Ecaudor - and crossing the equator....

My first impression of Ecuador is that its much cheaper than Colombia, only $1 for each hour on the bus (just like El Salvador), and prices seem to be more fixed as well, so less chance of being ripped off. Its five hours to Quito the capital, so only $5 to get there. Taxis aren't so cheap though and it would cost between $5 and $10 to get from the bus station to the hostel I'm going to stay at. The local bus is only $0.25 so with both my backpacks i get on, not really knowing where i am going, but knowing it will get me much closer for a lot less money. I have to change once and after 45 minutes end up 5 minutes walk from the hostel which is very comfortable and a few minutes away from the old town. There's also a park nearby with a good lookout point for photographing the city and the huge Gothic Basílica del Voto Nacional.



Quito Old Town



Gothic Basílica del Voto Nacional



Gothic Basílica del Voto Nacional



The next day I go to the New Town to try and find an organised group to climb the Volcanoes Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, an hour after starting my search though, i've booked a 10 day trip to the Galapagos instead, leaving the next morning! The price was right (still expensive, but cheaper than usual) and included an 8 day cruise and two extra days at the end to go scuba diving :) In the night i go to have a few drinks with some people from the hostel and at 1am i go back almost having forgotten about my Galapagos trip. The 3 hour flight is at 10am and i only wake up at 07.30 thanks to someone else in the hostel making noise getting up. Luckily I'm in time for the flight and a few hours later i arrive 1000km away in the Pacific Ocean on Isla Baltra.

A national park guide is there to meet me and the 14 other people on the cruise. There are 3 people in their twenties, but unfortunately everyone else is 60+ A trip to the Galapagos is not cheap, and its mostly older people who can afford to go on these cruises, especially the longer 8 day ones. Apparently 70% of tourists going to Ecuador are over 60 years old. The trip reminds me of when i used to take British tourist to Japan for two weeks at a  time. Luckily I didn't have to keep anyone happy on this trip! :)

The boat is medium class (economy premium) and i'm sharing an en-suite room (with bunk bed) with a Dutch student who is blowing his travel budget to do the cruise. Everyday takes a similar routine; get up at 7am, have breakfast, do a 1-2 hour walking tour on an island, go snorkelling, have lunch, go snorkelling, do another 1-2 hour walking tour; have dinner and sleep.

The Galapagos is also directly on the equator and we crossed the imaginary line at least 3 times during the week. The Galapagos is a paradise for animal lovers, and photographers. The animals really aren't shy at all and we were allowed to get as close as 2 meters distance from them.  The only thing i was disappointed in is the lack of variety. There is only 1 type of mammal, the sea lion, a few reptiles, iguana and the giant tortoise (is this a mammal ?), crustaceans - the Sally Light Foot crabs, and the rest of the animals are all birds: Blue Footed Booby, Red Footed Booby, Frigates, Penguins and a million different types of finch. These animals are everywhere though, so its quite impressive to see them all, and so close as well; i just thought i would be able to see lots of animals I'd never seen before. 

Frigate



Frigate



me and a sealion!

The highlight of the trip though is underwater. The snorkelling is incredible when you are lucky enough to have sea lions swimming face to face with you. Marine iguanas feeding off algae just below the surface, and penguins bobbing up and down on the waves. There are lots of white tip reef shark, turtles and sting rays too. At the end of the cruise i stayed two days in Puerto Ayora to scuba dive. Its not cheap $130 for a day trip with 2 tanks, but definitely worth it. I've wanted to see hammer head sharks for years and years now, and this is one of the places to see them. I wasn't disappointed, with about 30 of them swimming past us on the first dive, one came within 3 meters of me, it was incredible to see them!  The dive site is called Gordon Rocks and it has very strong currents, only for Advanced divers. I've never experienced anything like it before. As soon as you are in the water you get swept away and have to dive down and hold onto a rock for the entire dive and just watch the marine life drifting past you. The current was so strong it was ripping my face mask off, and air bubbles were being blown sideways instead up! The fish even had a hard time swimming and a group of eagle rays were going nowhere against the current. Back on shore and my last night on the Islands, a Miss Galapagos parade was making its way through town, girls dressed up as fish and sea lion….

If you want to go to the Galapagos the cheapest way is to fly direct to the islands, $400 for the flight from mainland Ecuador, then $15 for a room in the main town. From there you can easily do day trips to other islands, or go to some of the beaches nearby which are free and have plenty of iguana and bird life, its also free to visit the giant tortoises too. Cruises booked in the Galapagos start from about $400 for a 4 day cruise. Not too bad really!

Back in Quito i decided to test my theory of acclimatisation. A lot of people say once you go down a mountain, the acclimatisation you have gained only lasts a few days. I think its longer. Flying from the Galapagos to Quito (2800m) and immediately taking a cable car up to 4000m would test this. Airplanes are pressurised, not exactly sea level, but close enough. So basically until i landed at 1 pm,  i was still theoretically at sea level,  Within 3 hours id taken a taxi to my hostel, another one to the cable car and whizzed up the mountain to 4000m. I had visions of my head imploding on the way up, but i didn't feel a thing. After 30 minutes at the top i decided to hike even further up. By the time it got dark i was at 4300m and still feeling fine, but decided to go back down. I'd been in the Galapagos at sea level for 10 days, before that about a week at 4-5000m in Colombia. Everyone is different, but i managed to keep my acclimatisation from Colombia for a long time. Good news for future climbing adventures!

Unfortunately,  i still couldn't find a cheap trip to climb Cotopaxi (5897m) and Chimborazo (6310m), $200-300 being average, so as usual i went off to do it myself. Its much better this way, apart from the price ($35 total), i like to go at my own pace. I carry at least 6kg more than anyone else because of my camera gear and tripod, so sometimes i want to rest when i need to, not when i'm told i can. And if I'm roped up with other climbers i cant stop to take photos when i like. Getting to the mountain was easy, $1.50 for the 90 minute bus ride, then $25 taxi to the car park at 4500m, $2 national park entrance fee (foreigners price - cheaper for locals), $10 for 3 days food, and a 90 minute climb to base camp where i set up my tent for 3 nights. Most people stay at the refuge at 4800m then try to summit the same night starting at about 1am). I thought an extra night on the mountain would give me a much better chance of summiting, so i spent 24 hours resting at 5000m, before the 1am start.

The day i arrived there was a clear track on the mountain where people had summited the night before, so i thought it would be easy to follow all the way up. On my rest day, however, it snowed 20 cm and the trail was barely visible when i left my tent to head up. I could see faint marks zigzagging up the mountain so i followed the marks for 3 hours breaking trail (making a new trail through the fresh snow) until i got to some crevasses i would have to cross. Not sure if they were safe or not, i waited about 30 minutes for a group who were also making their way up, below me. It was a guide who was taking his friends up, so i followed them across the crevasses, and then all the way to the summit. It took 7 hours to get to the top, arriving just after sunrise. Back at my tent i was so tired i decided to stay a 3rd night, instead of going straight back to Quito. I also got to see great views the next morning.

camping on Cotopaxi 5000m

moon setting at dawn

crevase crossing

summit crater 5897m

One of the mountain guides was passing my tent and he offered me a lift down to the highway, saving me $25 for a taxi back. Perfect! One of his clients was an American, John, and we decided to climb Chimborazo together the next day. We spent the night in another town called Riobamba and took a taxi to the mountain refuge at 5000m. Everything would have gone well but we must have eaten something bad in Riobamba because we both got sick at the same time. After a few restless hours and a lot of toilet visits we got up at midnight and tried to climb. Neither of us had any energy and knowing i would never make it to the top i turned back after an hour and less than 200m up. John kept going until sunrise but never made it either. That's one to go back for!

My last stop in Ecuador was Cuenca, a Unesco listed town full of churches and home to the original Panama hat! Just a place to stop and break the journey before a long bus ride through Peru in the next few days.

Cuenca

Coming Soon - Peru