Ecuador
First a word of explanation. It may well be that we do not do these countries the credit they deserve, as we have pretty much rushed through. There are reasons for this. The first is that we are getting anxious about our deadlines and with such distances yet to be covered we are really unsure how much time we will need.
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| Ecuadorian rain |
However in addition to these it turns out that from the moment we entered Ecuador almost until we arrived in Cartagena it has hardly stopped raining.
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| More rain, also Ecuadorian |
I went down with a really unpleasant bout of flu and Ping has followed a week later with her own version of same, so it has been really inevitable that we have had few opportunities for taking time in the touristic stuff. This may sound like excuses but it has been a difficult couple of weeks. Having said all this I will attempt to keep your interest with an account of our continued journey.
Ecuador
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| Welcome to Ecuador |
We arrived in Ecuador in mid afternoon, the customs and immigration was pretty easy. The immigration was really busy and the queue had to be managed by security people. Not a good start you may think. However the security man came up to me, he said, ’How old are you?’ in Spanish. I told him and we were immediately ushered right up to the front of the queue. I did my best to look decrepit. It was insulting and convenient at the same time. We were quickly processed and on our way down to the customs office further down the road, we were given the all important Temporary Import Permit for the van.
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| Sugar cane to chew and Coconut to drink |
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| Friendly cow visits the van |
Off we set, staying overnight on the forecourt of a petrol station which was noisy but ok. The next day we continued to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second city and major port.
We wanted to explore the possibility of shipping the van from there but in the end the shipping agent we were speaking to dried up and we decided to move on to Colombia. While in this city we discovered a couple of interesting things, one is that fuel is unbelievably cheap, about 20 US cents a litre and the other is that absolutely everything else is unbelievably expensive.
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| Street art |
Interestingly the currency is the US dollar. We stayed in the car park of a hotel which was opposite a modern shopping mall.
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| residing in the hotel car park in Guayaquil city |
We had to go there and decided to have lunch. There is a kind of food court with fast food places, all bright lights around the area. I read somewhere that one of the indicators of the cost of living in a country is the price of a Big Mac. And here it was about 6 quid!!! We did not stay long.
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| Traffic jam on the way to Quito caused by a lorry load of bananas shed on the road 2 kms away |
There really was not much to keep us. We took a couple of days to drive to Quito the capital, Quito.
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| The offending bananas |
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As soon as the traffic stopped people appeared selling snacks
and drinks
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On arrival in Quito, we had to get our batteries checked (usual story, is it the battery or alternator. We went to a auto electrical shop where in spite of my limited Spanish, I managed to convey the problems. We were treated very well, in the end the auto electrician discovered that there was a loose connection to the alternator, hence it wasn't charging even though we had been driving 100s of kilometres! We were glad that they did not try to sell us a new battery - the whole episode cost us US$10, not bad as it took over an hour.
Then we were off to have the brakes adjusted, following the recommendations of the I-overlander app. We arrived at this place which turned out to be a store that sells expensive wheels for very posh cars! However, they were really helpful, and spent a great afternoon with such nice people where they adjusted our brakes, clean our locks and some little jobs that in their eyes needed doing. They best thing was they spoke English!
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| Racing drivers run this place ,Old and young |
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| The whole team |
Then we had to go and find somewhere to stay in the city, and the only place we could find was in the car park of a posh sport and leisure place, part of it belongs to the Military and the other part appeared to be a public sports ground. It had a lovely café and restaurant that sold very expensive coffee. There was little in the way of facilities and we had to pay the rate for 24 hour parking which was $8 a day.
It was here that we met an interesting couple, Ernesto and Taisa. She is American from Washington State, but Ernesto is from Venezuela. We soon learned that they had interrupted their overland journey to visit his family in Venezuela, a visit that was really difficult. The country is in a shocking state and corruption and violence abounds. He found his family having to live in such difficult circumstances. What was really hard for him was having to leave them, being unable to help much. In the brief time that we met them we felt an enormous surge of emotion and empathy. What a dreadful position to find oneself in. What it also did was to some degree, make real something dreadful that we read about in the news. but is really shocking. Our thoughts continue to be with them, for whatever that is worth.
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| The amazing stone carvings on an ancient Quito church |
In Quito we arranged to take a walking tour and really remarkably it stopped raining for the duration. It was a very interesting tour and made more so by the passion which the guide showed for the development of the state in which he lives. He showed us the sights and the market. He told us a lot of interesting stuff about Quito truly being the centre of the earth.
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| This used to be the residence of the Bishop of Quito now houses trendy shops |
So here goes, Quito lies directly on the equator, hence the name of the country. However in ancient times The Inca s and others held great store by astronomy and accurate measurement of the earth.
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| Ooh look It's raining! |
And they knew that Quito which is up a mountain is in fact on the highest point on the equator so it is taken that it really is the middle of the middle. This has had terrific spiritual importance over the millennia. Interestingly, it means that Quito has the most predictable weather. Being on the equator means that it will be sunny all the time except when it is raining. Being up a mountain it means that it is also quite cool and so nearly every day is like a spring day but also most days it will rain as they are up in the clouds.
Which leads on to what we learn about the economy of the Ecuador Its most important export is offshore oil, but close behind this is really surprising.
After this we walked through the town and outside the Presidential Palace. We were told about how the country once elected a president who pretty much single handed managed to invest the contents of the country,s bank accounts in his own offshore and foreign caches. Overnight it brought ruin to pretty much all of the middle class and as the country descended into a popular attempt to take over the Palace and presumably, lynch the president he was rescued by a military helicopter from the roof of the palace and taken first to the United states and from there disappeared into obscurity. The country was left in financial ruins for a number of years as its country's currency descended into worthlessness.
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| In the lecture hall at the Ministry of finance |
We were taken up the steps into a lecture hall in the Ministry of Finance where he explained a bit about how the US Dollar became adopted. It seems that although undoubtedly This move arrested the decline of the currency. This too was the result of people in power doing a deal with the devil. It may surprise you, dear reader, as it did me that the US Federal Reserve is actually a commercial company, and not a government body as you might expect.
So, this was not an act of altruism by the US Government it was actually a deal negotiated by the rich and powerful to save their own bacon.
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| cakes! |
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| An angel oversees the city of Quito |
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This guy is the real Macoy he is on a mission to get his suitcase mended
No other explanation for his presence in Quito |
What followed then was our guides own explanation of how the nation of Ecuador has developed since then. The electorate stung by being had over in such grand style has managed to seize and keep control of the electoral process. So that what has come about is a truly egalitarian state with an economy which now goes from strength to strength. And now provides free, good quality, health, welfare and education to all. In addition to this. The government provides electricity telephone and internet to the whole population free of charge. If you don’t find that remarkable, then how about this there is free entry into the country anyone can migrate there and everyone no matter if they are a tourist passing through or a new migrant, enjoys the same rights and responsibilities.
It really is an extraordinary country.
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| Beautiful barber shop |
I should say that I have simply reported here what I have been told. I am sure there may be other views to consider but it is still food for thought.
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| Art |
After our tour we went off on a tour of the site of the ‘True equator and of course the centre of the earth.
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| the old centre of The Earth |
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| The new one |
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| As with so many things, I prefer the old one. |
Actually it was bit of a disappointment. It seems that using the ancient measurement a huge edifice was built to celebrate the spot and it is set in a nice park. However then with modern methods it is discovered that the spot really is about 150 yards down the road. Instead of acknowledging the fact and then leaving well alone, someone set up a sort of scruffy centre of the world experience. It is ok but, also a rather tacky. The real shame of it is that it has effectively set up in competition to the rather grand monument down the road.
The next day I was starting to feel distinctly rough and we had to move on. A fairly short days drive took us to a camp within striking distance of the border with Colombia.
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| Mosquito at Summer winds camp (Actual size!) |
The camp where we stayed with the intention of resting up was an odd place. Run by a very friendly German and his family it seems very popular with overland travellers.
The location is beautiful and the mosquitoes are out of control.
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| The ,Mutant mosquito fly rises once more |
On closer examination though we see that half of the people camping there have for one reason or another been there for some time, and they are mostly German. Then you realise that at a certain time in the evening they all troop onto a balcony and have dinner and drinks together. It is then that I started to have a distinct sense that they were an exclusive club of which we were not members. Inevitably we got into conversation with the remaining few who are not part of this group and you start to learn that they don’t like it much either.
Then I started to notice that certain people would walk past and deliver instructions, nothing significant, but ‘please don’t feed bones to the dog’,and ‘make sure you turn the tap off properly’.These remarks coming from another camper seemed to me to be a bloody cheek. ‘Leave the owner to run the camp!’ and mind your own business!
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| Idyllic , but about to rain |
Its ok, I am calm now. We really did not like this idyllic place very much. Something that sent Ping into a low grade frenzy was that one of the family bakes bread every day and you can order a loaf. It should be said that it was very good bread, especially as nice bread has been hard to find in South America but 3 quid for a small loaf is a bit much. She wasn’t happy about that.
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| Leaving Ecuador |
Now feeling pretty lousy we decided we should really continue on our way and set off for the Colombian border the next day.
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