It’s 9pm, it’s dark, and there’s nobody on the street, for as far as we can call it a street at all. It seems like this village is abandoned by all means of life, exemplified by the graveyard I’m just passing. The nearest light pole weakly lightens the poorly maintained graves. They produce strange noises, or so it seems. I decide to head back to my hostel. Dogs start barking loudly as I’m passing their territory, and one even comes up to me. I’m not afraid. The hostel owner explained me that carrying around a small stick is enough to keep dogs away, so since I’m carrying one, there’s no need to worry. Also, I am told, dogs in villages do not have rabies. The dog approaching me is different from the others, in the sense that he is not barking, just walking around me and following me back to my hostel. He is also different because one of his eyes seems kind of screwed up. Since the dog even follows me to my room, I decide it’s the hostels dog. I call him Cloud, named after my abandoned hostel Cloud Forest. Well, not entirely abandoned. I checked in today as its single guest.
I’m in Chugchilan, a village in Ecuador, just a few hours below the equator. Inhabited by some 30 people, it has three hostels that are all near to empty due to the low season. Chugchilan is part of the Quilotoa Loop, which forms a circle around a valley (hence the name). There are a few other villages like these around the loop, adding up to around 80 indigenous people living here, all seeming to know each other. Most are used to tourists -they mention money as soon as they see your camera- but that’s about it that connects them to the outside world. A volunteer tells me that the teenagers here don’t even know how babies are produced. Since they do know they like the local boys, most of the girls here are carrying around a baby on their back.
Two weeks ago I was still in Colombia, and that’s where the previous story left off. The last few days I exchanged my French/Colombian owned hostel for staying with the family of my local friend, and had a great time with (maybe) the nicest people of Cali. I think I even picked up some more Spanish. However, it was time to take off to the world capital of Spanish language schools: Quito! It also happens to be the capital of Ecuador, decided upon by the Spanish conquistadors some five centuries ago. Wisely against the advice of my South American lonely planet, I took the night bus from Colombia, arriving at night again in Quito. Interesting to note: the weekend of my arrival there was not a drop of alcohol available in the entire city, or even country, because on Sunday a referendum was held to change the constitution. It is –by the way- obligatory to vote in Ecuador. I think people here get repetitive strain injuries from voting here, since this country had some 7 presidents over the past ten years, and obviously, none of them finished their term.
Quito is a favorite destination for IMF-staff talking economics, but for me, Quito was all about my Spanish lessons. I had a great time staying at Merche’s huge house and exploring the city in my spare time. Compared to Cali, the weather sucked. Washing my clothes wasn’t such a problem, drying them in the morning sun of Quito was not a problem as well, but getting them of the washing line before the afternoon rain was something I managed only rarely. I guess that was the only serious issue I had in Quito, and it’s actually quite beautiful here and there. Well, next to the issue that half of the people I know in Quito were robbed or mugged in the bus, mostly at broad daylight. Who says Colombia is the most dangerous place on earth? However, nobody tried to rob me. And just as a message to all those full-time robbers out there: you are stupid you didn’t. Ok, so my cheap, ragged, and small backpack has been filled with mostly EXPENSIVE stuff, most of the days I’ve been walking around the old town or taking the extremely busy busses to school or home. Think about a big, brand new SLR camera, a mobile phone that works a lot better than the phones you usually steal, a cute small laptop that, I experienced, most girls would die for, a Dutch passport that works at every border, even though you threw away the official documents you really had to hand in at leaving a country, and a bunch of bank notes to get me through the next few days. Of invaluable worth to bad people: my 30 dollar cents note block. If you could have gotten a hold of this one, containing my most personal notes, you could have extorted me for the rest of my life. Anyway, you did not rob me. Too bad, you could have taken quite a sabbatical...
After a tiring but enjoyable week, with fast-track Spanish lessons in the morning (my iPod and spending time with the Colombians gave me a head start on the elementary level 1), homework in the afternoon, and Merche regularly refusing to talk with me in another language than Spanish, I left the city. Merche advised me to travel to Chugchilan, so I did.
The way from Latacunga to Chugchilan was quite an experience, with a road built out of bumps, measuring just about the width of the bus, a steep valley just beside it, and hearing even the local people sometimes gasping for air. I didn’t really notice that my legs were stuck between mine and the chair in front of me, I was just watching the road. I mean, I was just watching the valley. Did you know the lonely planet advises to travel on top of the bus? Don’t trust this guide. Anyway, what you would not think about at that moment is getting a flat tire, which, of course, happened. The bus driver happily drove on further, at a slightly slower speed and turned up salsa music, to the next village on the road to professionally change the tire.
The busses, by the way, are extremely cheap here, costing less than one dollar an hour. When you know the state of the busses, the salary of the drivers, and above all the gas prices in Ecuador, you know why. Let’s focus on the gas. Per liter, in US dollars (the money you pay with in this country!), Ecuador will charge you about $0.37. Compare that to The Netherlands, the most expensive country in the EU to get your gas, where you pay about $2.63. Or, if you really want to talk crazy gas prices with your colleagues, consider Venezuela: $0.05 per liter (these prices are from a few months ago, look here for a gas price map of the world).
That evening, cheering up the Cloud Forest owner by arriving at his empty hostel, I enjoyed being alone and decided to take a walk, where I ended up meeting Cloud. I made an exception in my not liking dogs. The next morning, waking up to explore more of this internet-less village, Cloud was already awake to greet me. The hostel owner ensured me it is not his dog. After wandering around on some long gone trails around the village (Cloud faithfully following me) I decide to check-in to the hostel next door called Mama Hilda, the same hostel my sister once visited, I found out later. This hostel actually had some other travelers around, the reason I moved. Unfortunately, Mama Hilda was not there because of travels to Quito. I hope she is doing fine.
The next day I took the 4am morning bus. Alone. Imagine taking the same bus I described to you earlier, but this time at dark. With the same music, but louder. It keeps the driver awake, I guess, although I didn’t like that he tried to save energy by turning his lights off now and then. Again, I had to think of my oldest sister, who would have loved sitting on the same bus. I was traveling to start of on the Quilotoa crater hike, where I arrived somewhere after 5, still dark. One of the locals near the entrance of the crater asked me in for coffee. Some people just wake up to early. As I entered his tiny house, I noticed his wife and kid did not really share his love for the early morning, greeting me from their bed that is standing in the same room.
The Quilotoa crater, once an up and running volcano, ruining itself 800 years ago by spitting some lava around, even reaching the Pacific, measures 3km wide and so far accumulated 250m of water deep. Walking the six hour trail past the crater and back to the hostel was amazing. After 3 hours I met some other travelers, but until then it was magically beautiful and quiet just walking there. I would really not recommend it to anyone to keep it this way.
Leaving Chugchilan, I was supposed to take the same 4am bus the next day, meeting two girls from England and the guy from Australia, that I met during the walk the day before, and that were staying just further on the road. The road decided otherwise by breaking down during the night, which resulted in the bus taking the other way on the loop, and me leaving without a plan and fellow travelers. I doubted on what to do. In Latacunga, I called my intelligible Ecuador specialist sister who was just traveling home in her town, and half an hour later I was on the road to touristy Banos (that’s Spanish for baths if you put a tilde on the n). Great town if you like day and sport activities. I stayed a few days, tried eating guina pig (cavia), took hot baths, and had a full day of level 4+ rafting in on of Ecuador’s rivers. The full day only lasted half a day, but it was certainly one of the best half days.
After Banos, I somehow traveled north first, and after a short time staying in this rainy town, continued heading south. I might come back one day to see these Galapagos things everybody is talking about.
