North South America

In and Out of Equador

Having been travellers of leisure for the past two months, we suddenly realised that we had to get our ass into gear if we were to make it up to Cartagena in Columbia before time ran out.  We were in Peru at the time, and to get to Cartagena we had 2500 kilometers to travel over three countries in 13 days.  Cue Equadorian lightning strike mission.  In our 4 days in Equador, we decided on stopping in two places, Banos and Quito.

Banos, literally means toilet in Spanish

Banos is one of those places that has jumped on the tourist bandwagon big time.  The city is jam packed with hostels, tour companies and gringo hangouts, but somewhat surprisingly, the city does not suffer from it at all.  It is compact, alive and smack bang in the middle of some impressive country.  To make our way around, we decided to hire a vehicle to get loose in the country side.

It looked quicker than it was, but definately had character.

After choosing the best looking jeep in the fleet, we headed west.  Before we left, the guy renting the jeep to us told us that the brakes were a bit slow.  What I think he meant to say to us, was that the jeep, for all intensive purposes did not have brakes.  This didn't matter so much though, and wasn't as apparant, going uphill.  Where a lack of brakes becomes a problem is going back down the steep windy road with a significant drop off that you just went up.

Tour operators will tell you anything to get your dollars.

Quito sits on the equator, therefore you would expect it to be hot.  It isn't though, due to the fact that it sits at 2,700m in the middle of a big mountain range.  It is billed as a city with exceptional old archetecture, but really one old building is the same as another old building, and the coolest thing about Quito for me was the airport.  Because of the mountain range, the airport is planted square in the centre of town.  The planes pretty much buzz the buildings as they fly in, which made for an entertaining afternoon of photo taking.

Rivals the drop into Okiwi Airport, GBI

Columbia

Just over the border from Equador you get into Cali.  We spent 0 nights in Cali, but a full on day, including a trip to the Cali Zoo.  It got me thinking, how many zoos does one really get to in their lifetime.  I could think of three previous zoos that I had been to, so was rather excited that this zoo would become one of an elite club of 4 zoos that I can say I have visited.  I can say that the zoo therefore ranks in the top 5 zoos that I have been to, but sadly doesn't quite make the top three.

Most of the animals really didn't want to be there

The emu did its best though to put on a charm offensive, just look at those seductive eyes.

Two overnight busses in a row, means three days in the same clothes.  3 days in the same clothes means you start to smell.  3 days in the same clothes in hot, humid conditions, means you start to smell really badly.  Lucky the third day saw us arrive at a coffee plantation in central Columbia that had a pool next to its guest house.  I now know why most public pools have signs directing you to have a shower before you jump into them.  There was no such sign here though, which meant that we were in the pool literally minutes after arriving. 

Columbian coffee; the best.

Now I have to say that I was somewhat sceptical about spending a couple days at a coffee plantation, primarily due to the fact that I don't drink coffee.  Counting back, over the last year, I can recall having one cup of coffee, with Chantelle Zemba, before both of us realised that neither of us actually drink coffee.  One cup of coffee per year equates to a daily consumption of approximately 0.003 cups.  In the first day at Venecia I went through 12 cups of expresso.  A modest daily intake increase of 4,000 fold.  Our guide that took us around the farm couldn't have been better.  Juan Pablo was the 4th generation owner of the farm, and as much as he loves his coffee, the day we got there he was even more excited about his brand new 1951 Jeep that he was about to drive for the first time.  Needless to say, we got an extended tour of his coffee plantation, riding in style.

Juan and his Jeep

A couple more days, a couple more cities, and a couple more night busses, we were in Cartagena.  Here the plan was to meet up with Stephen and Cel (uncle and auntie), who were in town for one of their good friends weddings.  Unfortunately an untimely dance floor accident meant that we never got to meet up, and Cel, if you are reading, hope you are getting better. What it did mean though, was that there was a spare room going on the 15th floor of the Torres Del Lago, so for the next 5 days we were the stand in Russells at the wedding party (we being Brett, Scott and myself).

View from our balcony by day.

View at night, having some fun with long exposures.

Again, its that stage of the blog that things are getting quite long, and still with a few photos left to share, i'll try be a bit more economical on the words.  But I will say a huge thanks to Mark & Laura (including congratulations on the wedding), and all of the rest of the crew, you guys really looked after us well, and we had a great time.

The old city of Cartagena is surrounded by huge stone walls, and is overlooked by a giant fort.  All of these were to protect the cities huge gold treasures from pirates in the Carribean in the 1600s.  The fort was huge, extremely well designed for slaughtering attackers, and alot of fun to spend an afternoon in.

Cannon balls.

Inside the hundreds of kilometers of tunnels under the fort.

Representing Columbia

On top of the city walls

Outside the city walls.

We also had a few good nights out and about with Hayden and Nicole, consisting of running around the city and beach dressed in left over costumes from the wedding, after having some of the left over bottles of whiskey from the wedding.

I can't explain.

Boxes, not just fun for little children.

Longish exposure with single flash = mid air ghosts

Just a couple more photos before I sign off, these taken while rock climbing in Peru, I forgot to include them in the last blog.

Its not quite as easy as it was when you were 16

Watkins, this one is for you, a complement to your sideways surfer shot, although yours kicks more ass.

Next blog will probably be the last one from South America, got some choice snaps to shares from Buenos Aires, and about to head upto Rio, Brasil overnight tonight.  See you then.