The next leg

After Baños, I went to Quito. In Perú, I took almost all night buses because the scenery between towns is normally just sand and more sand, however this is not the case in Ecuador where I feel like I would miss on seeing the beauty if I took a night bus.

I stayed at a really nice hostel in "Old Town" Quito. However, after hearing a few horror stories, I decided not to leave the hostel by myself or on foot, ever. I did take a tour of a nearby area. The market of Otavalo is said to be the largest outdoor market in South America, which if true is sad. I like the market but becauses I have been travelling around here for five weeks, I am getting tired of seeing the same things.

The tour also included a stop at the equator line, to overlook a lake (yes, odd, but I finally got pictures with me and a llama and an alpaca), the market, lunch in another town, then a waterfall. The group I was with was really nice, and strangely all English speaking. I have gone to a lot of places where only the people from that country have been on the tour, thus they speak only Spanish.


We didn´t go to the big monument site, but another place on the line. The guy there represents an organization that apparently wants to redraw all world maps so that the equator runs up and down, not left and right. ALso, he calls his spot on the equator line the center of the earth for no good reason. He tried explaining it, but I can see through smoke screens to see the loss of reasoning rather well.

The waterfall was really pretty (pictures will go up later). There was a small walk to get there, the guide made it sound hard but it was delightful and easy. On the way back we had to wait a few minutes while a cow with sharp looking horns moved out of our path.


Then I left Quito and went to the coast. Now, the 8 hour ride was asful. It reminded me too much of Honduran buses, which is never a good thing. I get to one town, but the guide is a little off on how to get to where I want to go. It says I have to take a ferry across the bay and then a bus. Well, apparently the guide is a little old because there is a nice bridge just made for getting people across the bay.

My plan for those days was to enjoy the sun and beach, but there were always clouds blocking the sun. I am smart enough that I still wore sunscreen though.

The next stop was to Puerto Lopez, where I currently am. The guide barely mentions this town and only for whale watching. I wish I had more time here but i have something else booked and need to leave this afternoon. This town does have a lot of whale watching, but also scuba diving, kayak rentals, fishing expeditions and more.

I did a whale watching trip combined with a trip to an island. The island is home to thousands of birds including blue footed ones and the ones withh red bags under their beaks. I think I have explained my lack of interest in biology before, so remembering their names (in Spanish no less) just doesn´t get me. After the tour we went snorkeling which was fun.

I did get to see a bunch of whales. They are not the sperm whales which are on all the posters, but more like killer whale shape, only a lot bigger. At two points, I got to go on top of the boat, where all my energy went to trying to stay on my feet. There were massive waves and the boat rocked a lot. I did get to see one whale jump all the way out of the water. Unfortunately, there are no whale pictures because that would require knowing when the whales are going to surface as well as where, and then a really fast shutter speed which my camera doesn´t do so well.

And that´s all for now.

Jill