Day 130 - Hot hot hot

Medellin to Cartagena

Another flight, this time from Medellin to Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Medellin airport is another one that's way out in the countryside, so the drive to the airport took a while but we had great views of the city as we climbed out of the valley.

We arrived into Cartagena in quite heavy rain and were met at the plane exit with large umbrellas to get us down the steps to the covered walkway - great service. We were straight away hit with the hot steamy temperature, this was different! We arrived at our apartment block still trying to come to grips with the change in weather, we had been asking for hot - and that's what we got!

Our apartment is on the 41st floor right across the road from the beach with of course a fab view. After going for a couple of walks the little we have seen seems to be a cross between the Gold Coast (think lots of development, lots of tourists) and Goa (chairs on the beach, people selling all sorts of stuff).

Day 129 - Papaya Level Four

Medellin

Having enjoyed the walking tour in Bogotá we signed up for the walking tour in Medellin, which we had heard good things about.

Our guide Juan gave us some good background on the city's violent drug related history as well as explaining the politics was involved, and also on the initiatives put in place to revive the city - things like the metro, libraries, and the use of art in previously "negative" spaces. It was very interesting but at times depressing, since the city is still struggling with the problems and the stigma that is attached. Two of Juan's uncles had been kidnapped back in the '80s, and the extended family almost lost everything they had to provide the ransom to obtain their release. Juan was also sent to the US when he was younger to escape the violence.

The peace treaty that was signed last week with the guerilla group FARC is not popular with everyone but there does seem to be a general consensus that the old way with the the army just killing and fighting the rebels has not been successful.  Something new has to be tried and they are using the strategy used in some of the African countries that have had similar issues.

The one on the left was damaged in a bomb blast

We were led through areas that Juan called "papaya level 4" - carry your pack on your front, don't show phones or money, be aware at all times. We never felt unsafe though, in fact people came up to the group at various points welcoming us to Colombia, there seems to be a feeling of gratefulness that tourists are overlooking the city's history and and coming to visit. Tourism has grown 260% since 2002 and Medellin has been voted the world's most innovative city because of it's ability to transform itself.

Day 128 - Dangerous?

Medellín

After a breakfast of coffee (M) and fresh strawberries (K), we ventured onto yet another teleferico. The cable car system is Medellín is part of the city's fantastic metro, which means on a single ticket you use the train and cable car to get to Santo Domingo, high above the city. This cable car is close to the best one we've been on, it's fast, steep. modern and travels a long way.

No, we didn't buy them all

After getting off at Santo Domingo, we changed to another cable car (which needed a new ticket), which took about 15 minutes to go all the way over the mountains to Park Arvi.

You get a nice view of the local soccer games from up here!

Lost in the jungle?

It was a lovely day to wander around the Park, we felt quite safe in Medellín, even though 20 years ago it was known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Day 127 - Warming up

Salento to Medellín

We caught a 10am bus from Salento to Medellín (along with 15 other gringos in our 17 seater bus). The road was windy and the scenery spectacular, including a nice stop for lunch in a spot where we could feel the tropical warmth and humidity we had been expecting.

They do good bus trip lunch breaks in Colombia

On arrival at the bus station in Medellín the taxi drivers wouldn't take us, which also happened to some of the others from our bus. Supposedly the drivers didn't know the address, but we believe it was actually because we weren't going far, so the fare wasn't enough. Luckily Uber drivers aren't as fussy, so within a few minutes we were on our way. Many of the taxis here have anti-Uber signs on their back windows, but they don't do themselves any favours if they can't be bothered with new arrivals at the bus station!

We finally made it to our aribnb apartment about 5pm, and later ate dinner on the balcony while we soaked up the warmth - thanks Medellín!

Day 126 - Caffeine fix

Salento

The main thing we wanted to do in Salento was to visit a coffee farm, so we caught a willy to the Ocaso coffee plantation. We were lucky enough that no other visitors were there, so we effectively had a private tour.

The tour was hands-on, really interesting and informative and our guide Camilla was particularly good. We learnt that there is a limited range of altitudes where coffee can grow, and of course Colombia has plenty of those areas. We followed the lifecycle of the coffee plant, where we were able to pick some beans, plant seeds, and then transplant seedlings, We then had a small bean picking competition (which K won), then learnt about processing, finishing up with roasting, grinding and of course drinking! We also learnt that it's difficult to get good coffee in Colombia, as the Colombians export the best beans and generally just the second class beans (bad shape, too small, discoloured) are used at home, so traditionally Colombians aren't into good coffee....as it's the expensive stuff for export!

That afternoon we caught a jeep to Salento's other major tourist attraction, the Cocora Valley, which has the last major population of wax palms, the tallest palms in the world. We had been told that this was the main reason people come to Salento, but we were a little surprised by this, maybe that's because coffee doesn't seem to be that interesting to Colombians!

It was Sunday, so when we arrived in the valley there were hundreds of tourists, nearly all Colombians. Many of the them were riding horses (with no helmets on and no control of the horses), at one point we were pushed aside from the path by horses who were focused on just getting to the end of the ride, nothing was going to stop them! We walked along the path for a while with palm trees standing tall amongst some quite beautiful scenery, before jumping into another willy back to town.

Day 125 - Think of a time and double it

Bogota to Salento

We were catching a bus to Colombia's coffee growing area, known as El Eje Cafeterio,  We had two options for an early start, 6.30am or 8.30am. We decided on the early one, since the trip is always longer than the quoted time and we don't like arriving in new places in the dark. The bus left about 15 minutes late, a little unusual, we then drive through the Bogota traffic and after an hour we were still in Bogota. We stopped at another bus station where the police checked our passports, and about 20 minutes after that we were finally on our way again.

Lunch stop

There were further delays as we went, the road was very windy and climbed steadily for a very long way, so the bus was stuck behind slower trucks, There was also a massive traffic jam, caused by a truck that had jack knifed on one of the corners.

We finally arrived at the bus station in Armenia and swapped to a mini van to take us to Solento. We were dropped off nowhere near the bus terminal or where we were staying (this seems to be a common theme) so dragged our luggage to our hostel, which was on the outskirts of town with not a a taxi in sight. All in all the trip that we were told would take 6 to 7 hours took about 12 overall, we've given up ever believing that we would ever arrive anywhere on time. We later found out that the town has no taxis, only things called "Willys", jeeps by the plaza that act as the only transport around town. 

The place we were staying at was run by a Colombian/American who had spent some time in Melbourne. The room was basic but had a nice view over the nearby valley, and being on the edge of town also meant it was nice and quiet. Later we ate at an Indian restaurant, which was run by a guy from Madrid who had lived in Melbourne as a child. Amazing that the two locals we'd spoken with at length had both lived in Melbourrne!

Day 124 - Stop the bus!

Bogota

M had spent ages the night before trying unsuccessfully to buy bus tickets for Pereira over the internet, so this morning we walked through the streets of Bogota (not a gringo in sight anywhere!) to the bus company office to buy them in person.

We then headed by bus to the town of Zipaquirá just north of Bogota to visit the Salt Cathedral. The place seemed quiet when we arrived until we started walking to the entrance where there were heaps of people lined up to enter, many of them dressed up in their "Sunday best".

It isn't officially a cathedral (there is no bishop), but is a very large salt mine that has been turned into a tourist attraction with chapels, reception areas (all the dressed up people were there for a university graduation), a cinema, popcorn stalls, museums, multiple shops, restaurants and more. We thought the entry fee was quite expensive (for South America) at $20, to get into what was a combination of church and glorified amusement park. They have made clever use of the old part of the mine but there wan't much salt to see as it had been extracted already. The salt mining is still happening nearby, but using modern extraction techniques involving high pressure water.

After that we walked back to the main road in to get a bus back to the Trans-Millenia (Bogotá's bus transport that has its own lane so moves at a good speed) terminal. We were told the bus was going to Portal Norte, but it actually just stopped briefly across the road before heading off in a different direction to where we wanted to go. We ended up getting stuck in some pretty bad traffic (caused by a couple of breakdowns) before finding ourselves at a bus terminal about half an hour away from where we were staying. Taxis are cheap and plentiful though so we just caught one back from there, and at least we got to see a different part of Bogota!

We liked Bogotá and could have stayed longer but the apartment was booked to someone else the next day so it was time to move on. Plus we are still chasing warmth, here we are so close to the equator but it's still a bit cool and rainy.

Day 123 - Yet another teleferico

Bogota

The last couple of free walking tours we've tried in South America have lacked some of the interest and polish of those we've done elsewhere, but the one in Bogotá had quite good reviews so we decided to give it a try.

We joined the small group in front of the Gold Museum, and enjoyed a very interesting tour. The guides had great English, and gave us a good mix of history, art and sociology (plus we got to try chicha, which is a corn based alcoholic beverage). Also interesting about today's tour was that this is the day the government and  the main guerrilla organisation FARC were signing a peace treaty, so seeing the preparations being made for live broadcasts gave us a sense of how important this was, and having the guides gave us a better understanding of what was going on.

One of the squares we visited was the centre of the emerald trade, there were men milling around with emeralds in their hands wrapped in white paper, ready to show anyone who is interested.  The building behind them was the Emerald Trade Centre and you could see the men in the windows using the light to check the quality of the stones. We had been to this square the day before and hadn't noticed it, prrof that sometimes you need locals to show you what is going on right under your nose!

After the tour finished we walked to the telefericó to head up to Monserrate. This was a bit different to the other telefericos we'd been in, this had a large carriage which could fit up to 40 people. It moves up quite fast over a forest of eucalyptus, all over South America we have felt at home with gum trees everywhere. As expected the view from the top at Monserrate overlooking Bogotá was wonderful and really gave us an idea of the size and spread of the city.

The walking tour had taken us briefly through the Botero Museum so we went back there to finish having a look at Botero's paintings, his most famous being his portrayal of the Mona Lisa. After that a quick visit to a couple of other nearby museums (all free) finished up our cultural activities for the day.

The more we walk the streets of Bogotá the more comfortable we feel. There are no go areas which we have been avoiding, and in general the advice is not to walk around after dark. The issue is not just Bogota's reputation but also how gringos can be perceived as an easy money target, so we've been playing it safe and making sure we're home before dark.

Day 122 - Doing our duty!

Bogota

Another nice modern airbnb apartment to stay in, in what was once known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Bogotá. K's friend from Bogotá, (that's you Camillo!) told us not to visit his home city, and some of the stories we've heard about the city are pretty scary so we set out for the day with our wits about us.

Our first stop was the Australian Consulate to lodge our vote and we decided to catch Uber as the taxis have a reputation, and we'd met someone in Quito who had recommended it. The consulate was about half an hour away from the city and we arrived at a new and very modern building with state of the art security. We were shown into two rooms with the flag and pictures of Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop on the wall, and pretty much voted just like we would at home - difference being that it did take some time to get there and back, and there was a bit more security than voting at the local primary school!

Back in the city we headed to the Gold Museum (kind of ironic as K had removed every piece of jewellery she had before stepping onto the streets of Bogotá). There was certainly plenty of gold on display, but most of it was either very thin or small. K was itching to get to see what was in the gift shop but unfortunately didn't see anything that took her fancy.

We then headed for afternoon tea at a coffee shop with good reviews that was apparently owned by some Aussies. The reviews had mentioned flat whites and caramel slice, but we ended up a little disappointed - the coffee cups were tiny, the coffee lukewarm and they didn't have any caramel slice!

On the plus side we had found a supermarket near the Australian Consulate that sold Tikka Masala curry paste so we had yummy chicken tikka masala for dinner - good to be able to cook something with plenty of flavour for a change!

Day 121 - Back in the air

Pasto to Bogotá

We had decided to treat ourselves and fly to Bogotá as it is a very long bus trip, and has also been known as a dangerous stretch of road with many bus robberies etc. We had a bit time to fill in until the flight so we spent the morning wandering around the city of Pasto which isn't really much of a tourist town, but we did manage to use our time productively getting a data sim card sorted, which ended up taking quite a while.

The shoe shiners in Pasto are sponsored?

Our homestay accommodation had booked us a taxi to take us to the airport. We knew it was about 45 minutes to an hour from the city but what we hadn't expected was that it was way out in the countryside. We very quickly left the city and we were once again driving through rolling green hills and farmland, could this really be the way to the airport? We saw lots more police checks of vehicles heading south (searching for cocaine smugglers) including one busy area where there were lots of food stalls set up, so drivers can get something to eat while the police are searching.

At the airport we endured the slow antiquated check in to get our boarding pass, and were then told we had to go to the police counter. There all our passport details were handwritten into a log book (containing foreigners' names only) and our boarding passes were stamped with a police stamp.

Walking across the tarmac felt quite strange after so many bus trips, it felt like we had gone up in the world to be getting on a plane. The flight was uneventful (though the nun seated next to K crossing herself as we took off was a little worrying), and the taxi ride to our nice airbnb apartment in downtown Bogota was a breeze.

Day 120 - How not to see Las Lajas Sanctuary

Quito (Ecuador) to Pasto (Colombia)

We reluctantly checked out of our gorgeous airbnb and said goodbye to the wonderful views of Quito to tackle another day of travelling. Another day bus journey, this time with a few different sections, including the border crossing into Colombia.

We left at 7am and caught the taxi to the bus station - so far so good. When we bought the tickets we were told that the bus to Tulcan on the Ecuadorian side of the border was leaving immediately. We rushed through to the bus to find that it didn't leave until 8am. Lesson - when the person selling you the ticket says the bus is leaving now .... it probably isn't (but it also could be ... so don't completely ignore them either)!

The bus ride itself was fine. Once again we were subjected to a snake oil seller, this time something with ginseng in it, and she took great pains to explain that the product wasn't made in China! It was very common on this trip for food vendors to hop on the bus. One stop was hilarious, the bus was virtually turned into a market, there were so many of them that the aisle was full as they all shouted over each other trying to sell their wares and get past each other.

We arrived at Tulcan a little after 1pm and we jumped in a taxi to "La Frontera", the border crossing.
The formalities on the Ecuadorian side were quick and painless, we then walked across the bridge to the Colombian side, where immigration there was also easy. We changed some money (no ATM on the Colombian side, though there was one on the Ecuadorian side) and hopped into taxi number three to get us to the bus station in Ipiales. On the way there were many police stopping cars, trucks and bikes and going through them, we realised that as we were close to the border the police must be looking for cocaine smugglers.

The plan in Ipiales was to leave our luggage while we went and visited Las Lajas Sanctuary. We had read there was official luggage storage, and we saw a sign referencing it, the problem though was that we couldn't find it. K asked a few different people who sent us from one side of the terminal to the other, before we were worked out that we could leave it one of the shops (2000 pesos per bag). They probably make more out of that than selling their biscuits and drink.

We then caught taxi number four to visit the beautiful Las Lajas, an exquisite grey and white church built across a canyon with a waterfall nearby. The taxi driver was very chatty and wanted to know a bit about Australia (it seems all anyone knows about Australia is kangaroos). He asked if we were near Germany, or England, we tried to explain where we were and that we were an island, but we couldn't quite get him to understand how big Australia was, especially when we told him it had half the population of Colombia.

Las Lajas itself and its surroundings are postcard perfect, unfortunately it started to rain but it was still beautiful. We had walked down from where the taxi had dropped us off to see the church, but as there was a teleferico we decided to take it back up. After a very slow trip up, we found that there were no taxis there to take us back to town. We walked down to the road to hail a taxi, but everyone that came past had people in it. Eventually a local bus came past and we hopped on. The driver seemed to find it quite amusing that he'd picked up two stranded gringos, when we asked if it went past or near the bus station he just kept grinning. He was obviously useless, so using Google Maps we jumped off when we thought we were close and followed Google's directions to what ended up being the local livestock and wholesale farmers market part of town - not a bus station in sight.

Some locals pointed us in the right direction., and after a 10 minute walk we finally found the station, collected our bags, and got on a bus to Pasto. We were told this one was leaving "now" - and this time it actually was, it started moving while we were finding our seats. The trip went through beautiful scenery of lovely green rolling hills and we finally arrived into Pasto at around 6:30pm.

We picked up taxi number five for the day and gave him the address of where we were staying in Pasto. The driver was either very dumb or decided he couldn't be bothered with gringos, he pretended he didn't know where to go, we ended up stopping him and hopping out when he started driving away from the place we had to direct him to using Google Maps, but we couldn't see anything like a hostel or house. It was now quite dark, we had only been in Colombia a few hours and it was the second time we were stuck on the side of the road! We were fairly sure we were in the right area though, and after a bit of searching the area we managed to find our accommodation.

In summary, after 12 hours of travelling, 3 buses, 5 taxis and 1 teleferico we reached our destination, a little tired and hungry but also pleased that we hadn't decided to push on any further that day!

Day 119 - Northern Hemisphere

Quito

Why doesn't it melt?

Today we caught the local bus to Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world) - an hour or so north of Quito, which is a tourist attraction built around the location of the equator. The main attraction there is a huge monument, and a line painted on the ground to show the equator. In addition there are lots of shops, eateries, and various small museums and displays.

It has since been determined that the equator is actually 200 meters from where the monument was built, but that didn't stop the visitors (including us) from getting photos taken with a foot either side of the line. There were plenty of people standing in front of the monument on the East side getting in each others way while getting their photos taken, strangely though there was no-one on the "West" side at all so we had the equator all to ourselves for a while.

But that's not really the equator!

Day 118 - Teleferico overload

Quito

If there's a teleferico, then we have to try it ... so today we went on the TelefériQo, which goes up the side of the Pinchincha volcano. It's only a 10 minute ride up to 3945m so we really felt the effects of altitude as we started walking up from the top, your legs feel heavier, you get puffed doing very little and your head and ears start to pound. It's possible to hike to the top of Pinchincha crater from there, but as it's a 5 hour trip we didn't attempt it. A bit further up the trail we did see what must be close to the world's highest riding school, in a spot with amazing views.

Nice spot for a horse ride

It looks as if there were once grand plans for the area near the top of the teleférico including a hotel but now it all looks quite sad and rundown. The views of Quito from the top are impressive and expansive and there is a cafeteria overlooking the city (providing you are standing up, the windows don't allow you to see out when you are sitting!).

After that we took a taxi to the historic centre of Quito. We walked along Calle Ronda which used to be the famed artisans street but now seems to be tourist shops (most were closed for Saturday afternoon) and restaurants with touts out the front. We then wandered through town, stopping in Plaza Grande for coffee and cake, walking up to the Basílica del Voto Nacional, before walking back to Plaza Foch.

Very gothic

We finished up with dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was very tasty, though for some reason the menu had the ingredients wrong on some dishes (butter in a vindaloo?).

Day 116 to 117 - Foch yeah!

Quito

The next couple of days were pretty laid back, we took it easy while we took advantage of our great apartment.

We walked from our apartment to the Mariscal district, which is very much a "tourist" area - hotels and hostels, artesan markets, bars and of course expensive restaurants with pretty average food and an automatic "service charge" tacked on. Plaza Foch is the central part of the district, with a slogan of "Foch Yeah!" ... shouldn't it be "Foch Si!" around here though?

We also visited Museo Guaysamin, which we had read some good things about, based on the life and art of Oswaldo Guaysamin, who was a champion of human rights and suffering, especially for the indigenous people of South America. We had guided tours of the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man), which contained many of Guaysamin's works, and of his house, which contained further works and gave us an idea of how he lived in his later years (which seemed pretty luxurious actually, with a pool, huge bedroom and a giant studio).

Day 115 - Highest capital in the world

Riobamba to Quito

The bus trip from Riobamaba to the capital Quito is only three and a half hours, and so far in Ecuador we haven't been blasted by loud music and action movies on our journeys. However the snake oil (and other) salesmen seem to take their place, and today we had some good ones!

The first one was selling some kind of pill, and over an hour and a half he didn't draw breath for a second, that was an amazing feat in itself, As usual someone on the bus purchased a bottle of his product - we hope it works for them but we suspect it won't, though the placebo effect can be pretty powerful!

After him we had a guy selling compilation CDs, most likely music he'd downloaded from the internet.  After his initial spiel of 15 minutes or so he then pulled out a portable CD player and started playing us samples, a few seconds of each song. The guy sitting across from us bought one of his CDs, for a dollar.

Bus travel throughout South America has been cheap, it works out to about $1.50 an hour and most of the time the buses are fine. We've heard there can be problems with theft on the buses, and stories of people who have nodded off for a few minutes to find their backpacks had either been stolen from under their seat or slashed and all the contents gone. The common theme of these stories is that these thefts occur at night so this just reconfirms our plans to only travel during the day.

Our little airbnb apartment is in a great part of Quito, and is almost brand new and equipped with everything we need and more - even coffee and sugar, milk and juice, a bowl of fruit and washing detergent. The view of Quito from the 13th floor is amazing, it looks to the west over the houses and buildings across to  the Pinchincha volcano, it's a great view during the day as well as at night.

Day 114 - That doesn't look like a nose to me

Riobamba

Giant statues are a thing in S. America

This part of Ecuador is known not only for having the world's highest mountain, but also for the famous train ride called El Nariz del Diablo (The Devil's Nose). In the past tourists were able to ride on the roof, but because of some deaths in 2007 this is no longer allowed. The train also used to leave from Riobamba, but now it needs to be boarded in the town of Alausi, a two hour bus ride away.

We caught the 8am bus from Riobamba so we could be at the station in Alausi for the 11am departure. We arrived in town around 10am, so after paying for our tickets we walked up to see the giant statue of St. Peter overlooking the town, and to admire the views of the town and surrounding countryside.

The right side is the best side!

The reviews we had read about the train ride were quite mixed as the time spent on the train is quite short for the cost but we decided that as we were there anyway we should go. As the train descends from Alausi to Sibambe it uses switchbacks as the slope is so steep there isn't room for the train to turn around, instead it reverses direction as the tracks are switched, so it zig-zags down part of the mountain.

The only tickets available for us were on the left side of the train, but all the greatest views on the outward journey are on the right side, so we were a bit jaded by the time we arrived at Sibambe after 45 minutes we were siding with the reviews that had said the ride wasn't worth it.

We stopped in Sibambe for an hour, and this part of the trip was extremely touristic, with locals dancing, photo opportunities with llamas, crafts for sale, and overpriced food.

Can you see a nose there?

Fortunately on the way back everyone switched sides, so we did get the good views, but the trip back was also much quicker, so the experience wasn't quite the same. So based on all this, we would really only recommend doing this if you can get tickets on the right side.

The bus ride between Riobamba and Alausi has interesting scenery that is in parts similar to the train ride, not quite as spectacular though. The landscape is very green and lush, lots of grass and cows, and cultivated paddocks on the sides of the mountains. This is very different to the countryside we'd further to the south, and at times has an almost European feel.

We stopped off for a snack when we arrived in town and M ordered extra spicy papas fritas, interestingly they came with a pair of plastic gloves - what's wrong with a fork?

Day 113 - Higher than Everest

Riobamba

We arranged a driver through our hotel to take us to Chimborazo, which is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Also, its position close to the equator means that the summit of Chimborazo is the highest point on the earth's surface when measured from the centre of the earth.

First order of business for the morning though was purchasing tickets for the Nariz del Diablo train ride tomorrow. We arrived at the Tren Ecuador office shortly after 8:30am, and waited while the couple who'd arrived before us purchased their tickets .... and boy was it slow! We weren't seen until we'd been there almost 30 minutes, and then it was just as slow for us. The guy handling the tickets had no sense of urgency at all, didn't seem to know how to use the ticketing system, didn't know much about the train, and then at the very end told us we couldn't pay today, we needed to do it tomorrow! Fortunately our driver was very patient, and he told us that "it's always like this"!

As we drove up towards Chimborazo the weather didn't look that great, the mountain was shrouded in clouds and there was rain along the way. However by the time we approached the car park at the first refuge at a height of 4850m we had risen above the clouds and could the see part of the mountain.

We set out on foot to the next refuge, walking past the many monuments dedicated to people who had lost their lives trying to climb the "highest" mountain in the world. We started out on a rocky path, and the going was tough as we were back at a high altitude. After a short while the path was covered with snow, which became deeper and more slippery as we ascended.

By the time we reached the second refuge the weather had improved, we had some blue sky and we could make out much of the mountain, though the peak was obscured by clouds. We continued on from the second hut to 5100m where there was a small lake which wasn't that impressive, but much of it was frozen over. That's as far as we were able to walk, as the trail was closed from that point. At this point we were higher than the peak of Everest, the furthest from the centre of the earth we've ever been, and the closest to the moon we'll ever get (while still on land anyway).

The descent was of course quicker and easier but definitely a little more treacherous going down in the snow - difficult to believe that we are only 1 degree south of the equator and surrounded by snow.

After returning we decided to celebrate our successful partial ascent of the world's highest mountain. M decided this was a good time to try the michelada, a beer based drink where things like lemon, spices and chili are added to the beer. It sounds kind of interesting, but what a mistake that was .... the beer glass came with a thick crusting of salt around the rim, and inside was a weird smelling (and tasting) reddish concoction. M added beer to the mix and was only able to drink about a quarter of it before having to admit defeat!

Day 112 - Wait a minute ....

Cuenca to Riobamba

Our next bus trip was a relatively short one of 6 hours to Riobamaba. There was a bathroom stop halfway, and as the bus was pulling out we noticed that the Asian woman who had been sitting opposite us (and hadn't been feeling well) wasn't in her seat - the bus was going to leave without her. If we hadn't stopped the bus she would have been stranded! Funny how they have no problems stopping anywhere and everywhere to pick up passengers, but can't wait another thirty seconds to make sure everyone's on board.

When the bus arrived in Riobamba we were dropped off on the side of the road and not at a bus terminal as we expected. As it was Sunday, Riobamba was very quiet when we arrived. As we walked around we did find a park where many of the locals were enjoying music and rides with their kids, but the city streets were practically deserted.

It wasn't much busier later on when we headed out for dinner, many restaurants were closed. We had heard that in general Ecuador is pretty dead on a Sunday - certainly looks like it!

Day 111 - Those Incas really got around

Cuenca

We started the day off at a cafe for breakfast, one of the Australians living in our apartment block is a chef there (getting paid US$3.50 an hour!), and made us a "proper" flat white, which was the best coffee we'd had since we left home.

After that, off to the bus station to arrange our tickets for tomorrow, then on to Museo Pumapungo, a museum with a mix of contemporary art, displays representing the many ethnic groups of Ecuador, and old Inca ruins. Also by the ruins was an aviary with a number of different birds native to Ecuador, but we felt sorry for the toucans, macaws and eagles that were stuck there and not able to fly away.

We finished the day sitting at a bar by the river, enjoying the great weather and the view - once again we can see the appeal of Cuenca, we just didn't have the best introduction to the place.

Day 110 - Getting back out there

Cuenca

So far our time in the expat town of Ecuador has been spent in police stations, court rooms, hospitals and being driven around in the back of a police car with lights flashing - we both looked at each other incredulously the first time we were chauffeured this way, it was a first for both of us, but it quickly lost its novelty.

We actually slept quite well, so after some mundane duties in the morning we decided we needed to get back on the horse and venture back into the streets of Cuenca.

We walked back through the city centre, where entire blocks have been dug up to lay new tram tracks (you'd think they could do it a bit at a time to minimise disruption), and made our way down to the rambling river Tomebamba. We had a nice walk along the river to Parque El Paraiso, along the way there we passed by the hospital, and on the way back the courthouse, at least this time we weren't obliged to go in!

We would be lying to say we both didn't have the jitters and were a little wary of random dodgy looking characters and crossed to the other side of the street at times. Cuenca seems like a really nice city (there's a reason so many expats like it), but at the moment we don't really feel like spending much time here.

When we returned we headed up to the lovely roof terrace of our apartment block and shocked all the other sympathetic long term tenants about our experience, they were all very surprised, but also very supportive. It was nice to chat to the other Aussies & Americans and really get an idea about why they choose to live in Cuenca.

Day 109 - Blood money?

Cuenca

The police were to pick us up at 7.30am as K had an appointment with an ear/nose/throat specialist at the hospital at 8am. By around 7:40am no-one had shown (we had half expected this) so we walked to the police station. We were worried that we would miss our appointment so we tried to persuade the police to take us immediately, but we were pretty much ignored. Around 8am we were told to get in the police car, we thought we were finally going to the hospital, instead we were taken to another police building .... this was getting ridiculous!

We finally arrived at the hospital around 8:30am, but by then the queue was huge, even with police "assistance" K couldn't be seen until 10:30am, The specialist examined K (with three policeman in attendance as well - great respect for patient privacy) and reviewed the X-rays, confirming that there was a fracture, but also that surgery wasn't required .. phew!

If you look hard enough you can see her fat lip too

On the way out of the hospital we were lucky to meet a Texan Spanish teacher who stayed with us for about a hour and helped with translation, he managed to convince the police that as we now hadn't had a decent meal for 36 hours we should at least be given a chance to get some lunch.

Back at the police building (with our Texan friend) we were taken to the forensic doctor for another examination and report. All this time it was implied to us that this was all too difficult and was taking too long and we should forget about it. M was in continual phone and email contact with the Australian consulate (based in Guayaquil) - at one point the consul spoke to one of the policemen and told them that they were keeping an eye on the case. It seemed from that point that the attitude of the police may have changed a little - but they were still quite unfriendly with us and seemed to have no concern for what had happened, we seemed to be an annoyance more than anything else.

We knew that something was supposed to happen at 3pm - from what we could work out the case was going before a judge. At 1pm we were told by the police that if we wanted to proceed with the charges we needed a lawyer, as this was a private affair, not a public case! M got onto the phone and email to try to arrange a lawyer, unfortunately the leads provided by the consulate weren't suitable, either the calls weren't answered, or the lawyers didn't speak English .... great!

We asked the police for assistance in getting a lawyer, they then drove us to the courthouse and left us sitting there wondering what was going on. Finally around 2:30pm a young woman approached us with excellent English  - she was the lawyer who had been assigned to our case - thanks Cristina!

This is where the negotiation phase started. We received a little more information about the assailant - he suffered from schizophrenia, he had "escaped" from home after missing his medication, and had 56% mental capacity. We were offered US$500 to drop the charges, but we explained that the money wasn't the issue, we said we wanted him to be off the streets and to receive treatment. We were told this was not the way the system worked, a deal needed to be struck as someone had to pay. His mother looked to be in her 60's, the average wage in Ecuador is only $300 a month, and we didn't feel we could make this woman pay any more for the misfortune of her son's illness (Cristina later told us she wanted to kill us for refusing the money - this is not the way the system works).

The case was finally seen at 6:30pm, in a small courtroom. K had the chance to say a few words, she told the judge that one punch could kill so next time he might kill someone - interestingly his lawyer nodded in agreement while this was said. The assailant who was constantly referred to as "the man that broke your nose" was sent to a psychiatric hospital for 20 days, after which he was not to be released into the public without supervision.

After all this we were pretty exhausted, we took a taxi to the plaza and finally managed to get the meal we had tried to go out for almost 24 hours earlier. We felt we had done as much as we could to stop this from happening to someone else, if we hadn't followed through (or if we'd accepted the money) the attacker would have just been released immediately without charge and gone back home to potentially do this to someone else.

After all this K surprisingly doesn't look that bad, more like she has just had a bad Botox treatment (due to the swelling). Horses have done worse things to her, so this could be considered minor in comparison.

Day 108 - Every holiday has a bad day, but this has to be the worst one ever .....

Mancora (Peru) to Cuenca (Ecuador)

We were at the bus office at 7.30am, expecting to get onto a CIFA bus, and were a little surprised when instead we were told to pile into a collectivo, a mini bus that squeezes in 12 people (or in our case 12 people and a child) with minimum wiggle room.

Almost two hours later we arrived in Tumbes, and were offloaded at the side of the road. We wheeled our luggage up to another bus office, where we were issued with another bus ticket. About half an hour later (during which the guy at the bus station tried to overcharge us for using the toilet, then tried to lock our cases away "for security" so that we would have to pay him to get them out), another larger bus arrived.

This CIFA bus was more like what we expected, and the six of us headed off to the border 25 minutes away. We had heard that the border crossing was painful, taking up to three hours, which is one reason why many people don't take the day bus. The bus pulled into an area which had a long narrow concrete opening under it complete with stairs so that they could check under the bus - for stowaways or illegal goods maybe? Our fears were unfounded though, the crossing was a breeze as it was very quiet, we were in and out in less than 15 minutes, and we thought that we would get to Cuenca much earlier than we expected.

The bus carried on into Ecuador, and a few minutes later we arrived at another bus station where we were told to get off and wait for the bus to Cuenca, but we weren't told much else. K went asking and found that the bus to Cuenca would leave at 12pm, about 40 minutes later. When the Cuenca bus arrived at 12 we were rushed on in a great hurry - but this wasn't a CIFA bus, it was a Pullman bus, and was pretty crappy and run down - no wifi or aircon as we'd been told when we'd booked. The bus drove for less than five minutes, pulling up at the Pullman office, where we were told to get off. K went to the office to ask what was happening, and was told to relax and get some lunch, it wasn't leaving until 2pm!

After waiting around until 2pm we finally continued our journey to Cuenca, picking up and dropping off people along what way. Our hopes of an early arrival had been dashed, and we finally arrived at the bus terminal in Cuenca around 7pm. (Note to anyone reading this who is looking for information on getting from Mancora to Cuenca by bus .... don't believe any of the stories about how good the buses are, or how long the trip will take, and if you have the option, don't go with CIFA!).

We then had the misfortune of getting a taxi driver who was either an idiot or trying to rip us off (I choose the latter, but there definitely was an element of the former there as well). What should have been a 10 minute taxi ride turned into a 30 minute one when the driver decided to take us via the "scenic route" - luckily we noticed using Google maps that something was amiss, but the driver's incompetence combined with the massive roadworks (in a part of town we had no reason to go through in the first place) stretched the journey.

After finally checking in to our airbnb (where our host had been patiently waiting for over an hour and a half) we decided to walk to the main square for dinner. Cuenca is a very popular retirement city for expats that we had done some research into, and it is known as being clean, cheap, safe and with enough of home mixed with the exotic to be attractive for people to move to.

This is where a day that had been pretty ordinary so far took a turn for the even worse ....

It was around 8:30pm, and we were walking side by side and almost at the square when a man walking towards us punched K in the face with absolutely no warning. K screamed (there were historic buildings crumbling to dust because of the sound), fell to the ground, and then kept screaming, M ran and tackled the man to the ground, holding him down to prevent him from escaping, then yelled for someone to get the police.

A group of people gathered, some of them helping K by getting water and some ice for her bleeding nose and lip. Others were also able to keep the attacker restrained while M tended to K, The police and ambulance eventually arrived, after some discussion we decided that we had to press charges (it's hard to believe that there would even be any question regarding this!).

From there we were taken to multiple police stations, where we thought we were going to give a statement, but instead all we could work out from the various "discussions" (though this was never said explicitly) was that the police would prefer it if we dropped the charges. We held our ground though, which meant we had to visit the hospital to get a doctor's report.

We were driven in the back of a police car (a first for both of us) with flashing lights to the public hospital, fortunately the presence of a police escort meant K was seen very quickly, and after being examined and cleaned up (the doctor was chewing gum and blowing bubbles during the examination!), then X-rayed and given a shot of some painkillers, K was diagnosed with a possible broken nose, to be confirmed at a specialist appointment scheduled for 8am the next day.

By this time we were ready to go home, but the police had other ideas. We were driven back to one of the police stations, and greeted by a woman. We thought this was a lawyer, or interpreter - but it was the attacker's mother! This appeared to be another attempt to get us to drop the charges. This "ambush" upset us immensely (especially K) - we told the police to get her out of our sight ... this was not the right time for them to pull something like this!

We then asked the police when they were taking our statement (who at no point had volunteered anything of any use to us on what was going on, we had to fight for every bit of information), we were told it would be done at 8am the next day. But we had already arranged to see a specialist at that time ... so this prompted another heated "discussion" and one of the police officers started shouting at K - they really wanted us gone. The final outcome being that the police would collect us at 7:30am the next day and take us to our appointment.

We were dropped back at our airbnb just before midnight, both quite hungry and very upset, with K in pretty bad shape with a swollen nose and lip, a suspected broken nose, and a very poor first impression of Cuenca (and its police) at about 11:40pm.

Day 105 to 107 - A holiday from being on holiday

Máncora 

When we first arrived Máncora reminded us a little of Bali, but without the hassle. The shops, bars and tuk-tuks are similar, but Máncora is a lot smaller than Kuta, and our thoughts of there being much of a similarity only lasted for a short time. Being here in low season and also at election time gives the place a laid back feel, just perfect for us to spend a few days here and take a break from sightseeing.

The view from our balcony

Our room is lovely with a great balcony overlooking the beach. Each morning we'd get up and have breakfast, then go for some long walks along the beach (oh yes, how romantic!). There are a lot of places to stay spread along the coast, many of them looking quite empty, but apparently it gets difficult to find accommodation in peak season. Heading south from Máncora the beach is nice to walk along, though it doesn't look suitable for swimming, it's a bit rocky.

He has another horse, why isn't he using it?

Heading north the beach is much more swimmable, but twice when trying to walk that way we were stopped by a security guard and told that we shouldn't go any further as it is too dangerous, we could get robbed and they could even take our clothes! Our clothes aren't worth that much, but we took the guard's advice and turned back. 

Not the first time on our trip we've seen someone meditating in public

We saw some interesting fauna on our walks: two dead sea lions (in different parts of the beach) washed up onto the shore and being pecked at by condors, a sad looking pelican staying close by its dead mate, and hundreds of what we think were Magnificent Frigatebirds diving into the water to pick up dead fish (there were hundreds of fish in the water and also washed up along the shoreline) and dropping them a few seconds later when they worked out they were already dead.

These condors look like they're up to no good!

After our morning walk we'd have a seafood lunch at one of the beachside restaurants (competition between them to nab people as they walked past was fierce but friendly), and later in the afternoon we'd head to one of the cafes with a great view of the beach to have a milkshake and/or pisco sour (or two). 

Our lunchtime hangout

We could have easily stayed longer but are aware that we are not that far from Colombia and Central America and we'll have plenty of opportunity to do the beach holiday there, so we decided that after four nights in Mancora we'd push on to Ecuador. We purchased bus tickets to take us across the border and to Cuenca, once again going for the day trip option.