Surviving the jungle and the Ecuadorian cowboys!

Have decided I need to learn the art of brevity in blogging, if I am to have a fighting chance of staying on top of the game. So here goes: the last week or so...briefly.

The Jungle:

Took an overnight bus from Quito last Sunday night, to commence 4 day-3 night tour of Cuyabeno Reserve in the Amazon basin, in the north east of Ecuador. Bus took me to the town of Lago Agrio - a soul-less oil town, built and paid for entirely by petroleum companies about 30 years ago, and not much appears to have changed since. Stayed only long enough to meet with rest of tour group (most of), jump in a minivan and drive the 2.5hrs to the entrance to Cuyabeno Reserve. Made un-scheduled pit-stop in a roadside shelter about half an hour out of Lago Agrio, and within ten minutes were treated to a downpour like no other! Huddled in a tiny concrete shelter, we watched the skies dump huge volumes all around us, while we drank aguardiente - the local firewater - made from sugar cane, and tasting like methylated spirits :( A young boy who looked about 12 was manning the roadside stop and selling 1.5L bottles of the stuff for US$1. After the initial shot went down with difficulty, it was suggested that we try it mixed with sugar cane syrup, but the moss-green colour of that concoction did little to win my vote. And no amount of sugary syrup could overpower the taste of 80% (or so we estimated) alcohol... At US$1 I was tempted to tell the boy he was dreaming ;)

Onward from there, and two more passengers later, we eventually reached the entrance to Cuyabeno Reserve, and the Cuyabeno River. It was butterfly season, so butterflies *everywhere*....From here we took a two-hour journey in a motorised canoe to our lodge. Saw a couple of monkeys high up in the trees, minutes into the journey, but otherwise just plenty more butterflies, and lovely jungle scenery.

Clearly, I´m failing at brevity :(

Group was awesome, but overall experience was....underwhelming. Guide turned out to speak VERY little English. Was saved by the kindness of my new multi-lingual European tour mates, who did their best to translate for myself and the two other non-Spanish-speaking members of the group. Worse still was the fact that he was clearly not a qualified naturalist guide, as promised by the tour company. I won´t moan about it here, but suffice to say I gave some feedback to the tour company on my return to Quito, and even managed to negotiate a refund of a third of the price - a major victory in this part of the world...!

Lack of information aside, I was also a little disappointed to have not come face-to-face with a bird-eating tarantula! All my psyching-up, my commitment to facing my fears(!) had come to nought... That said, I was acutely uncomfortable during the night walk through the jungle on the first night. Terrified actually, if I´m to be completely honest. Picture a Gortex-clad, rubber-boot-wearing self walking nervously by the light of a head-torch, with raincoat hat on, and sleeve cuffs pulled tight as a barrier to any opportunistic spiders....all the while sweating like a pig, but refusing to relax the coat of armour. Where´s the joy?, I hear you ask. Didn´t find any. And despite not seeing a tarantula, we did see a very large hairy spider which our Not-Guide insisted on playing with, and trying to pick up in his hands.... Not funny, not funny at all.

Other activities included a jungle walk by day (less scary, but a little unexciting), pirañha fishing (fun - I actually caught one!), watching pink dolphins in the lake (flashes of their backs only), visiting the shaman of the local indigenous community (a well-rehearsed speech followed by the typical request for money, and plug for handicrafts), and nightime canoe trips through the mangroves, in search of caimans (with success). One of the highlights was visiting the home of one of the local people, and participating in the making of yucca bread. Yucca is a staple of the Ecuadorian diet - a root vegetable, very similar to a potato, and used in much the same way - crisps, mash etc. Suffice to say that end result was a thin, dry pita-like bread. Delish, even without condiments. But more impressive was the ingenuity of the preparation process. Will put photos online ASAP, and explain.

Was *really* hoping the tour would bring sightings of beautiful exotic birds, but sadly no luck. I did see one toucan though! High up in a tree :( Captured in one very unremarkable photo...

A clear highlight of the four days, was the fabulous bunch of people I had the pleasure of meeting - from Switzerland, Belgium, France, Mexico and Sweden. :)


Weekend at Cotopaxi:

Just back from awesome couple of days in the country, near Cotopaxi National Park, home of Ecuador´s second-highest peak - Volcan Cotopaxi (5897m). In a stroke of good luck, my visit coincided with festival time (again) in nearest village to where I was staying. So yesterday was spent watching the locals show off their lasso and bull-riding talents, drinking various homemade alcholic concoctions, which the locals *insisted* we drink without argument, and dancing to live folk music! Very fun. Except for sunburn blisters on nose :( Antimalarials + 3900m altitude = pain.

Again, photos will come ASAP.

Falling asleep, and have early morning tomorrow - going (back) to Cotopaxi National Park to mountain bike down from 4600m.... Looking forward to some much-needed exercise in the great outdoors.

Had the sad realisation recently that I´m already three weeks into my trip and I´m still in Ecuador! I really must leave, but will do so kicking and screaming on the inside - there´s so much more I´d love to see and do :(

But there are other places to be... Tomorrow night I begin the 38-hour bus journey to Lima, Peru...

Long Live the Rooster : cockfighting in Otovalo.

Warning: Animal liberationists, avert your eyes. The following recollection of events may disturb some (?most) readers.

Let me begin by saying that it was with *great* hesitation and trepidation that I attended my first and last cockfight, last night in Otovalo, Ecuador.

Having spent all day (and quite a bit of money) at the famous Otovalo market, I consulted the 'Entertainment' section of Lonely Planet for some suggestions on how to occupy my Saturday night. The options were thin, to say the least - drinking and dancing (of which I´m sure there´s more to come on this trip) or....the weekly cockfight. I have since read elsewhere in the Ecuador chapter, that cockfighting is something of a national sport, and "a town is not a town without a cockfighting ring." I´m not really sure if that insight adds weight to my argument for attending or not. Afterall, my primary motivation was burning curiousity - does this really still happen?? I thought it went out with backyard boxing tournaments... But the curiousity was heavily counterbalanced by the idea that roosters fighting surely can´t be a kind and gentle excercise. Aaaah.....the dilemma!

The starting time was a bit vague...the book said 7pm, but some guys I overheard speaking at the market said 8pm. In my state of indecision about the ethics of attending such an event, I let fate takes its course.... I did some chores and eventually made my way to the ring somewhere between 7 and 8 (additional challenge being my current lack of watch - broke two days ago).

The ring was located in...let´s just say....the part of town where you´d expect a cockfighting ring to be located. As I was walking there, I was wondering if another robbery was on the cards, but curiousity being what it is, spurred me on, down the dark street by the now-closed undercover market. When I reached what I understood to be the location (a building! In my naivity I had thought it was an outdoor under-lights affair), I discovered a dozen or so seedy looking blokes milling around, and felt acutely aware of my lack of a Y chromosome... In my dodgy Spanish I managed to deduce that starting time (?peck-off) was at 8pm. Right, said I. And legged it out of there. Made it to a better-lit street, checked the phone for the time...7 mins to go... What to do...? It looked pretty dodgy... But....I´m only here once. And cockfighting! I have to see it, so I can share the experience - with chicken lovers *and* sports nuts. But $4! The book said 50c! A four dollar 'donation' to the sport is bordering on active support....!?

A slow walk around the block in search of dinner (unsuccessful), and some time to ponder my course. Decided to go. Imagined myself regretting it if I didn´t. So back I went, paid my US$4 for the pleasure of a General Admission seat, and waited for the show to begin. (Second class was $7, and ringside $15! A lot of money, when you consider one can eat a three course lunch for $2 in these parts....)

The pictures speak a thousand words, but suffice to say, the experience was jaw-dropping. And somewhat surreal. I´ve included some explanations with pics, to help fill in the gaps.

Long live the rooster. In a wide open space, with a warm barn to sleep in at night.... :)

A taste of Galapagos paradise

(Same old story: click on photo above for more. Lots more!)


After my baptism-of-fire in Quito, the cruise through the Galapagos Islands felt like a timely taste of paradise.

It didn´t get off to the greatest of starts, with me mistaking the meeting time on the first night. Tour leader, Lisa was unimpressed, and I must admit, I pulled the "I got robbed" line, in a desperate appeal to her sympathetic side (which failed to reveal itself, despite my efforts).

The first night´s meeting (the bit I attended) was uninformative, and more a chance to suss out my travel companions for the next 7 days. We were a group of 16 peoples from Canada, Australia, NZ, Zimbabwe and England, with most of us in our 30s, but a couple of women over 60. The Aussie-Zim couple and another Aussie guy from Adelaide became my closest allies.

First day was an early rise and trip to Quito airport for the flight to Baltra Island (via Guayaquil). All rather chaotic, but resulting in the desired outcome! We were met at Baltra by a crazy-haired Ecuadorian man named Sergio, who was to be our guide while on the cruise. Sergio was ?fifty-something, with 22 years experience in guiding in the Galapagos, and he was undoubtedly our greatest asset over the course of the cruise - everything a guide should be and more. If anything, my only criticism would be that there weren´t two of him, because it was impossible to hear everything he had to say and take all the photos I wanted to take!

The next five days aboard the boat went something like this:
Day One
A short drive from airport to pier, and the rather startling sight of a sealion lying on the pier, more in the water, and hundreds of bright red-orange Sally Lightfoot crabs all over the rocks: Wow. I´m in the Galapagos! I don´t know what I was expecting of the tour, but I can say that it far exceeded my expectations. I couldn´t have imagined how close we would come to the wildlife, and how unperturbed by human presence they animals would be. I feel overwhelmingly fortunate for the experience.

So we boarded our boat, the 'Darwin' and settled into our cabins. The boat was simple, but immaculately presented, thanks to Lenny and the rest of the crew, who proved that men can clean bathrooms and make beds better than some females!

(In interrupt my own thoughts to say that a garbage truck just drove past playing Mr Whippy tunes...is that not the ultimate anti-climax?)

Back to the boat:
After becoming acquainted with each other, we had the first of our daily 'lectures' from Sergio. These included where we were going to sail next, opportunities for snorkelling, what we would see on land, in the water and the sky, some island history, and information about the various species of wildlife and plants.

Our first stop was Las Bachas beach, on Santa Cruz island. Here I saw my first flamingo, and I didn´t expect to feel so....overwhelmed by the experience (last use of that word, I promise). They are a delight to watch, incredibly graceful, brilliantly coloured (more orange than the pink I had imagined) and kept busy sifting muddy lagoon water in search of the minute shrimp which makes up their diet. I could´ve stood and watched for hours...

Las Bachas also brought first sighting of the famous blue-footed boobies. Quite an oddity, for sure (see pics). And more SL crabs, which were to become something of a personal favourite of mine. There was also the first sighting of a land iguana, but nothing compared to the size and quantity of iguanas to come. Like the sealions, the Galapagos iguanas (land and marine species) seem completely unphased by *close* human presence. Initially I found this a little disconcerting, and worried that exposure to humans had brought about this state, but I was assured that they have been this way since first human contact, according to early reports. Phew. No need to feel guilty as I tip-toed through their colony :)

Post-landing, there was supper, followed by Lenny´s 'cocktail', which was actually a glass of fresh tamarillo juice. Fresh juice (with water and sugar) is a major seller in these parts. On the topic of food, we ate like kings for the entire cruise - fresh fish every day, hot breakfast, lunch and dinner, morning and afternoon tea which was more often than not an Ecuadorian culinary surprise(!), and desert for dinner. Yes, I´m turning into a lump of lard, but it´s for a worthy cause. It´s a crime to come to foreign places and not try the food, if you ask me (running into all sorts of trouble now that I´m back on land tho...just too many options and only three meals in a day!)

After dinner, mooching with the group and relatively early bed. Oh, and a blue heron sighting on the bow of the boat :)

Crappy night´s sleep (but remedied the following nights with drugs. Hooray for Restavit).

Day Two on boat
Visited South Plaza, one of a pair of tiny islets which make up Las Plazas. Awesome place - sealions everywhere, and huge yellow land iguanas! To add to the wonder of the experience, the landscape was like nothing I´ve ever seen - red and yellow portulacca on the ground, and huge prickly pear cacti dotted across the land. I could´ve sworn I´d stepped into the pages of a Dr Suess book.

It struck me as a strange environment for a sealion to inhabit - they were lying amongst sand and portulacca, a long way from the shore... They didn´t look as comfortable (or as healthy) as the other colonies we saw, but I was nonetheless impressed. Apparently, the greatest threats to a sealion's health (other than those of a predatory nature) are cataracts and parasitic illnesses.

Next stop was a snorkelling opportunity! If only I had an underwater camera! Unbeknown to me before I went on the tour, the Galapagos Islands provide some of the best snorkelling opportunities in the world :) The water is crystal clear so visibility is awesome. I must admit, I´m not brillaint with my marine species but I know beauty when I see it, and the underwater world of the Galap has plenty of it! Very fist time in the water and I was swimming with a black turtle!! It was awesome...gliding through the water below me. Was totally spellbounding... As one would expect, there were loads of tropical fish, and an almighty sting ray mooching around on ocean floor....very cool. Turtle remains a highlight tho ;)

In the afternoon, we sailed to the island of Santa Fe, and found dozens of sealions lying around on the beach, including a couple of little pups, doing the rounds of all the mother sealions, looking for one to love them. I must admit, I found their bleating a little distressing, and the rejections painful to watch! :( Sergio lead us on nature walk around the island, where we saw more land iguanas, including one particular species with a penchant for various types of yellow food. A yellow flower dropped in its path was devoured within seconds - bizarre. Also saw lava lizards, and native birds, including Galap. finches (everywhere).

On the trip in the dinghy back to the boat we caught a glimpse of another black turtle beside the boat, and loads of rays. Just too great for words....

Another night on the boat much like the previous. Slept well!! Everyone else was moaning about the rocking in the night, but I was in a land far far away......

Day 3 on boat
Sailed to Gardner Bay where we had another opportunity to wander and swim/snorkle. Water was cold, but it was well worth the pain to swim with sealions less than an arm´s length away! Yay. They were incredibly playful, swimming over and under us, twisting around (could swear they were taking the mickey out of the slow, awkward swimmng style of their human guests!) There is nothing quite like the feeling of swimming with a sealion in it´s natural environment.

And...just when I thought I could die happy there and then, we saw three white-tipped sharks sleeping under a rocky outcrop, just a few metres below the surface! Was able to dive down to almost look them in the eye!

Of course there were fantastic tropical fish as well, as was becoming the status quo... ;)

Back on land, there were dozens more sealions....on the beach, and rolling about in the shallows. This colony of sealions looked particularly happy, hence loads of pics! It´s definitely a sealion´s life, I think.... (On that note, my apologies for the masses of pics - haven´t had a chance to cull yet).

More food, mooching on boat and sailing to the island of Espanola, where we were treated to a virtual treasure trove of wildlife: blue-footed and masked boobies, SL crabs, sealions, piles (literally) of marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, and the main attraction at Espanola - the Galapagos albatross (including chicks). They´re strange, awkward-looking birds when on the land, but when they launched themselves from the cliffs, and soared overhead in their dozens, they were captivating...(wingspan >2m must help).

This was our first face-to-face encounter with the marine iguana (the red one). In keeping with the theme of Sth American animals, the marine iguanas have a very disconcerting habit of spitting!! I am told they are merely expelling swallowed sea water, but it´s hard not to take it personally ;)

Supper, dinner, mooch mooch. Snooze.....


Day 4 on the boat

This morning´s first stop was the island of Floreana. It was the first inhabited island, post-arrival of the bishop of Panama whose boat ran off course on its way to Peru in the 1500s. There has been a post-barrel on the island since the mariners erected one in 1793. Today, the strange custom continues, wherein travellers visit the island with postcards or letters, and collect any postcards of letters addressed to their town or country of origin to deliver on their return home! Apparently it really does work (quicker than the postal service in Zimbabwe according to Pete), but I didn´t trust it. There were no Aussie cards for my collection unfortunately (presumably due to the high flow of Australian tourist traffic to the island).

Being the result of frequent volcanic action, a number of large caves have formed on the islands, including one on Floreana. Donning our head torches, the physically able (and possibly crazy) in the group made the 30m decent below ground, and swam in the icy cold waters of the pools at the bottom (keeping head torch above water!) We also had some underwater torches which shone for metres through the crystal clear waters. It was pretty cold, so we didn´t linger too long. But the opportunity to swim in an underground cave doesn´t come along every day... :)


The surprises just kept coming. From here, we walked to another beach, known for its stingray population, which come into the shallows in their dozens, with the tide. After some basic instruction in avoiding stings, and a demonstration by Sergio of the required shuffle (ie. walking with feet always on the ground so as to avoid standing on one!), we shuffled our way into the shallows and watched. Before long, the rays were being dumped right before our eyes, and rubbing themselves up against our toes in a way which can only be described as squeal-worthy. But I resisted, because I didn´t want them to sense my fear. Tee hee. There literally were dozens of them, some up to 1.5m long. It was incredible. Can´t properly describe. See the pics of the stirred up water, and try and imagine what I´m getting at, if you can ;)

More snorkeling in the afternoon at a rocky outcrop/coral reef called Devil´s Crown. This was easily the most impressive snorkeling experience of the trip - long stretches of coral, with school after school of tropical fish of various kinds, and other impressive solo swimmers (ie. non-school-going fish). The currents were incredibly strong, which gave us our first opportunity for some serious excercise. We had to be picked up by the dinghy intermittently, and taken up-current so we could drift down, enjoying the rainbow scenery along the way. Aaaahh.... Thankyou Galapagos Islands!

That night we sailed to Puerto Ayora, on the island of Santa Cruz, for our first taste of civilisation since leaving Quito. For half of us, this was our last night on the boat (the remaining 8 were staying on for another 3 days). In honour of the departing, the chef baked a cake, and we all went ashore for a look at the town and a taste of a $2 Ecuadorian cocktail!

Nearly over. Boo hoo.

Day 5
A quick visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz, and a check up on Lonesome George. As made the Age online in the weeks before I left home, he has finally hooked up with a female and she´s laid some eggs!! It´s been a 30 year drought, so there were grave fears for the future of the particular island species, but Sergio couldn´t wait to dispel the rumours that he´s gay. It remains to be seen yet if the eggs are fertile, but at the very least it´s nice to think George is still able to pull the ladies, at age 120 (or thereabouts). ;)

We saw some other Galapagos tortoises in captivity, all over a century old. Photos tell all.

From there, we bid the rest of the group farewell and took a bus and ferry to the airport for flight back to Quito.
Dinner that night with the rest of the group, and I had my first taste of guinea pig (cuy in Spanish, as in the noise they make supposedly!) I had a half gp, which had been crumbed and fried. Claw still intact, and oddly contracted, which I took to suggest that he wasn´t especially relaxed at the time of his death... The verdict: so many bones for so little meat! Think I will have to try again, because I feel the secret herbs and spices detracted from the unique rodent taste.... In keeping with the traditional Ecuadorian theme of the meal, I followed it with corn pudding (steamed pudding with raisins, served in banana leaves), and washed it all down with sangria. Mmmm.....

So there endeth one fabulous Galapagos experience. Never to be forgotten. I feel very fortunate. :)

PS. Doing best to get up-to-date with the blog but it´s tricky! And off to the jungle tonight, so no chance to write for few days.

Quito: before the mustard, the missing camera, and the ride in the police car....

Enough has already been said about my first day in the Ecuadorian capital. But here are the few photos I do have of my morning wandering in the Old Town....

Chilling in Chile....

(Click on photo for more pics)

Finally! A chance to update. Sooo much has happened since the first, rather dramatic, blog entry. That said, I´m yet to report on the glorious early days of the 'Two Camera Era'....

So, just briefly (more info attached to photos), the trip began like this:

Flight over was OK. LAN Chile surpassed expectations. And flying east sure beat the long haul to London. At least that was my initial impression - started to reconsider three days later when I was still waking at 2am...
Anyways, the flight: met a great Kiwi girl (Meg)on flight from Auckland. In a stroke of good fortune, we were both met in Santiago by her Kiwi friend (Louise), who´s been living in Chile for past 2 years, so brimming with local knowledge and happy to welcome visitors from home. Louise kindly escorted me to the bus station and set me on the path to my fist destination - the Chilean seaside city of Valparaiso (pop.276,000). The hour and a half bus ride was blissfully uncomplicated, and took me through Santiago´s fringe, past Chilean vineyards, over green mountains to 'Valpo'. The weather was warm and sunny...dare I say *hot*, having just left Melbourne chill. Took a long walk from dodgy bus station to my hostel, in an attempt to see something of the city.
First impressions of Chile/Valpo:
Dogs. Everywhere!
Evidently, so many dogs eat a lot of dog food. Saw a personal first - a dog food supermarket!
Dusty streets, old town buses, lots of shops-wot-look-like-garages, men with same-same military-style haircut, *steep* hills, cobbled streets and brightly coloured corrugated iron houses nestled snuggly in the hillsides....

First physical challenge of the trip came on the walk to my hostel - lugging pack up a sixty degree slope in search of the famous pink and green exterior of my guesthouse. Spent the next three days camped out at Casa Familiar Carrasco, with my notoriously old hosts, Juan and Eddie (80+ years and still hiking around the streets and up the three flights of stairs in the guesthouse with vigour). My room smelled like an old country church, and had about as much space and visual appeal as a convent room, but was in a great location and had a bed, which was my most immediate requirement :)

Found a very cool cafe down the street which became my regular 10pm dinner spot for the next couple of nights, as I struggled to adjust to Chilean time.
Met a great group of Aussies next morning in the guesthouse, including an emergency nurse (Dee) :) She had a gruesome travel tale from Ecuador, involving the accidental discovery of a bus crash, with three fatalities - she and her doctor boyfriend found themselves triaging pts and administering CPR to one of the passengers while waiting for the primitive Ecuadorian ambulance service to arrive (one ambulance, three officers, a bus load of passengers.... Ah, the inefficiencies!)

The four of us took a day trip to nearby Vina del Mar - a more touristy, kitch version of Valpo. Sunday seaside festivities were in force - carnival rides, man playing a wood saw and china plates(!), man flying through air in a motorised hang-glider, stalls selling everything from ponchos to drinking flasks covered in cow-hide with real cow-hoof base(!) and other random stuff. Felt it fitting to indulge in my first Sth A. churros at seaside fair. Followed it down with toffee apple :)

Was a fun day out, with the usual foreign experiences of basic undertakings turning into major challenges/accomplishments. All good. Was sorry that my new friends were leaving same evening for Santiago. Of course, I had great pics of the day, but they´re being enjoyed now by some nouveau riche resident of Quito old-town :(


Second day in Valpo, I hit the streets for some picture-taking. Valparaiso is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, presumably because of its architectural significance. 'Ascensores' (funiculas) take some of the pain out of hill-climbing, by connecting upper and lower levels of some hills in town (twenty cents/ride). I wandered around aimlessly for an hour before bumping into an old man named George, who pointed me in the direction of a "bella vista". I took his advice, and had not long reached the unofficial ´lookout´, when I turned to find George standing there, offering his binoculars. From that point, he became my self-appointed guide for my tour of his neighbourhood. With G´s very limited English and my basic phrase-book-assisted Spanish, we managed a visit to the local jail, which has been converted into an artists' workshop. (Once again, pics MIA). He told me a little bit about his family, and as a party word of advice, warned me to be on the look out for thieves. Wise man, was George...should´ve had him with me in Quito.

Later, I attempted to explore what turned out to be the seedier end of town - Plaza Echaurren. On my way there, an off-duty police officer stopped me and told me to be careful with my camera, at which point I promptly put it away. The plaza turned out to be an immense disappointment anyway, but I stood directly beside a police van and took some speedy snaps with my little IXUS, before making my hasty escape.

After my late afternoon nap, which was becoming a routine as I was *still* struggling with jet-lag, I went out for late night dinner and Chilean wine at my local cafe before bed.

Next morning, caught bus back to Santiago, and flew to Quito for day of acclimatisation before beginning tour of Galapagos Islands...

Valparaiso pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachnev/sets/72157607110993725/

A good day gone bad

Well, it´s fair to say that today I reached an all-time low in my traveling career.
It´s 3.30pm and I have just left the police station after making a statement.
But let me start at the beginning.....

It began as a great day - slept the best I have all trip (body clock finally nearing South American time. Yay!) Breakfasted early, and then hit the streets of Quito for my first look around since arriving late last night.

Having read all the conflicting information about the relative safety (or otherwise) of the New Town versus Old Town, I decided to stay my first night in the New Town. It seemed there was no avoiding the risks (muggings, assaults...you know the deal), so in the end it was a practical decision - I just added another night to my already-booked Galapagos tour accommodation.


Thinking it a good way to see the lie of the land and take in some Ecuadorian city life, I took a walk from New Town to Old. The new city is quite unremarkable - dodgy 70s architecture, lots of touristy hotels and cafes... But the Old Town is something quite special. It´s full of winding cobbled streets lined with brightly coloured colonial buildings, wide open plazas, and enormous cathedrals dating back to the 1500s. All this set amongst towering volcanic mountains which seem to rise up from behind the buildings. Muy bello!

All in all, I had a fabulous morning taking photos, wandering the streets, and sampling the street food. Discovered a fantastic sweet which consists of shredded coconut and vanilla-flavoured toffee, rolled into a ball. Less of a hit was the Empanada Verde - apparently authentic Ecuatorian food, but not sure where ´verde´ comes into it since there was no green, just cheese inside (phew).

Anyways, the sun was shining and all was good in the Spanish-speaking world (as far as I could tell, being merely a spectator). It was about 1315hrs, and I had just paid a visit to the Monastario de Carmen Alto and was impressed with the vast array of healing waters, honey and religious vestments for sale in the store on site. I was standing under an old archway, admiring the view up the street to the mountains, when suddenly I felt something wet on the backs of my calves. I looked down and saw bright green....something?? on my trousers. Before I had time to even ascertain what the substance was, a man in his 40s approached me and told me I had something on my legs. I had no idea what it was and was asking him. I´m sure he said ¨toilet¨ in response, which I took to mean that it was something quite disgusting, as you can imagine. He offered me a tissue and a quick smell-test convinced me it was....mustard. Bizarre. I looked around for some kids who were guilty of the practical joke on the poor tourist, but didn´t see any looking suspicious. I used the tissue the man gave me, but it did very little, given the extent to which I´d been hit with said condiment. He led me to a nearby toilet, which was part of a dodgy old restaurant (not a restaurant as we know it - more like people sitting around in a mechanic´s workshop eating at plastic tables).

We go into the toilets, the man gives me a few more napkins and I try to splash water on my lower trouser legs. It´s at this point that the man starts wiping my backpack and trying to get it off me. Unbeknowns to me, it was also struck by the mustard gun. He takes my camera from around my neck as it´s impossible to get my pack off otherwise. I show some reluctance in letting him remove my camera, but I think to myself "Why do I need to worry about him? He didn´t have to help me when he saw me out on the street covered in green... He must have genuinely good intentions or he wouldn´t have offered to help me...Just trust the man for once..." The man places the camera on the floor near my feet and I look up. He suggests I go into the toilet cubicle - I´m not sure why, and I´m distracted by this strange suggestion. Within 5 seconds, I look back and my camera bag is gone.
I am hysterical. Devastated. Disbelieving. And other unflattering things all at once, at that moment. The phrase ´howling like a banshee´comes to mind when I reflect on it. I run for the door, following the man who had lead me in there in the first place, crying "My camera! Thief!" I grab the man by the shirt and he just shrugs and ignores me, so I run back into the toilets thinking I might be going crazy, but of course I´m not. The camera is gone.

At this moment, I feel physically ill. I can´t believe what´s happened. I´m crying out of anger and frustration and the obvious loss of my photos (a camera is just a camera after all, but the memories are all gone...) The toilet and the restaurant-cum-mechanics workshop was full of people at the time of the robbery and still, yet everyone is silent. I am really crying now, and all these people are just standing around watching me. Some of them I know witnessed what happened.

After some more hysterical running around on my part (it wasn´t pretty, I assure you), an old man walks me around the corner to a police station. Sitting on the steps are a couple in their early 40s, and clearly speaking my language. My story comes spilling out - a barrage of anger and frustration and, dare I say it, defeat. I suddenly feel so defeated by this experience. What a ridiculous idea for me to come to this place on my own... I know it´s only a camera, but the stress is unrelenting. The constant looking over my shoulder, wondering if I´m safe, not being able to trust people.... At that moment I feel as though every last ounce of my will to continue on this trip has been sapped from me. I have never known such a feeling of defeat, at the hands of one of my own aspirations...

As some bitter sweet reassurance it turns out I was not alone in falling for this scam. The Aussie woman on the police station steps is waiting to make a statement about an almost identical incident yesterday (the most obvious difference being the attacker´s choice of weapon - in her case, mayonnaise). So together we sit and give thanks for the fact that we still have our health, in between feeling incredible frustration and anger about what happened.

The police at this station didn´t speak English, so eventually a police car arrives and takes us to another police station in the New Town. It´s a long, convoluted journey and I am exceedingly grateful for the company of my fellow Aussies. At the station we make a statement - a long, detailed document (good), which we needed to complete twice (bad) as evidentally there are no photocopies and both the police and myself needed a copy.

The inventory of lost goods looks like this:
Camera (big, fancy digi-SLR, love-of-my-life camera)
Crumpler camera bag
Ixus camera case
Camera accessories and memory cards
Internet banking security code generator device which I need to do internet banking
USB containing various important documents for uni applications (a major loss)

All in all, it could´ve been much worse. After all, I still had my new little IXUS in my pocket (major win). And more importantly, I´m physically OK.

Official business aside, I´m now nursing an incredibly shaken sense of purpose. And, dare I say it, an equally fragile will to continue. My tour to Galapagos starts tonight (leaves Quito in the morning), so it will be a nice chance for me to chill and take stock. Will reassess plans for the future while I´m away...

At times like this, travelling solo really sucks.

One for the road: Leaving drinks @ The Local

Took the new camera for a test-drive - click on photo below to see the results :)