Ecuador

25/2  – 23/3/2001

Our first night in Guayaquil was in a $10 hotel room with free and plentiful cockroaches – we moved!

Guayaquil is a typical port town with dirty and largely empty streets.  The notable exception is the Malecon – a spotless walkway along the banks of the river Guaya with Cafés and air-conditioned shops.

After four days of being shunted from office to office, gathering bits of paper festooned with official stamps, we were finally able to free the Landrover from its container.

Back on the road, we headed west and then north up the coast through Valdivia and Crucita.

On the ferry that crossed the estuary of the Rio Chone, we met Mario who invited us to join him for a lobster meal cooked by his wife.  Continuing north, we stopped at Súa

at a small hotel/restaurant.  We spent a lively evening with Alfredo, the owner, and his family.

They grew papayas

and cocoa pods

in their garden.

After a swim in the river at the edge of Alfredo’s land, we continued north to Esmereldas before turning inland through La Independencia; after which the tarmac ended.  Despite getting bogged in wet clay on a steep slope, we enjoyed the rolling foothills of the Andes,

on our way to Otovalo;

where we visited the one-room, but wonderful, archaeological museum,  The old and highly knowledgeable caretaker acted as our guide.

Further north, we stopped at San Antonio de Pichincha where we camped in the driveway of a small restaurant.  Fabia, the owner

was happy for us to sleep there because we planned to have lunch in her restaurant the next day.

The guinea  pigs (‘cuys’) in hutches in Fabia’s garden

were not family pets!

Further north, up a bumpy track, we spent an afternoon at the thermal baths at Chachimbiro

and a night at a hotel/restaurant owned by an aristocratic ex-show jumper.

We returned to Otovalo

for the Saturday market;

before heading up the rutted, dirt track to camp for a cold night at Laguna de Mojanda at an altitude of 3,300 metres.

After a beautiful morning with the sun rising over the mountains that surround the lake, we continued down a very rough track and joined the road south; crossing the equator at the Mitad del Mundo monument

on our way to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

We visited the Foundation dedicated to the Ecuadorian Modern Artist, Oswaldo Guyasamin,

before moving further south to spend a cold night at 3,800 metres in the national park at the foot of Volcan Cotopaxi.

We drove up to the mountain refuge at 4,800 metres.

The following day, I returned to the refuge to join a group planning to climb the volcano.

We set off at 1 a.m..  After more than 4 hours of climbing we had to turn back 4oo metres short of the 5,900 metre summit because there was too much deep, fresh snow and two of our party had developed altitude sickness.

After a morning soak in the thermal baths at Baños de Agua Santa, we continued south down the spine of the Ecuadorian Andes; taking a detour via Ambato to avoid a road blocked by a recent eruption of Tungurahua.  We stopped at Ingapirca, our first Inca ruins,

before reaching Cuenca.

Jaimie Delgado, a local restaurant owner, invited us to park for the night in his garden

and showed us his collection of modern Ecuadorian art.

We shopped for more pre-Columbian artefacts

before returning to Guayaquil; so completing our circuit of Ecuador.

After a hot and humid morning of cleaning the vehicle, we headed to the border with Peru.

Our abiding memory of Ecuador will be of the kindness and hospitality of the people we met.