The Quilotoa Loop

All I can say is WOW!!! The 3-day Quilotoa Loop hike has to be one of the toughest, yet most rewarding things I have ever done! It’s not that LONG of a hike, I think in total it’s around 27kms in distance, but with all the up and down canyons, over rivers and up mountains, you feel like you’ve trekked to China and back.  Before we set off on the hike, we stayed in a small-ish town called Latacunga, where we spent 2 nights in the beautiful colonial hostel called Hostal Tiana. Great rooms, great outdoor kitchen and communal area and nice roof terrace where you have views of Volcano Cotopaxi on a good day. Just a pity it’s located beside a gym which provides you with a 6.30am wake-up call with salsa aerobics classes, which continue on until about 9pm at night. The hostel allowed us to leave our big rucksacks there while we took with us only the essentials for our hike around Quilotoa.

The Quilotoa Loop is essentially a hike around the volcanic crater lake of Quilotoa and the surrounding countryside, hiking through river valleys and canyons and staying in 2 small villages overnight. We found that our best source of info on the Loop was other peoples’ blogs and the information provided by the hostels on the loop. Directions and tips can be very sketchy and incomplete; the trail being totally devoid of any meaningful signposts to direct you on your way and getting lost is an easy possibility without a map and proper written directions. Once we had completed our trek, we promised ourselves we’d right a decent blog with decent directions in the hope that it would help other travellers who were thinking of doing the same hike, without needing divine inspiration to get you through.

So, first and foremost was choosing the starting point and the direction of our route on the loop. You can walk from Sigchos to Quilotoa or from Quilotoa to Sigchos. I HIGHLY recommend doing the Quilotoa to Sigchos route as there seems to be far less horrible daunting uphill segments if you go this direction!

Day 1 – Latacunga to Chugchilan

• ·         If staying in Latacunga, take the early bus (around 7.30 or 8.00am) from the bus terminal to a town called Zumbahua (costs about $1). This takes about 1 hour, but there were some road works and it slowed things down quite a bit.
• ·         Once in the bustling metropolis (not!) of Zumbahua, it’s easy to flag down a local pick-up truck to bring you the 17kms to the Quilotoa Park, where you have to pay an entrance fee of $2. Hop off here, I think we paid our guy about $1.25 each for the spin.
• ·         Veer North West, heading towards the rim of the crater. Your first awe inspiring sight will be the vast and beautiful lake of the Quilotoa Crater Lake. The water in the lake changes colour with the weather obviously, so if you’ve a very clear day and blue skies, the lake should be an aqua blue. We were there on a slightly hazy sunny day and it was a deep green blue, with some passing clouds casting dark ominous shadows on the glistening water. Don’t exhaust your camera just yet, there are plenty more opportunities for photo ops as you make your way around the crater rim.



The Quilotoa Crater Lake

• ·         The first part of the trail takes you around the Western edge of the crater rim. Follow a sign for Chugchilan (should read around 11kms). Follow the trail along the crater rim. You’re aiming for the Northern-most point of the rim, bearing in mind that where you started was the southernmost point. So, where you started (take note of what’s around you!) should be directly behind you as you look across the lake before you take any turns off the crater rim. Some official directions tell you to follow the blue arrows, but believe me, there are VERY few, if any! And there are now signs on the crater rim at all to tell you when to turn off.
• ·         Following the trail to the Northern-most point should take you about an hour including rest stops and photos. Don’t be tempted to take any paths off to the left along the way during this period.
• ·         When you come up towards the northernmost point, you’ll come up to a large gathering of pine trees on your left and the trail will bring you around the top of this clump of trees.
• ·         Once you’ve cleared the trees, take the next left down the hill, along a well-defined sandy / gravel trail, almost a road! Take this road all the way down the mountainside. Have some stones or sticks to hand as there are some pretty vigorous guard dogs about. Don’t be afraid to hit them as some hikers have been bitten by these e dogs; show no fear and bark right back at them! They’ll quickly back off!
• ·         The trail will eventually bring you to a small T-junction on the trail. Turn left and then right, following the trail to a town called Guyatame.
• ·         There’s another sign for Chugchilan as you pass through the town, so follow that off to the left.
• ·         This road will eventually bring you to the top of a very deep and daunting canyon. Awesome views here. Looking across the canyon you can see the small town of Chugchilan, so you’re aiming for that town, but don’t be tempted to veer off the trail, just stick to it, even though it may seem to be bringing you a long way off target.



The impressive Toachi Canyon

• ·         The descent down the canyon is steep and mostly defined by green-painted handrails. You are required to pass over quite a vertical-looking cliff face on a very narrow path, so leave the fear of heights at home.



Death-defying crossings!

• ·         Follow the trail all the way down to the river, where a small concrete bridge will take you to the other side. From here to Chugchilan is not far, only about 1.7km or so, but be prepared for the uphill bit! Great scenery here, so take some time to take it all in.
• ·         The ascent will bring you through a small community of huts and farmland and then onto a road, which you follow all the way to Chugchilan village. Take your time, it’s steep!
• ·         There’s a sign post directing you to the Cloud Forest Hostel, once you reach the top of the road; follow this and it will bring you onto the main road of the village.
• ·         Turn right once you get to the road and walk through the village. Here on the roadside we saw a family kill a cow for their dinner, slitting its throat and the little kid jumping on the cow’s tummy to increase the blood flow…..nice! At least you know you’re dinner’s fresh.
• ·         At the end of the road there are two hostels; Mama Hilda and Cloud Forest. Prices for both hostels include a decent dinner and breakfast, Mama Hilda being slightly more expensive, but just turn up and haggle, don’t book in advance, unless you’re travelling in the high season as there can be tour groups around.



The very cosy Mama Hilda Hostel

• Day 2 – Chugchilan to Isinlivi

Set off early for your next stop; Isinlivi. This was my favourite part of the hike; the hardest hike but the best scenery in my opinion.

• ·         Coming out of either of the hostels, turn left and follow the road all the way downhill towards a village called Itualo.
• ·         Before you come to the village there is a trail down to the left towards the river. Follow this river, which should be on your right, for several minutes,.
• ·         You’ll eventually come to a wooden suspension bridge. Though it looks impressive, DON’T cross the river here as there’s no real defined trail on the other side. Keep walking along the river, crossing some slightly boggy / marshy fields and you’ll arrive at a log bridge with a wooden handrail. Cross this bridge.



beautiful river valley of Toachi Canyon

• ·         You’ll come to some eucalyptus trees with a green clearing / pasture behind them. Cross this clearing, veering to the left. A small trail will bring you along the river for a while (river’s now on your left) and then it will gradually go uphill and around to the right.



Log bridge across the river








• ·         Eventually, you’ll see some exposed white-ish cliffs on your right.  Keep these cliffs on your right as you follow the trail and it will lead you through some earthen walls; tall ones, taller than you!
• ·         Once you get through the earthen walls, you’ll come again to a small clearing. Veer left and a small farm will appear on your left; the trail will bring you down towards a stream. Cross the stream by the little log bridge where you’re faced with a rocky-ish trail up and to the right. This looks worse than it is!
• ·         After about a minute or two you’re on a defined road which zig-zags its way all the way to Isinlivi. Once you get to the top of the trail, turn to the left and then left again onto the main road of Isinlivi.
• ·         Hostal Llulu Llama is about 30m down the road on your left. $18 each for a dorm room (!!!!) but also includes a lovely dinner and breakfast. Be prepared for the smelly compositing toilet tough; boys are encouraged to pee outside in the garden and to reduce toilet usage to Number 2s only……..

Day 3 – Isinlivi to Sigchos

Good news! The road to Sigchos takes about 3.5 hours, compared to the 5+ hour treks of the other 2 days, so even though your bones are weary, just think that it’s not that far to go!

• ·         Come out of Llulu Llama and turn left. As you come to the end of the road, veer right down a grassy trail and cross the stream (again!!) and follow this trail all the way to a road.
• ·         Follow the road for about 10 minutes past several bends until you see a huge amount of Eucalyptus trees on the hill in front of you. Now, telling people to look out for the tall Eucalyptus trees around there is like telling people in the Alps to meet you at the pine trees, but this big clump of them will be very obvious; almost forest-like!
• ·         Just before the clump of trees, there is a grassy trail down to your left, which brings you all the way downhill to a settlement called Cochoa de Isinlivi. The trail will bring you into the tiny town in front of the church.



the church at Cochoa de Isinlivi

• ·         Instead of walking towards the church, take the road to the right. This road will wind around and down and eventually lead to the river.
• ·         After about 10 mins, there is a short cut on your left which brings you down to a stream, and you can easily cross the stream by foot and follow the trail back up to the road; this just cuts off a few bends of the road.
• ·         Again, follow the road for a few mins until you come to a concrete bridge, and cross the river.  Just after the river, there’s a short cut up through the bushes to your left which takes a big chunk off the route if you’re following the road.  This shortcut will bring you up to the top of the hill almost and you’ll end up back on the road again.
• ·         Follow the main road again to your left and after about 10 mins you’ll come to a small church on your left. A sandy road veers up the hill to the left, up and away from the road, cutting off some bends again. Take this all the way to Sigchos; the main road will be winding around below you and on a clear day you’ll be able to see the “twin” volcanoes in the distance off to your right.



The Twins

• ·         Once in Sigchos, take a well-earned break, explore the market and catch a 2-hour bus back to Latacunga for about $1.80.

The Loop is tough going, hard on the heart, lungs, back and legs and it’s easy to feel faint and weak, especially if it’s hot. But it’s a MUST DO if you’re in the area. What better way to see the Ecuadorean countryside and meet indigenous locals as they work their farms. Asking them for directions is your own choice, sometimes they can send you the long way! But it’s 3 days that’s absolutely free except for the price of your accommodation which you would be paying for anyway. So get out and enjoy the glorious nature and breath-taking vistas on a budget!!

Where we stayed in Latacunga: Hostal Tiana http://hostaltiana.com/
How much?: $11.50 per person in double room, shared bathroom, including breakfast
                    $9.50 per person in dorm room, private bathroom, including breakfast

Where we stayed in Chugchilan: Mama Hilda http://www.mamahilda.com/

How much?: $14 per person in double room, shared bathroom, including breakfast and dinner

Where we stayed in Isinlivi: Llulu Llama http://llullullama.com/

How much?: $18 per person in a dorm, including breakfast and dinner

The Middle of the World!

As much as I love visiting cities, it was very hard to adjust back to  busy city surroundings after having spent a great few days in Otavalo, listening to nothing but my own thoughts (scary!). After arriving in Quito, as impressive and pretty as much of it is, I could already tell I'd be happy to leave again.

The bus journey to Quito from Otavalo was a mere 2 hours, which, when compared to our other epic bus journeys of previous weeks was almost like hopping on a Dublin Bus for the short spin into town. The "hassle" started after we arrived at the new terminal in Quito; situated at the northern end of the city and which has been built in the years since our edition of the Lonely Planet was issued. So with no great help from the guide book and some very unhelpful signing in the bus station, we waited around for some sign of a bus for "el centro". But, thanks again to Latin inefficiency ( i thought the Irish attitude to time keeping was bad.....) none showed within 30 mins, so we got fed up and just paid the $8 taxi fee into town. This was AFTER being offered a taxi ride for $10, only for him to attempt to put us into the back of his pick up truck. Now, normally I wouldn't stick my nose up at this mode of transport around here, if it was just for a short hop down the road, but for a decent journey into a major city, I would rather not be risking life and limb by sitting on a bag of spuds and holding on to my backpack and paying $10 for the privilege.
So, legitimate taxi ride later, and some more patchy conversation with the taxi driver, we arrived at our hostel, Chicago Hostel (nothing remotely Chicago-ish about it), only to be checked in by an old man who mumbled Spanish, let alone spoke it. We had booked the room for $8 each per night, only to be told by mumbly Spanish man that $8 rooms were "occupado" and all they had left was the swankier $10 rooms. What with the double booking scenario, the need to pay upfront for the total cost of our room and the general noise outside was enough to put me into a bit of a sulk, but I soon came back to my senses when we discovered the room was pretty feckin' decent and we were refunded the difference of our room due to the booking fiasco. oh and the shower. The shower was AMAZING. Decent supplies of hot water and power, and not the scary electical pump showers that have a tendency to electrocute you slightly...

So the next day was spent just rambling about Quito's Old Town and admiring the sights. We opted for staying in the Old Town as we heard it was much safer, less muggings, and less like a Latino Ibiza strip than the Mariscal area of the New Town. There was lots to see, lovely plazas, nice old buildings and loads of churches; I do love my churches. We walked to the Basilica near our hostel where you could climb up the gothic tower and into the bell tower for views of the city. We did this by managing to dodge paying the fee while the fee collector had his back turned, mmmmwwwaahahahhhhaaha. But usually it's $2 to do so. You have to cross over the top of the arches of the cathedral inside over a wooden bridge and then up some very rickety looking stairs to bring you out the top. If you have a head for heights, which I don't, you can climb even further up, but that to me looked like a bit of a death wish, so I was content enough staying where I was, taking in 360degree views of Quito and the mountains all around.
At 11am, we made our way to the Plaza Grande where we heard the Changing of the Guards at the Presidential Palace would take place. The guards weren't as poker-faced and rigid as the guards at Buckingham Palace, but they were just has stupidly dressed and out-dated looking. Charming though. The whole routine was interesting to watch, brass bands aplenty and various groups of school children belting out the National Anthem in full voice (the Irish have a lot to learn....) and I was very surprised to see that the Ecuadorean president, President Correa and some foreign dignitaries were also there, overlooking the spectacle from the balcony, and waving to everyone, making the usual grins at the women of the crowd and the kids of course, the public love a man who's good with kids. Shouts of "Viva Ecuador!" rang out around the square and it was very rousing to observe people being so passionate about their country. Salutes were made by the guards to those who had died in service. And apparently this all happens every Monday! Afterwards, there seemed to be some kind of protest against the president. In my patchy Spanish, all I could make out was that they were unhappy about workers' rights or something. The vice president (at least I think it was) then came out onto the streets to listen to peoples' complaints, and brought some of them into the Palace to hear them out. I was amazed; I'd love to see that happen in Ireland....

After some flitting around from church to church in the old town, we decided to head out to Mitad del Mundo, the monument marking the equator line that passes through the outskirts of Quito. First of all, we had to battle shitty city maps and unhelpful advice from locals to locate the metrobus station from where to get the bus to Ofelia. Once in Ofelia station we then had to hop on a local bus to Mitad del Mundo, where we were keeping an eye on another Gringo couple to see when they'd get off; there's only one reason foreigners would be on a bus this far out of the city! This trip, taking about an hour and a half cost us only 40cents. Once inside the Mitad del Mundo park, we took the obligatory photos of oneselves straddling the equator line etc, we made our way back outside and walked Northwards to what's supposed to be the ACTUAL equator line at Inti-Nan; it seems when Mitad del Mundo was calculated back in the 17th century, they had been inaccurate by about 200m, which was later discovered with the invention of GPS. Which is the true line I'm not so sure, they could both just be money-making rackets but we visited them nonetheless! Inti-Nan is set up as a mock Inca village where they describe some Ecuadorean history to you and then show you the various experiments to demonstrate the magnetic effect of the two hemispheres when compared to the neutral gravitational pull of the equator line, like balancing an egg on a nail and observing how water down a plug hole pulls in different directions either side of the equator and then falls straight down when the sink is placed directly on the equator line. Good fun, and interesting, even if you're a bit of a skeptic and it'll set you back $4 for your troubles.

The highlight of the Quito stay for me though was the trip up the Teleferiqo and the subsequent climb (or at least the attempt) of Rucu Pinchincha, a mountain standing at 4784m. The teleferiqo cable car brings you up to a height of 4100m, so the remaining ascent and descent was supposed to take 5 hours. The trek started off reasonable ok, despite the struggle for air at 4100m. My poor little heart was about to burst several times, so we stopped quite frequently to catch our breath and continue again. The walk has some occasional uphill bits which look easy enough, but take several stops and starts to get to the top. There are some flat bits as well to let you get the strength back in your legs until you're confronted with the challenge of the peak. The peak seems to be an almost vertical ascent of about 300m. You're required to follow a very hair-raising narrow path along the outside edge of the peak which appears to bring you around the back and more gentle slope to the top. We had been warned however about the clouds and the mist which can come in very quickly and make the ascent dangerous. So, we had gotten to about 100m away from the peak when we found ourselves enveloped in whispy white clouds. As determined as we were to reach the top, we knew it could be a very very bad idea, as it could be so easy to get lost either on the way up or the way down and we had passed some very scary vertical drops that I wouldn't want to have been faced with in near blindness. So, we conceded defeat and turned back and began the 5km trek back to the Teleferiqo station where we got the cable car all the way back down to Quito, at an altitude in itself of 2800m. I'm so used to being starved of oxygen now, maybe I should take up smoking......

Where we stayed: Chicago Hostel http://www.chicagohostelecuador.hostel.com/
How much?:  $20 per room per night (double with private bathroom)

View from the clock tower of Quito's basilica

Changing of the Guards

Mitad del Mundo equator line - literally means the Middle of the World

Midway through the hike of Rucu Pichincha; the peak in the distance

The Otavalo hills are alive with the sound of Salsa!

Otavalo is an absolute gem of a town. I only arranged to stop here for 3 nights on the recommendation of another traveller to break up the journey from Popayan to Quito. I had no idea there was so many great things to see and do here. Our hostel was called Rose Cottage, set about 1.3kms out of Otavalo town. Kind of a nuisance in the sense that you have to get a taxi back to the hostel all the time as it’s quite a walk uphill, but fantastic in the sense that the scenery is like something from The Sound of Music; the hostel is a series of cottages set on a hilltop overlooking the town and surrounded by mountain peaks. Amazing. On a sunny day you can even see the snow-covered peaks of the Ecuadorean Andes. The hostel had its own donkey and several dogs, all of whom love to be showered with attention, and the donkey will be your alarm clock in the morning. I’m convinced he could tell time with his “hee-haws”. The price of a room includes breakfast which is croissants with butter and jam, tea or coffee and fresh juice of the day, which is usually something exotic and delicious. You can get pancakes or eggs or granola etc for about $3 extra.

Otavalo is known as a market town, especially for the Saturday market which attracts sellers from all over the country. You can get everything from clothes to jewellery, bags, rugs, hammocks, scarves, tapestries, artwork, local crafts and indigenous dress. But what most tourists seem to love about the place is seeing the local people in their traditional clothing; the men with their long plaited ponytails and hats and the women in a flouncy frilly blouse, long skirt and waist belt with some strange looking folded cloth hats on their heads. It’s great just to people watch and to try and get the odd sneaky photo, but it is always considered polite to ask if you can take their photo before you do it. Some locals do not like it at all! The smells of the freshly cooked food from food stalls will you’re your mouth water. Kev and I got two plates full of chicken, rice, pasta, salad and potato cakes and 3 drinks for the princely sum of $4. Mucho bargain. The street food is so good here that you can easily survive on about $10 or less a day for food; you’ll never eat in a restaurant again! Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s great to look around and haggle over things you’re tempted buy; and a great way to practice your Spanish.

There is also sooooo much hiking and trekking to be done here too. Myself, Kev and English-Welsh couple Tom and Catrin decided to go see Lagunda de Mojanda, not far from our hostel. Our hostel arranged a local taxi guy to bring us all up and back for $24; $6 a piece, so it’s always better to go as a group. We had planned just to go see the lake and the surrounds, take a few photos, but the taxi man told us that by climbing the Fuya Fuya mountain we could get great views of the surrounding countryside and some other lakes. When we saw the mountain top it didn’t look too steep and we thought “game on”, but we did have to consider the altitude; 4263m. Otavalo itself though is at 2800m, so when you think of it we were already at altitude, so we thought we’d give it a go and just take our time. The entire trek to the top is 1.93kms, so you really have to pace yourself. I’ve climbed a few mountains in my day, but mainly Irish ones no higher than a little over 1000m tall, so this was a challenge for me. The ascent took us 1.5 hours, with the obligatory rest stops and photo op stops. The last 200m is tough on the heart and lungs, but it’s all grassy vegetation, so you can pull yourself up by the tufts of grass! The views from the top are unbelievable, especially on the unexpected sunny day we got. In pure Aoife-style though I got a bit shaky at the top, took my photos and then sat on the ground before it was time to go back down. We went down what we think was the South Face of the mountain, which included a very steep, heart-in-mouth rocky descent for about 10m, which turned me into a teary mess, but once that’s over, the rest is plain sailing down a more gentle slope than the one we climbed up. The views at all stages of the climb are immensely impressive and despite being very much a big girl’s blouse, I thoroughly enjoyed the climb. We just totally underestimated how much altitude can affect one’s ability to “soak up the rays”; we all got roasted alive!

We also made a quick and very cheap journey to Cotacachi by bus, 25cents to be exact. Cotacachi is a cute little town, surrounded by volcanic peaks and famous for its leather produce, but we were there to see the Crater Lake. It was a $5 taxi ride there and back and the views are great, but if you’re only staying to see the lake, maybe get the taxi to hang on for you, cos you can have your photos taken in 5 mins. If you want to walk around the lake, that’ll take you a few hours and cost you a few dollars. Kev and I managed to scab a lift off a passing motorist, who tried his best to converse with us in Spanish, considering we’re still only learning. But again, people are SO friendly, and the minute you mention “Irlanda”, they’ll start talking about how beautiful Ireland is and they’ll ask you all sorts of political questions. I guess these South American countries have had their own Independence battles from Spain so they know where we’re coming from.

Otavalo was definitely one of the best stops we’ve made; it’s my favourite place so far. Even just for the relaxing in a bar with a balcony over-looking the market, taking in the mountainous view and chatting with other travellers, it was well worth the journey.  And now that we’re in Ecuador, all bus journeys are charged $1 per hour of a journey, so we may just make some more unscheduled stops along the way through Ecuador as travel is so cheap. Loving it here, may not want to leave!!

Where we stayed: Hosteria Rose Cottage http://www.rosecottageecuador.com/visitecuador.html

How much?: $24 per room per night

Rose Cottage Hostel, Otavalo

Very Alpine-looking scenery!

Local indigenous market in Otavalo

Cotacachi Crater Lake

Border crossing from Colombia to Ecuador

Ok, I think it’s fair to say that I really frickin’ love Ecuador already! Everything here seems better than Colombia so far; nicer scenery, friendlier people and better showers!! Now, in fairness, I know we’re only 1 stop down on our Ecuadorean tour, but I really do feel like I prefer this place to anywhere we’ve been in Colombia so far. I might even push the boat out here and say that I think Ecuadorean women are better looking than Colombians….i don’t think Kevin agrees with me on this one, but I’ve definitely seen some very attractive looking girls over our few days here, and at least, unlike Colombia (Medellin in particular), they’re not all silicone implanted. It is true to say though that people over here have such a different look to Colombians; far more native American looking and much smaller! I mean one old woman the other day must have been up to my waist and no more. The old people here are so adorable, teeny weeny, not a tooth in their heads, carrying a load twice as big as them but still have a smile for everyone who passes. Many people we’ve spoken to have agreed with us too that people seem to be much easier to understand here; I’m not sure if we’re getting better at Spanish (highly unlikely!) or if people speak more slowly here or what, but we find we’re not having to bring out “no comprendo” as often and we can actually form the basis of a decent conversation with people! Great success!

So, getting here was a bit of an ordeal really. I may be being melodramatic here now, but I would like to not have to make such journeys again. We left for the border from Popayan in Colombia, getting up at the crack of dawn to make it to the bus terminal for the 7am bus. Boliviarno buses leave on the hour every hour from 5am till noon with trips to Pasto and Ipiales. We arrived at the bus station and kindly asked the very sour-faced looking attendant for 4 tickets to Ipiales. She grunted some price at us and threw us 4 tickets, one of which was marked for Pasto instead of Ipiales (the town on the border). I raised my concern about this with her and she merely shrugged and said something along the lines of “it doesn’t matter”. So, only slightly reassured, we put our bags in the hold of the bus and claimed our superbly comfortable seats on the bus, only to be later told by Sour Face that we were on the wrong bus. She ushered us off that one, and onto another one, taking our tickets with her. One of us asked us if we could get our tickets back and she just waved at us as if to say “just a minute”; she appeared to be getting us new ones.  We feared we’d be later asked for our tickets later on in the journey, and not having any, they might chuck us off the bus and leave us to thumb our way through prime bandito country to the border. I dunno whether she got bored or forgot or whatever, but the bus left anyhow without Sour Face returning our tickets, so we just kept our heads down and tried to sleep through the journey. On top of all that fannying about, we left Popayan a half hour late.

About an hour into the journey, and just as I was nodding off to sleep and dreaming of chocolate-filled churros, we were stopped by the Colombian Police, who proceeded to take everyone off the bus and search some of the bags in the hold. I’ve heard enough reports about this to be slightly nervous, especially  as some cops have a reputation of being corrupt; I’ve heard tales of some cops stopping buses and planting cocaine in peoples’ bags as they pretended to search them and then at another check point down the road, other cops check that back, find the cocaine and arrest the innocent owner. So my advice to all is to watch them closely checking your bags to make sure there’s no dodgy carry on. So, check done and 45 minutes later we got back on the bus and the head of the police crew got on the bus, said something rapid in Spanish that made the locals look a bit shocked. So we set off again, only to stop again not far down the road for a food / nature break! With all these stops, our hope of getting to Ipiales in the designated 8 hours was looking unlikely. The bus stopped again after this in Pasto, but that was scheduled, to let people off and on. The trip from Pasto to Ipiales was supposed to take about 2 hours, but thanks to Latin American non efficiency and desperately slow driving, we arrived about 3 hours later. So, around 10 hours after leaving Popayan we arrived in Ipiales and got a short taxi ride to the border crossing. We had to get a stamp out of Colombia, then walk across the bridge to the Ecuadorean side where we got our stamp into Ecuador. Once we were done there, a few taxi men pretty much bundled us into some taxis to drop us to Tulcan, a few minutes away where we were again bundled onto a bus with some scary 1980s curtains to bring us to the town of Otavalo. This trip took 3 hours, made a bit shorter with the help of a movie on a posh flat screen TV. One thing to be said about South American buses, they’re damn comfortable, 99% of the time. In this short trip we were stopped twice more by Ecuadorean police. At this point I was convinced they were hunting for a serial killer or something who fitted one of our descriptions, but no, a quick check and off we went again.

The border crossing from Colombia to Ecuador or vice versa is a pretty lengthy experience. Some hostels, including Hostel Trail in Popayan were advertising the journey from Popayan to Quito in one day, in a total of 13 hours, but by God I was glad I was only going as far as Otavalo.  By the time we got to Otavalo we had already been travelling 13 hours, and we didn’t even get to visit the beautiful church near the border at Ipiales, a major attraction, as we wanted to get to Otavalo before night-time, as that’s when a lot of bus hijackings seem to occur. By the time we we arrived in Otavalo we had eaten nothing but cheesy Dorritos and crappy chocolate since our breakfast at 6am that morning, so I don’t know how anyone survives the epic  Popayan to Quito journey. My advice is to break up that journey by stopping in Otavalo, it’s very much worth it and leave Popayan early, even on the earliest bus at 5am if you want to have time to visit the church at Ipiales, which we didn’t get to do, much to my regret.

Bus from Popayan to Ipiales: 31,000 COP (about €12)
Bus from Tuclan to Otavalo: $3 (about $2.50)

Salento to Popayan and Bubbling Sulphur!

Wow, OK, these lengthy bus journey will take it out of me, no doubt about it! Thankfully though, our trip from Salento to Popayan wasn't THAT early in the morning. The trip takes about 5 hours, driving on a pretty good highway type road as far as Cali and then via another shitty windy road from thereon to Popayan. Not so much a dodgy road as such rather than being stuck behind 2 petrol tankers and a pig truck for miles with no room for overtaking. Having driven through Cali though, I think we were all glad we didn't stay the night there; it seemed like a pretty frantic, in-your-face town of no real interest. We arrived at our hostel in Popayan, Hostel Trail at around 6pm, having just caught a quick taxi ride to the hostel rather than walk the few blocks at night! The hostel is pretty cool, run by a Scottish couple, so very much tailored to European tastes, really decent bathrooms and nice clean rooms, good kitchen and plenty of facilities. The owners are super friendly and there are several excursions you can do directly from the hostel with plenty of advice.

It turned out that the next day, a Monday was a National Holiday (bank holiday or something similar), so the next day's trip to the Thermal Sulphur Baths in Coconuco ended up being communal hot bath with locals, smirking at our Gringo-ness!  If you do the excursion to the baths with the Hostel Trail hostel, your entrance to the park is free but you have to look after your lunch and stuff yourself. The hot pools are divine, despite the concerning cloudiness / green tinge of the water and the very off-putting rotten egg smell from the sulphury water. It's the sulphur and other minerals in the water that give the pools their infamous "healing" properties. We got talking to one guy, with embarrassingly good English (in comparison to our shitty Spanish) who was told by doctors to bathe regularly in the pools to speed up his recover following an operation to remove a tumour. You can also buy little tubs of luminous yellow clay to spread all over yourself, which is said to cure everything from Acne to Psoriasis. So naturally, I smothered myself in it, despite not suffering from either! As chillaxing as the experience was however, we all eventually found ourselves with stinging eyes, almost like we overdosed on the Pantene a bit too much. We thought it was from the clay getting into our eyes, but it was more than likely the sulphur and the steam from the hot pools I'd imagine. Even a day later, as we washed our hair and such, our eyes would sting afterwards, so maybe those folk with sensitive eyes should steer clear! As we sat there in the hot pools, a thunderstorm moved its was in, and the feeling of cool rain while sitting in an almost boiling hot pool is a very memorable feeling.
After a comforting almuerzo (set lunch) in the restaurant on site, we prepped ourselves for our epic 30km cycle back to Popayan. The bikes are given to you by Hostel trail, complete with helmets, puncture kits and tyre pumps. We were told the bicycle ride was downhill, but having seen some uphill sections on our drive up here we were skeptical! Our Irish skepticism was confirmed as we hit some tough uphill sections, but low gears are my friend! Depending on how many times you stop to take photos, a well earned water break or a nature break, the cycle takes between 2-4 hours. We stopped on the way down, not far from Popayan at a small restaurant recommended for it's "chocolat y queso"; basically a bowl of hot chocolate with some rubbery-textured cheese which one is supposed to dip into the hot chocolate and eat the melted result. Strange, but considering we were absolutely soaked to the skin following the torrential rain, it was a hot meal and we were glad of it! So, squidgy boots and socks intact, we flew down the last few downhill sections like Moto GP riders and found our way right back to the door of the hostel; our warm haven!

The next day, being a lazy day, we just explored the small town of Popayan and it's beautiful white-washed Spanish colonial architecture; plenty of little (and large) churches and beautiful little side streets. It was nice again to get out of a big city and walk around a small one, but the diesel fume belching buses are still here in force!

Bus from Salento to Popayan: 31,000 COP (about €12)

Trip to Termales de Coconuco: 40,000 COP per person with a group of 4 (around €18). Includes a jeep ride to the baths, entrance to the baths and the bicycles to ride back down.

Where we stayed: Hostel Trail http://www.hosteltrailpopayan.com/
How much?: 42,000 COP (about €19) per room per night.

Fresh coffee, dizzying heights and explosive drinking games!

A 6-hour bus ride will bring you from Medellin Terminal de Sur to the terminal in Pereira. We were due to get off at Armenia, but a kindly bus man told us it would be less hassle and save us some time if we got off at the junction to to Salento and flagged down a “collective”, which is a small minibus acting as a local bus service. This was fine to do during the day, but I would not be inclined to hang around by the roadside at night, not unless you had a good few people for company. But collectivos come along every 15 mins or so, so flagging one down is not too much hassle.

Salento is a small, un-assuming town in the Zona Cafeteria, the coffee growing region of Colombia, where all your supermarket-bought Colombian Arabica coffee comes from. Rolling hills and mountains, covered in a blanket of trees and coffee farms.  It’s a welcome break from the smoke and heavy air of Colombia’s city. We were told that once here, people usually end up extending their stay, which is exactly what we ended up doing! We were staying this time in The Plantation House hostel, which, as the name suggests was an old coffee plantation home, built in the typical Spanish colonial style, wooden shutters and doors with a long wide porch surrounding the rooms. Compared to the city hostels, the accommodation is a bit sparse, basic and more farm-like. A bit older and more rustic one might say, but still very clean and cosy.

On our first night, not feeling very inclined to do an awful lot, we went for a few beers and played the game of Tejo (pronounced tay-ho). Apparently, what started off as a pub drinking game has now turned into a professional national sport! It involves a metal ring set into a mound of clay. On the metal ring you place a few paper pouches of gun powder. Then, bottle of beer in hand, you throw a metal weight at the clay, aiming of course for the gun powder sachets, so that when metal hits metal, the gun powder explodes with a loud bang! Enough to make me scream a girlish scream! Great fun though and it gets very competitive!

The next day, we took it upon ourselves to get up nice and early and take a bouncy jeep ride out to Valle de Cocora, a beautiful  walking trail through a valley with immensely tall palm trees. The jeep was a little dune buggy style jeep, with local farmers jumping on the back to get a free spin down the road. On the road, we stopped to deliver some eggs to a local family, a box of food to a restaurant and dropped a young farm worker and his milk urn off on his delivery rounds!  

As we started out walk through the farmland, it reminded me very much of the countryside en route to Carrantouhil in Co. Kerry; tall mountains, lush green fields, a flowing stream / river, cows and goats all around….just with a few big palm trees thrown in! As we progressed further into the valley, we hit thick Jurassic Park-style forest with palm trees, ferns and waterfalls at every turn. Crossing the river was negotiated by dodgy rope bridges, only capable of carrying one person at a time. After 2 hours of a nice, testing trek, we decided to brave the trail to La Montaña, one of the mountain peaks in the valley, knowing it was a steep 800m walk up, and at that stage, we were already at 2,400m up! My poor little heart had a hard time keeping up! About 30-45 mins later, a barking dog alerted us to the fact that a little house was perched on top of the hill, 2,860m in altitude. This must be our destination, we thought! When we reached the house, the little girl of the family high-fived us all and we signed the visitor’s book, which seemed the norm.  Up here there were fantastic views of the valley, the mist rolling in over the hilltops adding some dramatic beauty. Several species of brightly-coloured hummingbirds whizzed past us as we took in the views. The tough ascent was definitely worth it!

On our way down, we walked through the rest of the Cocora trail, taking in the amazing scenery of steep hills dotted with these massive palm trees; their trunks so tall and skinny, they were like the supermodels of trees with perfect palm leaf “hair” perched on top. They look like a stiff breeze would blow them over, but they’re as solid as a rock. It wasn’t long before the rain came in though but we made it back to base in time. It rains almost like clockwork in Colombia, especially in this rainy season. Mid afternoon, the heavens open, usually followed by a thunderstorm or two. We’ve had some really amazing moments just lying in a hammock, beer in one hand, book in the other, in out of the rain and watching the blue lightening light up the sky followed quickly by savage thunder that would shake you to your bones.

This morning we had a slight change of pace! We joined a tour of the coffee farm connected to our hostel, Finca Don Eduardo, which was a really interesting and tasty experience! The British owner gave us a run-down of the coffee types of the world and how it’s grown, before showing us around his own little farm. We were shown the coffee seedlings, his retractable roof for drying the beans and his ingenious systems of solar powered hot water and rain water filtering system. One of his workers then made us a fresh cup of coffee, from de-skinning, roasting and grinding the beans to making a filter brew and letting us enjoy the finished product! The owner’s bright-spark idea is to lease out rows of coffee to buyers worldwide so that the coffee produced from those trees would be that person’s own brew of coffee. A similar scheme is in operation for wines and vineyards, but he’s attempting to market the coffee industry from his farm. His website is www.yourowncoffee.com. Visiting a coffee farm is well worth the trip, if not purely for the fresh cuppa you get at the end!

Bus ride from Medellin to Pereira / Armenia: 34,000 COP (about €15)
Valle de Cocora: Free!

Where we stayed: The Plantation House http://www.theplantationhousesalento.com/
How much?: 43,000 COP per double room (shared bathroom) per night (about €18)

Valle de Cocora

precarious rope bridge

Huge Palm Trees

Coffee Farm Finca don Eduardo

Grinding the coffee beans

Drinking the finished product

Night Buses and Pablo Escobar

After dodging a sudden thunderstorm and torrential rain, we made our way to the Bus Terminal del Norte in Bogota at 8pm to get ourselves a night bus to the city of Medellin. The trip, we were told would take 10 hours, so night bussing it seemed the cheapest option; no need for a night's hostel accomodation! En route from our Cranky Croc hostel, we met a Canadian girl Jamie and her Welsh boyfriend Bleddyn, who were planning the same trip as ourselves, so at least we had good company for the journey!

When we arrived at the Terminal del Norte, so many bus companies offer the same trip, but negotiating a price and finding a bus that isn't likely to break down mid journey was our priority! We settled in a company called Brasilia, who did the trip for 55,000 COP, so about 18 /19 Euro. The bus was feckin' luxurious in the sense that seats fully recline, not like economy airline seats, so getting a decent night's sleep is not so hard! But with air con on full blast for the entire 10 hours, it feels like a ham travelling in a refrigerated truck. 10 hours later, we arrived in Medellin, driving along a very scenic, dramatic mountainside road. Our hostel is in an area called Poblado, a nice, swanky area of town, which is a welcome change to the poor, run-down area of Bogota we were staying in. The hostel's called the Black Sheep and it's very clean, big rooms and friendly travellers.

Medellin city centre seems to be a mish mash of really pretty buildings and leafy squares combined with really poor city streets lined with sleeping homeless people and pregnant prostitutes. So after one brief trip into the city centre for some photo ops, we left and have no real desire to go back in. There are some nice museums, botanical gardens and cable cars on offer though, for those willing to spend more time there.

So, after an evening of chilling with beers with the crew in the hostel, we got up earlyish for the 2 hour journey to Guatape, a town built near a man-made lake, flooded for usage of the hydroelectric dam called El Penol; a massive monolith rock perching high above the city streets. Reminded me of La Corcovado in Rio. We were heading to Guatape to visit the former mansion of the notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, who lorded over the manufacturing and exportation of Cocaine during the 1980s.

Our pretty swish bus dropped us at the Lake View Hostel in Guatape where the British owner organised a boat trip for 4 of us and 2 others staying in that hostel to La Manuela, Escobar's lakeside estate. I say boat, but really it's a small, diesel-fuelled "speed" dinghy. Luckily an Aussie guy with us had good Spanish as the boat driver had not a word of English, so his pointing and rapid Spanish tourist info made no sense to us!

A short, pleasant boat ride through the lake later and we had arrived at Escobar's now burnt-out, crumbling mansion. The first thing I noticed was the eerie feeling, almost like you were visiting a haunted ghostly ruin. We were all thinking "if these walls could talk......". The second thing I noticed was that absolutely anyone can access the site, with no restriction. So anyone with a boat basically, armed with a few cans of spray paint can access the ruin and leave their mark on it. It's literally crumbling to pieces and you're probably risking your safety by going in there at all. No "Danger" signs of "Hard Hats Required" signs here! It's amazing to walk around the site; through the house, into what was probably his huge bedroom, walking around the pool area and what seems to have been a BBQ house and outside Bar. I was constantly imagining how plush it must have been; the glamour and luxurious excess and all the famous people, gangsters and underage prostitutes (!!!) that would have spent days lounging around here, drinking champagne and snorting the odd line of coke or two.

It's obvious too,due to the fact that the mansion has been left to ruin and disrepair that the people of Colombia want to forget his legacy and erase him from history, despite the fact that he's so revered among the poor in Medellin, for his Robin Hood-style charitable acts for the people of the Barrios. He was so rich at one point that he offered to pay off Colombia's national debt............

Love him or loathe him however, his presence is still felt around here, like a Day 2 Hangover and visiting his mansion was definitely a highlight for us.

Bus ride from Bogota to Medellin: 55,000 COP (about €19)
Bus ride from Medellin to Guatape: 12,000 COP (about €5)
Boat tour to La Manuela: 20,000 COP (about €8)

Medellin centre

Escobar's mansion

beautiful streets in Guatape

Where we stayed: The Black Sheep http://blacksheepmedellin.com/BlacksheepEnglish.html
How much?: 55,000 COP per room (private double, shared bathroom) per night (about €20)

Bogotá, DONE!

Well, I must say that arriving in Bogota having spent a very chilled out few days in NYC was a huge culture shock, with the words culture shock being a major understatement there! Thankfully, Kev's friend Mike was there at the airport to guide us through the see of yellow taxis (which have seen better days) and take us into the "old historical" area of Bogota, La Candelaria to our hostel The Cranky Croc.....and by old and historica of course i mean filthy and full of homeless folk eating out of bins. That said though, there are some lovely old buildings to which we flocked to take the obligatory tourist photos. Our hostel was great, clean, which in my opinion is all that matters!

The first day was spent ambling around the centre and we headed up to Cerro de Monserrate, which is basically a church, some cool old buildings and a market perched up the top of a hill at 3200m above sea level. One flight of steps and I had to sit down for a half hour and drink some Coca Tea (sugary deliciousness that is meant to help with altitude sickness...). We wined and dined in the nicer part of the city, up north, thanks to Mike's chaperoning again. The newer, posher part of the city is a world away from where we were staying. Day 2, we flocked to Zipaquira, to see the Catedral de Sal, as you might guess is a Cathedral sculpted into a salt mine 150m below the surface of a mountain. Pretty cool it has to be said and it was nice to get out of the pollution of the city for a brief day trip.

Navigating the city's bus transportation was an experience in itself. I dunno if anyone is familiar with the YouTube videos of guards in the Japanese subway literally squeezing people into the subway trains? Well, yeah, it's basically the same thing. Rush hour or not, they're always packed and there are so many buses and different routes that, again, without Mike's advice, we probably would have gotten lost several times. People here are so so nice though. Similar to NYC, if you look remotely lost or confused, they'll offer their help straight away. In perfect English too I might add. Makes one feel very inadequate and lazy when it comes to learning languages.

But I think the icing on the cake for Kev and me was the night out in a local salsa-type night club. Boy, do Colombians know how to party! Dirt cheap beer and some ridiculous Sambuca-tasting shot and we were left with a very patchy memory of the night. Mike again, in his great hosting skills cooked up a Mexican feast for us and his friends. A very multinational night, thank God people had good English!

view of Bogota from Cerro de Monserrate

la Catedral de Sal

So now, we're just hanging around the hostel like a bad smell while we wait to get our night bus to Medellin, where the fun will continue hopefully! Till next time amigos....

• Where we stayed: The Cranky Croc Hostel http://www.crankycroc.com/
• How much?: €25 per night for a double room with shared bathroom

Orlando detour...

OK, so note to self, when one is flying from the US to Colombia, JetBlue airlines will want to see an outbound flight booking from Colombia to make sure you haven't signed yourself up as a drug mule or something to that effect. We unfortunately ran into that problem today in Orlando airport, en route to Bogota from JFK, something I think we had both had thought of previously and was in the back of our minds, but chose to ignore it, along with the other voices in my head...............aaaaannnyyhoooo, some frantic web searching for cheap flights and teary outbursts later, we've decided to spend the night in some scary, serial-killer-style motel in Orlando (man it's ROASTING here, it's nightime, cloudy and rainy, yet I'm still sweating like the proverbial pig) while waiting for our flight on standby to Bogota tomorrow. Minor mishap, hopefully, and back on the horse again tomorrow, but it hasn't done much for my "what-the-hell-have-I-signed-up-for?" mantra ever since my emotional breakdown in Dublin airport having said goodbye to my parents, standing in a pool of my own tears. But on the plus side, Kev spotted a signpost for an area in Orlando called Conway....

So, South America has been warned of our delayed departure, I expect the red carpet will have been rolled in for tonight but will be there when we arrive tomorrow :)......

• Where we stayed: Travelodge Airport Hotel Orlando http://www.travelodge.com/hotels/florida/orlando/travelodge-inn-and-suites-orlando-airport/hotel-overview?partner_id=&hotel_id=14917&group_code=&campaign_code=&propId=TL14917&brand_id=TL&checkout_date=&modify=false&useWRPoints=false&children=0&corporate_i
• How much?: $39 per night / per room