Montañita

I didn't actually take any pictures in Montañita ... Oops

After all the fun adventures in Baños we were headed to Montañita, which is a surf town on the coast of Ecuador. You have to bus to Guayaquil first, then connect to Monatñita. Kim heard of an amazing volcano that required taking a different bus, but it wasn't too much out of the way. We all got up at 5am to catch the bus to Ambato. Kady had to wake us up to see the volcano because we passed out almost instantly. Kim got his pictures of the volcano and we transfered to another bus straight to Guayaquil. According to the research we did, there wasn't a bus direct from Ambato to Guayaquil, but a young guy working on the bus convinced us his bus would take us there. I think he just wanted me on his bus because he kept coming back to chat with me. It was really hard to talk to him between my little spanish and his little english. The bus ride turned out to be the craziest ride ever! We were driving down a mountain on dirt roads that I wouldn't even take a truck on, let alone a bus. I thought we were going to kill the bus, but we made it to the normal road after a very dusty and bumpy ride down the mountain. At one point we were all thrown upwards and both Kady & Kim hit their heads on the ceiling of the bus. We were on the bus for about six hours when my Ecuadorian bus friend came back and said we had to switch busses. I still don't know why we switched busses, but he was looking out for us and even paid for the next bus because he promised us a ride all the way to Guayaquil. We all thanked him and hopped on the next bus for about an hour before arriving in Guayaquil. It was super hot when we got to the bus depot. We had lunch then said goodbye to Kim who was flying to the Galapagos Islands the next day. It was sad to leave our new travel friend. It felt like we had all been together for a lot longer than one week. Kady and I caught our last bus for three hours and finally arrived in Montañita!

Kady & I headed to the hostel and met up with Nick again. He took us down to the beach for sunset and introduced us to everyone at the hostel. We went for a walk through the small town and ate street food which was way cheaper than the restaurants and really delicious! I had an amazing burrito.

The "downtown" area of Montañita is a lot of small streets with restaurants, stores, street vendors, artists and performers. It is always super busy and there are different alleys dedicated to different things. There's Cocktail Alley, completely lined with stands selling every kind of cocktail imaginable! There was also a breakfast alley that had a bunch of stands selling huge fruit salads and delicious fruit smoothies. Montañita is a weekend destination for Ecuadorians as well, so there were tons of people to party with.

Our four days in Montañita consisted of laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean, street food, drinking games with the whole hostel at 9pm every night, drinking in cocktail alley and dancing at the club. After four days we were all ready to leave and recover for a few days. I had so much fun and met a ton of awesome people! It was sad to leave such a great group of people.

Next stop, Peru!

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Megan McKellar.

Baños

Kim, Kady and I left the city for the beautiful mountain town of Baños which was only 3 hours away. Baños is known for having tons of excursions and activities. When we arrived at the hostel we ran into Nick and he took us for a tour of the town which some how ended up at the San Fransisco Bridge. At this bridge they have a form of bungee jumping for only $15! Instead of being tied at your feet, the rope is around your torso so it's more of a swing than a bungee jump. Kim was obviously the first in line and did a lovely swan dive off the platform. Kady went next and she also jumped right away. I was excited to jump, but also pretty scared. I was fine until I stepped up on the platform and looked down 80 meters to the river below. It was also super windy on the platform which didn´t help my nerves at all. You´re supposed to put your toes at the edge of the platform, put your arms out wide (like Rose on the Titanic), and the dive out. The guy was holding my arms out telling me to move to the edge, but everytime I freaked out and stepped backwards. My lovely friends were very encouraging the whole 20 minutes I stood there like a chicken, but I knew they wouldn´t let me get off the platform. The guy was getting annoyed with me and after a lot of ¨tu pudes amiga¨ and ¨vamos chica¨ he got fed up and grabbed my feet out from under me while pushing me with his head. I fell straight down instead of going out (like you´re supposed to) and got some serious whip lash when the rope caught. That was my own fault for not jumping... The drop was over quickly and feeling the rope catch you is so relieving. I really enjoyed the swinging after the initial drop. Once the swinging slowed, I was lowered down to a ledge where another guy threw a rope to pull me in. It was really embarassing to stand on the platform for so long but I'm actually kinda glad he pushed me. It made for a hilarious video that I´ll upload when I´m back in Canada and have real internet that doesn´t take ten billion years to upload. After the jump we went to the market for $2 lunch and delicious fresh juice.

being headbutted off the platform because I took too long to jump

After lunch, Nick took us to an adventure office to book white water rafting for the afternoon! It was only $25 per person. We were given wetsuits, shoes and helmets at the office then were driven about half hour out of town. There were nine of us total, with everyone being Canadian except Kim and a girl from the States. The four of us got our own boat with the boys in the front and Kady & I in the back. Team Canaway for the win! The river was a class 3/4, but we were only given short instructions on stroking forwards, backwards and ducking inside the boat if there was a big rock. We got started right away and were soaked in no time! It was so much fun and there was a lot of screaming (from me). More than once it felt like we were going to get thrown from the boat, but luckily we all stayed in. At one point the guide sitting at the back was thrown forward into me, but we were both fine. We flew down the river, paddling on comand and getting splashed. The trip was over way too fast. We all wanted to go again! If you have a chance to go rafting I highly recommend it! That was my first time and it was such a blast. Especially if you have a great group of people who like to whoop and yell with every drop. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. What a crazy and exhilerating first day in Baños! That evening we hung out at our awesome hostel, Great Backpackers Hostal Los Piños, drinking big beers and playing pool. Nick was taking the night bus to Montañita so we made sure to feed him lots of beers before his journey!

The next day, Kady and I went back to the adventure office and signed up for canyoning which is repelling down waterfalls! There were nine of us in the group including a four year old boy. He was so cute and brave! We were all given wetsuits, shoes and helmets then had a demonstration on how to use the ropes then were off! We drove a little ways then had to hike uphill for about 15 minutes, which is not so comfortable in wetsuits. Once we hit the top, we hiked in to the first waterfall and started repelling down. It's scary at first, but there's a guide above and below you holding the ropes. We repelled down six waterfalls in total and slide down the last one like a waterslide. It was so much fun!! I have a CD with tons of pictures, but it seems to be impossible to upload them now. I'll put them up when I'm back home!

After repelling we convinced three Americans to jump off the bridge then spent the evening drinking beers and playing pool. I had the best game of my life and won it for our team! Most likely a once in a lifetime fluke, so I had to mention it :)

By the third day in Baños we were all pretty tired out. After an easy morning we went searching for La Casa del Arbol (the treehouse) which has the swing at the end of the world. You can hike there, but we were all pretty over hiking and took a taxi. After the taxi drops you off there's a short hike up a really steep hill. The view was amazing, but there was a lot of fog. The old man who lived up there was pretty grumpy and didn't seem impressed when we asked to use the swing. It cost 25 cents a person to use the swing. We all took turns on the swing. It's a cool feeling swinging into nothingness with all the fog.

La Casa del Arbol. The swing at the end of the world!

Baños was non stop fun! It's a must if you're in Ecuador.

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Megan McKellar.

To Ecuador!

From San Cipriano we drove back to Cali and stayed overnight. In the morning we headed to the bus depot and started a very long journey to the border town of Ipiales. On the plus side, our bus had wifi AND english subtitles for the movies. Nothing better than wifi and movies you can actually understand on an 11 hour bus! We arrived in Ipiales around 7pm and decided to cross the border instead of staying the night. The crossing was very easy and we didn't feel unsafe at any point. Once our passports were stamped, we took a taxi to the bus depot and caught a bus to Quito, Ecuador. We finally arrived in Quito at 2am and it was so cold! I couldn't believe it! We found the hostel and passed out right away.

The weather in Quito was such a huge change from the warmth we were used to. During the day you could wear pants and a short sleeve shirt, but at night a sweater or jacket and socks were definitely necessary. We spent the first few days relaxing at a very nice guesthouse called the Traveler's Inn. It had the best breakfast icluded ever! Quito has a very large historic center called the old town. We spent an afternoon there, exploring all the old buildings, churches and courtyards. There was a huge, beautiful public library with original books that were written in the 1500´s. Depending on the time of the day, you can enter the church for a dollar and explore. The architecture and stain glass were incredible.

We had to take advantage of being in a big city and went to the mall for the afternoon. The malls here continue to surprise me. They are always massive, spotless and have a large selection of stores. They put Pine Centre to shame..

beautiful courtyard in the public library

After four days in Quito, Nick left to travel quickly through the rest of Ecuador and I stayed to wait for Kady to arrive. Her plane couldn't land in Quito due to visibility, so she arrived a day late. It was so great to have a girlfriend from home arrive! We explored the city and made friends with Tabae from Germany and Kim from Norway. Kim and Tabea invited us on a day trip to Otavalo, which has one of the largest artisan markets in Ecuador on Saturday's. We took Quito's public bus for a hour to the bus depot. It was so busy and cramped and a guy on a motorcycle ran into the side of the bus! Thankfully, he was okay! When we finally arrived at the bus depot we accidently took the wrong bus and the trip took an extra hour and a half. We finally arrived in Otavalo around 3pm and had to start shopping immediately before they closed around 5pm. Everyone bought their fill of alpaca sweaters, shirts, socks and pants. All the clothing is so colourful and beautifully made. After shopping we had a $2 almuerzo (lunch) which includes soup, meat, rice, menestra, salad and a juice. It's always a set menu, but the best deal out there! We took the right bus back to Quito and arrived after only 2 hours.

so unfortunate none of this fits in my backpack

For our last day in Quito, Kim, Kady and I decided to take the TeleferiQo cable car and hike to the peak of Cumbre Rucu Pichincha. It was pretty chilly up on the mountain and the altitude made the hike so much harder. We were all huffing and puffing right away and I needed lots of breaks. It´s difficult to keep up to the long legged people. Everytime we thought the peak was close, there was another hill to climb. We hiked for over three hours, with the last 30 metres taking an hour, and finally made it to the top! The fog lifted and we had an amazing view of all of Quito. The way back down was very quick and the total hike took just over four hours. It was good training for the Machu Picchu hike coming up in May. After a hot shower and change of clothes, we spent the evening relaxing and getting ready for our bus trip to Baños the next morning.

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Megan McKellar.

San Cipriano

After spending a few weeks in the mountains we were ready to get back to the hot weather, so we headed to San Cipriano for a few days. San Cipriano is a small village in the humid, subtropical forest about four hours from Cali, Colombia.

The drive there was ridiculous! It was just like the Sea to Sky Highway with mountains on one side and a drop into a river on the other. They were also doing construction to widen the road so there was a lot going on. I had to make myself fall asleep because our van driver decided to pass on all parts of the road including in TUNNELS! It was so scary. They have their own set of traffic rules here that involve a lot of honking and veering. Also, there are tons of motorcycles (which are actually more like dirt bikes) with two plus passengers weaving in and out of traffic constantly. I didn´t think we were going to make it, but we arrived safe and sound in Cordoba.

After we hopped off the van, a guy was there to greet us and took us to the railroad tracks. He even carried my big bag! The only way into San Cipriano is by railroad, but there are no trains. Instead, the people created makeshift vehicles using dirtbikes and planks of wood. We settled on one of the makeshift railcars with our bags and headed into the forest. The ride was surprisingly fast and fun! It only took about 15 minutes for us to arrive at the village.

A young boy helped us off the motorcycle and lead us to one of the few places to stay in the village. Our room was tiny with an open roof and mosquito netting covering the beds. It was so incredibly hot and humid we changed into bathing suits and headed to the river. We hiked for about ten minutes to reach the river. It was so nice to swim in fresh water again! Tubing down the river is one of San Cipriano´s main tourist attractions, but we were there in the middle of the week and there weren´t many other tourists around. There wasn´t much to do once the sun went down, so we had an early night playing cards. There were only two places to eat, since it was off season, so if you don´t like fish, rice and salad you´re outta luck.

In the morning, our young friend offered his guidance to find two waterfalls, at a price of course. We walked with him and two other tourists through the forest (which I would consider more jungle than forest) for about an hour, climbing steep hills, wading through rivers and walking shin deep in mud. Then we arrived at a small, but beautiful waterfall. There´s something about waterfalls that instantly make you feel peaceful and put a smile on your face. After a few pictures we ventured back through the forest for another half hour before reaching the next waterfall. This waterfall was much bigger and had a decent sized pool for swimming. We all jumped in to cool down. There were tons of little fish in the pool that had a taste for the guy´s nipples. They didn´t like that very much.. We hiked back to the river after and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing. The next few days were spent hiking the forest, swimming in the river and going for runs. It´s incredibly hard to run in 35 degree humidity! (Marcene & Ang be proud!!!)

Our two and a half days in San Cipriano were a nice and relaxing way to say goodbye to Colombia and get ready for a long bus ride into Ecuador.