Trials of a Traveler Pt. 2

I arrived at the Tulcan border harbouring a mix of feelings... Relief and stress. Fatigue and exhilaration, all at the same time. The only thing on my mind was crossing the border, and finding a nice hostel in Colombia where I could have a drink and a cigarette with some new found friends... Alas it was not to be.

Despite my taxi driver watching me exchange all my dollars for peso´s when I got off the bus, I still had to bargain with him for the length of the journey about which currency to pay him in (he wanted dollars). When we pulled up to the border I felt an overwhelming sense of relief because I´d made it! I got out and walked confidently to a window stating I was ready to cross the border. Finally, this trips troubles were soon to be over... Psssssh.

After looking at my passport I was asked where my stamp into Ecuador was. I said it must be in the passport as I am, in fact, in Ecuador and have been for three weeks travelling. An English speaker was sent for and I was asked to stand to the side. Attempting to keep down the fear that had settled on my chest since the lost bag incident, I flipped through my passport in a nonchalant sort of way. I couldn´t see the Ecuador stamp either admittedly, but clearly it must be there. 

I feel this face represents what mine
 looked like pretty accurately 

When I was seen for a second time I was told that when coming in from Peru I got my stamp out but failed to get one in (I'm guessing this was due to no-one explaining this to me and the bus driving off without me at the border...see earlier border crossing blog for reference).

Pretty annoyed at this point thinking about how much money I was about to waste on a fine, I sighed and asked what the damage was. Before my nice helper lady could explain that it was going to be difficult, a stone faced bitch in the next window barks in Spanish, "Tell her she has to go back to Quito and get a stamp. It's not our problem".... SORRY??!! 

My thoughts of Quito being in no way positive, and the idea of going 10 hours back on myself to a place I´d already had a troublesome experience in, whilst not having budgeted in any way for was more than my fragile self could handle at that point. I was tired, confused, my brain had gone into panic mode so I couldn´t remember any of the shit Spanish I had stored in the back... So I started to cry. At the window. Uncontrollably. It was in no way pretty.

As locals started to edge around me whilst not making eye contact, and the people behind the window started to back away and congregate in a back room, the reality of the situation hit me and I felt an overwhelming sense of despair. What on earth was I thinking, coming to a foreign place with no concept of the language?! Who the hell did I think I was?! Now, I was going to be stuck at the Ecuadorian border and knowing myself I´ll probably leave my passport somewhere, pay for a taxi with all of my money, and then wander off without my bags. And THEN I´ll have to call my mum from a tiny shack somewhere covered with mud and bruises (because I´ll probably fall down somewhere, trip over a chicken or something) and ask her to bail me out. And THEN I´ll be forever in her debt when I go home and I´ll have to go and work in a call centre to pay her back and suddenly I´ll be 30 and I´ll have wasted my life working for NHS Smoking Helpline and will have picked up a 50 a day habit in the process!!!! 

Variations of these thoughts circulated around my brain in the twenty minutes it took border control to decide my fate and as my melodramatic mind pictured all the worst outcomes, I had become really quite hysterical. I was pulled out of my hysteria when my nice woman shouted "TRANQUIL" and I realised I was making a bit of a scene. She asked me when I was next planning to come to Ecuador to which I practically screamed "NEVER". She looked a bit shocked, though relieved, and said that this time I could go through with a strong warning. 

As I picked up my bags with shaking hands, and tried to subtly dry my face on my jumper, which I then realised had mud on it...which was now on my face... I got my stamp and crossed the border thinking  how lucky I'd been. Guess this whole going to another country with no language skills was an OK plan after all...not a good one maybe, but an OK one.

I walked over to Colombia where I was greeted with smiles, but I kept down just in case someone from Ecuador ran over saying they´d made a mistake and wanted me back (HA! As if.) and got a taxi to Ipiales immediately. Can´t say I loved the look of the border town, and I really wanted to spend that night somewhere safe after my traumatic journey so got a bus to Popayan which I´d heard was nice and near to Pasto which was my bus´s first stop.

However, Colombia is huge. What was ´near to´Pasto turned out to be another 8 hours so I arrived in Popayan at 2am in the pitch black with no hostel reserved, no taxi´s in sight, and thought ´fuck this I´ll stay on till Cali´, which was where I was heading tomorrow morning anyway. And so, my first ´safe night´in Colombia was spent on a night bus, which I was told should never be done in South America because of robbers and such. Due to this, I made sure I stayed awake the entire time with my iPod in my bra and my brain in alert mode. Good.

Trials of a Traveler. Pt 1

I had planned to stay a night in Quito on the way to the border to check it out, but after talking to a few people it transpired that Quito was generally considered to be big and dangerous. After my laptop robbery, I decided best to skip it. However, for any travelling around Quito, be warned - there are two main bus stations. One goes South, one that goes North, and getting a ride inbetween them isn't easy, if done in a taxi you´re looking at $9 minimum - no thanks. 

So, when I went to the Baños bus company I was sure to check that my bus would go to the centre... seems like a likely place for the North bus stop to be... Nope. I ended up getting off at the last stop which was a post office in the middle of a pitch black Quito-lost and alone in the land of robbings with no Spanish to save me.

Slightly concerned I eventually managed to work out where I'd gone wrong and tried to find out how to get to Otravalo, my next destination half way between Quito and the border. Quickly transpired that I was at least half an hour away and would need to get a taxi there, and there was me thinking I was being clever...

Luckily for me a woman in the post office was also going North so I waited for her and hopped in her taxi heading toward my destination. What could have been a $9 journey was now $2. Found a coach, stayed very alert for the 3 hour journey and eventually got into Otravalo around 10pm. Having not eaten in 8 hours I thought food may be a good way to go so after walking around for half an hour I found a legit Chinese which gave me two meals worth of chicken and special fried rice for $3.50. Back to the hotel for 20 minutes of men in black and I was out!

I was feeling confident in the morning having overcome incidents with minimal stress so after taking my bag downstairs I wandered around Otravalo, checked out the market and headed to catch a bus to Tulcan to get across the border nice and early. Slight hiccup occurred when swinging my bag onto my back I knocked over a glass door leant against a wall that smashed into a thousand pieces on my exit... Awkward.

Once on the bus I immediately needed the toilet, sadly for me there wasn't one on my bus. I considered for 20 minutes whether to ask the driver if we could stop..in bad Spanish...in front of everyone, but luckily we pulled into a petrol station. Perfect!

This has nothing to do with the story, its from Peru.
Purely here for comic relief

After smiling at the bus driver, I jumped off and ran to the restroom. When I came out and jumped onto my bus I was rather confused to find the interior had completely changed, as had the passengers.  I laughed, hopped off, and looked for my original bus. But no.. My bus was not there. It had not only left me stranded in the middle of nowhere, but had also taken both my bags with it. Que panic.... Now.

Thankfully this new bus was going to the border too so I paid a dollar, got on, and prayed we'd catch up with my belongings. I began to feel less and less hopeful of a happy outcome after enduring 3 well-meaning people telling me in Spanish that the only thing I could do was contact the police when I got to Tulcan because essentially, my possessions would never be seen again. Meerkat'ing every time we passed a coach, the woman next to me just shook her head silently, the universal sign for no hope. 

In the end I sat there and cried thinking how stupid I was to leave my bags-especially given my track record of bags on buses.

When we arrive to Tulcan however, I am greeted with my bus and both my bags-thank fucking Christ!!! There is smiling, laughing, joking (probably at the my expense) but I'm so relieved I just want to carry on before anything else happens! So after exchanging my dollars for pesos with a guy on the street (wouldn't recommend it, didn't get the best rate but was beyond caring by that point) I hopped in a taxi and headed to the Colombian border. What could possibly go wrong there...?!

Ecuador, Baños: Literally translated as toilet....

It's hard for me to not judge Baños too harshly considering it was on arrival that I realised the inevitable had happened... My laptop had been stolen out of my backpack on the bus journey. All my music written, the essay due in 3 days that had taken 2 weeks to write, and all my music, pictures etc - gone.

I arrived tired, sad and lonely. So in true boozy Brit style I bought a bottle of rum and drank a majority of it on an empty stomach-can't say I slept much that night. I did however meet some wicked people, who really were the saving grace of the trip. And the hostel I was in (D'Mathias) was so good. Really friendly atmosphere, $6 a night for dorms that were cleaned everyday. A roof terrace, pool table, and living room with an impressive collection of DVD's and a communal computer with internet and wifi on every floor.

I have to say I spent most of my 5 nights there in the hostel licking my wounds, re-writing my essay and trying to find the police station to report my laptop theft.

Whilst I was there it turned out to be the Baños fiesta of independence which was great. A four hour carnival procession outside the hostel and down the Main Street followed by 2 days of celebration. 

That night we went to the 'Why Not?' Bar because well...why not?! Followed by the Leprachaun bar which was more gringo heavy, and lively. We entered to "Get Lucky", so clearly an instant winner. Due to it being a small town everything was done by 2am  and after following someone promising cheap drink and smoke we realised we'd become somewhat surrounded by strangers so retreated back to our hostel.

All in all I enjoyed Baños, though I do miss my laptop and all the programs that I lost with it. Just another lesson on how little we need material things, and to never leave a bag overhead on the bus. And that in the aftermath of a less favourable experience, you can be rewarded with finding new friends. My last night transpired into an engagement party for a lovely German couple who plied us with beer while we made sweet sweet music on the rooftop overlooking the town, lovely.

Cuenca; the most beautiful city in Ecuador

Cuenca was definitely worth a visit. There is a river that runs through the city and separates uptown from downtown. The hostel I stayed, La Casa Cuencana, was $8 a night and for a 4 bed dorm was very spacious and clean - even had a balcony. Well equipped kitchen and run by a friendly family.

The streets in uptown are all very well marked and easy to navigate with a map. My day out went as thus;

1st: The Museum of Modern Art-downright weird although the building was interesting. Lots of different rooms with connecting exhibitions, I probably would have 'got' it a bit more had I been able to read the signs but lots of the rooms looked like year 9 light experiments...lamps hanging at different levels and electricity models behind black out curtains and wailing music in the background. The stone carvings in the garden were cool though.

2nd: The Banc Museum, which showed the beginnings of each culture in different parts of Ecuador. Homes had been reimagined and you had to walk through them to get to the information which gave it a personal feel. No pictures allowed though.

3rd: A Museum which, from what I got via the fast speaking guide, was started as a base to educate people about Inca ruins and indigenous people. I believe it was started by a famous writer and the museum was his converted home with ruins in the back garden! And main road running next to them... 

Last but definitely not least was the ethnographic museum which went through development over the ages based on the materials that were used by different cultures. Fascinating and had an accompanying book in English-muy bein. Definitely my favourite of all the museums visited. Had to pay, but had my student card - booya! So glad I bought this baby with me, getting discounts everywhere!

On my travels I also passed some amazing churches. The woodwork and general detail was amazing. There are so many churches in South America and everyone of them is beautiful. 

 

So yes, I liked Cuenca. I felt safe everywhere and the atmosphere was chilled without feeling boring. However, I did feel as if I'd seen everything I needed to within a day. Onto Baños!

Vilcabamba: Loja, Ecuador

Vilcabamba.... What a beautiful town. Located an hour away from Loja in the mountains it's known for a laid back lifestyle and living healthy atmosphere being home to worlds largest population of elderly people....which is reflected in the nightlife...

I went out once for my birthday to a place called Breakys and it was very bizarre. Harlem Shake and Britney Spears techno remixes where dropped after a Michael Jackson medley followed by some 'salsa on speed' and then some more techno. Of the 25 people that were there I'd say 6 of us were under 35. Very bizarre.



What I found with Vilcabamba was that it is beautiful, and for a 2 day visit getting massages after a hike it would be perfect. I stayed for 9 days due to illness and funds in my Eco lodge and had a great time but the town is full of tourists who have migrated there to set up base for a Nazi apocalypse (no I'm not joking). A lot of them are self proclaimed healers who drink a lot and talk at you about conspiracy theories. 

Rumi Wilco

Luckily I only met a couple of these but they are everywhere, huge characters living in this town together talking living off coke and tequila and buying land which they'll 'get the locals to build up' very strange. It's what I'd picture a town full of mid life crisis'ers to look like. 

For me, this made the overall feel of the town less 'authentic Ecuadorian place of healing' and more 'eccentric Gringos proving how spiritual they are living among local Ecuadorians'.

That being said, I had the most relaxing week up in my Eco lodge (picture to the right...) and would reccomend it to everyone. The Rumi Wilco, a short walk out of town and much nicer/well equipped than the hostels in town. I found my birthday buddy to hang out with and the cutest kitten in the world...


Most of the people I did meet were 90% lovely bar a few oddballs. The views are spectacular at Rumi Wilco and due to volunteering a couple of hours a day-super cheap If I was to visit again however, I would go with someone I could get massages and speak Spanish with!

Peru to Ecuador: Crossing the border

Ahhhhh so I actually made it across the border! I'm actually gonna break the day down a little bit because it was very surreal.

5.30am - woke up after 4 hours sleep and immediately administered the culo injections. At the time it was doable, when I look back, I feel physically sick. But hey! I did it. Hadn't eaten since 1pm yesterday arvo so went downstairs for the breakfast that I assumed was included in the steep price- Nope! Decided I'd get my bus ticket and find something to eat there. Tried to work out where the bus station was in spanglish - it wasn't going well so I eventually got a taxi BUT because I knew I was leaving Peru I had no soles left on me, only dollars. The hotel I was at had no money changing place around it so I got a pretty bad rate off them paying in dollars and got 10 soles change, 5 of which went to the taxi.

7.30am- get to the bus station which was downtown, no cash point or money changing there! Market stalls on every road, people selling everything from pet food to toilet seats-amazing! Figured I'd get my ticket and then go for a wander and get food with my 5 soles change... Nope! Get to buying my ticket and only have a 20 dollar note, no singles and the ticket was 12 dollars. Had to get 10 back, and give all my soles instead. Sitting down, I watch a french couple next to me come back multiple times with food goodies from the market stalls whilst my stomach is eating its self. I dig in my bag and find 1 sole and 10 cents so with that I manage to buy a banana and 5 bread rolls, that should keep me going for 9 hours, and they're sure to give us food on the coach right...

9.30am- get on the bus, realise very quickly that when the site said refreshments available what it actually meant was stop at every town for people on the street to get on the bus and sell you food. Which I would definitely have done...if I had but 1 sole. But I did not. I prayed we would cross the Ecuadorian border soon so I could get some water as I had a sip left.

1pm- some police officers get on the coach to check our passports, we almost drive off with one of them. Pretty funny, and what I considered a very easy border crossing.

1.30pm- we get to the actual border. We get off the coach, I go to immigration and within 5 minutes realise I've lost the all important piece of paper that allows me to leave the country. I search and search, but it cannot be found so they guy says I have to pay a 28soles fine. Fine, but I don't have any soles, all I have is my 10 dollars change from before because all my bags are on the bus. As I turn and gesture to the bus I realise that it is DRIVING AWAY. I start panicking, I can't run after it because I'm not allowed to cross the border yet and frankly my body is failing. Luckily for me, senor border man liked my passport photo so after flirting a bit I get off with a 10 dollar fine and walk across the border in blistering heat, telling myself not to panic, and finally find my bus on the other side. Phew.

6pm- I managed to get some water and fresh plaintain chips now I'm in Ecuador, but it is now pitch black and I have no idea how I'm going to get to Vilcabamba which is where I'm staying next. I also really need the toilet because I downed two bottles of water. I ask the man next to me whether we're near by and he tells me he'll take me to the bus I need to get and help me buy a ticket. After rushing off the bus, we run to another part of the station where I get a ticket with minutes to spare. He runs me to the platform, puts in a dime for me to be able to get through and then shouts which colour it is. What a legend. I get on, sit down thinking how difficult it would have been had he not helped me before remembering how badly I need the toilet...at that moment, the bus sets off...and the bumps are no joke.

7.30pm- after being told Vilcabamba was 45 minutes away I am now getting slightly worried that we may have somehow passed it. The mountain has lots of tiny towns all over it where people have been steadily getting off (there are no bus stops here you just tell the driver when you want to get out). After doing some meerkat staring, I ask a guy with glasses (we four-eyes stick together) who says I just need to hang on. Soon after, we get to Vilcambaba, I get a room at the closest hostel I can find and here we are!

The bed was the hardest I've ever slept on, there are massive gaps between the windows and the walls but you know what?! I'm so happy. This is what I'm talking about. Got me quarter of a chicken, some fruit, and some water. The journey has officially begun. Went to bed watching the Avengers, and woke up to this in the morning :)