Philanthropy in Baños
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The single stop over bus we thought we booked from Mancora, Peru to Cuenca, Ecuador proved instead to be a series of 4 buses, each with a new man buying the next ticket for us. I have no idea how it all worked out but somehow we did manage to arrive in Cuenca not too long after our original ETA.
We checked in to our hostel and were led to our 10-bed dorm, of which zero beds were occupied. This stayed the case the whole time we were here except for our last night when a solo lady arrived in the late hours. The place seemed to be a large hotel now retrofitted with endless (unused) bunks.
We spent the following day wondering the streets, searching for good coffee and trekking across town to have our first Arepas at a place recommended by Mace and Ash. They were DELICIOUS!
The next day we set out for Parque Nacional Cajas to battle the weather and climb a small hill to admire the view of the iconic lakes.
The next day was filled with a long bus to Baños. The bus was quite empty but stopped often to pick up and drop off locals. We realised in the evening after arriving at our hostel that at some point during this ride we had in fact generously donated Kenzie’s raincoat, both of our puffer jackets, and all of my camera gear to a local in need from our bags in the over head storage. Our generous deed for the trip! We are still waiting on the receipt to claim the tax credits though. From here on out our point and shoot film camera is now our “big” camera.
Apart from the first nights affair of filing a police report and lodging an insurance claim, we spent our time in Baños swinging at the Casa del Árbol, biking to Cascada del Diablo, and applying for Canada jobs. The food and coffee here was really good!
From Baños, Kenzie and I split off on slightly different itineraries with herself heading to Quito and myself heading to Quilotoa to meet up with Ash who would be finishing the 4 day loop trek. We started on the same bus before I jumped off near Latacunga and waved down a bus heading for Quilotoa.
A few hours later I arrived at the town entrance and headed for the hostel before bumping in to Ash and a group of fellow trekkers. She said her farewells as we headed to our hostel and checked in to our dorm room which had no one else there and a double bed each! We spent the afternoon and evening wandering the windy town, grabbing a bite to eat and a tasty hot chocolate on the crater rim.
For dinner we found a nice enough looking place and ordered a burger each. Ash’s was labelled a sandwich which normally just means a non beef burger however this time she actually just got a sandwich. A slight disappointment especially sitting across from my tasty juicy beef burger in a brioche bun.
We then got comfy with a tea and settled in to watch Wreck it Ralph with some fellow hostellers. After waiting an eternity for it to begin, it eventually did - in Arabic! The English subtitles were later turned on but by then we had lost interest and headed to bed for an early night.
Our original plan was to walk the crater rim the next day but with it being so windy and unlikely to be any different the next day (according to the hostel owner) we decided to veto that idea and instead just watch the sunrise.
We rose early and set out with our complementary coffee and tea to the crater rim and watched the suns rays fill the sky and bring about some magical colours.
After catching the “sunrise”, our next goal for the day was to make it to our next hostel in Cotopaxi in time for the complementary lunch. We caught a ride with two Ecuadorians we had met at our hostel, picking up an American lady on the way whose full time job was travel blogging!
A bus and taxi later we made it to Secret Garden Cotopaxi right behind the official shuttle from Quito which meant we had in fact made it in time for lunch. Mid way through our indication tour I saw Lachie and Miriam who were two Aussies that Kenzie and I had met in Huacachina. I gave them a wave through the window and turned to explain who they were to Ash when she was waving also! Turns out she had met them herself on the Quilotoa loop trek! When they came out to meet us I said “I see you’ve already met my sister!” and watched as their jaws dropped. Always amusing making those kinds of connections when travelling.
Ash and I had two nights here at this reasonably remote hostel with an array of tours and activities on offer. Two were included in our booking though which were the only two we did. One was right after our lunch on the first day to a nearby waterfall for a swim, and the other was the following morning up the volcano behind us. We spent the rest of our time mostly in the spa and hammocks with some slack lining and a few games of cards in between. Here we met a broad range of travellers including two kiwis (Annie and Jake) and two Brit’s (Charlie and Ellie) who we got on with well and who kept us entertained.
Our next stop in Ecuador would be Mindo where we would meet up with Kenzie for a few days of bird and butterfly watching. We decided to head straight there from Cotopaxi which was a decent stint in one go but worth it for the extra time in Mindo. It did however mean that we missed our complementary lunch, though Ash managed to score a takeaway lunch, meanwhile I managed to get a crook stomach.
I spent most of this travel day hunched over without offering much conversation. Luckily we had some time up our sleeve as I was feeling especially nauseous on the underground train so we jumped off halfway and sat down a while before resuming our expedition under Quito. We made it Mindo in the evening and met Kenzie at a very tasty Venezuelan restaurant (though I didn’t order anything on this occasion).
The next day we first set out to feed some hummingbirds before lunch and then a walk further up the road to a butterfly sanctuary.
The day after that we set off before sunrise into the bush to spot some birds (and maybe monkeys). Though the walk was pleasant and we did see a few birds, we didn’t see any parrots, cock-of-the-rocks, or monkeys.
Our next activity was a chocolate tour which was right next to our hostel. We learnt all about the process of growing cocoa and turning it to chocolate as well as participated in some compulsory tastings!
After the chocolate tour Ash and I said our farewells to Kenzie as she set off to Quito to catch a flight to Medellin, Colombia!
With one more full day in Colombia before Ash and I would cross the border by bus, we spent most of it with Lachie and another Aussie walking the 7 cascadas trail with a few swims along the way. To get to the start of the track we had to ride the cable car across the valley which was a bonus (and good fun!).
Ash and I then caught a bus in to Quito where we would spend a single night before heading off early the next day to the Colombian border.
Crossing the border proved easier than expected though it did involve a few connections. We first caught a bus from Quito to Tulcan, then a taxi to the border. After getting our Ecuador exit stamp, we then crossed the bridge into Colombia where we collected our entry stamp. We waited around a while for two Ecuadorians who we had shared the taxi to the border with but eventually got tired of that and caught our own taxi. Not entirely sure what they were doing but it seemed stressful as they sat in a cafe with a phone in one hand and typing on their laptop with the other.
This taxi took us to Ipiales where we spent the afternoon before our overnight bus to Cali. The entrepreneurial taxi driver had a side hustle selling SIM cards and managed to sell Ash one with 5GBs for 12000COP which was much cheaper than the eSIMs we had been buying and proved to work well!
In Ipiales we had some delicious empanadas from a market in the square and a less delicious dinner later from the cheapest restaurant we could find. We then headed to the terminal to catch to bus to Cali.
Arriving in Cali, we headed to Ash’s hostel who kindly lent me a towel and let me have a shower (so long as I was quick to ensure I got out before the manager returned). We left our bags there and set out to explore our surroundings.
Sounds of Cali
That evening I said goodbye to Ash and headed off on another overnight bus to Medellin to see Kenzie!
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