Sea Lions & Lava

Ecuador! Where did Sash ever go?

Well things have become somewhat more leisurely since finding out that my trip has been extended by 4 months. I hadn't planned to visit the Galapagos Islands, but am I ever going to be in Ecuador again to be able to do it? I teamed up with Max, another English lad, in northern Peru as we were both headed in the same direction. He was a 19 year old gap year student and I am not sure how we managed to tolerate each other for the 2 weeks we spent together but it somehow worked. His chat revolved around how many girls he had slept with in South America and how everything was Sooo Cool and Sooo Funny, my chat revolved around the UK election and the fact that I kept burning the bald patch on my head.

We got a flight from grim Guayaquil, the biggest city in Ecuador, and arrived 1 and a half hours later on the biggest island in the Galapagos. A proper shed of an airport greeted us but it did have the atmosphere of a special place. The best way of seeing the islands is by boat, and people pay thousands of dollars for a week long cruise. We turned up hoping to bag a last minute deal from a desperate boat owner. We weren't disappointed. We managed to get on a first class luxury boat for a quarter of the price the package tourists had paid in their native USA. The look on their faces when two grubby backpackers turned up on their boat was quite a picture. It was a catamaran sleeping 16 guests and 11 crew! It was pure luxury for a week with superb food and lots to do every day be it exploring the different islands or snorkelling with the multitude of sea life. The boat was so big you could always find a space to yourself if you desired. The islands have a plethora of wildlife that are totally devoid of fear due to the lack of predators on the islands, iguanas will happily come up to you and try and stare you out, sharks just swim next to you looking bored, and sea lions will endlessly play with you playfully nibbling your fins as you twist and turn in the water. Even flies happily land on you thinking they are safe from a swatting. Flee mechanisms do not seem to exist in the Galapagos. A lot of these animals have evolved in a totally different way to the rest of the world and visiting the place really does make you think differently about the planet. I'm not that into my animals but I was fascinated by the end of the trip, huge 200 year old tortoises, massive albatrosses, blue footed birds, turtles gliding through the water, water thick with fish to swim through. The highlight for me was the sea lions though. Had some strange looking wildlife on the boat too, had two huge elderly American lesbians on the boat that refused to get in the water and were too fat to walk around the islands. You ask the question why. The food was pretty good though it has to be said. We had a few days on the main island after the boat cruise, pretty chilled and a good beach nearby. Watched a sharks fin in the shallows one day chasing a school of fish that kept hopping out the water. Awesome.

Back to the mainland and a bit of a come down it has to be said. Max and I went our separate ways and I headed to the coast to try and find some good bars showing the World Cup. Did very little in Montanita except attempt to surf and watch football for the few days I was there. There was a strange vibe there and never quite got in the clique with the multitude of Israelis and Argentineans who seemed to mostly frequent the place. Place went wild when the Argies played their first match. I watched the England game with some annoying yanks yeehahing when they got the ball. If England had done well I would of wanted to be back home soaking up the atmosphere but as it was I was probably in quite a good place. A good international crowd, you could always find someone supporting one of the teams playing, a crazy Korean and a distraught Frenchman were my personal favourites. The Ecuadorians have surprisingly got into the World Cup too despite their lack of presence, the football is always on here. I must admit quite a lot of my time has been spent watching it, from screaming at the TV for the Algeria game in a dead cafe with just one other bored local to feeling that spine tingling excitement for the Germany game in a huge Irish pub here in Quito. Yes it ended s*** for us, taught a lesson on style and player selection by the Germans. How Fabio managed to make the most experienced and oldest team in the world cup look so nervous is some feat.

Football rant over. I headed back to the Andes after my coastal jaunt. Baños was a cool hill town to hang out in for a while, the volcano nearby had just erupted a couple of weeks ago and had closed all the air space in the country for a few days. Ring any bells? It was still bubbling away when I was there and you could just see the orange glow and plumes of black smoke through the mist at night. Lots of cool activities to do in Baños, did some more mountain biking, some hiking, and went canyoning where we abseiled through some big waterfalls which got the adrenaline going. Some nice thermal baths to relax in after the exertion of the activities. All good and met some nice people in the hostal where I was staying.

I am missing my sport quite a bit at the moment so fancied a bit of a physical challenge. Decided that climbing a 5900m volcano would suffice. Headed therefore to Cotapaxi to climb the volcano of the same name. Teamed up with a German guy, Martin, (thankfully before the game) to do the trip. He was keen to do it sooner rather than later so we did it the next day. We needed a guide and some mountaineering gear to do the trip and headed up to the snowy base camp on the first day. Due to the necessity of crossing various ice bridges to get to the top you need to do the climb when it is coldest and the ice bridges are at their most secure. This meant leaving at 1am in the morning and doing the climb in the dark, we tried to go to sleep at 8pm to no avail, I was quite nervous I guess. And so with no sleep we began our climb. Due to my weeks on the coast my altitude tolerance was not good and with hindsight I should of acclimatised a bit more at the local town. It was tough, I felt drunk stumbling up the mountain and was unable to do any dexterous things like pulling something out of my rucksack. There had been a fresh snowfall and near the top we were knee deep in snow slipping down as much as our pathetic steps could climb. That was pretty frustrating. We did however make it , apparently only half the people who try do, I was feeling pretty nauseous though and my head was pounding. the weird thing is that you are not hungry or thirsty! After some back slapping and some God thanking by our guide we descended back down taking in the awesome snow and ice formations we had missed in the dark going up. An amazing experience but note to self - acclimatise next time if stupid enough to do something similar. Cotapaxi is actually closer to the sun than Mount Everest due to the equatorial bulge, with that in mind I feel I do not need to do Everest!

After some much needed sleep I then headed up to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Another very high city set in a valley with green hillsides forming the backdrop to the tower blocks and stunning colonial buildings. Apparently it is quite a dangerous city in parts although thankfully I do not speak from experience. The Ecuadorian government have just introduced a new law since I have been here; no drinking after 12 on a school night, 2am on a weekend, and no booze at all on a Sunday! Like being back in England 15years ago! The idea is stop drunken delinquency. Last Sunday I was sat having a meal with a couple of friends being served beer in tea cups so that the coppers would not see we were drinking. After the meal we went outside to find people openly dealing drugs in front of the police!

I had a couple of days up in Otavalo last week, a cool market town where every Saturday they have an animal market which is quite a scene. Normally stuff that this doesn't bother me but the cacophony of screaming pigs, chickens, calves, llamas, and guinea pigs was a little disturbing. Some good walking around the town and an amazing hostal out in the sticks run by an English family made for a really good couple of days.

Back in Quito for some more Spanish classes, objective is to cut the 5 second gap between words when I am talking. The look on the local's faces is quite amusing when I am trying to converse with them. I have found out that '¿Que?' is quite a popular word with the locals here. Nice to be in one place again for a couple of weeks, some good partying to be had at the weekends too.

The average height of an Ecuadorian is 5ft5. I don't stick out at all in the clubs.