Numero Siete - Mindo, Baños, Ibarra and Otavalo

Our first trip outside of Quito was to Mindo, a small town in the diminishing cloud forest of Ecuador. The journey there was breathtaking with its amazing folds of dense forest and the awe-inspiring drops the bus driver delighted in flirting with. We were not so delighted. The town itself was sweet, though we got quite majorly lost on our excursion to the famous butterfly garden. Very sweaty walk. We saw a great deal of the cloud forest and the tumbling Mindo river. We had always suffered under the misconception that butterflies are beautiful, delicate creatures. We were misinformed. They are gross. We did coax a couple onto our hands but the majority we were happy to leave alone. However, it was amazing to see such an array of colour and wildlife. The food was fab but had to wait about HALF A DAY for the coffee so the tip was minimal at the end. We headed back out into sweltering heat to cross the Rio Mindo and view more of the cloud forest canopy. Shockingly green but filled with the screams of zip-wire users. We weren´t tempted. After a long day we caught the bus back to Quito on which we heard, whilst eavesdropping, that one girl had had $700 stolen from her on a bus. We were unable to see why she would have that much on her in the first place so we are trying to stay positive by saying that we would have a little more common sense.

Our second journey outside of Quito was to Baños, a town overshadowed by an active volcano and famed for its waterfalls and hot baths. Both were lovely, though their downfalls were the painful bicycle seats on the way to the waterfalls and the old men at the baths. The hostel, recommended by Caroline and Lonely Planet, was a great place to stay. Filled with funky people such as the topless Austrian guy and tiny-shorts man who probably wasn´t expecting two girls to be standing in the hall way as he scampered into the shower. Great rooftop terrace where Ang taught Geo how to play chess, because we´re just that cool. The first day we took a voluntary (still can´t believe this) hike up 654 steps and several mud walkways to see the Virgen de Santa Agua statue. The statue wasn´t as impressive as the views which were astounding. The huge Pailon del Diablo waterfall besides the Indiana Jones-esque bridge was an impressive sight to witness, especially since we cycled for half a day to get there. We enjoyed our first Pilsener, the Ecuadorian beer, after our sweaty walk back up from the waterfall. Not so Indiana Jones-esque. He´s too fit to sweat. We also took a quick spin round the block in a buggy, Geo driving and Ang holding on for dear life (´use the brake Geo, the brake!!!´). An exciting few days.

Ibarra. This is going to be short and sweet. We arrived, chilled in the park, ate famous Helado de paila (icecream), met crazy drunken Ecuadorian men and caught the bus back. Relaxing day.

Otavalo was this weekend´s trip. We arrived early on Saturday morning for the biggest artisan fair in Ecuador. It was difficult to resist the temptation to buy more than we needed/could afford/had room for in our bags. Basically we couldn´t buy much. A few purchases were made but cannot disclose this due to certain persons who might read this. Ang has determined to return with her rich husband (whose name will apparently begin with a ´Y´. Who knew?) to buy some of the goods which included panpipes, beautiful jewellery, bags and all sorts of other things. We caught a bus to Cotocachi and then a taxi to Lake Cuicocha, a volcanic crater lake. We took a boat ride out onto the lake, but despite Ang´s predictions we did not capsize, die in an eruption or get attacked by a puma from one of the islands in the middle. After our free Canelazo it began to pour so we went up to the sheltered rooftop to enjoy the view before catching a taxi and bus back to Otavalo. The hostel was quite an experience! Not sure we enjoyed being the only residents in such a creepy, horror movie type place. On the upside we had the rooftop to ourselves to watch the fireworks which was great. After spending so much on taxis we decided to bypass nutrition and spend less than $1 on bread and jam. Filling but not that healthy we think. Otavalo was a really interesting place, especially with all the friendly indigenous people in all their traditional dress. Great weekend and we´re looking forward to meeting the May trek group tomorrow! Hopefully we won´t leave it too long before the next update! Ciao