one cared about his phone and he should go to bed. After a few more words from the owner, he did go to bed. At breakfast a few hours later surprise, surprise he was all smiles, phone in hand! I was sorely tempted to shove it where he would never lose it again!
Cuenca was much the same as we remembered except there seemed to be far fewer gringos around ( maybe the aftermath of the earthquake?). We had intended to hike to Ingapirca, the inca ruins outside of town and Parque Nacional de Cajas, but the weather and my back, conspired against us. So instead, we spent our time exploring the colonial centre of the city which is no hardship as it is beautiful. An added bonus was that we arrived at "Corpus Christi" so there were lots of celebrations going on, bands and parades, lots of street food stalls and over the weekend, a massive chocolate and sweetie festival. I have never seen so much chocolate or so many doughnuts, my MIL would have been in heaven! There must be a sugar shortage somewhere in the world.
We visited numerous restaurants in the city:
Molienda Cafe for its Colombian arepas was and old favourite. Black Angus, across the river has superb burgers, ribs and steaks. The central market has wonderful "lechon" - whole roasted pig and, my favourite juice of all time, Tomate de Arbol ( tree tomato).
The most enjoyable evening was spent at La Vina Pizzeria. The pizzas were nice enough but the main reason for going was for the Jazz Cafe upstairs. Run by an American expat, who set up the Jazz Society of Ecuador, he is, himself a talented pianist, he accompanied a trio of players from different countries who were all great. However, it was an Argentine guitarist/singer who stole the show with some amazing guitar work and a mixture of jazz and argentine folk music. A great evening and well worth the $5 voluntary contribution to the society.
COTOPAXI
Another long bus ride to go, this time to Latacunga to try and see Cotopaxi, the volcano that was so elusive on our last trip. The bus, were informed, would take around 8 hours and would drop us, not in the bus station, but on the Panamerican Highway. Not a problem, we thought as we remembered it from the last time, as the highway went right through the town. Not anymore! Since our last visit they have built a bypass around Latacunga. Consequently, we are dumped on the highway about 7 kms from town. In fact we were lucky to get off the bus at all. We weren't expecting the stop and by the time the driver had shouted Latacunga, people were piling on the bus and we had to literally fight our way through the crowd as the driver tried to drive on his way - not feeling the love for the Ecuadorian travelling public much on this trip.
To add insult to injury, the one taxi driver waiting on the highway held us to ransom and charged an outrageous $4 for the $1.50 trip into town! On arrival at Hotel Endamo the young guy on reception tried the hard sell on a room upgrade, buy by now I had had enough. Maybe he sensed it as he upgraded us for free!
In the morning we met the owner at breakfast who took us up to the roof for our very first glimpse of Cotopaxi - it does exist after all. He was a really helpful guy and sorted us out with a guide for Cotapaxi. Well sort of. It was first a group tour, then it wasn't, then it was a private guide at 09.00 and then it wasn't. All very confusing until Patrio our Spanish speaking guide arrived in his 4x4 at 10.00 to whisk us off to Cotopaxi. We had intended to hike to the refuge which is the starting point to hike up to the summit, but since the eruption last year, it is still off limits. Instead Patrio took us to Laguna Limpiopungo for a gentle walk around the lake. Lots of wildfowl and wild flowers. A very pretty place, even in the midst of the thunderstorm that started just as we arrived.
After walking around the lake for an hour or so, the weather started to clear as we headed back to Latacunga via some small villages and farms. All very scenic and as we stopped at a few points along the way, we were rewarded with some uninterrupted views of Cotopaxi. In all pretty good value at $30 pp for a private tour.
Next stop Otavalo for the weekend markets.
We arrived in Cuenca after a not very comfortable, 10 hours trip from Peru, in the early morning, in the pouring rain. My back was killing me and I was not a happy bunny!
We joined the queue of a dozen or more people for the taxis only to see the locals completely ignoring it and swarming over any taxi that arrived. This really annoyed a Peruvian businessman who started remonstrating with the culprits - to absolutely no effect. After awhile, I persuaded the English guy in front of me that we needed to adopt the "when in Rome" approach and we forced our way into the next taxi that arrived. The driver seemed amused to see gringos behaving in such a way but hey, I was hungry, tired and wet - not at my best!
CUENCA
After reading yestravel's trip report, I had decided to stay at Casa Montavalo B&B (excellent suggestion YT, thanks!). We were greeted by the owner Sonia, still in her dressing gown but who was kind enough to let us in and showed us to our room for a few hours, much needed sleep.
Sonia is a great host and a talented artist who has put some great design ideas into restoring the place. It walking distance to the main plaza but in a quiet side street making for a peaceful nights sleep, at least until the last night when a group of four, very loud Ecuadorians arrived. Bad enough to have to listen to their very loud conversation and music being played on their phones all evening but at least after a few polite words they quietened down. However, at 03.00am one of the men rolled in very drunk, crying and shouting that he had lost his phone. He managed to wake everyone up, including me. I suggested to him, non too politely, that no one cared about his phone and he should go to bed. After a few more words from the owner, he did go to bed. At breakfast a few hours later surprise, surprise he was all smiles, phone in hand! I was sorely tempted to shove it where he would never lose it again!
Cuenca was much the same as we remembered except there seemed to be far fewer gringos around ( maybe the aftermath of the earthquake?). We had intended to hike to Ingapirca, the inca ruins outside of town and Parque Nacional de Cajas, but the weather and my back, conspired against us. So instead, we spent our time exploring the colonial centre of the city which is no hardship as it is beautiful. An added bonus was that we arrived at "Corpus Christi" so there were lots of celebrations going on, bands and parades, lots of street food stalls and over the weekend, a massive chocolate and sweetie festival. I have never seen so much chocolate or so many doughnuts, my MIL would have been in heaven! There must be a sugar shortage somewhere in the world.
We visited numerous restaurants in the city:
Molienda Cafe for its Colombian arepas was and old favourite. Black Angus, across the river has superb burgers, ribs and steaks. The central market has wonderful "lechon" - whole roasted pig and, my favourite juice of all time, Tomate de Arbol ( tree tomato).
The most enjoyable evening was spent at La Vina Pizzeria. The pizzas were nice enough but the main reason for going was for the Jazz Cafe upstairs. Run by an American expat, who set up the Jazz Society of Ecuador, he is, himself a talented pianist, he accompanied a trio of players from different countries who were all great. However, it was an Argentine guitarist/singer who stole the show with some amazing guitar work and a mixture of jazz and argentine folk music. A great evening and well worth the $5 voluntary contribution to the society.
COTOPAXI
Another long bus ride to go, this time to Latacunga to try and see Cotopaxi, the volcano that was so elusive on our last trip. The bus, were informed, would take around 8 hours and would drop us, not in the bus station, but on the Panamerican Highway. Not a problem, we thought as we remembered it from the last time, as the highway went right through the town. Not anymore! Since our last visit they have built a bypass around Latacunga. Consequently, we are dumped on the highway about 7 kms from town. In fact we were lucky to get off the bus at all. We weren't expecting the stop and by the time the driver had shouted Latacunga, people were piling on the bus and we had to literally fight our way through the crowd as the driver tried to drive on his way - not feeling the love for the Ecuadorian travelling public much on this trip.
To add insult to injury, the one taxi driver waiting on the highway held us to ransom and charged an outrageous $4 for the $1.50 trip into town! On arrival at Hotel Endamo the young guy on reception tried the hard sell on a room upgrade, buy by now I had had enough. Maybe he sensed it as he upgraded us for free!
In the morning we met the owner at breakfast who took us up to the roof for our very first glimpse of Cotopaxi - it does exist after all. He was a really helpful guy and sorted us out with a guide for Cotapaxi. Well sort of. It was first a group tour, then it wasn't, then it was a private guide at 09.00 and then it wasn't. All very confusing until Patrio our Spanish speaking guide arrived in his 4x4 at 10.00 to whisk us off to Cotopaxi. We had intended to hike to the refuge which is the starting point to hike up to the summit, but since the eruption last year, it is still off limits. Instead Patrio took us to Laguna Limpiopungo for a gentle walk around the lake. Lots of wildfowl and wild flowers. A very pretty place, even in the midst of the thunderstorm that started just as we arrived.
After walking around the lake for an hour or so, the weather started to clear as we headed back to Latacunga via some small villages and farms. All very scenic and as we stopped at a few points along the way, we were rewarded with some uninterrupted views of Cotopaxi. In all pretty good value at $30 pp for a private tour.
Next stop Otavalo for the weekend markets.
Jun 18th, 2016, 03:56 AM
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Thanks for sharing, Crellston. Between your report and the recent one from yestravel, I am learning a lot about a country I know nothing about. Amazed by the variety in a country so small, at least compared to the other South American countries. Hope your transportation troubles are now behind you.
Jun 18th, 2016, 05:46 AM
#3
"I persuaded the English guy in front of me that we needed to adopt the "when in Rome" approach and we forced our way into the next taxi that arrived."
Lol. Or you might still be waiting. Sounds like some good some bad, but more good.
Lol. Or you might still be waiting. Sounds like some good some bad, but more good.
Jul 24th, 2016, 03:10 AM
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It has often been said one should "never go back"
In the case of Otavalo, a small town in the mountains of northern Ecuador, it was our second time it was probably an observation we should have heeded. We had taken the advice of the hotel owner and got the bus from the highway outside of Latucunga and were dropped, once again on the Pan-American outside of Otavalo. Thankfully, as it was raining, it was only a couple kilometres into the town.
Starving, we stopped at the first restaurant we came to in the centre, Chiminchangas. Fortunately, it turned out to be the best meal we had in the town!
The town is mostly famous for its Saturday market which sees the indigenous people travelling from all over and as far afield as Colombia, to sell their wares. The town has changed since our last visit three years ago. The "Saturday" market around Plaza de Ponchos now lasts all week and town seemed much more geared toward tourism than before. Sadly for the townspeople, there were far few tourists about. The recent earthquake or maybe the Zika virus really does seem to have had a dramatic effect on visitor numbers all over South America. A shame because, much of Ecuador is unaffected by either and is still open for business as usual.
We stayed at La Luna some 5 kms up in the hills above the town on the road to Mojanda lakes. We had our own little room away from the main building, complete with an open log fire to ward off the night time chill. Quiet and peaceful( we had the place to ourselves most of the time). The downside is that it is remote and requires either a taxi or a long walk to get to the town. We chose the latter on most occasions. A nice walk and great views as we tramped downhill along the rough paths into the town. We were usually accompanied by one or more of the dogs from La Luna . "Please don't take our dogs for a walk as they have eaten a few chickens" the signs say. Try stopping them!! We got quite concerned about one, who followed us virtually all the way into the centre of town. He was there waiting for us when we returned to the hostal.
It is a pleasant jaunt with great views of the town and nearby lake. The local people are all very friendly as we walked through their villages and farms. Masses of fruit and vegetables were almost ripe for harvesting.
The "Plaza deal Ponchos" was, as usual, packed out with stalls selling all manner "artesenia" goods, now unashamedly aimed at the tourist market and most products seemingly mass produced. Sadly, there were few visitors around for the stallholders to whom the stallholders could sell their wares.
Arguably of much greater interest is the there is also the Animal Market on the outskirts of the town. Farmers from far and wide arrive in town the night before to buy or sell anything from pigs and cows to chickens and Guinea pigs. The market starts around 05.00am and is gone by around 10.00am. All very entertaining but, with all those non-house train animals around you really need to watch where you step!
We had planned to hike around Mojanda lakes, 10km further up into the mountains, but once again the weather didn't play ball and on the day we had planned, torrential rain arrived which put paid to our plans.
In hindsight we should, perhaps have have just missed out Otavalo but it was nice to rest up a while from what has seemed like a LOT of time on buses lately.
Time to head to the Colombian border. We probably could have made it in a very long day, but instead decided to spend a few days in Ibarra, a town we have not visited before.
It is a really pleasant place to while away a few days. We stayed at http://www.realdreamhostel.com pleasant laid back sort of place run by Chantal, a delightful Belgian lady and her husband. One of the main attractions was that it had a kitchen we can use. Cooking for ourselves makes a wonderful change from eating out and we love shopping in the local markets and Ibarra's is superb with some amazing produce on offer.
Ibarra itself is a quiet laid back place and doesn't have a whole lot going on in terms of traditional tourist attractions and doesn't seem too receive too many foreign visitors. Those that do come, are probably, like us, on their way to or from Colombia.
The town has a wonderful colonial style main plaza. We are told that it is famous for its two coconut trees, allegedly the tallest in Ecuador! It has just opened a new museum. Only a few exhibits but looks as though it will be really good. Set around a colonial courtyard and populated with larger than life sized statues carved from tree trunks. As always in this devoutly Catholic country, the cathedral is a major centrepiece and worth a look inside. Best of all, we found one of the best coffee shops we have so far seen in South America! Real, proper coffee at last and we haven't even reached Colombia
Another great find was just along the road from our hostal. A very quaint little bar jam packed with bric a brac. We popped in for a beer on our first night and were served by the old lady that ran it. She told us that she opens up only when she feels like it. A great find and exactly how a local bar should be. A little like an Ecuadorian version of "Cheers" except that Sam Malone is replaced by an 80 year old lady!
A couple of nights later we visited again only to find it closed. I did however, spot the lady chatting with one of her neighbours down the road. I asked her if she was opening up that night and she seemed genuinely pleased that I recognised her and, all smiles, she opened up especially for us. Definitely worth seeking out (if you can find it)! It is a block away from the Real Dream hostal - best ask Chantal for directions.
We only stayed a few nights but enjoyed our time in Ibarra. It is a quite peaceful place and great just to wander the streets. The central market is both huge and pretty amazing and defined worth a visit ( if you like markets!). The main tourist attractions seemed to be the train station. Newly built and by far he most modern building in the city, it was offering exorbitantly priced day trips to nowhere in particular and back again. The main attraction according to the lady we spoke to at the station was to go and see "the black people" (all relayed in whispered tones). At around $50 a head we decided no!
CROSSING THE BORDER
The trip to the border crossing was a sweaty, uneventful two hours. A taxi to the bus station, a bus to Tulcan, the closest town to the actual border. From there a camoinetta for a few kilometres to a the actual border at Rumicharra, which as is so often the case, on a bridge??
As border crossings go, it was pretty painless. Modern buildings, efficient processing etc. Once stamped out of Ecuador and into Colombia, time is moving on so, rather than wait for a camoinetta to the Colombian border town of Ipiales, I negotiate a deal with a waiting taxi driver. Judging by the comments and high fives from the drivers mates as we left, it wasn't a great deal!
The driver was very nice guy telling us all about his country (in between trying to sell us a tour to the nearby salt cathedral!). Two things we immediately notice are the change in music from Ecuadorian folk to Colombian salsa - a very pleasant change and, the rapidity at which Colombians speak! I feel it is going to be a lot harder going to understand the language in Colombia!
In the case of Otavalo, a small town in the mountains of northern Ecuador, it was our second time it was probably an observation we should have heeded. We had taken the advice of the hotel owner and got the bus from the highway outside of Latucunga and were dropped, once again on the Pan-American outside of Otavalo. Thankfully, as it was raining, it was only a couple kilometres into the town.
Starving, we stopped at the first restaurant we came to in the centre, Chiminchangas. Fortunately, it turned out to be the best meal we had in the town!
The town is mostly famous for its Saturday market which sees the indigenous people travelling from all over and as far afield as Colombia, to sell their wares. The town has changed since our last visit three years ago. The "Saturday" market around Plaza de Ponchos now lasts all week and town seemed much more geared toward tourism than before. Sadly for the townspeople, there were far few tourists about. The recent earthquake or maybe the Zika virus really does seem to have had a dramatic effect on visitor numbers all over South America. A shame because, much of Ecuador is unaffected by either and is still open for business as usual.
We stayed at La Luna some 5 kms up in the hills above the town on the road to Mojanda lakes. We had our own little room away from the main building, complete with an open log fire to ward off the night time chill. Quiet and peaceful( we had the place to ourselves most of the time). The downside is that it is remote and requires either a taxi or a long walk to get to the town. We chose the latter on most occasions. A nice walk and great views as we tramped downhill along the rough paths into the town. We were usually accompanied by one or more of the dogs from La Luna . "Please don't take our dogs for a walk as they have eaten a few chickens" the signs say. Try stopping them!! We got quite concerned about one, who followed us virtually all the way into the centre of town. He was there waiting for us when we returned to the hostal.
It is a pleasant jaunt with great views of the town and nearby lake. The local people are all very friendly as we walked through their villages and farms. Masses of fruit and vegetables were almost ripe for harvesting.
The "Plaza deal Ponchos" was, as usual, packed out with stalls selling all manner "artesenia" goods, now unashamedly aimed at the tourist market and most products seemingly mass produced. Sadly, there were few visitors around for the stallholders to whom the stallholders could sell their wares.
Arguably of much greater interest is the there is also the Animal Market on the outskirts of the town. Farmers from far and wide arrive in town the night before to buy or sell anything from pigs and cows to chickens and Guinea pigs. The market starts around 05.00am and is gone by around 10.00am. All very entertaining but, with all those non-house train animals around you really need to watch where you step!
We had planned to hike around Mojanda lakes, 10km further up into the mountains, but once again the weather didn't play ball and on the day we had planned, torrential rain arrived which put paid to our plans.
In hindsight we should, perhaps have have just missed out Otavalo but it was nice to rest up a while from what has seemed like a LOT of time on buses lately.
Time to head to the Colombian border. We probably could have made it in a very long day, but instead decided to spend a few days in Ibarra, a town we have not visited before.
It is a really pleasant place to while away a few days. We stayed at http://www.realdreamhostel.com pleasant laid back sort of place run by Chantal, a delightful Belgian lady and her husband. One of the main attractions was that it had a kitchen we can use. Cooking for ourselves makes a wonderful change from eating out and we love shopping in the local markets and Ibarra's is superb with some amazing produce on offer.
Ibarra itself is a quiet laid back place and doesn't have a whole lot going on in terms of traditional tourist attractions and doesn't seem too receive too many foreign visitors. Those that do come, are probably, like us, on their way to or from Colombia.
The town has a wonderful colonial style main plaza. We are told that it is famous for its two coconut trees, allegedly the tallest in Ecuador! It has just opened a new museum. Only a few exhibits but looks as though it will be really good. Set around a colonial courtyard and populated with larger than life sized statues carved from tree trunks. As always in this devoutly Catholic country, the cathedral is a major centrepiece and worth a look inside. Best of all, we found one of the best coffee shops we have so far seen in South America! Real, proper coffee at last and we haven't even reached Colombia
Another great find was just along the road from our hostal. A very quaint little bar jam packed with bric a brac. We popped in for a beer on our first night and were served by the old lady that ran it. She told us that she opens up only when she feels like it. A great find and exactly how a local bar should be. A little like an Ecuadorian version of "Cheers" except that Sam Malone is replaced by an 80 year old lady!
A couple of nights later we visited again only to find it closed. I did however, spot the lady chatting with one of her neighbours down the road. I asked her if she was opening up that night and she seemed genuinely pleased that I recognised her and, all smiles, she opened up especially for us. Definitely worth seeking out (if you can find it)! It is a block away from the Real Dream hostal - best ask Chantal for directions.
We only stayed a few nights but enjoyed our time in Ibarra. It is a quite peaceful place and great just to wander the streets. The central market is both huge and pretty amazing and defined worth a visit ( if you like markets!). The main tourist attractions seemed to be the train station. Newly built and by far he most modern building in the city, it was offering exorbitantly priced day trips to nowhere in particular and back again. The main attraction according to the lady we spoke to at the station was to go and see "the black people" (all relayed in whispered tones). At around $50 a head we decided no!
CROSSING THE BORDER
The trip to the border crossing was a sweaty, uneventful two hours. A taxi to the bus station, a bus to Tulcan, the closest town to the actual border. From there a camoinetta for a few kilometres to a the actual border at Rumicharra, which as is so often the case, on a bridge??
As border crossings go, it was pretty painless. Modern buildings, efficient processing etc. Once stamped out of Ecuador and into Colombia, time is moving on so, rather than wait for a camoinetta to the Colombian border town of Ipiales, I negotiate a deal with a waiting taxi driver. Judging by the comments and high fives from the drivers mates as we left, it wasn't a great deal!
The driver was very nice guy telling us all about his country (in between trying to sell us a tour to the nearby salt cathedral!). Two things we immediately notice are the change in music from Ecuadorian folk to Colombian salsa - a very pleasant change and, the rapidity at which Colombians speak! I feel it is going to be a lot harder going to understand the language in Colombia!
Jan 10th, 2017, 03:38 PM
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We were in Otavalo the Saturday before your post about it. We had a good experience. Our visit to the area included the Condor Rescue center. I can't say enough about that experience. I will agree there were a lot of commercial goods in Otavalo but for souvenir shopping we never found them for less. Our market experience in Guamote was really amazing--this truly an indigenous market! I am working on my trip report and will post soon. Thank you for all your posts, they were very helpful.
