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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Memories
of Ecuador Date:
28 April 2001 Only kidding! After two weeks there were only a couple of things to talk about. The first week was fairly uneventful because we took some Spanish lessons, which limited the exploring. However we met lots of people and let our hair down all week. One day I even had a hangover but I put that down to the altitude (2850m). We had done well to choose Quito as our first stop because it’s perfect for letting-hair-down-type activities. There are many like-minded travellers and as a result there are plenty of hostels, restaurants, bars, etc. It wasn’t exactly “getting lost in the Amazon” but it was ideal for our first stop because we were able to find out about all the places we were going to. (Then we get lost in the Amazon the following week.) Even so, we did have our first truly cultural experience: Ecuador played Paraguay in a World Cup qualifier and we went to the match. Like everywhere else in South America, football is a passion in Ecuador. The national team was in with a chance of reaching the finals for the first time ever, and everyone was going nuts. Even though we’d been 5000 metres up Mount Chimborazo at dawn, swum in volcano-heated spring water baths, celebrated Independence Day in Río Bamba, and been on a six-hour train journey so beautiful that everyone sits on the roof the whole way, nothing had come close to this in terms of excitement. There was a slightly partisan atmosphere - not a single Paraguayan in the ground, apart from the players - so you can imagine we were a bit concerned for our safety when one of Ecuador’s players was sent off after ten minutes. We feared the worst when Paraguay (ranked ninth in the world) scored ten minutes after that. Then, to everyone’s unbridled joy, Ecuador staged a stirring comeback and won 2-1. I’ve never known mayhem like it. That night we went out in the streets - crowds were stopping cars and if the drivers didn’t give a victory hoot they tried to turn the cars over. I forgot to tell you about the equator. We went there and it’s great. You empty a sink in the northern hemisphere and the whirlpool goes one way, then you move the sink to the southern hemisphere and the whirlpool goes the other way. Hours of fun. Date:
4 May OK, we weren’t lost; we were at a place called Sacha Lodge. But after an hour’s flight to the back of beyond in a very small plane, followed by a fifty-mile boat trip, we certainly felt in the middle of nowhere. We saw all sorts of birds and monkeys, frogs and butterflies, Tarzan vines, walking trees, epiphytes and plants used for medicine, dyes and decoration, the ingredients of chewing gum and chocolate. The highlights were: * Families of monkeys running through the trees right overhead (how could it not be?) We also heard a howler monkey - there was just one and we couldn’t tell where it was, but it sounded like a herd of dinosaurs were hiding just round the corner. * Climbing up to a tree house about 150 feet in the air, above the canopy, and watching toucans fighting over whose branch was whose. We also saw a sloth, sitting at the very top of the highest tree around, which is pretty stupid for something that can’t fly (although you could have said the same about us). Apparently they come down once a week for a “call of nature”, which again seems pretty unnecessary but it gave peace of mind to the rest of us. * We went on a night excursion in a canoe. When we got to the lagoon in front of the lodge the guide shone a torch around its perimeter (it was about a quarter of a mile across). Right at the other side we saw two little beads of light and she said “OK, we’re going over there, it’s a crocodile.” Sure enough, it was, and it must have been two feet long at least. Later, she showed us where there were several more, slightly larger ones, living right underneath the lodge. I think she deliberately left that until the last night. * The tarantula. Or rather, this would have been a highlight, if it hadn’t been five yards from our door, on the boardwalk between our room and the bar. * Swimming in the above-mentioned lagoon. The jungle is very hot (yes, really) so this was a welcome relief. The water’s very dark, a bit like tea, because of all the vegetation. Still, this is a good thing because there are piranhas in there. We were assured we were safe: being scavengers, they’re only interested in carrion. As if to prove it, the lodge humorously left out some fishing rods with very large hooks and great big lumps of meat as bait. After our swim, we cast off. The lumps of meat immediately performed rapid and violent Brownian motion before disappearing within a second or two. We did it again, keeping the meat right at the surface of the water. You couldn’t count them. It was infested with the things. Eventually Cath caught one, which was very exciting until we realised that someone had to get it off the hook and throw it back in. Date:
10 May First country
over. You’ve got to go to Ecuador. It’s got everything - miles
of beach to the west, Amazon jungle in the east, and in the middle is
the central Sierra, a long range of mountains. All the best cities are
along here. They are at quite an altitude: not enough to be uncomfortable,
but enough to provide a perfect climate. The sun is straight overhead
but the air is cool and there’s no humidity and no mosquitoes. Prices
for everything are ludicrously cheap but you can still get or do just
about anything you can at home. The people are as friendly and genuine
as anywhere I’ve ever been - they put the Brits to shame - and I
haven’t even mentioned the landscape or the wildlife, which is what
Ecuador is most famous for. (In particular, Ecuador is home to the Galápagos
Islands.) There’s been quite a bit of political instability in the
not too distant past, but things were quite relaxed at the time. However
the economy is weak, forcing them to adopt the US Dollar as their currency,
and some people are unhappy. BUT - as long as it looked like they were
going to qualify for the World Cup Finals, to quote one of our guides
in the jungle, “the politicians could steal as much as First published in VISA issue 55 (March 2004) |