final lush out in Ecuador - hummingbirds, butterflies, hiking

Philipe and I at Lago Quilotoa - Crater lake near Cotopaxi, Ecuador

Beautiful hummingbird in Mindo

ecuador has really been lusciously green and rolling. many of the rural landscapes look like farmlands in europe - neat fields, different tones of soil depending on what stage of furrowing they are at, little farmhouses dotted about. but that's not what i'll really talk about.

this morning after a rather long, drawn out border crossing last night (will write more on that below) we (that too i'll explain later) finally have made it into colombia! for most of the trip colombia has been the golden egg at the end - people always rave about how beautiful it is, how genuinely friendly and welcolming the people are, and so it's nice to be finally here. indeed it is somehow again, even more westernised and has the same high standard of living as was ecuador. it's also a lot more expensive - especially transport. Ecuador you can roughly calculate US$1 per hour of bus travel, but here in colombia we have just paid US$17 for a 5 hour trip.

but back to ecuador. the first thing is that, I'm back with Philipe. we're still working out how we work together, but we've each done separately and together lots of thinking and feeling about what is important to us both. And that's each other. You know, I'm usually so good at running away, and even though we've had a couple of those, we always find our way back together. I've never tried so hard, and likewise been rewarded with what I'm discovering. Many of you know about Chris - we spent 6 wonderful years together sharing our lives, me growing up (though perhaps not enough), exploring the world together. I have such wonderful memories of our time together, still laugh when I think of things we said or did together, and will always treasure these things that I shared with him. with Philipe it is a different relationship and we are also building many memories together, and I guess I feel very lucky to feel such love again. I have no idea how I will deal with being apart for the 2 or so months I am in Nepal and India, and no doubt I will just gloss over and be distracted by what I am doing and seeing.

In Banos

Banos is situated in high jungle - so you get this beautiful misty clouds hovering over the town

So back to the distractions! Philipe and I met after I went up to Chimborazo, which, according to the calculations of my father, the base camp at 4800m is actually 4KM higher than the TOP OF EVEREST! I surprised him in a hot and oppressive Guayaquil, and then we jumped on the bus the next day to the town of Banos. Banos is lush - very touristic, but set in a beautiful valley at the foot of a smoking volcano, with hot springs and waterfalls to relax in after a multitude of adventure sports. Was also complete with a rather curt and negative Norwegian lady who owned a rather nice coffee shop there, who we wonder has managed to maintain the cafe for so many years!

Unfortunately though I got a cold, and that thwarted the canyoning and rafting that we had planned. With time running out, and me still with a hare brained idea that I wanted to climb Cotopaxi, a beautiful glacier topped crater volcano at 5800m, we headed up in to the mountains to start acclimitising and throwing off my cold. There is a beautiful series of walks near Cotopaxi around the town of Quilotoa, where there is a beautiful crater lake, and so we headed up there. I ended up not walking (after managing to lightly sprain my ankle running that morning), but were treated to a beautiful hostal called Mama Hilda where we decided to rest and recover from colds and long travel days for 2 nights.

View from Chugchillan in the Quilotoa Loop near Cotopaxi, Ecuador

My potato sack aisle seat ride:)

"God cannot physically be in all places at the same time, for this there are mothers"

Separated rubbish!!

A nice little town, beautiful hostal, a nice rest. But, as things go, I gave Philipe my cold, so after much deliberating and the serious bedrest that he needed after coming back down to the town we would have left for Cotopaxi, we decided not to climb. It's a real pity not to have done so, but with time running out, we decided to continue on instead of waiting to do the climb.

Toucan:)

Hummingbirds and butterflies galore!

Next stop was another beautiful town called Mindo. It's in cloud forest, about 2 hours from the capital of Ecuador, Quito. The big attraction for Mindo are the birdlife. Up to 20 types of hummingbirds, as well as parrots, and Toucans!! We spent a lush morning just watching the busy activities of the buzzing hummingbirds, and after breakfast then headed off to see some butterflies. I then raced off to do ziplining, and then to canyon down some waterfalls, before meeting Philipe at about 5pm for a much needed pick me up of homemade chocolate at a local restaurant. What a day... I certainly got my fill of everything after a couple of mishaps due to illness!

Yesterday we headed for the border. We thought we were super good and started early and arrived there at 2pm, but due to the fact that I had entered Ecuador at a small border crossing, I was NOT in their system, and this caused many problems. After 1.5 hours waiting in the immigration line for starters, then came the 2 hour wait and 1 hour resolving of the issue of the exit stamp. I got a bit stroppy when they asked for me to pay and get some photocopying done so that they could enter me in the immigration system as being in Ecuador. Especially when they had a machine inside the office. I mean I got really stroppy! What was funny was when I went off to get it done (I couldn't argue my way around that at the time, but came back with very bad quality copies in retaliation) apparantly the supervisor had been around, and asked the other guys - what are these young people still doing here? when they replied about the photocopies - he said - why haven't you just copied them here in the office? (what I had pointed out to them earlier). Hah! but they got it done, and didn't even ask me for a little 'tip' for all the hard work they had to do to process my exit stamp.

But the upside? We met Dickie and Bubba - mother and son traveling and working around south america for the last 5 years who had shared my grief with the entry stamp. just such a great energy with them, and we spent the night in the border town together, then travelled to Popayan too the following day (complete with 4 hour breakdown) for the Easter processions.

And... I'm finally in my last stop... Colombia:)

out of the jungle i go

i've been a bad tourist. I've just spent 5 days in rurrenabaque, and not seen aligators, anacondas, monkeys or pink dolphins, ate coconut tasting insects and learnt what's toxic and not, or wielded a machete. and now i've left. well there's various reasons that I didn't go on a single pampa or jungle tour. I've - still not any useful hiking/walking because of my sprained foot, i seem to be running out of $US to change into Bolivianos (there's no ATM here) and well, i'm being lazy. Yes I may regret this, but i think i'm ok with it. oddly enough, I like animals and happy to hang out with them, but for me mountains and long vista landscapes are more my thing rather than getting close to the furries.

but there are a couple of memories of rurre to stay with me...

• watching every morning and evening, an old couple walking hand in hand into the centre of town. you don't see much hand holding going on here, so it was very sweet to see.
• listening ALL night (to about 5am) to some music down the road - a sort of military drumming crossed with folklore.
  
• meeting a baby big cat - called tigre, resident of a local mechanic
• having a chilled out chat with laura - a dutch girl who fell in love with a local Bolivian, and is getting married in 2 weeks. There was a lot of discussion about cultural differences and her experiences living in Rurre.
• lazing about on the hammock and watching school kids wander their way home from school
• hitting the sunday market on the way out of rurre. People here work 6 days a week, and on sunday's they really do relax, hang out with families, have big lunches and usually enjoy a beer or well 10.
  

yesterday we left rurre, and after 20kms philipe discovered that his shock absorber for his side car tyre, had snapped at the top and was clanging around on his bike frame. 30kms down the road we found an open motorbike workshop with soldering equipment. (this guy was working at 6pm on a Sunday!) He managed to forge a solution, and meanwhile I went search of somewhere to stay. it was a dustry road stop town of probably 40 families, and definitely no sort of hostal. but the couple in the local 'pension'/restaurant kindly invited us in (no less with a cold beer!) and we soon were yelling over the mexican music dvd's playing and telling our stories. we found out that they were the parents of the mechanic - he was just 20, but with a 3 month old baby with a 19 year old girl from a couple of towns up.  as the beers kept getting topped up, i sort of got the impression they (the parents) were not too keen on her, but now with a baby there was not much they could do.

A very welcoming family who let us camp in their restaurant - and welcomed us in with beer, loud mexican telemovie music and lots of good times

I've noticed that there are many unmarried parents and also single mothers here - often under 20 years old. you often meet young children being taken care of by grandparents, while the parents/mother live in a bigger city to work. birth control? well the relative cost of it here is expensive so I guess not used.

His wife Leondi and grandaughter Eva - doing some washing next to the  shower in the orange tree:)

With Antonio who kindly let us camp in his courtyard

tonight we have also been lucky enough to have been allowed to camp in the courtyard of a family's house - antonio, leondi and little eva. Antonio and leondi are the grandparents, little eva is 2 1/2 years old. Her mother left 2 years ago to work in La Paz, and so she lives here with them. It's perched up above the main road, but a simple concrete construction (we're out of the wetter areas where they tend to build in wood, and with thatched roofs) around a well tended courtyard. out back is a small orange plantation - and smack bang in the middle of one tree is the shower. it is a very tranquil place compared to the noisy busy family house last night (where there was a chorus of barking dogs and hens squaking), and again I'm very touched by the kindness of people here.

This little boy was sitting with his mother who was selling watermelons by the roadside - 1 bol/kilo - so for a 5kg melon, 50c (Photo by Philipe)

we're on our way towards La Paz, where I will say good bye to Philipe. He's heading up to Ecuador to see friends, and I'm going ot Cusco to see mum and dad. It's time to get out of Bolivia as my 3 month visa expires on the 24th, and I'll be sad to leave a country so filled with extreme landscapes, tasty produce and food, and some very authentic and kind people. But Peru is next, and i'm off to trek my heart out!

Just down from the roadside camp in between 2 blockades, these little boys were playing and really acting up for the camera. (Photo by Philipe)

christianity in the bolivian jungle

it's an odd sort of thing - in the last week we've separately met two
very kind and very passionate Americans - both Christians, working and
living in Bolivia over the past 15 years or so. Stewart and his Bolivian
wife, Naide stopped and spoke to us on the road from Trinidad, and
subsequently invited us to stay with them; and Ronnie approached us when
we arrived in Rurrenabaque and helped us find a bike friendly hotel.
We've also seen quite a few Mormons and also Mennonites (close to the
Amish) walking around in their hats, overalls, women in long skirts and
matching striped shopping bags.


I've not yet worked out the appeal - or the reason why in the previous 8
months I've not met anyone like this - yet bang, since being near the
old Jesuit Missions and into the tropics of the jungle, meeting and
seeing so many. It has definitely been interesting listening to the many
stories, theories and religious ideas and experiences, but somehow
tiring as well (usually there's hours of listening involved). It's
interesting to see the different degrees of integration; for instance
Stewart doesn't speak much Spanish - despite Naide not speaking any
English, or the types of food eaten - from eating a typical amuerzo
(lunch) with Ronnie, to the hotcakes with syrup and bacon for a dinner
snack cooked by Naide.

1 200cc bike, 5 people, 50kms of muddy road. RESPECt

Road had turned to mud on the way back

Road there - driving at night not so fun

Stewart and Naide's place was a bit of a ways from the town we planned
on staying in - try 7 hours riding sand (which turned to mud on the way
back after rains) to get about 130kms. (thankfully i rode 2 up on the
sidecar) They don't see too many foreigners; apart from family who
visited we were the only English speakers that had come by in the past
year. The community near their house consisted about 20 families; no
electricity, a clean water tank was just being installed, every dirt
house was shared by the greater family, oxen pulling around carts,
cattle and pigs roaming around - and during rainy season it becomes
completely cut off and inaccessible by car. A very different way of life.

Stewart getting comfortable watching for hochi's

Listening intently - he also played the mandolin quite well

Stewart definitely had a luxurious house by comparison - his own water
tank/well/pump with a good pressure outdoor cold shower, 2 generators,
fridge and... air conditioners for 3 rooms. I can relate to this -
things we take as important - ie. clean drinking water, having a
sanitation tank for human waste etc are a bit out of the norm here.

A noisy friend 

We spent 5 days with them - Stewart was definitely a very strong
character; from Florida but with a strong southern accent, so his
stories about slow trail deer hunting, fishing using airboats, the frog
leg trade, stories of his brother, when he arrived in Bolivia, the
conversations he has with the Lord and miracles he has witnessed, were
told in an expressive slow drawl and with whole body passion. There were
some rather very strong views that came out but he was very welcoming,
and I learnt many new things about how people live out their beliefs.

Dancing in San Ignacio de Moxos

Blocking the blockade

Imagine this after 4 months of rainy season.....

After 5 days we headed back to San Ignacio de Moxos, then to San Borja,
and yesterday a long day of riding to Rurrenabaque. On the way we
stopped for 2 hours at a road blockade that was in protest of a new road
being built through some protected areas to facilitate transport between
Chile and Brazil. A bit baking in the midday sun and I'm not sure if
there are more effective ways to find a solution. From there we went
through some muddy patches and road under construction to reach Rurre -
I cannot imagine how these roads are in the rainy season - we are now at
the end of the dry season and it's already difficult now.

Rurre for a couple of days, perhaps a venture out to Rio Tuichi to
hopefully see some animals, then got to work out how exactly I'm going
to get to Cusco to see mum and dad... there's a road on the map - but
apparently it doesn't exist... hmm....