I found my 5 year story (unfortunately)

A little history about my philosophy of traveling and the 5 year story.  One thing I've noticed when I travel,  is that usually something will go wrong.  It might be big or small, but there will be something.  Those moments make the best 5 year stories.  In 5 years, you may make a cursory comment about the other parts of your trip, but the ones that make entertaining stories, and you repeat often are the ones where something went wrong.  So when these moments occur, and they will, you can either let it ruin your trip, or view it as a great 5 year story.

So back to  my lady day in Ecuador.  Iga and I were picked up for our tour of  Mindo. Except we found we were not going to Mindo, but another nearby town called Tulipe.  The rest of the trip was as advertised, so I didn't care - I only picked Mindo because it had more outdoor activities and none of that boring shopping stuff.

So anyway, we stopped at CalaCali to see the first Mitad del Mundo tower (the place with the wrong equator line).  About 15 years ago it was replaced by a new, bigger,  walk-up tower.   (I find it humorous it was not far of from when they found out the equator line was wrong). Anyway, they needed to do something with the old tower, so gave it to the the city of Calacali, the oldest city in the Area.  It's a cute small town, but I probably spent more time in describing it than I did at the city. Next we drove another 1 1/2 hours to a small lodge in Tulipe.  The view was gorgeous, tons of mountains, small farms on a mountainside, odd looking trees, coffee fields, etc.

We get to the lodge, and out was great, if very remote.  They have 5 small cabins, great hiking talks,  and a couple of waterfalls you can see or swim in.  We took the hike to the closer falls, one hour walk away, mostly downhill, about 2000 feet down.  The whole way, I'm realizing that if were going down now, we have to go up to return. 

The view was gorgeous. Our hiking guide pointed out out several trees and flowers, but my favorite was the cows on the edge of hills.  In some cases there was barely room for them to sit, making it was hard to believe they got themselves up there,  Then we saw a cow come running down the side of the hill.  Boy they sure are nimble.   Wish I could say the same about me.

So here's where things go wrong.  The path wasn't bad (for downhill anyway), although as we neared the falls, we started having dirt cut-out steps,  which got bigger and muddier the closer we got to the falls (very difficult for my short legs; Iga is much taller).  So  2-3 steps from the water, I slip, fall forward, and smack my face into a rock. Let's just say, God was looking out for me.

To try to make this somewhat short, I pulled my towel out of my bag and wiped the blood from my face, the ever ready iga gave me a huge bandaid to put over the gash and Tylenol for the pain (after taking several pictures), then she turned to me and said,  well now you have your 5 year story.  I did get a picture of the falls, but really didn't have any interest in anything else.  The hiking guide made a walking stick for me, and after the worst of the shaking passed, we started back.  It took a bit longer, and I had to stop often, but we made it.  After a wonderful lunch, of which I ate the soup and potato pancakes (reminded me of when I was a kid), we headed back to Quito. 

I guess I was pretty pale, and our main guide asked if I wanted to stop at a hospital. Since I had a long way home tomorrow, I figured it best.  She stopped at a small town hospital and we went in to the emergency room.  They must not get much excitement, because tons of people kept coming in to see what was going on.  I was informed the bigger cut was superficial and would only need a few stitches.  On the plus side, the paramedic who stitched me was cute, if a little (okay lot) young.  Iga was hilarious around him.  Good news, the anesthetic for the stitches finally got rid of my headache for a while.

So finally back in Quito, a little bruised and lot sorer, and a permanent souvenir of my time on Ecuador.  We packed and headed to the airport. I'll be back in town for a late Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

Oh, and I think I found my next trip - Patagonia next November.

Note: for those of you who know my mom,  I fell hiking, hit my head and had to have stitches.  Nothing more.

Balancing an egg

We went looking for a travel agency or tourist bureau to purchase a tour to Mindo tomorrow.  I had no idea it would be so hard.  They sent us to the other end of town where there are supposedly several travel agencies.  We went in a couple - all of them will find you a driver for the day for a fixed amount, but that's all they do.  No tours.  Given there is only two of us now, this it's an expensive option.  In the end, we went into an internet cafe and found a tour online.  I'm just shocked they don't have traditional tours for sale.

After a much later start than we planned, we headed the Terifico.  Rufus is a cable car which takes you to the to of Pichincha volcano,  2700 feet above Quito, to about 13000 feet total elevation.  We walked a couple of the paths (but not the 5 hour one).  You could definitely tell we were in the clouds.  Once again the clouds cleared for us to get a great view of the city.  it's amazing how big this city is - 2 million people, crammed into the space between two mountain ranges.  Also at the top we saw Llamingos.  They are in the llama family.

Next we took a metro bus north of the city (their city buses are crowd!) to the mitad del mundo, aka  middle of the world.  When the early men came in 1736 to confirm the shape of the earth, they used triangulation, and ecuador had the higher peaks of the 11 countries that have the equator ruining through it, thus the claim, middle of the world.

This calculation for the equator was used until 15 years ago when GPS determined it was slightly off (almost 800 feet).  (We learned later that the line the Incas recognized is the same as the GPS.)  Unfortunately, the Mitad del Mundo was built before GPS found the mistake. So we have a huge tourist complex with equator line and sign and lots of hoopla, all built in the wrong place - which no one talks about.

Next we slipped back to a hard to find museum, which was the highlight of the day - Intinan Museum.  This is an outdoor museum built on the "real" equator.  Our guide gave us some history about a couple of indigenous tribes, including replicas of historical homes. She also showed us how they kept track of seasons and time (the clock was just a few minutes off because the earth doesn't really rotate every 24 hours (she said 23 hours 50 minutes), which is why we have leap year.  She also mentioned that there is little rain on the equator and no tornados, etc because the magnetic pull of the poles balance each other out. (I didn't realize hurricane, etc in northern hemisphere turn counter-clockwise and southern clockwise.)

She ran through various experiments on the equator versus either side.  For example, walking the drunk walk on the equator is very difficult - I couldn't keep my balance at all. We also watched water draining from a sink - one way in the south, another in the north, straight down on the equator.  The guide also balanced an egg on a nail on the equator line.  She said if any in our tour group could do it we'd get a certificate.  I was the only one able to do it.  Later, Iga went back and was able to do it too.

 On the way home,  we asked a bus worker to let us know when we got to our stop.  Our pan was to take another bus home from there.   Several people got involved in helping us.   One lady was hilarious.   She was very emotive.  In a combination of Spanish and English,  she informs me that walking home from where were getting out is not good.  When I said were taking a bus,  again, not good.She says,  you go with me,  I'll get you home.  We'll take Taxi. When I commented would cost $4, she said no, only $2. Just don't talk taxi so they think we are local.  in the taxi she proceeded to tell us all kinds of opinions in a combination of languages.  We had a hard time not laughing until we got out.

Tomorrow is Tulipe, near Mindo.

Cotopaxi didn't have a volcanic eruption!

Clemence and I moved to Iga's hostel in the morning.  Then the husband, Geraldo, took us to Cotopaxi, about an hour away.

Cotopaxi is the 2nd highest active volcano peak in the world at over 20,000 feet.  The last eruption occurred in 1904. The volcano erupts about every 100 years - luckily today was not the day to end the dry spell.  We entered the park (about 10,000 feet altitude) and got there required guide for all foreign visitors (gotta keep the tourist trade healthy).

We headed for Cotopaxi.  All along, we had been warned that it's possible we won't see the peak due to weather (November is their winter,  and the worst for weather).  We see the top trying to peek out on the way,  but the clouds stubbornly refuse to leave.

We drove through the caldera. for what seemed forever.  The scenery was pretty,  but got redundant after a while.  On the way, we saw an extinct volcano (there are actually several volcanoes in the area, just not quite as high).  The other volcano we saw the most was Ruminahu, the highest volcano i noticed without snow.   There was another volcano ( can't remember the name) with snow at the top - by snow, I really mean glaciers.

We stopped part way up the volcano for a short walk to a better vantage point.  It may not have been long in distance,  but it sure was in time.  Geraldo said 10 minutes, which Iga did,  but not me - I stopped a few times.  The walk started at 14,000 feet then I climbed to about 14,500 feet (walk started near to of picture). I haven't had a huge issue with climbing in Quito (over  9,000 feet elev.)- not as good at home,  but more than respectable.  But at 14k, I not only struggled with climbing, but was feeling dizzy (no comments please).

We got lucky - as we were walking,  the volcano top which had been under clouds midst of the morning completely cleared,  and stayed that way until we drove away.  On the road Dldown,  we saw a hawk and a falcon.  We stopped at a lagoon at the base of the Caldera for a few minutes, and I got a picture of an Andean gull.

After a quick lunch of potato soup, were headed our of the park and home. Although we did make Geraldo stop before were got on the highway to let us take a picture of an even tree with needles that are upside down (Iga called it a weeping fir).

We got back in tune to go check our a couple of more churches in Old Town.  We went to one church, which was okay.  Then went to the Compania de Jesus, a baroque style church,  which shadowed every other church.  The walls are covered with 700 tons of 24 craft gold leaf.  The whole church was a piece of art. (picture not mine)

Clemence and I then grabbed dinner and headed home.  Clemence leaves tomorrow to go to another city.  So that leaves Iga and I.  We are now going to visit the cake car to the top of Quito,  then take a bus to the equator.  We are also going top look go a tour company to find something to do on Wednesday before we leave in the evening.  Honestly,  I've seen all of Quito I wasn't to see,  and the one thing I'd short of like to do has issues.

That's it for now