Dschungelblog!

Hi everybody!

You last heard from us from Riobamba where we wanted to take part in the ultimate tourist attraction of the area: a so-advertised “mind-blowing ride on the most hazardous train in the world”. Well… wasn´t that exciting if you ask us! The best thing of the day was the break with a nice Morocho (hot drink with milk, spices, and corn) and Banana-Empanada and the minute we could change from sitting on the roof of the train (freeeezing!! but said to have better views) into the cabin! When we wanted to leave Riobamba the next morning we found ourselves again victims of a bus driver strike and had to wait another day until we could leave for Guaranda where we had great difficulties in finding the bus to Salinas where we were headed. After asking no more than eight people and getting eight different directions pointed out we finally made it into a bus that at least went past the road to Salinas. The rest of the way we had to walk - the sign said 5.5 kilometers, but we decided it were at least eight!! And that with our big backpacks and in freezing cold highland mountain misty weather… Finally mangaged to stop a pick-up to give us a lift for the rest of the way. Not so sure if that was a good decision as this guy was crazy going down the muddy road with about 100 miles per hour!! When the other people on the car started to pray we as well were worried… but made it safely to the town where there is nothing more to do but eat chocolate and cheese from the nearby factories and hike in the surrounding area. Which is all we did until we left.

Next stop Saquisili indio market where we found ourselves standing totally impressed in the middle of the animal market while the indios around us were making their deals and sold everything from screaming piglets, to sheep, cows and llamas! A great sight and good cultural experience! After a short shopping frenzy we boarded the bus to Chugchilán which was already full of people and the goods they had bought over the day. On the roof there was a sheep standing near a new matrace for somebodies bed while in the bus we had to climb over sacks of corn, chicken and whatever else to get to our places where we were stuck with our luggage for the next four hours while slowly climbing the bumpy road to Chugchilan!

From there we intended to take the only bus at six in the morning the next day in order to go to the volcano crater lake of Quilotoa. Well… the bus was there but didn´t go where we wanted so we asked a passing-by truck to give us a lift and reached the laguna with a few more bruises from sitting on some sacks in the back of the truck…

However that was all forgotten when we set eyes on the lagune! Really impressive colour and size and all! The following 22km hike back to the hostal was not as nice because I had a bad cold and was coughing and gasping my way up while Heiko was sitting on the roadside waiting for me. Have to say that I found out I´m operating better on sea level than in high altitudes!!! I´m not a llama though!!

One day later Heiko had a cold too and after we left Chugchilán with the only bus at 4.30 in the morning we decided to chill out and recover a bit in a nice hostal in Latacunga for a few days!

After that we took a bus up to Otavalo which is THE town to go shopping for souvenirs especially weavings of all kinds! Spend a few days there and had to leave because money was all gone… Which was a good thing because the best and also last highland experience was waiting for us: the trip to the rarely visited nature reserve El Angel. We were really impressed with what we found after a 45min taxi ride up the mountain! A landscape so alien that it seemed to be from a different planet! Crazy plants called frailejones gigantes growing in millions everywhere on the mountains giving them a totally surreal look! Had a great time wandering through the reserve watching the lagoon disappearing in the mist and clouds and admiring the huge plants which are related to daisies - with the slight difference that they can grow up to 7 meters in height!!

A few hours after this strange experience we were already back to Quito… Quite a change I would say! Tomorrow we leave again for another trial to take a picture of Cotopaxi without clouds, then we´re headed to Mindo for birdwatching and my birthday and the last few days we´ll be back at the beach of Mompiche to relax before flying back home!! Yeah, six months already over - unbelievable!!

All the best for you,

Romy & Heiko

PS: ThanXX to Efrat for sending us the raftingtour-pics!