What goes on tour stays on tour......

Abs - decided that this wasn't one for public consumption..... So have published 'privately' so that no one else can see.

I know that we both thought that the llama hats and gloves were a functional and not necessarily a stylish purchase but seriously, under the crash caps... what were we thinking.

Note to self: Delete photo's of us in llama hats before going home.

By the way, have you used the 'private' publish option before, not sure that I've done it correctly - let's hope I have!

L 

We climbed a volcano yesterday....

After an early pick up and a two hour drive we arrived at the Cotapaxi National Park parking lot, which at 4,500m is the starting point for the hike.

Van to go up, bikes to go down

We hiked slowly to 'Jose Rivas' refuge 4,810m which is on the snowline, then those of us who wanted (and were able) to then hiked a further 200m with our guide to reach the glaciers at 5,000m.

At the glaciers; 5000m

Descending by bike to Laguna Limpiopungo was an exhilarating experience and the scenery was breathtaking.

On the descent......

School's out for summer.....

Wahoo!

We didn't exactly 'graduate' from school, more fell out of the classroom with relief, but we have the basics and now we just have to 'practica, practica, practica'.

After a couple of post study beers in Foch Plaza tonight we came back to the hostel - left over quinoa and vegetables for dinner.

Tomorrow we're being picked up at 06:45 to climb Cotapaxi - we're mountain biking down which I'm really looking forward to - I really hope that I bought the right insurance policy.....

Hopefully the walking will be good practice for Machu Picchu and the ride should help us prepare for mountain biking on the Yungus Road (Death Road) in Bolivia.

Assuming we make it back we're heading to Astrid Y Gaston for dinner - to celebrate our one month anniversary - hard to believe a month has already gone by.

Then at 11pm on Sunday we take a night bus from Quito to Lago Agrio for our jungle trip to the Amazon - we're going to the area where the two girls were kidnapped in the first week that we were here - we've been assured that it's perfectly safe. 

HHHhhhhmmmm, I really wish I'd brought a copy of my insurance policy with me.

Raine x

Mercardo Santa Clara

Great day at school yesterday, I went on a 'school trip' with my teacher to Mercardo Santa Clara, a fresh food market about 10 minutes away from the school by bus.

I had read that South America has more fruits than we in England have names for and at the market I had the opportunity to see and taste some of them.

Fruit stall

I tasted; Orito, Tuna (a fruit not a fish), Uvilla, Granadilla, Naranjilla, Taxo and Tree tomatoes. Aside from the Tree Tomato which I didn't particularly like, the fruits were delicious and so cheap - getting your five-a-day in Ecuador is easy!

After school and the customary glass of post study wine, Abs and I made a vegetable and quinoa soup/casserole which we shared with Steve who we met at the hostel a few days ago, he kindly donated a bottle of red and some Taxo for pudding.

So, by my calculation, with the seven fruits I tasted, the five I bought for Abs and the nine vegetables in the soup we're on about 21 a day! 

Last day of school today - early start tomorrow as we're climbing Cotapaxi before heading to the jungle on Sunday night.

Raine x

Feliz cumpleanos (Happy Birthday)

Happy Birthday Mum have a lovely day.

Lots of Love,

Raine x

All time favourite photo - you are too cute!

I'm so sorry not to be with you today, but it was you that introduced me to 'Ithaka' so I guess you're at least partly responsible for where I am today (thank you).

I look at this picture of you and think you are the most adorable little girl in the world - I count my blessings that you grew up to be my Mum.

I love you.

Raine x 

Guinea Pig Lake

In Ecuador they don't just eat guinea pigs, in Cotacachi, 20 minutes from Otavalo they name their lakes after them!

Abs and me at Cuicocha

On Sunday morning we were up early and after a quick coffee we were picked up by David (a native Cotacachi)  who took us treking - bizarrely my fingers swelled to the size of chipolattas - the altitude I guess.

At 3,500m

Apparently on a clear day you can see the Cayambe and Cotapaxi volcanoes in the distance, we didn't see them.... We could only just see the nearer Mama Cotacachi and Taita Imbabura volcanoes because of the low cloud.

We plan to get up close and personal with Cotapaxi this Saturday - good Machu Picchu preparation!

Raine x

Plaza de Ponchos

After the craziness of the animal market and a breakfast of fruit and granola we headed to Plaza de Ponchos to visit the artisan market. Saturday's are renowned for being very busy but it's low season and there were only a handful of other tourists.

As with all markets, some of what's being sold really is tat but a lot of the stalls were selling beautifully handcrafted; tapestries, blankets, ponchos, jumpers, embroidered traditional blouses and fake shrunken heads (that's for another day...).

Spices

While we were browsing one stall I heard someone shouting "Abby and Lorraine" - Ben, Zoe and Lara, the children we'd met at our hostel in Quito had spotted us from a restaurant balcony - we had a quick chat and Mo & Martin (their parents) invited us over to their apartment for dinner one day this week - roast dinner, can't wait!

We bought some strawberries and a 'Guaba' pod (Aka Ice cream bean) from the street vendors as well as a few momentos.

Abs with a 'Guaba' pod

It was a hot day and we were soon all 'shopped out' and so decided to find somewhere for 'dos cerveza', en route we bought an empanada from a little girl who expertly handled the transaction and then continued on our way to a beer garden we'd spotted the day before.

Travelling is tough......

Raine x

Do chickens have ankles?

I was looking forward to leaving Quito on Friday. We bought our $2 dollar tickets and boarded the bus for the 2- 3 hour trip north to Otavalo. As we got further from Quito the clouds  lifted and the sun began to shine. The bus journey was pretty uneventful apart from the novelty of street vendors boarding the bus at every stop to sell, mandarins, crisps and icecreams for 50c. The mountain road was lined with eucalyptus trees and the smell made it in to the bus like a Magic Tree.

My first impression of Otavalo is that it's a friendly, vibrant city.

Otavalo Town Square

We woke early on Saturday to go to the animal market, a spectacle not to be missed according to the guidebooks. We left our hostel at 7am and knew we were headed in the right direction as occasionally someone would walk towards us with a goat on a lead or with a chicken being carried upside down by its ankles (chickens don't have ankles do they....) anyway, we crossed the main road and all of our senses were completely assaulted by the sound of pigs screaming, the sight of guinea pigs being held by their throats and the smell not only of the animals but of tripe and whole pigs being cooked (for breakfast!).

We saw a small number of tourists but this is not a tourist attraction, it's a local market for local people - we watch deals be done and pigs and cows change hands. It was a bit of a culture shock and I found it quite distressing; the sacks full of guinea pigs, rabbits and kittens for sale and particularly the sound of the pigs screaming - I was glad to leave.
We picked up a small bag of doughnuts from a street vendor and headed back to our hostel for breakfast before going to the Artisan market.

Feliz cumpleanos (Happy Birthday)

Happy Birthday Caroline - I hope you have a wonderful day.

With lots of love,

Lorraine

Madre mia!

HHHhhhhmmmmm.....

Going back to school isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be, four hours with Patricia is really hard work - I fear I may have underestimated the length of time it would take me to become fluent in Spanish.

Aprender espanole 

On a more positive note Abs and I have pretty much completed the transition from '5* Boutique Hotel holiday makers' to 'travellers' following a review of our eating habits.

It turns out that our shared love of food was going to bankrupt us - we'd both subscribed to the 'one posh meal a week' policy but neither of us had pointed out to the other that in the past six days we'd eaten in three of the best restaurants in Quito.......

So, before school today we visited the super mercado and bought supplies and after school we cooked dinner in the shared kitchen at the hostel. Fajitas washed down with an ok bottle of Chillean Cabernet Sauvignon - we have some work to do on quantities; lunch tomorrow is fajita sandwiches......

Raine x

Up above the clouds so high.....

Hola! Que tal?

Well, as evidenced in the first three words of todays post I'm sure you'll agree that my journey to fluency is well under way.

On Monday morning, the sun was shining and the sky was a perfect azure blue, an ideal day to ride the Teleferico, the multi-million dollar sky train that takes you 2.5k up the flanks of Volcan Pichincha to the top of Cruz Loma. 

I'm really glad that we got there early, before the crowds and the clouds descended.

Up above the clouds so high......

The view across Quito is quite spectacular it really is a sprawling city.

Quito

After a quick lunch stop back at the hostel we went for our first Spanish lesson, it was exhausting - Beer o'clock couldn't come quickly enough today.

At 7:30pm we met up with Mike, a fellow traveller from the hostel and went for sushi which was superb - it was Abby's first real experience of it and she loved it!

With the rest of the week being dominated by Spanish lessons I'll look forward to updating the blog when we return from Otavalo on Sunday. We're taking the two hour bus trip  to Otavalo on Friday afternoon so that we can visit what is considered to be the best craft market in South America on Saturday.

I know it's chilly back in the UK but I hope you all have a great week.

Raine x

In search of hobbits

Abs and I decided to see if we could make our way back in to the Old Town on Saturday via the indigenous market held every Saturday and Sunday in one of the parks - we both invested in some statement jewellery as a reminder of our trip to Ecuador, my bracelet cost $1.... I also saw a beautiful watercolour painting of a gorgeous little Andean girl holding a cala lily which I bought. 

After a visit to the Basilica in the Old Town we jumped in a taxi back to the hostel.

The Gothic Basilica del Voto Nacional

There are a number of reasons that I think Abby and I make great travel companions not least our shared love of food and we have agreed that we should aim to eat really well at least once a week and so last night we went to Zazu (a white tablecloth kind of restaurant) we shared a starter of ceviche and then I had Mero a lo macho which is grilled grouper with octopus, shrimp and calamari - washed down with a very nice Argentinian Sauvignon Blanc - so nice in fact that we bought a bottle to take back to the hostel.

On Sunday I was up at 6am which seems to have become the norm and after skyping a few friends with varying levels of success, we boarded the bus for our trip to middle earth the middle of the world - I suspect our one and only truly touristy trip.

Is that a hobbit that's snuck in to

our photo? 

All the walking around is hungry work and as well as Abs and I having a shared love of food, we also like to know that everything we eat is responsibly sourced....

Ahhhhh..... 

Ohhhhh.....

It's back to school tomorrow and whilst I fully expect to be fluent in both written and spoken Spanish within the two weeks I will continue to update the blog in English to save you all having to waste time with Google Translator. Raine x

el Centro Historico

We've been to the Old Town a couple of times, like Cartagena it's a unesco world heritage site but unlike Cartagena it lacks charm, I found it ugly and grey. I don't know what the difference is, if it's the lack of sunshine or the number of beggars and hawkers on the streets or that some of the streets that we walked down were completely deserted and eerily quiet.

Monastery of San Fransisco

I found it quite a sad place to walk around, obviously since the New Town sprung up in the 1940's and the rich Ecuadorians deserted for a new life there has been no investment, in fact the travel books state that the old town has received considerable investment since 2003 but there's little evidence of it.

Andean hawker

The policemen and their dogs patrolling the streets of the old town however are a bright and friendly bunch who on the count of three salute or sit up and beg!

One, two, three.....oi you in the middle I said THREE!

Gringolandia

We are staying in 'Mariscal Sucre' which is part of the New Town and where the majority of hotels and restaurants are - it's also where all of the tourists tend to stay - hence its nickname.....

On Thursday we had a look around the New Town, it's a very cosmopolitan place with a commercial centre, shopping malls that are easily on a par with those back at home and numerous KFC's, McDonalds and Subway's - not a single Starbucks though which is good.

Spanish school was at the top of our 'to-do' list for Thursday and on the recommendation of the english family that we'd met the night before we enrolled at Terracentro Spanish school - four hours a day for the next two weeks.

Knowing that it's not advisable to walk around at night we chose a Peruvian restaurant close to the hostel to eat, we had the most delicious pulpo (octopus) ceviche (raw seafood marinated in lime juice), a wonderfully tasty though very rich langoustine soup and a pisco sour cocktail. The restaurant is owned and run by a really nice French/American who like us had been travelling around Latin America and decided to stay having identified the lack of Peruvian food in Quito as a gap in the market which he has now filled with three restaurants. He also recommended some other restaurants for us to try and a club the Turtles Head; "A club that plays 80's music, I hope I'm not offending you", he wasn't we're going on Thursday!

After a trial lesson with Patricia our tutor and a couple of beers while we watched the football we returned to the hostel and went for a very good curry with the English family.

Friday night curries, the same world over!

Raine x

Arriving in Quito

We arrived in Quito at 9pm on Wednesday night, unfortunately our luggage didn't.... after patiently waiting and checking each of the carousels for almost an hour we went to the Avianca desk where the very polite attendant instantly recognised our names and told us that our bags hadn't arrived from Bogota - very frustrating! He assured us that our bags would be delivered to our hostel by 01:30 - and they were.

Our rooms at the Travellers Inn are in a block in the yard next to the main house, they're clean and functional with a shared (and technically speaking outdoor) bathroom and at £7.46 each a night a bargain! 

We are going to upgrade to a twin room with a private bathroom today, which sees the room rate increase to £11.50 each....

My room with it's ensuite....

When we got to the hostel just before 11pm we met two families both part way through year long trips (!) who'd just returned from the Amazon and Alex an ever so slightly highly strung lesbian (instant disclosure) who was coming down from what sounded like an amazing trip to the Galapagos.

The Club Colombia (beer) that we'd bought at Bogota airport to use up the last of our peso's had warmed up so we bought two large bottles of ice cold pilsner and drank them in the yard before bed.

New town vs Old town to follow.

Raine x

Ecuador 3 - Chile 1

We picked a good time to be in Ecuador, yesterday it was their world cup qualifier against Chile which we watched in the Foch Plaza in the 'New Town' a short walk from where we're staying. 

It was a great game to watch as a neutral, the game opened with a superb strike by Ecuador... into Chile's goal, it was an excellent OG! 

Then there was a penalty, not a great one as the keeper saved it, but he should have caught it rather than batting it away as Ecuador scored from the rebound. 

There was a sending off in the final 15 minutes and a goal scored in the final minute of added time.

I'm told that the Chilleans will put their loss down to the altitude (they always do when they lose, never do when they win). 

Foch Plaza 5 minutes from the stadium

Some Quito highlights to follow.....

Raine x

The LGSO playing this weekend....

Not a trip update.....

If you're in London this Sunday and looking for a bit of culture the LGSO are playing on Sunday at:

St Sepulchre-without-Newgate

10 Giltspur St,

London

EC1 9DE

They are crazily talented and will be playing pieces by Delius, Strauss and Beethoven.

Sorry I can't be there John - I'll try and be back for the one on the 28th April 2013.

Lots of love,

Raine x

Providencia - population "five thousand and change"

After a short hop on a half full, fume filled plane we land on Providencia.

The pilot lands on an airstrip the length of a driveway at home and once nine locals have gone through and the three immigration officials have decided on which country we're from - after much discussion between the three of them but without asking us, they settle on 'Grande Brittain' - we get a cab to hotel Sirius.

View from Hotel Sirius

The locals speak Creole in preference to Spanish and pretty much everyone speaks English too - life is going to be easy for us on this island.

After selecting our room, like the two city girls we are we head off to the beach for sundowners only to find that all but one one of the bars is closed and that one is closing, we panic buy four bottles of beer with the help of the bar mans English speaking wife who also tells us about a 'Programme' on the beach on Saturday. The island has it's annual event on the beach, with horse racing, music, sack races (!) - not to be missed. When I ask Jadeth if all 6,000 islanders will be there she says no and corrects me in her beautiful lilting accent that the population of the island is "five thousand and change" - I loved that description.

The winner!

Old Providence, as it's known by the locals is a tiny island it has just one road (17k long) around the perimeter of the island and we hire a Kawasaki Mule (a golf buggy!) to go and explore.

We've done a boat trip around the island, visited Morgan's Head (named after the pirate Henry Morgan), met a man who smokes 15 joints a day (lots do) met a man with 15 brothers and sisters (it's a catholic island), eaten a fish called 'old wife', watched the most incredible storm descend on the island and learnt that a bottle of tanqueray lasts us four nights!

We're currently sat in a coffee shop on San Andres before flying to Bogota this afternoon then it's on to Ecuador.

See you in Quito!

Raine x

So far so amazing.....

Colombia has exceeded expectations on every level, particularly Cartagena and Providencia.

Casa villa colonial our hotel in Cartagena was a big step up from the hostel in Bogota and the cold shower here provided a welcome relief to the sweltering heat. Cartagena is an old walled city founded in 1533 (and raided by Francis Drake in 1586!) it has a very colonial feel to it. 

On our first day we walked without any real plans, the city is easily walked in an hour or two. Beer o'clock struck while we were in one of the old squares, a great vantage point to people watch from and to see the small horse drawn carriages called huelepedos (or farties!) take tourists on a romantic tour of the city.

We've seen very few European tourists, in fact the majority of tourists here are Colombian.

We have been treating this first part of our trip as a holiday and so have eaten well in some very nice restaurants - the first night we ate in Gaucha just over the road from our hotel - when we offered our card to pay the bill the owner apologised saying that he only accepted cash and asked if we would return the following day to pay, he wouldn't accept any kind of surety - I just can't imagine that happening in London.

Dinner at Gaucha

It was in the Cafe Lunatico next door to our hotel, where we breakfasted everyday that I perfected saying "Quisiero dos tinto americano con poco leche - mas negro, por favor".

On Tuesday after some exploring we went in search of El Bistro a restaurant that Abs had read some good reviews about - it was so hot and so we stopped for a diet coke and tried to work out where El Bistro was on a map, not far by the look of it. Then just as I'm finishing my drink I see a Trip Advisor award for excellence on the wall, presented to El Bistro - turns out it was closer than we thought.

At Beer O'clock we head back to our hotel and start talking to Marta from Holland who is travelling alone, she's here to visit the children's home where she was put up for adoption 33 years ago, she'd like to trace some family members but she isn't hopeful as there were very few records kept and no paperwork. We leave for Providencia in the morning so have cocktails and dinner with Marta - very brave of her to have made this trip alone, I hope she is able to trace some members of her family. See you in Providencia! Raine x