Changing Hemispheres

Quilotoa
That night we arrived in the small city of Latacunga hoping to make our way out to the loop as soon as we could. With weather a constant issue here we stayed the night here and headed off to the small town of Quilotoa on the rim of the lake. Taking the first bus out there in the morning we arrived at 1pm only to be completely engulfed with fog, in fact you could have told us anything was down there!

After lunch we decided to ignore the fog and hiked down to the bottom of the crater which was actually quite cool, as we descended the fog thinned and the lake became more apparent. The lake is in an incredible setting and each switchback revealed more of the lake until finally we were under the fog and the full lake was in view – absolutely incredible. That night we decided to stay in Quilotoa to see what the lake would look like first thing in the morning – hopefully in the sunshine.

The next day we got up early to try and see what the lake would look like in full sun – unfortunately as we woke up the thick fog had settled in as well. With this we decided to enjoy our breakfast and hope that the weather would improve…..finally luck would be with me and the weather decided to improve. With this we walked around the crater of the lake and with the fog lifting the sun came out and showed the true beauty of this place. The sun combined with the crater lake and produced a stunning reflection of the mountains, the clouds and the skies. This place really is photogenic and despite the difficulties in getting the entire lake into one photo its hard not to take a great photo of this place.

After a walk around the crater I decided to head off to Quito and start my journey towards Columbia. Quito itself is just another city with a nice colonial old town, full of churches and a pretty impressive looking gothic church. The city also has some nice parks to walk around and hang out in and it is nice to see the local people also hanging out and passing time in the parks. With the world cup finals coming to an end I met some cool Dutch people and decided to hang around in Quito to watch the game with them (this would after all be the last time the world cup finals would interfere with my travelling).

Staying in Quito I was feeling a bit lazy so my Dutch mate and I decided to make an early climb up past the Teleferico to 4700m and enjoy the spectacular view over Quito. The city really does surprise you with its size and its seems to go on forever in both directions. The hike took us through some tropical forrest terrain that inexplicably revealed two giant glaciers previously unseen to us at the end - really incredible the things that this continent can offer out of nowhere. With time before the semi final running out we decided to run down and managed to get down in just under an hour, with that we jumped in a cab to scout out spots for the world cup final. We found a nice little pub close to our hostel that was decked out in orange - turned out to be a Dutch owned pub and just like that we had a place to watch the final.

The final game was an incredible atmosphere as we watched it in a very small little pub owned by the Dutch guy and full (and I mean full) of Dutch people. In fact there was only two of us supporting Spain but that didn’t stop either of us from enjoying the occasion. The pub was decorated incredibly with orange everywhere and everyone decked out in orange clothes. It was a great occasion and as few different people told me the most important day of their sporting lives….if only the Dutch team could get up. Well we all know how it went after that and despite watching Spain win it was difficult to see the many Netherlands fans disappointed after coming so close. That was when the most ludicrous rule ever came into play and Quito stopped serving alcohol after 4pm (the end of the game coincidently) not even allowing the fans to console themselves with a few beers.

Luckily with a bit of effort and management we managed to secure a couple of bottles of bootleg alcohol and consumed them in the hotel room. Once the rest of the people from the room came back we had to retreat to the bathroom setting up the incredible scenario of the bathroom at our hostel being the most happening place in Quito!

The next day I started my long trip towards the border with the first destination Otavalo, a little market town only 3 hours from Quito, at the same time crossing into the northern hemisphere for the first time since I left Egypt. However I did have to take a 2 hour bus through Quito to get to the terminal making it a longish travel day especially with a hangover! The next day I started the simple crossing into Colombia with a one hour bus to Ibarra the start – easy enough. Here is where things went a bit awry and after being sold a ticket to a bus that didn’t turn up and then one that didn’t exist I was getting a bit annoyed. The girl however did try and make up for it by sending me to a local bus stop where I could catch a bus from, great but I had to catch the second bus an hour later after getting soaked – love this Ecuador weather! Once I arrived at Tulcan I couldn’t even get a taxi to the border (can you believe that?) but eventually I managed to get a lift with a local to the border where things went a lot smoother. A mini bus and then a bus saw me arrive in Pasto my desired destination on my way to Popayan.