Quito
This journey was the first stage of a trip organised by Journey Latin America.  It started in Quito on April 16th 2006.  The party consisted of Roger and Jean, Ana, Catherine and myself as clients and Zoe as our leader.  The first day was spent walking around part of the old town.  At most of the churches there were services in progress as it was Easter Sunday.

           

Otavalo

Next morning we left for Otovalo to visited the market.  On the way our transport developed a water leak and we had to transfer to a local bus.  We had a brief look around the town before taking a taxi to the Cascada de Peguche, a waterfall and site used by the local people for ritual purification.  As there were no taxis available we returned to Otovalo by hitching a lift in an open truck!  Back in the town we visited the artisans market in the Plaza de Ponchos were I bought a poncho ready for my horse riding.  Then it was off to the Plaza 24 de Mayo to look at the produce market.

Equator

On our return to Quito we stopped at the Mitad del Mundo Equatorial Line Monument.  This position of the equatorial line was established by an expedition lead by French man Charles-Marie de la Condamine in 1736.  Being only 150 m from the true position it was a great achievement for 1736.  We then moved a short distance to a small reconstruction of a native village.  here we saw demonstrations of experiments to show that this was the true equator line.

Ba?os

On Tuesday it was an early start for the bus station to catch the local transport to Ba?os.  On arriving at our accommodation three of us set out on a walk which took us over the Rio Pastaza and up into the hills with good views of the Tungurahua Volcano.  We thought we could hear thunder but it turned out to be large quantities of steam and ash being blown into the air from the volcano.  That evening we went to the thermal baths which cause some laughs!  Next morning while some had a look around the town, Zoe, Catherine and I went for another walk up into the hills to Rotan village.  Late afternoon we left Ba?os for Riobamba taking the recently re-opened road after lava landslides had been removed. 

Riobamba

Cuenca

The journey by bus the next morning to Cuenca took over six hours through beautiful countryside with deep valleys and green hillsides.  Along the way we passed buses carrying sheep on the roofs going to (or from) market.  On our walk around Cuenca that afternoon we unexpectedly came upon a Free trade riot beside the river.  There was tear gas in the air and Molotof cocktails being thrown.

Parque National Cajas
The excursion the next day to Cajas National Park was very interesting.  We climbed up to an altitude of 4300 m onto the continental divide.  It was only 100 km. to the Pacific but 6500 km. to the Atlantic.  The park contains over 235 lakes and lagoons with many wild flowers.

To the Peruvian Border

A long journey to-day so we left the hotel at 5.00 for the bus station to catch the bus to the Peru customs at Huaquilla.  The journey down to the coast was long with dramatic views of wide valleys as we followed the rivers down to the pacific.  Crossing the border was slow and problematic but we made it eventually. 

For details of the rest of the journey from the border with Peru to Lima click HERE