I forgot what I first wrote in here
So I keep promising myself that I'd write about the whole of Ecuador but never found the motivation to do, so after finishing a book about a murder whose killler never gets imprisoned (The Lovely Bones) I no longer have anything to keep the boredom and can't figure out how to procrastinate any longer. Plus the fact that I tidied my room up a bit more after Jo left and vacumed it for the first time in months meant I found the itenary.
First of all I had to pack..ugh and ended up taking 4 bags of stuff, yeah I can't pack. That was annoying when having to drag it down to the hotel as I had the rucksack on my back often with my smaller purple bag with my blue bag on my shoulder and carrying a 20kg huge solid bag that clunked against your legs and hurt, whilst dragging a suitcase behind me...oh what fun. Sometimes I got lucky and the hotel staff ( twice when I went to Flor de Canela) carried my bags for me...yay for looking helpless.
We then packed the car up and my dad drove me to QMC where I and Sarah had assumed we were going to the airport in the minibus. Wrong so I begged a lift off Sarah's parents and somehow managed to fit both our luggage in there which was even more stuffed as I finally got my fleece and down jacket I'd been trying to get off Darren for aeons. So got to Heathrow, checked in, my bags overweight so I sat there and unzipped my huge bag, unpacked it, took my plastic boots out to wear and repacked it. It worked, although it seems stupid to me as the weight I took on to the flight was exactly the same, just on a different part of me...oh well. Then we went through security and I didn't set the alarms off..yay and sat in the seating for a while before going to get a drink with Sarah with the oh so huge amount of £2 I had left in English money to my name.
We got on a flight to Amsterdam, managed to fit all our rucksacks into the overhead lockers, can't remember where abouts we were but it was only a short flight. My bladder was hurting after having to consume several litres of water in the previous days so acclimatisation would be easier...or so they said but we had to race throught Amsterdam airport to catch the next flight. Got to some more security and I couldn't find where I had put my passport *cue start of berration I would recieve through the month...because no one else makes mistakes do they?* found at bottom of my bag, and found a toilet thankfully while everyone was waiting for people to get though metal detector. I had a relally nice seat, at the back, on the aisle in the middle with room to put my trainers next to me, but was asked to move next to a woman who was really rude, and stole my pillow...twice. Fortunatly I carry a travel pillow and don't sleep on aeroplanes. Cue a flight where I'm sure they were trying to fatten us up with the amount of food they served and I spilt coke all over me and my book and I didn't sleep for the whole of it *hugs mp3 player*. I have never felt more uncomfortable either, my legs kept going to sleep and there are only about 3 different ways you can sit on one of those seats. Of course no one from the group tried to make a decent conversation so I settled into the cocoon of my book and music. We had a stop in Bonaire at about 3am local time which is about 8am here. Gorgeous temperature. Hot but had a strong breeze so it was just right to walk out there in t-shirt and shorts. Got questioned by Allan and Jane Gibbs who were the people from Adventureworks, the company we went with. Didn't really like them, they were always telling me off for things and complaining. They found out I had no malaria tablets so was sort of forced to borrow them off Darren. I'm supposed to take them for 4 weeks afterwards...yeah right am I. I could barely remember to take them whilst I was there at a regular time, plus we went to areas with a low risk. It's only if you go to the Esmeralda region which we didn't. I'm fine *jerkspasmjerk* The aeroplane had a really noise engine on the tail and I hated having to get off and on the plane outside cos it made my ears hurt. Then on to Guyaguil I don't promise to spell that correctly as we could only land at Quito when it was daylight so we flew past Quito on the way. Stayed on the plane that time at the airport . Then we landed at Quito and got out to be met by David pronounced Dah-vid who was to be our bus drive, who Donna would get a crush on later...actually she liked most of the men we met and would be heard obsessing over.
So due to time zones and transport time it is now the next day and I'm feeling tired because it is 3 pm for my body not 9am local time. Oh well. Got to the hostel and rooms were divied up...eventually. I share a room with Sarah and I get a double bed as she prefers singles. The bathroom door doesn't lock but we throw towels over the door to dry and the friction keeps it shut. We have a balcony, but can't get out as the door is locked *frowns* So we go out to find some lunch and after lots of walking an umming an ahhing and go into a tiny resturant that we find only does a set menu. Allan tells us it's chips and fish/chicken which turns out to be rice and some sort of meat. We get served an interesting soup which contains fish and we found out later a type of root but looks suspicious so I can't eat that. And then the main course comes and I can only eat the rice as the waitress doesn't understand me. Thankfully it was uber cheap about $2 or something like that (Rough conversion factor is £1 to $2). I quickly cornered Javier and made him tell me what I am vegeterian was (Soy vegetarianos...I think, it worked anyhow). Then we went out to the Equator and got given a tour in which everything to seemed to be because they needed to make it because they wanted to have sex with a woman/man. Saw a shrunken head and blew a blowpipe and went in a tiny traditional house before we got to go on the equator itself where we did all the traditional things with water, and eggs and trying to walk a straight line on the equator.... The we went into Quito and looked t the outside of amonastry cos there was a service so we went in a church which was plated in gold. Bought a postcard of it and then we went on top of a library thing where we could see some more of Quito. Needed the toilet badly again and we went in some rather rancid toilets. There was a photo exhibition that we just spontaneously wnadered rtound.. it was the gory photos like the london bombings and war in africa...etc. There was a captin in English as well as spanish...yay We also saw a cathedral that had gargoyles that were pairs of animals, not the grotesque things you normally see.Then we went back to our hotel where I saw a hummingbird in the back yard bit and went out to a resturant..somewhere...and ate something, but it was vegetarian so it was good. Found out there was a v. slow compuer in the hostel but free, but then the mouse didn't work. Well it was something to do whilst waiting.
Day 3 (Tues 4th) We woke up to have breakfast which was different. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, watermelon and some sort of fruit that was made into juice. Tasted funny. as did the sugar I put in my hot chocolate andthe bread. Ate it anyhow. This was aday so we could get used to the 2,850m we were up at. I think Quito is the 2nd highest city. Quito is also huge..we went up to a statue up on a hill and it stretched forever. I have to look at my photos to remember what I did this day..oops? Javier also pointed out the mountains we were going to climb but I can only recognise Cotopaxi because it has a distinctive hole in the snow. I think we also wandered out a bit on our own going round the banks and post office to get stamps. We also went to a cake shop to celebrate Scott's b'day which was actually 2 days earlier. Got onto the street and it was freezing. So much for Ecuador being warm. I hadn't eaten all my cake so Javier got it packed up and handed it to two kids we passed in the streets, I thought that was really nice. It was heartbreaking to have to say 'lo siento' I'm sorry all the time because you can't make begging sustainable by giving out money much better to donate to a charity or to give food out.Then we got a presentation which i'm sure I could have done without by the other Javier who did all the boring organisational stuff and is the boss of Javier. Then we went out again to a place called the magic bean which was a hostel as well so it had very good menu's in English...*cough* What is annoying is that often you have to add 22% tax and compuolsory service charge but domn't know if the prices include this until the end of the meal. I got good at calculating a 1/5th and a 1/10 of the 1/5 so I could approximate roughly how much change I needed back. That was also an interesting thing trying to get everyones money and change back and have enough.
Day 4 (Weds 5th) I have no pictures until we get to Cotopaxi because I lost my camera in my rucksack. We had to do walking today. We went to climb up Pasochoa this day. Going to the toilet on a mountain is always interesting, I went down a v. steep slope which was covered in bushes and trees. Great for not being able to be seen, not so good if you don't want to stay there. We had to make sandwiches and got a goodypack of little snacks...we were supposed to eat them as we were going up but I have never been any good at eating on the go so I used to eat them at breaks or go the whole day and return with a bag of stuff. I've had several years at ignoring mealtimes and eat irrational things like raw pasta when hungry so I don't understand people who get hungry if they don't have snacks. I wasn't one of the last people up on this one because people kept stopping for the toilet, or to do their rucksack, or because they went too fast and needed air wheras I just plodded on...alone so I was in the 2nd group to arrive. THere was a guy on a mule we encoutered that we left to Javier to sort out...we were on private land and he wanted money, Then we went under the fence to climb one of the peaks that was steeper and that was really hard, it was gras stumps and I didn't have the energy and people were keeping on telling me to keep a rhythym when I physically couldn't. I snapped back at darren and told him to stop moaning at me. Got to the top eventually, well deserved rest at the top before trying to go down. I slipped over several times and found it was a whole lot easier to slide down instead of trying to walk down. Somehow everyone else found it easy and walked really fast. Then once I was on a path I was fine going down, your breathlessness doesn't occur going down.Went out to The taco factory where unwisely at the end, next to a group of friends. Watched out of the window and the food was rather bland.
Day 5 (Thurs 6th) My torture today consisted of climbing up Guagua Pichincha. I think I talked to Javier a lot of the way up, introduced him to the veggietales song 'The Dance of the Cucumber' The leaders kept lying to us, telling us that a monitoring station was the hut, or the hut was just around a corner...several kilometres long. I also collapsed on one of the paths because I got so breathless and I think I hyperventilated because people were pushing me too hard.IDonna lent me her hat as my forehead was getting burnt apparently. My sunglasses had also broken by this point and I had to fix them with tape as they were a compulsory item on the glaciers. Got to the hut and lay down until the others came back from getting to the summit. Then we got to go down and I was storming down there, as I said I find it easier if we are on a road. No I don't understand me either. We went to a pizzeria and Javier's wife came too. They've onlybeen married a year so they're still really sweet, like Javier taking her coat etc. awww, how cute
Day 6 (Fri 7th) I liked this day :) We had to pack as we were leaving Quito which I hate because we were constantly moving and therefore constantly packing and lugging them out and to the coach. After weighing the coach down, we went to Otovalo market where my arms had sunburn and hurt when I put them in the sun. I fortunatly found a shop that sold suncream as mine had exploded in my bag on the way to Ecuador and so I hadn't beena ble to put any on till then. However after going through Otovalo market I had no change and had to borrow $1. It did get paid back a couple of days later. I also bought all my presents from here - poncho, necklaces, friendship bracelets, hackeysacks...still couldn't find anything to buy for Graham... I cleverly bought a bag for me, which was good as I could put everything in there. There was old women begging for money here, they freak you out when they tap you on the shoulder...and I was paranoid of pickpockets. It was annoying being in a group as it took forever to move on and I didn't know that people had already negotioted prices and tried haggling with them...and then got told off by my group. How was I meant to know? Then we had some girls come on outr coach to show us the traditional dress - their blouses were very pretty, sing and try and sell us stuff...They got a lift back to their house Satyed at a hostel called Guachala, an increase of 50m in altitude. We had to drag all our stuff down a flight of stairs, yay. Shared a room with Sarah again. David got lost...but we played with the kids outside before dinner. I know I wanted to put the kids in our showers and brush their hair. The older kids would run to their stands when we went into the dinning room to eat. Sarah tried to do some washing , that was sucessful, what wasn't was that it didn't remove stains and we never had enough time to dry anything, it was too cold overnight. We also got freaked out by them telling us if we forgot x up the mountain we were stuffed. As well as not having malaria tablets, I also did not have a head torch (Javier let me borrow his spare one after I had already told him I didn't have one and would he organise for one for me...but no he didn't) alcohol rub ( I had soap but my group couldn't handle the fact that if you washed your hands in the normal manner, it killed germs as well as using the rub, I was given a bottle of that) travel wash (I used Sarah's and the laundry service), ski mask ( I had lost my kit list and the new dossier didn't contain it...who gives a kit list 18 months early anyhow?) and waterproof gloves(but neither were 6 other people. We got red mittens instead). What happened to sharing and using what you have. It just spirals into a hideous atmosphere if you get stressed over people losing/forgetting/never knowing in the first place they needed them. I only bought sunglasses a couple of days before on a whim. Grr. So we were tired but still had to drag ourselves into having a shower and packing because we were only taking our rucksacks up...
Day 7 So we travel to the hacienda to dump our black bags in a storage room and use the toilets naturally, which are much better than the petrol stations one's we have encoutered, some have had a hole in the door and wouldn't shut and woulodn't flush..ew. The bus looks lie a lunderette with the amount of stuff hanging up to dry as the bus is the only place we can find where stuff dries.Then we have to travel to and climb up Cayambe to it's hut. Fortunatly a pickup drives our sharp and pointy objects up so we don't need to put them on our rucksacks.The weather starts out sunny but then changes into snow, and suddenly we are thankful for lugging up our waterproofs. Once again I am last and Jane carries my rucksack as well as hers to get me to move faster...it didn't work, it wasn't the weight of my rucksack , it was being unable to breathe well enough. Javier came out and carried it as well. Then I have to go up to the 3rd storey making my way through people who have obviously come for a Saturday walk and got trapped in the storm. I reach the top and am not allowed to go on the bottom . I shove my stuff on the 2nd bunk, on eof the good things about being ostracised is that you get plenty of room. However, the ladders were commandered for things like hanging waterproofs up and so I had to heave myslef up...wasn't pretty or elegant. My sleeping bag + fleece liner was however amply warm enough even up a mountain whilst it was howling outside. So began a regime of soup, soup and more soup for meal times which is why I do not want to see any more for at least 6 months. Sure they gave us a different variety each time, but there is so much of one thing you can take. We then went out for a hike up the cliff bit so we could see what we needed to get up in the dark. Got woken up by the bunch of climbers that were trying to summit that night.
Day 8 We do glacier training which I am incredibly hopeless at. Javier ends up just teaching me on my own whilst Darren leads the rest of my group of. It is immensly tiring. Javier has plastic boots that are bright yellow and they've got a patch where the plastic has come off and he's filled it with some plaster thing. His stuff was patched up with duck tape as well, they have a totally different culture, they use it until it's falling to dust. Javier got annoyed at our group for taking food and not eating it, the girls especially pretend to be oh so civilised when they have absolutly no manners really. Most of us got into th routine of taping our feet so we wouldn't get blisters, although someone got huge blisters that needed to be lanced even though she'd put tape on them. I however was fine except when I forgot to tape my feet but only got them on the tops of my toes ?! We woke up at some ludicrous hour and the weather unfortunatly wasn't bad enough so we had to get dressed and ready. Went downstairs to have breakfast....I find it really bizarre and prefer to have nothing than eating before 7am. Waterproofs were actually used more because they were windproof. The wind was so strong and Javier freaked me out by towering over me to fix his head torch onto my helmet whilst I was putting my plastic boots on - What would you think if a dark silhouette moved towards you in the middle of the night? Ok so I knoew it was someone in my group but it still freaked me. Our plastic boots were annoying to put on as to save weight we'd walked up them in the mountain (Again more lies about wearing them only on glaciers) and so we had to wear the inner boots around the hut which meant we had to get the outer boots on when we went outside which was difficult as they were rigid. I actually got used to the plastic boots but they aren't the nicest of things to wear. We then trooped out into the night and we got to the toop of the cliff and because liz had a bad knee I was 'strongly suggested' to go back down with her. On one hand the wind was making it difficult to breathe and it was cold and hard work, but my problem was only that I was slow. I would have at least liked to ge tto the glacier. I never went on a rope team either.So I went back to the hut and went back to sleep and dreamt of a much sunnier place and much nicer people. Cayambe has a glacier on the equator...I didn't care.
Day 9 About 3 other people came down and we sit around waiting for them to come back for ages and ages playing cards. We then listen to the World Cup final on the radio. I'm for Italy as I speak some Italian just because I had to choose some way of choosing a side. It's how many people can we huddle into a tiny room? The group come back exhausted after they followed a 'shortcut' *snort* You believed them...again? Hence to say thatwe look at them with incredibulity and mock them when they make any sort of claim, true or not from this time on. We have to walk down, all except Liz who gets a lift in the car. We then go to the Hacienda. Share a room with Sarah, I prefer having to share with only 2 of us than being forced into a 4 but sense she is getting annouyed with sharing with me all the time. We do lots of washing and wish to put the fire on but are nort allowed :( If it was me I wouldn't have asked permission, the hotel I think wouldn't have cared seeming as they supplied matches and extra wood. We have I think a nice dinner and then we go swimming in the pool - freezing. I hurry back to my room which Sarah has forgotten to lock- yay. Have a shower in the dark as the lightbulb hhas blown, but I wish the chlorine out of my hair.
Day 10The hacienda is very beautiful and after breakfst I go exploring into the chapel and musuem and up stairs onto the outside where I have a good view and I found a hammock to lie in for 10minutes. I was good for once and packed before breakfast so was ready, unlike the others who having been giving a lie in still require extra time after the deadline for being at the coach. My body clock doesn't work that way however and still wakes up at 6:30 like I have been required to do for the last few days. We have to drive to Cotopaxi National Park. We get there about 15minutes before closing time (3pm...what? why 3pm isn't that absurdly early?) and we are confrunted with 2 huge mountains a nd a plain scattered with huge boulders that goes on to the horizon. It's desolate, but oh so pretty. *cue thoughts about running off and laughing at them finding that I wasn't there because they took no notice of me and it would have been easy to do* Yes I had a depressive patch there that didn't shift fully until a couple of weeks later. That sucked, it's bad enough here amongst friends, but out there with no one to talk to. Hence why I burst into tears in a corner when everyone had gone...except for Javier who was sitting talking to another guide over the other side of the room.Didn't notice him come up, I'd been crying for a while, once I started, I was gone. And then after he'd finaloy got me to stop and talk, albeit it vaguely, Jane and Allan came in and tried to get me to talk. *bangs head against wall* I was quite happy talking to Javier, why can't you bugger off and leave him to it, he's much more better at it than you and actually gives some good advice instead of being interfering like you two are. So I shut up, smiled and nodded int he right places so that they would allow me to disappear away if they were going to sit there and force themselves upon my problems. Tent walls are thin and so I jsut bottled it up back inside. However, glorious tents trap heat well if they are synthetic and there was a piece of elastic already strung up that I forgot to remove that i could hang up underwear that required drying but couldn't put up in the bus. Tambopaxi is a camp site with a lodge and lots ofllamas that liked hanging around the tents.
Day 11 A good day, goping up a mountain! Yeah I know, v. odd. We drove to Cotopaxi's car park and walked 200m to the hut. So that doesn't sem very far, but it was on sandy grel stuff that meant for every 2 steps up, you slide 1 back down. But I kep going at a steady pace and Sarah and Liz and one of the boys actually stopped and we all went up together. And then after lunch we went to the glacier, saying 'I'm fine, I'm going to the glacier' to Javier when he asked if I was sure. I was not going to sit around in the hut when I had recovered my breaht an hour ago. I went fairly close to the front so ppeople had to slow to my pace wahahaha, but I kept up quite well witht he guys in front anyhow. Got on to the glacier with the first group, although quickly got seperated and apparently I'd learned well most of the techniques. So I was slow, but I was getting better'And then we had to wak all the way back down, but we did get dinner and breakfast and lunch at the lodge which was much better than up cotopaxi.
Day 12 Couldn't last forever, I did ok, but my heavier rucksack (as we had to carry everything) slowed me down. We had a rest day and were divided up into 3 groups - Summit, Glacier and Hut. What was annoying was they asked us where we wanted to be and then they would tell us which group we'd be ing. There is a HUGE difference between where you want to be and where you think you'll actually get. Don't make us embarass us by making us say it in front of everyone. I knew that I'd be witht he glacier people but I would have liked to try for the summit especially as I didn't have a chance on Cayambe. In the end only one group of 3 people got to the top and it was cloudy so they couldn't see anything anyhow. We had a rest day as we had to get up if summiting really early. the glacier people could get up somewhat later at 5 am. However about 3am I got diarohea twice and threw up. This meant I had to get off the 2nd bunk in the dark, find my shoes run downstairs, try and open the heavy door, run outside in the wind in my pj's and thermals to get to the toilet. And after the 2nd visit, I had to find new clothes and dragged my sleeping bag downstairs because I wasn't in the mood for going up and downstairs all night. One of the other guides awoke and dragged a mattress down for me. I got told of by people for not awakening Jane but it was the last thing on my mind and I didn't get given any tablets anyhow so what was the point? All I wanted to do was lie still and hope all I had left was a bloated stomach. I feigned sleep for ages, just so people wouldn't pester me. Several hours later after limiting my liquid intake severly, I felt I could make it down and packed. Yes I know you are meant to drink lots, but I prefer dehydration whilst on the mountain especailly with no tablets. It was one of the first things I did when I got down, to take a tablet.
Day 13 We sat in a coach for ages after we walked down, I finished all 5 books I had taken to Ecuador, they mcoked me for taking so many books and asked me where I was going to read them, to which the answer was, on the long flights and coach journeys that we have *rolls eyes
Day 14-16 No more mountain climbing *yay* I got a room to myself, but I suspect I stole Javier's room because he was sleeping on the sofa. Well I didn't steal it, he told me the room was mine. The bathroom had a shower and toilet but no sink...and the tapestry's used as curtains kept falling down, because they weren't attached properly and we could only shower one at a time becayuse there wasn't enough hot water. These 3 days were the same thing - painting the wall around the park and the boys moved some dirt. The wall looked much better and the kids came to help us and talk to us. The first night we went to the hall where we had a presentation on their village and problems with water and deforestation. They are a tiny village yet still have a computer. Javier then put the photos that he had taken on to the computer and showed them what we had been doing. He acted as the translater and then Allan had to give a speech *sighs* So the hall had filled up and we were treated to some dancing. I had a child come on to my lap and falll aslepp during the presentation, don't blame her. She was so tiny and sweet. Then another child came and went on my hip. The children are the best at bridging the culture gap just cos they chatter along in there language even though you can't respond to them. AN deven though it's sunny, it's cold seeming as we are at 3,400m
Day 17We get to the station house where we are staying late at night because we stopped off at a mall where some go shopping and the rest go to watch Superman which is in English with Spanish subtitles...yay! I did learn some silly phrases off that but didn't write them down :'( We also stop off at the orphanage which only has 2 children and a dog that looks like a lion but they're building more space for more children. It's where we were going to do our voluntary work but it isn't ready yet. I go to the toilet at the station houseand they're huge....Get back and I find out that I have no where to sleep...just a little bit of a problem. I therefore get to stay in the boy's house, I get my bag carried by Javier there and a random helper when we go...heh heh I have a room to myself and the showers are less in demand and I can have them virtually when I want. I have a gorgeous view and there is a balcony with hammocks. However because it is hgh up, I still wear my down jacket even ewhen the sun is out. THere is however a railway track to trip over in the dark whenreturning back to our house. And we are allowed fires because it's cold...it's summer and we sit round a fire.
Day 18 I think I don't feel like breakfast because I had my malaria tablet oon an empty stomach because I forgot to take it in the evening. Anyway, the smell, sight and presense of food makes me feel ill and I sit there picking slowly at my fruit salad till they say I should go away if I won't eat and it's making me feel ill. I see their point and go sit in the hammock. Stay out of the acticiities until lunch time as I think the bumpy ride won't be good for me. Feel much better at lunch as they come back to make their sandwiches. We go out in pick up trucks to the place wherte we plan the trees, it's really bumpy and at times I'm lifter off the floor and clunk back down on to it. I'm sure highly illegal in england to have a) people in the back b) there was at least 15 of us in the back and c) seatbelts, what are they? My back hurt from being bashed into as well by the side, I just held on hard. We stopped for lunch and the local community had given us corn abeans and cheese which is apparently what they eat when out doing this. the corn and beans wer nice but they gave me ahuge lump of cheese to eat which I didn't like. We planted trees down a valley - about 150, some dug holes, 2 collected water and the rest planted them. We often came across larvae which was disgusting, I'm definatly not into gardening.
Day 19 Basically the same except we plant more trees and start putting fencing up, except there isn't enough material. There is only 1 truck this time, so 1/2 of us have to walk. Me being me, I'm ordered onto the truck..I'm not complaining :) and the others arrive 1/2 an hour later. Then we have a dilema, we can't go to Banos the next day, cos th volcano next to it has been exploding. We've been able to feel the rumbles, but me being oblivious doesn't recognise them until someone points it out. Therefore they want us to do some more fencing which they only agree to do if they have absolutly everything - the materials and tools because 1/2 of us were sitting there doing nothing because we couldn't. In true Ecuadorian fashion, they don't so alternative plans (and so much better) are arranged. Those who have the guts (and money) go mountain biking, the rest go to the crater lakes which involve 3 hour journey there...ouch.
I get told off for having dirty hands, when I've just washed and applied alcohol rub on them. I finally figure out that they mean I have dirtty fingernails, thanks for telling me really what was wrong, and in not a private place, that makes me respect you on that so much more. The problem is that I'm not vain and don't carry assorted beauty products around with me like most of the other girls and don't have anything to get the dirt out. Resort to using the end of my scissors. ANyway, since when do we eat with our fingernails?
The little girl of the owner is adorable, we start playing with a ball and when I throw it to her she laughs and claps her had and says Si! Si! Si! It's so cute. Her father tries to explain we're english but being 2, she just doesn't get it. She'll grow up to be really multicultural and multilingual.
Day 20Never been mountain biking before, cycling yes, but in England where it's mostly flat. We have to get up early even though they aren't coming til 9 as the rest of the people have to set off. It wipes the rest of the spare money I had and for the next 6 days I can only spend the money on which I kept it back for - airport tax , the last meal, internt and telephone. I'm glad I paid for it though. The trucks came and we got to sit inside for once... We have a crazy driver as in he drives like a maniac. We get stopped at a police checkpoint because a couple who went missing in January have been found when the thaw is happening and they want to check that we are supposed to be there. He tries and teaches us words for pig and cow and sheep. It's funny. We get stopped again because we need to pay $5 to get into chimbaranzo park. We then get to the car park and hike up to the hut so the guys can cook our lunch and put the bikes together. More icky toilets that don't flush, walk down and have lunch in the hut in the carpark which is odd as there are two huts. Then having been kitted out in helmet and gloves, we get to go down the highest mountain in Ecuador. Great fun, no pedalling required and we go fast down. Somehow I manage to keep on my bike although my back wheel was going all over the place, I just le go of the brakes and let it do what it wanted to do when that happened. There are places where you litterally shake and it's so thrilling. Darrena nd Sarah fall off, Sarah gets cuts everywhere and is picked up by the pickup truck folllowing. We adjourn for a while so Winston gets to use up all his plasters. The route is mostly downhill with some flat bits and a few...long or so they seemed, hills. On the hills I would be really slow going up and bikes +sand/=good so when we were on sandy bits I would find it so hard to pedal. I put about 3 fleeces in the back of the pick up :P I fell off but it was the slow motion where you sort of run off or step off so no bruises for me. There was abit where we were going cross countrya nd down hilla nd that was difficult for control especially if the person in front is slow. My practice is just to go and ride it outand I'll use thebrakes when I have to but otherwise it's just a lot easier to let momentum do the work. Speed freak...yep. It was great, much better than being cooped up in a coach all day.
Day 21 So we aren't allowed to go to Banos but we can drive through it fine. There is a canyon that the road is by and we stopped to go across it in the cable car. Pretty, took photographs. What else can you say? We get to Puyo where we stay in Flor de Canela Lodge. It is however not next to a road and we need to carry things over a bridge and far away...I get a room on my own again, rather more unsubtly than before. Liz basically refuses to share a room with me and goes into Sarah and Vikki's room. Well at least I get to hang my washing out all over the place and watch films up intil early morning. We go to the rainforest gardens next door to us. Javier keeps getting in my photos. Yes I know you're handsome and all that, now I was actually trying to get the flower. There is a green parrot that blends in with the tree next to the swimming pool. It's v. tame. Amazing, I think
Day 22 We go to a zoo, a little zoo. It's good. Then more travelling and everyone except me goes out for a jumgle trek. I get told off agin for not joining in. Let me se ' I had seen the plants the day before, and the animals in the morning, only so much pretty things I can take, I needed a head torch, I don't have one, I wanted some piece and quiet, It wasn't compulsory , Why are you the boss of me, why do I have to follow what you want, My dad paid for me to enjoy myself, not do everything because I must get every last drop of value out of the holiday. After not having to share a room for a while, her is no choice but to share. even so I go to bed early because I see no point in sitting up if I get to do nothing. It's gorgeous, Shangri-La and cos we got there quite late we weren't allowed to go swimming in the Anzu river, quite good we weren't seeming as another student from a different group drowned in it. There were other groups from Britian and America whilst we were there, it was very popular, even they talked to me more than my group did. I sat and wrot in my notebook and then my pen ran out.
Day 23 White water rafting! Normally I notice the wet and cold when doing stuff in a river but there was so much adrenalin that it wasn't a big factor. Ok so waiting around was boring, or getting through the long safety talk, but once we got on there and got going down some rapids it was great. We jumped in on purpose a few times...that was cold but fun, and did other games like all standing up and holding arms, and leaning out...and then you go in the water....except it took about 10 attempts for me to stand up, I kept falling down. We stopped for lunch and played football in the rain...warm rain! and the girls stood in the pools of water and then we stood round the fire, dried off so we had to readjust to the water. oh well. We had our lunch and then the leftovers were demolished by the horde of children...I think that is a very good idea, children get fed, no leftovers. If I ever get the chance to do it agian I would.
Day 24 Drive back to Quito. We sat in a coach for too long. It got cold when we were going over the pass. I drank about glasses of Coke at lunch and then only had the confines of the coach. Was arguing over whether it would make me pee less or more. I only had to visit it twice at scheduled stops. la la la la We also stopped at some hot springs and they were hot. You could just about it in there although you had to visit the cold/warm pool, to cool off frequently.
Day 25 We were meant to go on a cable car over Quito but David had to drive some other people somewhere so we did errands, getting presents for our leaders -DVD's for David as he does a lot of waiting around, a watch for Javier as he constantly asks people for the time and doesn't have one, Fish for Jane and Allan...no I don't know either and a t-shirt for Darren. We went to cash travellers cheques at the bank for Donna, posted my postcards...fianlly, had lunch which Darren paid for mine as I had no money spare for lunch. It was only about $5 what was annoying was that Jess kept bugging me to pa back the money and I was saying, I will, I will, when we get back to England. Darren refused it anyhow. Over£2.50 is it worth it? We got there when there was bout 4 people and as we had our lunch it filled and filled till there was no space and people were sitting on crates.lol. Waitress rushed off her feet but could have made life easier by giving our bill to us soon so we could have left some seats for people.I got onto a fast proper computer with working mouse. It's so cheap $1/hour I phoned my dad, to make sure I would be getting home. We went back to the Magic Bean that night and Javier's wife came again *cue awww*
Day26 So we didn't have breakfast cos the man was grumpy and refused to get up early. I packed really late as we went out to a bar afterwards.We got up early as well. David arrived back to take us to the airport, people were pleased, and I got there and my checked luggage was underweight by about a kilo. So glad they didn't weigh my rucksack, must have been over, unless my clothes weigh loads cos I was wearing shorts and trousers as well as 3 tops and several fleeces. We got given roses at the airport. They wilted on the plane home. I lost mine as I put it through tth handle of my black bag and it got checked in...lol Long flight I was in the middle, I hate it there, I got claustrophobic and refused to swop with Kate when I had an aisle seat to London. Why should I when she hadn't been nice to me all month? I got 2 hours of sleep at Amsterdam - ugh, it didn't refresh me but it was something to do.
Day27 I got my luggage and my own trolley and went through customs and passport control and came out to be subject to a barrage of people. Couldn't see my dad so hoped he'd spot me. He did. And we had to go back to QMC to give back stuff and I got away as quickly after that as I could. And my bed was there, and comfortable. mmmm.
My rucksack zip broke though and I lost a sock and my platypus leaked but I don't have to cope with any of that . No I'm not doing anything of that length again *flops out*
I know why I put writing this off...because it's taking so long to type *yawns*
My mum asks if she can read my blog...huh certainly not. Where could I put the stuff I talk about on here if she did? That would require me to make another group so I wouldn't get into trouble and move all of my other entries, plus the fact that she isn't exactly computer literate and would just want to read it over my shoulder. All that effort for something that is my hideout. I do not need constant connection, I manage not having communication for sometimes 20 hours straight, and I still return home unscathed seeming as all I will have done was go to college.
Grr, my computer froze, I so <3 autosave
First of all I had to pack..ugh and ended up taking 4 bags of stuff, yeah I can't pack. That was annoying when having to drag it down to the hotel as I had the rucksack on my back often with my smaller purple bag with my blue bag on my shoulder and carrying a 20kg huge solid bag that clunked against your legs and hurt, whilst dragging a suitcase behind me...oh what fun. Sometimes I got lucky and the hotel staff ( twice when I went to Flor de Canela) carried my bags for me...yay for looking helpless.
We then packed the car up and my dad drove me to QMC where I and Sarah had assumed we were going to the airport in the minibus. Wrong so I begged a lift off Sarah's parents and somehow managed to fit both our luggage in there which was even more stuffed as I finally got my fleece and down jacket I'd been trying to get off Darren for aeons. So got to Heathrow, checked in, my bags overweight so I sat there and unzipped my huge bag, unpacked it, took my plastic boots out to wear and repacked it. It worked, although it seems stupid to me as the weight I took on to the flight was exactly the same, just on a different part of me...oh well. Then we went through security and I didn't set the alarms off..yay and sat in the seating for a while before going to get a drink with Sarah with the oh so huge amount of £2 I had left in English money to my name.
We got on a flight to Amsterdam, managed to fit all our rucksacks into the overhead lockers, can't remember where abouts we were but it was only a short flight. My bladder was hurting after having to consume several litres of water in the previous days so acclimatisation would be easier...or so they said but we had to race throught Amsterdam airport to catch the next flight. Got to some more security and I couldn't find where I had put my passport *cue start of berration I would recieve through the month...because no one else makes mistakes do they?* found at bottom of my bag, and found a toilet thankfully while everyone was waiting for people to get though metal detector. I had a relally nice seat, at the back, on the aisle in the middle with room to put my trainers next to me, but was asked to move next to a woman who was really rude, and stole my pillow...twice. Fortunatly I carry a travel pillow and don't sleep on aeroplanes. Cue a flight where I'm sure they were trying to fatten us up with the amount of food they served and I spilt coke all over me and my book and I didn't sleep for the whole of it *hugs mp3 player*. I have never felt more uncomfortable either, my legs kept going to sleep and there are only about 3 different ways you can sit on one of those seats. Of course no one from the group tried to make a decent conversation so I settled into the cocoon of my book and music. We had a stop in Bonaire at about 3am local time which is about 8am here. Gorgeous temperature. Hot but had a strong breeze so it was just right to walk out there in t-shirt and shorts. Got questioned by Allan and Jane Gibbs who were the people from Adventureworks, the company we went with. Didn't really like them, they were always telling me off for things and complaining. They found out I had no malaria tablets so was sort of forced to borrow them off Darren. I'm supposed to take them for 4 weeks afterwards...yeah right am I. I could barely remember to take them whilst I was there at a regular time, plus we went to areas with a low risk. It's only if you go to the Esmeralda region which we didn't. I'm fine *jerkspasmjerk* The aeroplane had a really noise engine on the tail and I hated having to get off and on the plane outside cos it made my ears hurt. Then on to Guyaguil I don't promise to spell that correctly as we could only land at Quito when it was daylight so we flew past Quito on the way. Stayed on the plane that time at the airport . Then we landed at Quito and got out to be met by David pronounced Dah-vid who was to be our bus drive, who Donna would get a crush on later...actually she liked most of the men we met and would be heard obsessing over.
So due to time zones and transport time it is now the next day and I'm feeling tired because it is 3 pm for my body not 9am local time. Oh well. Got to the hostel and rooms were divied up...eventually. I share a room with Sarah and I get a double bed as she prefers singles. The bathroom door doesn't lock but we throw towels over the door to dry and the friction keeps it shut. We have a balcony, but can't get out as the door is locked *frowns* So we go out to find some lunch and after lots of walking an umming an ahhing and go into a tiny resturant that we find only does a set menu. Allan tells us it's chips and fish/chicken which turns out to be rice and some sort of meat. We get served an interesting soup which contains fish and we found out later a type of root but looks suspicious so I can't eat that. And then the main course comes and I can only eat the rice as the waitress doesn't understand me. Thankfully it was uber cheap about $2 or something like that (Rough conversion factor is £1 to $2). I quickly cornered Javier and made him tell me what I am vegeterian was (Soy vegetarianos...I think, it worked anyhow). Then we went out to the Equator and got given a tour in which everything to seemed to be because they needed to make it because they wanted to have sex with a woman/man. Saw a shrunken head and blew a blowpipe and went in a tiny traditional house before we got to go on the equator itself where we did all the traditional things with water, and eggs and trying to walk a straight line on the equator.... The we went into Quito and looked t the outside of amonastry cos there was a service so we went in a church which was plated in gold. Bought a postcard of it and then we went on top of a library thing where we could see some more of Quito. Needed the toilet badly again and we went in some rather rancid toilets. There was a photo exhibition that we just spontaneously wnadered rtound.. it was the gory photos like the london bombings and war in africa...etc. There was a captin in English as well as spanish...yay We also saw a cathedral that had gargoyles that were pairs of animals, not the grotesque things you normally see.Then we went back to our hotel where I saw a hummingbird in the back yard bit and went out to a resturant..somewhere...and ate something, but it was vegetarian so it was good. Found out there was a v. slow compuer in the hostel but free, but then the mouse didn't work. Well it was something to do whilst waiting.
Day 3 (Tues 4th) We woke up to have breakfast which was different. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, watermelon and some sort of fruit that was made into juice. Tasted funny. as did the sugar I put in my hot chocolate andthe bread. Ate it anyhow. This was aday so we could get used to the 2,850m we were up at. I think Quito is the 2nd highest city. Quito is also huge..we went up to a statue up on a hill and it stretched forever. I have to look at my photos to remember what I did this day..oops? Javier also pointed out the mountains we were going to climb but I can only recognise Cotopaxi because it has a distinctive hole in the snow. I think we also wandered out a bit on our own going round the banks and post office to get stamps. We also went to a cake shop to celebrate Scott's b'day which was actually 2 days earlier. Got onto the street and it was freezing. So much for Ecuador being warm. I hadn't eaten all my cake so Javier got it packed up and handed it to two kids we passed in the streets, I thought that was really nice. It was heartbreaking to have to say 'lo siento' I'm sorry all the time because you can't make begging sustainable by giving out money much better to donate to a charity or to give food out.Then we got a presentation which i'm sure I could have done without by the other Javier who did all the boring organisational stuff and is the boss of Javier. Then we went out again to a place called the magic bean which was a hostel as well so it had very good menu's in English...*cough* What is annoying is that often you have to add 22% tax and compuolsory service charge but domn't know if the prices include this until the end of the meal. I got good at calculating a 1/5th and a 1/10 of the 1/5 so I could approximate roughly how much change I needed back. That was also an interesting thing trying to get everyones money and change back and have enough.
Day 4 (Weds 5th) I have no pictures until we get to Cotopaxi because I lost my camera in my rucksack. We had to do walking today. We went to climb up Pasochoa this day. Going to the toilet on a mountain is always interesting, I went down a v. steep slope which was covered in bushes and trees. Great for not being able to be seen, not so good if you don't want to stay there. We had to make sandwiches and got a goodypack of little snacks...we were supposed to eat them as we were going up but I have never been any good at eating on the go so I used to eat them at breaks or go the whole day and return with a bag of stuff. I've had several years at ignoring mealtimes and eat irrational things like raw pasta when hungry so I don't understand people who get hungry if they don't have snacks. I wasn't one of the last people up on this one because people kept stopping for the toilet, or to do their rucksack, or because they went too fast and needed air wheras I just plodded on...alone so I was in the 2nd group to arrive. THere was a guy on a mule we encoutered that we left to Javier to sort out...we were on private land and he wanted money, Then we went under the fence to climb one of the peaks that was steeper and that was really hard, it was gras stumps and I didn't have the energy and people were keeping on telling me to keep a rhythym when I physically couldn't. I snapped back at darren and told him to stop moaning at me. Got to the top eventually, well deserved rest at the top before trying to go down. I slipped over several times and found it was a whole lot easier to slide down instead of trying to walk down. Somehow everyone else found it easy and walked really fast. Then once I was on a path I was fine going down, your breathlessness doesn't occur going down.Went out to The taco factory where unwisely at the end, next to a group of friends. Watched out of the window and the food was rather bland.
Day 5 (Thurs 6th) My torture today consisted of climbing up Guagua Pichincha. I think I talked to Javier a lot of the way up, introduced him to the veggietales song 'The Dance of the Cucumber' The leaders kept lying to us, telling us that a monitoring station was the hut, or the hut was just around a corner...several kilometres long. I also collapsed on one of the paths because I got so breathless and I think I hyperventilated because people were pushing me too hard.IDonna lent me her hat as my forehead was getting burnt apparently. My sunglasses had also broken by this point and I had to fix them with tape as they were a compulsory item on the glaciers. Got to the hut and lay down until the others came back from getting to the summit. Then we got to go down and I was storming down there, as I said I find it easier if we are on a road. No I don't understand me either. We went to a pizzeria and Javier's wife came too. They've onlybeen married a year so they're still really sweet, like Javier taking her coat etc. awww, how cute
Day 6 (Fri 7th) I liked this day :) We had to pack as we were leaving Quito which I hate because we were constantly moving and therefore constantly packing and lugging them out and to the coach. After weighing the coach down, we went to Otovalo market where my arms had sunburn and hurt when I put them in the sun. I fortunatly found a shop that sold suncream as mine had exploded in my bag on the way to Ecuador and so I hadn't beena ble to put any on till then. However after going through Otovalo market I had no change and had to borrow $1. It did get paid back a couple of days later. I also bought all my presents from here - poncho, necklaces, friendship bracelets, hackeysacks...still couldn't find anything to buy for Graham... I cleverly bought a bag for me, which was good as I could put everything in there. There was old women begging for money here, they freak you out when they tap you on the shoulder...and I was paranoid of pickpockets. It was annoying being in a group as it took forever to move on and I didn't know that people had already negotioted prices and tried haggling with them...and then got told off by my group. How was I meant to know? Then we had some girls come on outr coach to show us the traditional dress - their blouses were very pretty, sing and try and sell us stuff...They got a lift back to their house Satyed at a hostel called Guachala, an increase of 50m in altitude. We had to drag all our stuff down a flight of stairs, yay. Shared a room with Sarah again. David got lost...but we played with the kids outside before dinner. I know I wanted to put the kids in our showers and brush their hair. The older kids would run to their stands when we went into the dinning room to eat. Sarah tried to do some washing , that was sucessful, what wasn't was that it didn't remove stains and we never had enough time to dry anything, it was too cold overnight. We also got freaked out by them telling us if we forgot x up the mountain we were stuffed. As well as not having malaria tablets, I also did not have a head torch (Javier let me borrow his spare one after I had already told him I didn't have one and would he organise for one for me...but no he didn't) alcohol rub ( I had soap but my group couldn't handle the fact that if you washed your hands in the normal manner, it killed germs as well as using the rub, I was given a bottle of that) travel wash (I used Sarah's and the laundry service), ski mask ( I had lost my kit list and the new dossier didn't contain it...who gives a kit list 18 months early anyhow?) and waterproof gloves(but neither were 6 other people. We got red mittens instead). What happened to sharing and using what you have. It just spirals into a hideous atmosphere if you get stressed over people losing/forgetting/never knowing in the first place they needed them. I only bought sunglasses a couple of days before on a whim. Grr. So we were tired but still had to drag ourselves into having a shower and packing because we were only taking our rucksacks up...
Day 7 So we travel to the hacienda to dump our black bags in a storage room and use the toilets naturally, which are much better than the petrol stations one's we have encoutered, some have had a hole in the door and wouldn't shut and woulodn't flush..ew. The bus looks lie a lunderette with the amount of stuff hanging up to dry as the bus is the only place we can find where stuff dries.Then we have to travel to and climb up Cayambe to it's hut. Fortunatly a pickup drives our sharp and pointy objects up so we don't need to put them on our rucksacks.The weather starts out sunny but then changes into snow, and suddenly we are thankful for lugging up our waterproofs. Once again I am last and Jane carries my rucksack as well as hers to get me to move faster...it didn't work, it wasn't the weight of my rucksack , it was being unable to breathe well enough. Javier came out and carried it as well. Then I have to go up to the 3rd storey making my way through people who have obviously come for a Saturday walk and got trapped in the storm. I reach the top and am not allowed to go on the bottom . I shove my stuff on the 2nd bunk, on eof the good things about being ostracised is that you get plenty of room. However, the ladders were commandered for things like hanging waterproofs up and so I had to heave myslef up...wasn't pretty or elegant. My sleeping bag + fleece liner was however amply warm enough even up a mountain whilst it was howling outside. So began a regime of soup, soup and more soup for meal times which is why I do not want to see any more for at least 6 months. Sure they gave us a different variety each time, but there is so much of one thing you can take. We then went out for a hike up the cliff bit so we could see what we needed to get up in the dark. Got woken up by the bunch of climbers that were trying to summit that night.
Day 8 We do glacier training which I am incredibly hopeless at. Javier ends up just teaching me on my own whilst Darren leads the rest of my group of. It is immensly tiring. Javier has plastic boots that are bright yellow and they've got a patch where the plastic has come off and he's filled it with some plaster thing. His stuff was patched up with duck tape as well, they have a totally different culture, they use it until it's falling to dust. Javier got annoyed at our group for taking food and not eating it, the girls especially pretend to be oh so civilised when they have absolutly no manners really. Most of us got into th routine of taping our feet so we wouldn't get blisters, although someone got huge blisters that needed to be lanced even though she'd put tape on them. I however was fine except when I forgot to tape my feet but only got them on the tops of my toes ?! We woke up at some ludicrous hour and the weather unfortunatly wasn't bad enough so we had to get dressed and ready. Went downstairs to have breakfast....I find it really bizarre and prefer to have nothing than eating before 7am. Waterproofs were actually used more because they were windproof. The wind was so strong and Javier freaked me out by towering over me to fix his head torch onto my helmet whilst I was putting my plastic boots on - What would you think if a dark silhouette moved towards you in the middle of the night? Ok so I knoew it was someone in my group but it still freaked me. Our plastic boots were annoying to put on as to save weight we'd walked up them in the mountain (Again more lies about wearing them only on glaciers) and so we had to wear the inner boots around the hut which meant we had to get the outer boots on when we went outside which was difficult as they were rigid. I actually got used to the plastic boots but they aren't the nicest of things to wear. We then trooped out into the night and we got to the toop of the cliff and because liz had a bad knee I was 'strongly suggested' to go back down with her. On one hand the wind was making it difficult to breathe and it was cold and hard work, but my problem was only that I was slow. I would have at least liked to ge tto the glacier. I never went on a rope team either.So I went back to the hut and went back to sleep and dreamt of a much sunnier place and much nicer people. Cayambe has a glacier on the equator...I didn't care.
Day 9 About 3 other people came down and we sit around waiting for them to come back for ages and ages playing cards. We then listen to the World Cup final on the radio. I'm for Italy as I speak some Italian just because I had to choose some way of choosing a side. It's how many people can we huddle into a tiny room? The group come back exhausted after they followed a 'shortcut' *snort* You believed them...again? Hence to say thatwe look at them with incredibulity and mock them when they make any sort of claim, true or not from this time on. We have to walk down, all except Liz who gets a lift in the car. We then go to the Hacienda. Share a room with Sarah, I prefer having to share with only 2 of us than being forced into a 4 but sense she is getting annouyed with sharing with me all the time. We do lots of washing and wish to put the fire on but are nort allowed :( If it was me I wouldn't have asked permission, the hotel I think wouldn't have cared seeming as they supplied matches and extra wood. We have I think a nice dinner and then we go swimming in the pool - freezing. I hurry back to my room which Sarah has forgotten to lock- yay. Have a shower in the dark as the lightbulb hhas blown, but I wish the chlorine out of my hair.
Day 10The hacienda is very beautiful and after breakfst I go exploring into the chapel and musuem and up stairs onto the outside where I have a good view and I found a hammock to lie in for 10minutes. I was good for once and packed before breakfast so was ready, unlike the others who having been giving a lie in still require extra time after the deadline for being at the coach. My body clock doesn't work that way however and still wakes up at 6:30 like I have been required to do for the last few days. We have to drive to Cotopaxi National Park. We get there about 15minutes before closing time (3pm...what? why 3pm isn't that absurdly early?) and we are confrunted with 2 huge mountains a nd a plain scattered with huge boulders that goes on to the horizon. It's desolate, but oh so pretty. *cue thoughts about running off and laughing at them finding that I wasn't there because they took no notice of me and it would have been easy to do* Yes I had a depressive patch there that didn't shift fully until a couple of weeks later. That sucked, it's bad enough here amongst friends, but out there with no one to talk to. Hence why I burst into tears in a corner when everyone had gone...except for Javier who was sitting talking to another guide over the other side of the room.Didn't notice him come up, I'd been crying for a while, once I started, I was gone. And then after he'd finaloy got me to stop and talk, albeit it vaguely, Jane and Allan came in and tried to get me to talk. *bangs head against wall* I was quite happy talking to Javier, why can't you bugger off and leave him to it, he's much more better at it than you and actually gives some good advice instead of being interfering like you two are. So I shut up, smiled and nodded int he right places so that they would allow me to disappear away if they were going to sit there and force themselves upon my problems. Tent walls are thin and so I jsut bottled it up back inside. However, glorious tents trap heat well if they are synthetic and there was a piece of elastic already strung up that I forgot to remove that i could hang up underwear that required drying but couldn't put up in the bus. Tambopaxi is a camp site with a lodge and lots ofllamas that liked hanging around the tents.
Day 11 A good day, goping up a mountain! Yeah I know, v. odd. We drove to Cotopaxi's car park and walked 200m to the hut. So that doesn't sem very far, but it was on sandy grel stuff that meant for every 2 steps up, you slide 1 back down. But I kep going at a steady pace and Sarah and Liz and one of the boys actually stopped and we all went up together. And then after lunch we went to the glacier, saying 'I'm fine, I'm going to the glacier' to Javier when he asked if I was sure. I was not going to sit around in the hut when I had recovered my breaht an hour ago. I went fairly close to the front so ppeople had to slow to my pace wahahaha, but I kept up quite well witht he guys in front anyhow. Got on to the glacier with the first group, although quickly got seperated and apparently I'd learned well most of the techniques. So I was slow, but I was getting better'And then we had to wak all the way back down, but we did get dinner and breakfast and lunch at the lodge which was much better than up cotopaxi.
Day 12 Couldn't last forever, I did ok, but my heavier rucksack (as we had to carry everything) slowed me down. We had a rest day and were divided up into 3 groups - Summit, Glacier and Hut. What was annoying was they asked us where we wanted to be and then they would tell us which group we'd be ing. There is a HUGE difference between where you want to be and where you think you'll actually get. Don't make us embarass us by making us say it in front of everyone. I knew that I'd be witht he glacier people but I would have liked to try for the summit especially as I didn't have a chance on Cayambe. In the end only one group of 3 people got to the top and it was cloudy so they couldn't see anything anyhow. We had a rest day as we had to get up if summiting really early. the glacier people could get up somewhat later at 5 am. However about 3am I got diarohea twice and threw up. This meant I had to get off the 2nd bunk in the dark, find my shoes run downstairs, try and open the heavy door, run outside in the wind in my pj's and thermals to get to the toilet. And after the 2nd visit, I had to find new clothes and dragged my sleeping bag downstairs because I wasn't in the mood for going up and downstairs all night. One of the other guides awoke and dragged a mattress down for me. I got told of by people for not awakening Jane but it was the last thing on my mind and I didn't get given any tablets anyhow so what was the point? All I wanted to do was lie still and hope all I had left was a bloated stomach. I feigned sleep for ages, just so people wouldn't pester me. Several hours later after limiting my liquid intake severly, I felt I could make it down and packed. Yes I know you are meant to drink lots, but I prefer dehydration whilst on the mountain especailly with no tablets. It was one of the first things I did when I got down, to take a tablet.
Day 13 We sat in a coach for ages after we walked down, I finished all 5 books I had taken to Ecuador, they mcoked me for taking so many books and asked me where I was going to read them, to which the answer was, on the long flights and coach journeys that we have *rolls eyes
Day 14-16 No more mountain climbing *yay* I got a room to myself, but I suspect I stole Javier's room because he was sleeping on the sofa. Well I didn't steal it, he told me the room was mine. The bathroom had a shower and toilet but no sink...and the tapestry's used as curtains kept falling down, because they weren't attached properly and we could only shower one at a time becayuse there wasn't enough hot water. These 3 days were the same thing - painting the wall around the park and the boys moved some dirt. The wall looked much better and the kids came to help us and talk to us. The first night we went to the hall where we had a presentation on their village and problems with water and deforestation. They are a tiny village yet still have a computer. Javier then put the photos that he had taken on to the computer and showed them what we had been doing. He acted as the translater and then Allan had to give a speech *sighs* So the hall had filled up and we were treated to some dancing. I had a child come on to my lap and falll aslepp during the presentation, don't blame her. She was so tiny and sweet. Then another child came and went on my hip. The children are the best at bridging the culture gap just cos they chatter along in there language even though you can't respond to them. AN deven though it's sunny, it's cold seeming as we are at 3,400m
Day 17We get to the station house where we are staying late at night because we stopped off at a mall where some go shopping and the rest go to watch Superman which is in English with Spanish subtitles...yay! I did learn some silly phrases off that but didn't write them down :'( We also stop off at the orphanage which only has 2 children and a dog that looks like a lion but they're building more space for more children. It's where we were going to do our voluntary work but it isn't ready yet. I go to the toilet at the station houseand they're huge....Get back and I find out that I have no where to sleep...just a little bit of a problem. I therefore get to stay in the boy's house, I get my bag carried by Javier there and a random helper when we go...heh heh I have a room to myself and the showers are less in demand and I can have them virtually when I want. I have a gorgeous view and there is a balcony with hammocks. However because it is hgh up, I still wear my down jacket even ewhen the sun is out. THere is however a railway track to trip over in the dark whenreturning back to our house. And we are allowed fires because it's cold...it's summer and we sit round a fire.
Day 18 I think I don't feel like breakfast because I had my malaria tablet oon an empty stomach because I forgot to take it in the evening. Anyway, the smell, sight and presense of food makes me feel ill and I sit there picking slowly at my fruit salad till they say I should go away if I won't eat and it's making me feel ill. I see their point and go sit in the hammock. Stay out of the acticiities until lunch time as I think the bumpy ride won't be good for me. Feel much better at lunch as they come back to make their sandwiches. We go out in pick up trucks to the place wherte we plan the trees, it's really bumpy and at times I'm lifter off the floor and clunk back down on to it. I'm sure highly illegal in england to have a) people in the back b) there was at least 15 of us in the back and c) seatbelts, what are they? My back hurt from being bashed into as well by the side, I just held on hard. We stopped for lunch and the local community had given us corn abeans and cheese which is apparently what they eat when out doing this. the corn and beans wer nice but they gave me ahuge lump of cheese to eat which I didn't like. We planted trees down a valley - about 150, some dug holes, 2 collected water and the rest planted them. We often came across larvae which was disgusting, I'm definatly not into gardening.
Day 19 Basically the same except we plant more trees and start putting fencing up, except there isn't enough material. There is only 1 truck this time, so 1/2 of us have to walk. Me being me, I'm ordered onto the truck..I'm not complaining :) and the others arrive 1/2 an hour later. Then we have a dilema, we can't go to Banos the next day, cos th volcano next to it has been exploding. We've been able to feel the rumbles, but me being oblivious doesn't recognise them until someone points it out. Therefore they want us to do some more fencing which they only agree to do if they have absolutly everything - the materials and tools because 1/2 of us were sitting there doing nothing because we couldn't. In true Ecuadorian fashion, they don't so alternative plans (and so much better) are arranged. Those who have the guts (and money) go mountain biking, the rest go to the crater lakes which involve 3 hour journey there...ouch.
I get told off for having dirty hands, when I've just washed and applied alcohol rub on them. I finally figure out that they mean I have dirtty fingernails, thanks for telling me really what was wrong, and in not a private place, that makes me respect you on that so much more. The problem is that I'm not vain and don't carry assorted beauty products around with me like most of the other girls and don't have anything to get the dirt out. Resort to using the end of my scissors. ANyway, since when do we eat with our fingernails?
The little girl of the owner is adorable, we start playing with a ball and when I throw it to her she laughs and claps her had and says Si! Si! Si! It's so cute. Her father tries to explain we're english but being 2, she just doesn't get it. She'll grow up to be really multicultural and multilingual.
Day 20Never been mountain biking before, cycling yes, but in England where it's mostly flat. We have to get up early even though they aren't coming til 9 as the rest of the people have to set off. It wipes the rest of the spare money I had and for the next 6 days I can only spend the money on which I kept it back for - airport tax , the last meal, internt and telephone. I'm glad I paid for it though. The trucks came and we got to sit inside for once... We have a crazy driver as in he drives like a maniac. We get stopped at a police checkpoint because a couple who went missing in January have been found when the thaw is happening and they want to check that we are supposed to be there. He tries and teaches us words for pig and cow and sheep. It's funny. We get stopped again because we need to pay $5 to get into chimbaranzo park. We then get to the car park and hike up to the hut so the guys can cook our lunch and put the bikes together. More icky toilets that don't flush, walk down and have lunch in the hut in the carpark which is odd as there are two huts. Then having been kitted out in helmet and gloves, we get to go down the highest mountain in Ecuador. Great fun, no pedalling required and we go fast down. Somehow I manage to keep on my bike although my back wheel was going all over the place, I just le go of the brakes and let it do what it wanted to do when that happened. There are places where you litterally shake and it's so thrilling. Darrena nd Sarah fall off, Sarah gets cuts everywhere and is picked up by the pickup truck folllowing. We adjourn for a while so Winston gets to use up all his plasters. The route is mostly downhill with some flat bits and a few...long or so they seemed, hills. On the hills I would be really slow going up and bikes +sand/=good so when we were on sandy bits I would find it so hard to pedal. I put about 3 fleeces in the back of the pick up :P I fell off but it was the slow motion where you sort of run off or step off so no bruises for me. There was abit where we were going cross countrya nd down hilla nd that was difficult for control especially if the person in front is slow. My practice is just to go and ride it outand I'll use thebrakes when I have to but otherwise it's just a lot easier to let momentum do the work. Speed freak...yep. It was great, much better than being cooped up in a coach all day.
Day 21 So we aren't allowed to go to Banos but we can drive through it fine. There is a canyon that the road is by and we stopped to go across it in the cable car. Pretty, took photographs. What else can you say? We get to Puyo where we stay in Flor de Canela Lodge. It is however not next to a road and we need to carry things over a bridge and far away...I get a room on my own again, rather more unsubtly than before. Liz basically refuses to share a room with me and goes into Sarah and Vikki's room. Well at least I get to hang my washing out all over the place and watch films up intil early morning. We go to the rainforest gardens next door to us. Javier keeps getting in my photos. Yes I know you're handsome and all that, now I was actually trying to get the flower. There is a green parrot that blends in with the tree next to the swimming pool. It's v. tame. Amazing, I think
Day 22 We go to a zoo, a little zoo. It's good. Then more travelling and everyone except me goes out for a jumgle trek. I get told off agin for not joining in. Let me se ' I had seen the plants the day before, and the animals in the morning, only so much pretty things I can take, I needed a head torch, I don't have one, I wanted some piece and quiet, It wasn't compulsory , Why are you the boss of me, why do I have to follow what you want, My dad paid for me to enjoy myself, not do everything because I must get every last drop of value out of the holiday. After not having to share a room for a while, her is no choice but to share. even so I go to bed early because I see no point in sitting up if I get to do nothing. It's gorgeous, Shangri-La and cos we got there quite late we weren't allowed to go swimming in the Anzu river, quite good we weren't seeming as another student from a different group drowned in it. There were other groups from Britian and America whilst we were there, it was very popular, even they talked to me more than my group did. I sat and wrot in my notebook and then my pen ran out.
Day 23 White water rafting! Normally I notice the wet and cold when doing stuff in a river but there was so much adrenalin that it wasn't a big factor. Ok so waiting around was boring, or getting through the long safety talk, but once we got on there and got going down some rapids it was great. We jumped in on purpose a few times...that was cold but fun, and did other games like all standing up and holding arms, and leaning out...and then you go in the water....except it took about 10 attempts for me to stand up, I kept falling down. We stopped for lunch and played football in the rain...warm rain! and the girls stood in the pools of water and then we stood round the fire, dried off so we had to readjust to the water. oh well. We had our lunch and then the leftovers were demolished by the horde of children...I think that is a very good idea, children get fed, no leftovers. If I ever get the chance to do it agian I would.
Day 24 Drive back to Quito. We sat in a coach for too long. It got cold when we were going over the pass. I drank about glasses of Coke at lunch and then only had the confines of the coach. Was arguing over whether it would make me pee less or more. I only had to visit it twice at scheduled stops. la la la la We also stopped at some hot springs and they were hot. You could just about it in there although you had to visit the cold/warm pool, to cool off frequently.
Day 25 We were meant to go on a cable car over Quito but David had to drive some other people somewhere so we did errands, getting presents for our leaders -DVD's for David as he does a lot of waiting around, a watch for Javier as he constantly asks people for the time and doesn't have one, Fish for Jane and Allan...no I don't know either and a t-shirt for Darren. We went to cash travellers cheques at the bank for Donna, posted my postcards...fianlly, had lunch which Darren paid for mine as I had no money spare for lunch. It was only about $5 what was annoying was that Jess kept bugging me to pa back the money and I was saying, I will, I will, when we get back to England. Darren refused it anyhow. Over£2.50 is it worth it? We got there when there was bout 4 people and as we had our lunch it filled and filled till there was no space and people were sitting on crates.lol. Waitress rushed off her feet but could have made life easier by giving our bill to us soon so we could have left some seats for people.I got onto a fast proper computer with working mouse. It's so cheap $1/hour I phoned my dad, to make sure I would be getting home. We went back to the Magic Bean that night and Javier's wife came again *cue awww*
Day26 So we didn't have breakfast cos the man was grumpy and refused to get up early. I packed really late as we went out to a bar afterwards.We got up early as well. David arrived back to take us to the airport, people were pleased, and I got there and my checked luggage was underweight by about a kilo. So glad they didn't weigh my rucksack, must have been over, unless my clothes weigh loads cos I was wearing shorts and trousers as well as 3 tops and several fleeces. We got given roses at the airport. They wilted on the plane home. I lost mine as I put it through tth handle of my black bag and it got checked in...lol Long flight I was in the middle, I hate it there, I got claustrophobic and refused to swop with Kate when I had an aisle seat to London. Why should I when she hadn't been nice to me all month? I got 2 hours of sleep at Amsterdam - ugh, it didn't refresh me but it was something to do.
Day27 I got my luggage and my own trolley and went through customs and passport control and came out to be subject to a barrage of people. Couldn't see my dad so hoped he'd spot me. He did. And we had to go back to QMC to give back stuff and I got away as quickly after that as I could. And my bed was there, and comfortable. mmmm.
My rucksack zip broke though and I lost a sock and my platypus leaked but I don't have to cope with any of that . No I'm not doing anything of that length again *flops out*
I know why I put writing this off...because it's taking so long to type *yawns*
My mum asks if she can read my blog...huh certainly not. Where could I put the stuff I talk about on here if she did? That would require me to make another group so I wouldn't get into trouble and move all of my other entries, plus the fact that she isn't exactly computer literate and would just want to read it over my shoulder. All that effort for something that is my hideout. I do not need constant connection, I manage not having communication for sometimes 20 hours straight, and I still return home unscathed seeming as all I will have done was go to college.
Grr, my computer froze, I so <3 autosave