Ecuador Explorations

Finally I get a chance to write about my trips outside of Quito over the last week. Three major ones deserve any sort of mention.

The first was about a week ago to Cotopaxi National Park. Mt Cotopaxi is the highest active volcano in the world at a little under 6km asl. Its a perfectly shaped mountain in the inverted V style. It took us about two hours to travel to the national park from Quito, and along the way we could see a number of other volcanoes in the area - just think Tongariro National Park with twice as many volcanoes pretty much. We arrived at the carpark on the mountain at about 4,500m asl, and hiked up 300 metres in altitude to the refugio (hut) where we had a nice lunch of bread rolls, guacamole, chocolate, crackers, apples, and some tuna salad. My stomach was still getting used to the altitude so I didn´t really eat much.

The weather was not so good unfortunately and the mountain was clouded in. After lunch we were due to head up the mountain a bit further to check out a glacier, but because of the conditions we didn´t. Apparantly, from the glacier you can see the curvature of the Earth on a sunny day. So we trekked back down to the carpark and then the fun downhill park started. We were all given these dodgy mountain bikes to ride down the mountain. It´s been a while since I have ridden a bike, let alone one downhill so it was interesting at first. Slowly I got my confidence up and it was great fun hurtling down the mountain.

One problem. My gears didn´t work. This was okay while I was going down the mountain as I didn´t need to peddle, but when we got on the flat I got no movement at all and had to be picked up by our trailing bus! At least I wasn´t the first, two Austrians both got punctures. As we descended the mountain on the bikes, the clouds rolled away and the sun came out, so we got some beautiful views of Mt Cotopaxi. When I can sort out my camera I will post some snaps.

The group we headed up the mountain was quite mixed. Americans, Austrians, Germans, a Finn, an Israelis, and a Kiwi (me). I spent most of my time chatting to the American guys (about American Football of course!) and the Israeli guy who had just got out of the army.

After the tour we returned to a hacienda near the National Park. It is called PapaGayo and ís about 150 years old. I had this huge room to myself, and it was quite cold at the altitude we were at, so I donned all my thermals for the night´s sleep. It actually turned out to be a really warm sleep.

At dinner that night I met up with two Americans from Oregon who had returned from a stint teaching in a little village north of Quito. Laura and Kyle are a lovely couple and we had a nice dinner and all around general chat. Laura´s parents have spent a bit of time in NZ so that was cool to hear. They have been back in Quito and we have caught up a few times. They will be heading through South America for the next few months so hopefully I´ll get to catch them throughout my travels.

The day after Cotopaxi I took my second trip of note out to a place called Quilotoa. There is a crater lake there that was formed from an eruption in the 1700s. Its a beautiful blue looking lake and on sunny days (we had another cloudy day with some rain) apparantly you can see the reflection of the sky in the water. The crater rim is at 3,900m asl and the walk down takes you to about 3,600m asl. You could hire a burro to take you back up, but I decided to trek up which was well worth it.

The trip to Quilotoa took quite a while, about four hours, but on the way we stopped at a market in Sasqusili. Economists beleive this is the most important indigenous market in all of Ecuador. It was interesting enough seeing guinea pigs, raw fish sitting out in the open, and a squealing pig being put in a bag, but markets generally aren´t my thing and as always I didn´t buy anything! So much for me helping the local indigenous population.

I tried some Llama at Quilotoa and it was quite tasty. It looks like, has the texture of, and tastes like beef. I am pretty keen to get my hands on some more during my travels, along with the guinea pig or cuy as the locals call it. No doubt they will not be my only strange gastronomic experiences onmy travels through South America.

On my Quilotoa tour were a lovely couple from Paris, Sylvie and Frederic. Sylvie used to be an intrepreter so her English was pretty good, and it was nice to talk to her about France. They were climbing most of the volcanoes in the area, culminating in a climb that begun at midnight and ended about sunrise up Mt Cotopaxi. They gave me their contact details so hopefully I have somewhere to stay when I go to Paris.

My third tour of note was out to Mitad del Mundo, or the Equator. Its actually not only regarded as the Equator but the actual middle of the world. Hence the name. I had no problems getting out there on the bus, it´s about 22km from Quito. So to all of my friends who had trouble getting out there, bah humbug! Just kidding.

The Equator is an interesting place actually. There is a major tourist spot which has a huge monument showing the European calculated position of the Equator and recognising the efforts of the French guys who first calculated the spot. This place was kinda weird though, it was like a Disneyland for the Equator but in a bad way. A better analogy for those of you who have been to Splash Planet/Fantasyland is Noddy Town with bigger buildings and just as few people. It was funny jumping backwards and forwards across the Equator. The first time I had this strange feeling that a laser would shoot out of the monument and vaporise me a la Indiana Jones. I spent a few hours here but as it was only fitting, most of it was taken up by having a few drinks with Simon from my GAP tour who came out to the Equator with me.

Next door is a funny little free museum run by these five guys who say that the Disneyland Equator is incorrect and that the actual one is approximately 200 metres away. They base this on a nearby mountain where there was an ancient temple built and also the position of the sun at the summer and winter equinoxes. It was interesting to get a different perspective. They gave us a talk about how it was calculated by the pre-Inca cultures in Ecuador and it was all very interesting. I should have asked them who shot JFK, they may have had an idea about that too.

It doesn´t end there though. A little further down the road is a third Equator, this one apparantly is calculated by GPS. So you can imagine as I had been shown three Equators I was getting a bit cynical! However, the final spot was the most intersting palce. The museum, called Inti-Nan, has more than just the Equator v3, but has a few interesting indigenous exhibits, including a shrunken head. The guide we had was really friendly and informative so I tipped him a buck. So generous of me eh! They also carried out a few experiments that you can do at the Equator, like balancing an egg on a nail, and the standard water down a plug hole test. It was all good fun, and I don´t know if it´s all strictly for real, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

One thing that cracked me up about the day, was that it rained pretty much as soon as we got to Mitad del Mundo. You hardly expect it to rain at the Ecuador don´t you! All in all though it was a great day out an about. When I sort out some photos I will post some of the more interesting ones for your perusal. Hopefully, they will enlighten my blabber above!