2017 – Quito
Quito
Saturday 28th January 2017
It is a bit of a shock to the system leaving Buenos Aires at 00.30 am. After one hours sleep having to be chatty with the taxi driver who picks us up at half past midnight and takes us to the airport is a challenge.
There is little traffic so we are there by 1.15am for the flight at 4.15am! We manage to doze in the lounge and some more on the flight to Lima. The flight is packed and the food is dire but the time flies by!! We land at 7.20am and are disgorged into Lima airport whilst they re-fuel the plane. Back through customs and baggage check we then have to wait another 2 hours to go back on the same plane to Quito. Although we have the same seats there are a lot fewer people so the two hours is bearable.
It is exciting landing in Quito amongst the mountain peaks that rise above the city which itself stands at 2,800m. We are efficiently met by the G adventure agent who takes us with three Australians also visiting the Galapagos to our hotel 50 minutes away.
The Colon Hilton is a bit of a shock it’s so up market from the hotels we have been staying in but we are not complaining. Our room has a big window overlooking the mountains and the activity in the square. We head out into the City feeling a bit disorientated from little sleep. We go to the local market and haggle for some baggy trousers for Graham and a cool shirt for Janet.
We then head into the old part of the City and eat a meal at a communal kitchen in a small local market, the Market Arenas.
There are 6 kitchen areas with different families cooking in each and serving anyone who wants to eat their food. It was chaotic and very basic but we had some fish, vegetables and Graham has some rice too.
There were lots of other people eating and lots of noise outside the shed where a boxing match is happening with lots of raucous betting.
We wander around some second hand stalls in the market and into the theatre square where we have coffee watching the people in the square, groups sitting, people meeting and greeting and some swapping wares etc. Fascinating.
Revived we wander on to the main square and pedestrian road which was heaving with families sauntering around in the Saturday afternoon sun.
There was so much buzz and colour. Fading we walk back to the hotel shower, read and sleep having the luxury of a super king size bed.
Sunday 29th January
We breakfast early to be ready for our day out in the Cloud Forest. We are picked up from the hotel by Alex a local tour guide. We drive north out of Quito over the Equator at La Mitad del Mundo.
We don’t stop but see ‘the middle of the world monument’ from a distance.
We continue on, twisting and turning down through the Andean forest towards the coast. We see Red Headed Vultures, Road Hawks, Silver Yaruma Trees, False Bananas, a range of epiphytic plants and a roadside model of iconic ‘Cock of the Rock’, as we gradually descend to Mindo.
Mindo is small tourist village and the centre of exploration of the cloud forest. We follow an ice cream seller’s van making its way into Mindo where it sets itself up on the main street waiting for the weather to brighten up.
We drive out of the village on a rough track up to the entrance to the cloud forest reserve.
To enter the cloud forest we need to cross a deep valley and for this purpose there is a cable car powered by a lawn mower engine.
It does the job and swings us across the valley from where we walk on a good path to a series of waterfalls.
There are a variety of trees and creepers, lichen and mosses bearing lots of droplets of moisture. Many other plants insects, birds and black squirrel are around us.
We have lunch by the last waterfall with others who have done the same walk.
On returning back to the car we go back to the town and visit the chocolate factory which is fascinating.
A guide at the factory takes us through the process. He sits with us and has a basket to illustrate the phase of chocolate making. We start by seeing the cocoa pod which is open and he gives us a seed to suck, which was sweet with surrounding juices.
He says that the factory own land by the coast where they grow the trees and then bring the pods to Mindo.
First they are fermented by wrapping the seeds and their juices in banana leaves leaving them to ferment for 4 days which removes the bitterness. They are then dried for between 15 to 28 days depending on the season.
They are roasted for one hour in a revolving drum and then crushed and sieved into a container with moving air which sorts and separates the solid chocolate from the chaff.
The small bits are used for cocoa tea and the rest as fertiliser for the garden. The solid chocolate bits are broken down through friction, then compressed into cylinders to separate out the butter from paste. Cocoa paste is then warmed and stirred and has different percentages of sugar added.
The liquid is then poured into shallow trays where ingredients, like coffee or ginger or chilli and salt or macadam nuts, are added and shaped and pressed according to what final product is being made. Our tour finishes with a tasting of each sort of chocolate including, ginger, BBQ and chilli, and then a chocolate brownie and some pure chocolate. It is an interesting tour but neither of us are that keen on chocolate.
We drive back into Quito stopping at a police check on Alex’s licence when we are told by Alex what to say if asked. Alex is our friend and he is just giving us a lift. We are not asked. As we enter Quito there is a localised storm which sends rivers of water pouring down the roads. Even Alex thinks it is heavy and turns off the main road and takes us to the hotel through the back streets.
Back at the hotel we belatedly meet up with the rest of our group and are given instructions and information about the next few days. They seem a nice crowd, much younger than the last lot. Feeling lazy we order salads and a bowl of potato soup in our room.
Tomorrow morning early we are off to the Galapagos but will be back in ten days time so we pack one bag and leave the other downstairs in the luggage store.
Monday 6th February
We’re back from the Galapagos in a different room on the ground floor of the Hotel Colon. We get back around 7pm and feeling frustrated that the bags are not arriving in our room we decide to go and get something to eat. We look for a restaurant recommended by Alex our cloud forest guide but cannot find it so go to a small Mexican place which is fine. There are loads of people in the square by Foca Dio. We aren’t quite sure why but there is a lively atmosphere.
As we return to the hotel we meet Catherine and Aaron from the Galapagos trip. They are excited as they had just spent time in the hotel swimming pool, steam room and sauna. So we do the same until it closes at 10pm. The very hot Jacuzzi is especially nice as is the cool pool as it is outside and it is a moonlit night.
Tuesday 7th February
We have breakfast at around 7.45 hoping to meet up with Natasha and Aman from our Galapagos trip but there was no show. We sort out our bags and get a taxi to take us to the TeleferiQo to ride up to the eastern side of the Pinchina Volcano 1200 m. above us.
We are in the first cable car which is fun. We share it with four others one of whom was a girl from Lewisham who is teaching English in Quito and travelling around. At the top we take it very slowly as we walk up the mountain to an altitude of 4,050m.
Some people are climbing on up to the Volcano cone of Pinchina. It is a lovely sunny morning and the idea is tempting but we do not have the time as we have to be at the airport at 3pm.
We walk to the furthest view point before the climb up to the mountain top. It is lovely especially as there are lots of wild flowers. The views all around are breathtaking.
When we go down we meet with a taxi driver from the Hotel and arrange with him the ride to the airport at 1.30.
We take another taxi back down to the hotel, sort out our bags and then set off to go around town.
Natasha has left a note saying they have missed us but we are hopeful we will bump into them at the airport as their flight is an hour after ours.
Back at the hotel we check out and leave all the bags in the luggage store. We walk into the old town to find the Fedora Hat that we saw last week in the Arenas market. It is lovely being out and about, especially as the children are all on half term and we have an ice cream in the Plaza del Teatro, but no hat.
Our journey home commences and we go into travel mode. Quito airport seemed very familiar! It is brand new and has amazing views and we manage to say goodbye to Aman and Natasha in person.
Our departure is delayed but arrives in Schipol on time. We only sleep fitfully but drift through Schipol and are suddenly back in Bristol being met by Torrin and Sarah.
Delightful.
Back to Totnes and then home.
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