Ecuador at sea level is a different story. Suddenly it was hot. We spent long 3h in Guayaquil, squeezing through the crowds at the peer and were happy to leave. Our new friends had given us a lift to the coast, so we stayed a night in Salinas -not worth writing much about, one white hotel block next to the other.
Our beach destination was the little hippy party town called Montañita. We arrived Friday afternoon, got off the bus, walked around the corner and mum looked at me like…. well…. you can imagine. Montañita is in the hand of bracelet braiding hippies, tourist guides, bars and the weekend party tourism. We had two nights of crazy party and huuuge crowds of people (even mum couldn’t withstand it and joined the party). Suddenly, Monday morning the magic was over – empty street and not a single soul walking around anymore.
We moved on to Puerto Lopez. If you’re following me a little, you might have realized that I’m lucky with the timing when it comes to whales, and here they were again.
Mum and I hopped on a little whale watching cruise. Since we collected tones of karma points last time, a young male humpback whale came by and showed himself from all sides jumping around the boat. I love these majestic animals, my all-time favorite!
After a looong looong night on a bus, we arrived in Baños. You might wonder why we didn’t go there before, when we were around the corner. Hmmm back then, we had looked at the weather and it said 2°C. That’s when mum decided that she’d rather prefer the beach. I don’t know at which Baños we looked at that time/where their weather station is, BUT Baños is like Medellín, a town of endless spring and perfect 21°C.
In Baños we joined the Ecuadorians in their muddy thermals, took the bicycles to see the waterfalls and visited the swing at the end of the world. This famous swing at the end of the world is probably the cutest manmade tourist attraction I’ve seen so far. We paid US$ 1 to get in there and found ourselves in a little garden at the edge of a hill. There were five swings, some for children AND this famous swing at the treehouse. Waiting 15 min for a 1 min swinging and an endless crowed of people.. it may sound very touristy, and it is hahaha BUT it was adorably made and it was even better to see, how easy you can make someone happy. I totally loved it, everyone was smiling up there.
Another adventurous bus and “collectivo” trip brought us to Salinas – this time the Salinas in the mountains on 3500m a.s.l. Coming from the cozy Baños, we finally had the expected 2°C. It was freeeeeezing up there, at least at night. Salinas is a fascinating village. It is quite far away from any bigger town and it had found a loophole to escape the rural poverty – thanks to a catholic missionary. He introduced the system of cooperatives and credits. He showed the people how to process their milk to cheese etc. (because usually it had gone bad when it arrived in town to sell), and developed a few more ideas over time. The village still hasn’t lost its traditional character and lamas are used to transport the milk to the processor. We got a lovely, private tour from the local tourist information (also one of these ideas) and the young men showed us proudly his village. Very well done, up there in the mountains.
On the way to Quito, we drove pass the highest mountain Chimborazo. Highest mountain in Ecuador, definitely!! Highest in the world, eventually. Measuring from the center of the earth, this mountain is actually higher than Mt Everest because it is located at the equator and earth is not perfectly round. At least that’s what they told me. When the bus driver saw me trying to get a good photo of the cloud free peak (through the bus window), he stopped and opened the doors for a photo break. Yipiiiiiwuhee!!
And theeeeen, it was time for GALAPAGOS! I’ll skip it at this point and dedicate an entire blog to this breathtaking experience.
The last week after Galapagos, I spent with Mitch again, exploring the streets of Quito, dancing through crazy nights and eating tons of street food.
We rode the bike to the National Park Antisana, only to realize we would not come very far with the bike (not allowed in there), and ended up in a little hut at the edge of Condor Canyon. Watching these majestic birds while having a bottle of wine – it was the perfect failure. The guy from this place took us to the park the next morning. A magnificent place, standing between the peaks of Antisana and Cotopaxi. “Are you birders, too????” did the Americans ask us, with their bird watching hat and the binoculars. “Weeeeh, not really..”
We took the cable car to the Rucu Pichincha, hiked on almost 5000m along the mountain range to its brother Guagua Pichincha and got caught by the altitude sickness, one after the other. We watched the sun rising behind the snow-covered 6000m peaks of Ecuador and had a look at the volcanoes crater at 5am. It took us three never ending, hot and boring hours to get back to the bottom.
And then, it was time to go home. In theory at least – hurricane Irma had different plans for me and cancelled all flights through Miami, for the next couple days. This airline would not get me out of Quito anytime soon.
I had quite a bit of trouble with Kiwi.com, who could not organize me a new flight within the next two weeks. However, my dad did not want to wait another two weeks – he had booked a new flight in three days. I didn’t get a new flight from Kiwi.com, but a refund.
Soooo, three more days to go. We chose to spend them in Mindo, the green heart of the area. Mitch wanted to get his ultimate bus experience after riding his bike so far. We enjoyed the lush green hills and jungle feeling of Mindo and had the ultimate hummingbird experience.
Three days had passed quickly. No new storm was coming through and the moment was finally here, going back to a different life. I left with a laughing and a crying eye. I haven’t seen family and friends for a long time and was somehow keen for a little routine. However, it’s been an amazing experience with hundreds and thousands of new impressions and many new friends – living an endless adventure. Thank you, Mitch for being a part of it, from the first day in Guadalajara to the last day in Quito.
