"Don´t Get Lost No-one Will Come For You"

Hello, long time no see... We´ve done a lot since the last blog, and have largely been out of contact from the rest of the world. Way back on Monday, we left Quito for Mitadad del mundo - the "centre of the world" or the ecuator to the rest of us. It was here after a one and a half hour bus ride that we visited the exciting monument.

After a brief visit to the top we went for lunch. There was a variety of food oppurtunities at the ecuator, and in the bizzarely deserted tourist attraction we went for a cheap coke and fast food option. Shortly after this we said goodbye to Mckenna the second American girl who was about to meet someone to visit the Cloud Forest (albeit 2 hours late). Then we were once more on our own. After a short taxi ride up to Puluahua (at least we assumed it would take us near to our hostel where we would be camping.) we began to walk down the road, abruptly the road stopped and all that lay before us was a winding gravel trail leading 1000´s of feet down into the bottom of the volcanic crator, there between the clouds we could just about make out the roof a building we assumed to be our hostel. 

As we headed down the small and steep trail several times we were overtaken by locals on donkeys, or worse by ancient old men using machete´s as walking sticks. Eventually we were at the bottom, and had found our hostel, where we met Avery the Canadian bird watcher (apparently no pun intended) who had come to the crater to see a type of bird which could only be found here. We spent the rest of the day relaxing out of the hustle and bustle of city, before our dinner, where we met Peter the swiss expat/rancher with a suprisingly strong handshake, and Bill the farmer from America who had looked everywhere for cheap farmland but didn´t want to go to missouri, so Ecuador was the obvious choice. It was at this meal that such gems as "Quechua is not a language its a sickness" came out of the largely silent Peter. We also met Chris the Norwegian fitness trainer. At the end of the meal the Hostel owner Ronalto arrived and advised us on hiking the next day, "don´t get lost no-one will come for you." a piece of advice we strictly followed. The next morning we rose early and bought a packed lunch from the Hostel, and set out in search of the hot springs. following ever smaller pre-incan tracks, we passed a heavily laden donkey and farmer, the only person which we saw for the entire day, As we traversed craggy trails, we eventually reached what can only be considered a semi-stagnant pool bubbling sulpherous gasses at the bottom of a muddy scramble. It was here that Alex was brave enough to take a dip. before we returned back to the hostal around the other side of the mountain.
At this meal both Avery and Chris had already left by horse and we were eating with Ronalto and Bill. Here Ronalto told us how his neighbour had been particularly bothersome and he had threatened to shoot her. (apparently she didn´t beleive him) He then told us he very nearly went through with this when he caught her dog bothereing his puppys and shot at it with his BB gun, he said that he also shot her rooster and that it subsequently died, but that his troubles seem to have been solved. After the meal we went back to our tent.
   The next morning we woke and left soon after breakfast taking considerabley longer to exit the crater than had taken us to enter it. Yet due to the time of day we were able to see the spectacular view with a clear sky. Once out we went to an Incan sun temple on the volcano edge from which we rang Daniel our couchsurfing acquaintance, and agreed to meet him at 5 in the Park in San Antonio de Ibarra. Many bus rides later, and after a brief look around San Antonio at its famous wood carving workshops we met Daniel and his brother. Ten minutes later we were in his house, being given a gracious welcome into his family. We saw his garden which was full of exotic fruits and plants, and then we went to visit his Guinea Pigs for eating on "special occassions" Back inside Max and Alex attempted some of the equations set by Daniels brother a maths teacher (although without too much success), and discussed the tense history between Ecuador and Peru. After dinner and a bad Swarznegger film we went to bed. The next morning we went for a tour of the town and surrounding countryside with Daniel, and discussed how the indigenous strike may effect our travel plans. Later we went to the town of Ibarra via bus, where we tried some local icecream, and got rather wet. Then we traveled to the statue overlooking the town, before heading down to a lake and then on to Otavalo. Due to hte dreadful weather during the evening in Otavalo, we only venturede out of our hostel for some dodgy looking kebabs with 3 kinds of meat and a potato on, washed down with a large bottle of coke. Back at the Hostal we enjoyed the Bourne Ultimatum before going to sleep.