Baños and Montañita, Ecuador

After climbing Cotopaxi, Jared needed a rest, and I could always use another soak in a hot spring, so Jared and I left Quito for good, and headed south to Baños, Ecuador. As we were approaching Baños, we had an excellent view of Volcan Tungurahua. The volcano erupted in August 2006, and smoke was escaping from the crater while we were there.

Baños was the perfect antidote to crowded, polluted Quito. It is a tranquil mountain town where everything is within walking distance. Baños means baths, and the town gets its names from hot springs heated by the volcano. We went to the baths everyday while in Baños, especially since admission was only $2. The best soak was the one we had after mountain biking 22km (mostly downhill) from Baños to Rio Verde, along the Ruta de las Cascadas, or waterfall trail. We parked our bikes and hiked down to the Pailon del Diablo, Ecuador´s most famous waterfall.



From Baños we headed to the seaside village of Montañita, Ecuador. After an overnight bus from Baños, we had to change buses in Guayaquil, Ecuador´s biggest city. The bus station was so crowded that we couldn´t get in, and once we got in, it was just a mass of a thousand people, with no room to move. The Ecuadorians, who are usually quite nice, thought nothing of pushing us by our backpacks. That was the day we learned to say ¡No me empuje!, or don´t push me. Eventually we realized it was not only Friday, but also All Souls Day, one of the biggest holidays in Latin America. To put it in perspective, the bus station was more crowded than any airport I have ever seen on the day before Thanksgiving. Hundreds of people were ahead of us in line to buy tickets, so eventually we broke down and took a shared taxi (collectivo) the three hours to Montañita. That taxi may have been the best $10 I have ever spent.

Montañita is known for its beautiful beaches and great surf, but we were there at the wrong time. For three days, we didn´t see the sun once. The constant drizzle turned the dirt roads into mud, and our little seaside cabin was always damp. Jared did get to surf a few times, but I was getting a little bored. The sun did finally make an appearance--after we were already an hour south, headed for the Peruvian border. Oh well, at least we ate some tasty street food in Montañita.

Right now we are getting our beach fix in Mancora, Peru, but more on that later. In the meantime, please check out our pics from Baños and Montañita.

Rafting and Climbing, not a bad way to spend a couple days

Now I know it´s been a little longer than expected since we wrote our last post, but it´s only because we´ve become beach bums, and have little motivation these days, other than surfing, swimming, and reading books in a hammock. Sorry, but we do miss you...I swear. Julie and I finally made it to Peru, although we didn´t get as far as we planned. We found a beautiful beach town on the Northwest coast called Mancora, and decided to stay put for a couple days/weeks, not sure really. I´ll let Julie fill you in on this.

In the meantime, I´m going to get you up to speed on the week after our jungle trip. I didn´t mention it at the time, but the previous week we had met an American couple from Colorado who had told us about a rafting company that their friend had set up with local Ecuadorians. What sold us on El Chaco, was that it was off the beaten path, and away from all the major rafting operators further south in Tena. We did a one day tour with Water Dog Tours http://www.waterdogtours.com/ and had some class IV rapids on the Rio Quijos all to ourselves. For those of you who don´t know about rafting in Ecuador, the country has some of the best rapids in the world, so we couldn´t pass up the opportunity.

Here are pics from rafting

After Chaco, Julie and I separated for a night. She went to relax in the thermal springs of Papallacta, and I went back to Quito to climb Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is the world´s highest active volcano, capped with a beautiful glacier at a height of 19,348 ft (5897 m). The climb itself only takes 2 days, but the altitude is a killer. I ended up climbing Rucu Pichincha (the mountain on the outskirts of Quito) again, in order to acclimatize as best I could.



I left for Cotopaxi national park the following morning with a climbing group consisting of a French Canadian from Montreal, a Brit, and two local Ecuadorian guides. We arrived at the park mid-day, loaded up our gear, and after an hour hike we were at the refuge, where we would spend a couple hours before climbing.

We had a quick refresher course on the glacier, and then it was back to the refuge to eat some food and get a couple hours of rest before heading out at 1 am for the summit. The Refuge was packed with Ecuadorians and tourists alike. Bunk beds were piled three tiers high, sleeping dozens of people. I didn´t get much sleep, so it was tough waking up at 11 pm to get a quick bite before heading out.

We climbed all through the night, from about 1 am to 10 am. We were pretty fortunate to have what seemed like a full moon lighting up the snow, and the weather only got really cold from around 4-5 am, but the altitude was a killer. I still don´t know how I got to the summit. The last 2 hours of climbing seemed like I was in a drunken dream. Just put one foot in front of the other is what I kept thinking, hoping not to slip and take my rope team down the mountain. Our guide kept pushing us on, worried about a late summit. We had crossed a ton of large crevasses, and although they were probably safe, we didn´t want to take a chance as the sun warmed up the day and melted the ice.

I don´t really remember being on top of the mountain. We spent a maximum of 5 minutes, took some pictures, forced down some food and water, and then headed back. I think I enjoyed going down much more, not only since I had the satisfaction of reaching the summit, but we had climbed in the dark, and I was finally able to enjoy the scenery.

All in all I had a great time climbing. It was strange experience in that the climb was definitely packaged for tourists. All the travel agencies in the touristy part of Quito had trips, and you could tell by the number of people on the mountain that day. There must have been somewhere around 50 people climbing along side us with other tour operators. Oh well, it wasn´t as remote as Gannett Peak in Wyoming, but it was still fun, and I have now climbed the highest volcano in the world. This trip is supposed to be about amazing adventures and crossing things off the world list. Here´s one more.

Here are pics from the climb

Welcome to the Jungle

After nearly a week in Quito, Jared and I were itching for a change of scenery, so we booked a trip to the Cuyabeno Reserve in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador. While Ecuador no longer has access to the actual Amazon river, the Cuyabeno River and Aguarico River flow into the Rio Amazonas.

During our six days in the rain forest, we saw monkeys in the trees, swam with pink river dolphins, and were bitten by countless mosquitoes and sand fleas. But our whole jungle experience can be summed up in one word: anaconda.

Our guide had seen an anaconda on his last trip, so our group spent two rainy afternoons in a motorized canoe looking for the giant snake. We pulled up to every large hollow tree in the Laguna Grande, but saw nothing. The more we looked, the more obssessed we all became with finding the mythical anaconda, but the rain was making things difficult.

The sun finally came out after we visited an indigenous shaman. The shaman brought us luck, because an hour after we left his village, our new friend Barna yelled "Anaconda!" and the boat quickly doubled back. There it was, curled up on the shore, taking a nap in the sun. Our boat pulled up next to it, and suddenly I was barely five feet away from a 17-foot long anaconda.

The anaconda was sleeping, and our guide assured us it wasn´t going to wake up anytime soon. Barna and Margot, a girl from Australia, were crazy enough to get out of the boat and stand next to the snake. (Barna took the above photo.) It was all going fine until a twig snapped and the anaconda woke up and flew into the water beneath our boat. I didn´t know that something so big could move so quickly, and my pulse is racing just thinking about it.

Round-trip ticket from JFK to Quito: $500
Six-day jungle tour: $270
Standing five feet from an anaconda: Priceless

UPDATE: Thanks to our new friend Dan, we now have a video of the anaconda. Watch it with the sound on.

My pictures from the trip are here.

To The Equator and Back: Our First Week in Ecuador

It´s amazing to think what one can accomplish in one week if you´re motivated. In this case, our only job for the next year or so is to get up each morning and see the world. Experience new cultures, foods, and friendships.



We´ve been in Ecuador, and South America for only a week now, and I feel as if I left the US months ago. In this one week, we toured Old Quito (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), went to Otavalo (apparently the largest market in South America), went to the equator, saw a local bull fight, and climbed a 15,200 ft mountain.

Old Quito or ¨Quito Viejo,¨ is a gorgeous old colonial city with iron balconies and colorful buildings centered around the Plaza Grande. We spent the day walking the streets and seeing daily life. I didn´t realize this when we booked our flight, but it´s low season, so there aren´t many tourists around. Strange, but good.

The highlight was climbing to the top of the huge Basilica del Voto Nacional. A beautiful Gothic style church, with stone turtles, iguanas, and birds instead of gargoyles. You can literally climb to the top of one of the towers which gives you the most amazing view of the city. After climbing stairs until you think you can´t go any further, 3 more levels of ladders lead you to the top of the spire. Fun, but freaky.

The bull fight was only a couple blocks away from the church, and here we saw local amateur fighters from up close. The last (and only) bull fight I saw was in Madrid, Spain about 7 years ago. This time I was able to sit in the 2nd row, just feet from all the action. From what I understood, they only have fights several times a year in the Plaza del Toro Belmonte, and we were so lucky to be there at the right time. Oh, and did I mention it was free.

The trip to Otavalo was fun, but I guess I was expecting more. It´s supposed to be the largest market in all of South America. With handcrafts from all over the continent being traded with local food. The main square, Plaza de Ponchos, is where there were the majority of vendors are located, with rows of stalls extending in every direction down all connecting streets. After a while I got a little tired of seeing the same alpaca hats, and silver jewelry. My favorite was all the food vendors. Huge heads of lettuce, a million spices, and chickens galore.

Our day trip to the equator, or La Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) was cool. Located only 22 km or 45 min north of Quito, it was a must see for us. The place was pretty touristy, but we had so much fun. Took a million photos with our feet on each side of the hemispheres. One thing I have to mention is that it was cold. You would expect the equator to be hot and humid, but to our amazement, it was a classic mountain environment. Quito is located at about 9200 feet above sea level, and the equator in this area was not much lower.

As for my day trip up to 15,200 feet, it was easier than you would think. A large gondola called the TeleferiQo was built to take travelers up to about 12,000 ft to get a great view over the expansive city. From the top you can hike for another 3 hours to the top of a volcano called Rucu Pichincha. It was a pretty easy hike, but the altitude was tough towards the end. The top section consists of a little scrambling, so the adrenaline helped push me on. All good training for the climbs ahead in our trip.

So, my impression of Quito, and Ecuador after the first week is a good one. The people are friendly, the food is pretty good, but the best part is everything is cheap. A hotel for two is $20 a night, meals are $3, and public transport is less than a dollar. Beats New York prices for sure.