Leaving Ecuador

I went over to German's café and he made dinner for us. His girlfriend came along later and then we went to a bar owned by a friend of his. It wasn't open to the public that day but a few of us sat round a camp fire outside it, talked and sang Ecuadorian songs. They also took turns playing the guitar, even though none of them could play it at all. It made it all very funny to listen to.

The next morning, it was time to leave so I had breakfast and went to Quito. I had plenty of time to make it to the airport so tried taking a trolley-bus there as it was much cheaper than a taxi. However, it took forever so I got off about half way and took a taxi the rest of the way. I dreaded going through immigration and so on because of the potential payments I expected to pay. The lowest amount I'd heard one has to pay to leave the country was $35. I had about $100 with me just in case but when I when through check-in without any problem, I went to immigration and the woman looked through my passport, stamped it and let me through. I didn't pay anything which was a nice surprise.
I waited for the plane while reading Mein Kampf and my name was called out at the desk. I didn't know what could be wrong and a few of us had to have our luggage checked. I had nothing that I shouldn't have so stayed calm and the policeman had a quick look and said it was fine. He said it was just routine to check some bags.
We had to fly to Guayaquil first and some passengers left or got on but we had to wait for over an hour to leave again. My connection time in Madrid was less than 3 hours if we got there on time and this wasn't looking likely. However, I could only hope the pilot picked up some speed. I read some more and they turned the lights out at 12.30am. I managed to sleep quite well and apart from a few changes of position, I slept through till breakfast at 7.45am, or now 1.45pm - Madrid time. That was good as there was only an hour and a half left so I didn't have to suffer on either long flight. Expect when we landed, I was struggling for time. When I finally got my bag then found the check-in desk, the woman said it was too late to get on the flight at 16.50. I went to the information and managed to get on a flight two hours later which wasn't too bad. It got into Heathrow at 8pm and I got back to Wolverhampton at 1.03am. It was later than hoped but at least I didn't have to stay somewhere overnight.
The next day, I woke up at 2pm! Partly due to the time difference and partly due to not having slept much over the last week.
I'll also post some other notes about Ecuador over the next week or so.

The final few days

Currently, I'm sitting in my hostel room in Baños, which is my favourite place in Ecuador. I'll come back to this later as I will report my travels from Friday evening.
I went to the Ali Baba café in Guayaquil, which was very basic. They had hardly anything vegetarian and I had a plate of hummus-type sauce with slices of thin pita bread. It wasn't enough for dinner so I had some pureed corn with cheese which was nicer. It came to $9 which was far too much for what I had so I wouldn't recommend the place to anybody. I went back to Las Peñas by the river in the evening which was quite nice. I just had one drink there and walked around a bit then went back to El Colonial which was livelier than the night before.
Guayaquil was nothing special from what I saw of it but I didn't expect that much as people had said it was nothing more than a big city.
The next day was my trip to Cuenca and I arrived after 4 hours, which wasn't bad. I found a cheap hostel in the centre and went up to a viewpoint where you can see the whole city.

Cuenca turned out to be much nicer. The colonial architecture gives it such a better feeling. It's like being in a different country (due to the Spanish history of it). I walked round the streets a lot and saw some parks and squares. It is undoubtedly one of the best places in Ecuador in terms of towns or cities.
I had dinner in an Indian restaurant, which was said to be more Arabic (according to the menu). The food was ok, but at least there were plenty of vegetarian options.
The next day was more sight-seeing and I took many photos.

I'm glad I spent two days here as there is so much to see. I found a very attractive restaurant which lots of pictures and objects decorating it and again they had many veggie things. I ate a patacón which is one variety of banana, fried, with beans and vegetables on top. I also found out that restaurants can't serve alcohol on Sundays due to the law yet bars can. Not much logic to that, in my opinion...
The next morning, I had breakfast in a nice café along the street from te hostel then took the bus to Riobamba. Even though, on the map, it doesn't look much further than my last journey, as it it back through the mountains, it took 6 hours but I slept, listened to music and read so it wasn't too bad.
I took a taxi to a hostel and the driver was a very friendly man, in his 50s. We chatted about my time in Ecuador and his son who lives in the states. It was genuinely nice to talk with him as he stopped to pick up his friend on the way!
The hostel again had plenty of rooms and was only $12. I had the quietest night of my time in this country. It was weird not to hear birds and insects or traffic and people on the street for the first time but at least I slept well!
However, I did have a walk around the centre a bit and felt quite comfortable here. It's not a great place to see but it is quite big and there's lots of activity around.

I went to El Rey de Burrito (Burrito King) and had a lovely veggie burrito gratin and a beer for $8.
As it was Monday, there wasn't anything to do at night so I just went back after walking past the empty bars.
In the morning, I planned to get a better look at the city but it was very disappointing. I saw a park that was in very bad condition and another one was closed so I just decided to go on my way to Baños.

And how good it felt to be back here! I love this village of 25,000 so much. I found a room at Hostel Transilvania again ($7.50 a night including breakfast) which was a great start. Then I heard music outside so went out to find a school children's procession going on. This was really nice. Different classes were doing different dances around the streets and I fell in love with the place even more!

I went to the handcrafts passage to buy some gifts and ate at a place that is ranked number one in the village. Agai, lots of veggie food and it was very good. The owner also paints and has lots of his works in the restaurant. I had to buy a small one to take back as a memory (the fourth from the left on the top row).

As there are thermal baths here and I'd never been to one before, I felt I had to go to one. It was a great experience in water that was something like 37ºC. After a few minutes in it, I kept going into the cold bath then back into the hot one which gave a burning sensation at first but it was interesting to do.

Afterwards, I felt so relaxed that I had to sit down for some minutes before I could get dried off and dressed!
I went back to the hostel to try to get some energy back before going out. Again, it was very quiet and I just had one beer at Mokambo before heading back.
I had breakfast for free then went out on a hike up a hill to see the view. It was said to be a 2 hour walk but I got to the top in 20 minutes. From there I saw the whole of the village and the surrounding mountains which was fantastic.

I then went to the other side of the river and walked some more, taking lots of beautiful photos.
After taking a shower, I went back to Meeting Point café which was closed. That was a shame as I enjoyed it last time. I looked through the window and German, the owner, saw me and let me in. He was re-doing the inside and said I could eat there and help him with some ideas, which I was glad to do. We chatted and tried some things out which he liked. I felt I knew him as a friend and his girlfriend came in to join us. He invited me to his flat which he is planning to turn into a hostel and we went to find somewhere to watch Bacelona play AC Milan in the Champion's League. They had it on in Mokambo so we watched it there. This was the first time this season I'd seen Barça play so the day was just getting better. Especially when they won 3-2!
I bought a few more gifts afterwards, including some things that German (pronounced like 'Hermán') was planning to sell in the café. He invited me to have dinner with him at his café later and I will go there after writing this.
This is the last time I will write from here and I have had a wonderful last few days in Ecuador. Tomorrow, I will go to Quito after breakfast. My flight is at 18.50, our time and I am due to land in Madrid the next day at 14.00 (13.00, UK time). I hope it's not late as my connecting flight is about 4 hours after I land.
I will send a message to you, Mom, when I get to Madrid as my phone should work again when I'm back in Europe.
I'll add some extra notes about the country when I get back to England and then it will be time to get ready to go to India (after I visit Portugal first!)
Hasta Luego!

Week 12 - 14 November

So this is it, my final week working at La Hesperia. When I think back to things I did and the people I worked with when I started, it seems really long ago! It has been an intense period, even though we've mainly worked 4 days a week. I've also been around to lots of other places in Ecuador and feel that I've used my time well.
I decided to pay for the food myself on the Saturday, for my goodbye meal and a treat to the others. I made three big pizzas, each one different and they went down well. I thought there may not be enough for the eight people present but when it got to the third pizza, everyone was already full so we saved most of it for lunch the next day. Rosie also made another great fruit pie and a cake so again, we had tons of good food. The others liked my pizzas as well so I felt happy with my plan.

I didn't do any work on Sunday but wanted to get my clothes washed. I certainly won't miss hand-washing clothes with cold water...
On Monday, I was expecting to be helping to build the roof for the biodigestor but they hadn't got the materials so instead, with Kasrah, dug some new beds in the garden and moved the path around them.

In the afternoon, I made some bread and helped Kasrah with the coffee, which he was interested in doing. To be fair, I didn't need to do anything more than explain to him how to do it and we just hung around the outdoor kitchen and observed the caterpillars that were finding a space to settle down in to turn into a chrysalis. There were many around, all at different stages so that was nice to look at and talk about.

On Tuesday morning, I wanted to make the 'dulce de leche' which is a sweet spread that we have at breakfast. It is made from about 5kg of sugar and 8 litres of milk which boils down to make a very thick sticky marmalade-type thing but the cook said I didn't need to keep stirring it and she would do it. So I went back to finish toasting the coffee and grinding it. I also prepared my room as two more volunteers were due to arrive today. I set it out nicely but they didn't appear. They'd had problerms with their flights and would come next Monday. Never mind, at least I got to have the room to myself until I left!
I had a lot of wood bits left over in the common room from all the things I'd been making and didn't want to leave the mess so we had a camp fire that evening. It was nice to see my new bench being used and for the first time, we sat around it, ate my nachos and played songs on the guitar.

On Wednesday, Kasrah asked if I wanted to take the mula down for one last time. I didn't really but the other jobs were clearing weeds with the machete again so I decided to do it! It went fine and the milk man arrived as soon as I reached the bottom. As I was walking down, I thought about how much better it would be to improve the road. It's horrible to drive and walk on so on the way back up, I cleared away some loose stones to try to do a bit at least.
I had another hour left so I also got the hoe and levelled the path betwen the house and the kitchen again. Even though I was leaving tomorrow, I thought if I'm going to leave something behind, it's best to leave a legacy. I got the worst parts done and was pleased with my work.
Kaz and I worked in the garden in the afternoon, transplanting onions into the new beds we'd dug and we had a good chat. It's a shame we've only known each other a week, he's a good friend and I'd like to hang out with him more. He's going to England around the time I come back from India so maybe we can meet up then.
We had a good game of football for my last one and Kaz is actually really good. He's fast and has lots of good moves. A lot of people played and we enjoyed our game.
People asked me if I would miss it here but I told them to be honest, I felt I had done my bit and it was fine to finish. Plus I have lots of other plans so am looking forward to going onto those.
I had planned my trip and decided not to go to Quevedo as it was only 5 hours from Santo Domingo to Guayaquil so would go straight there. In the evening, in the common room, we were playing the guitar and Kaz started improvising a song about me as Madaleine played a tune. It was both funny and really nice and I recorded it on video.

I had got my things packed read to leave after breakfast on Thursday. I said my goodbyes to everyone and left my rucksack to be taken down by the director's husband. When I got to the bottom, however, it wasn't there! Luckily, two of the workers were down there and one of them phoned for me. I had to wait for 15 minutes until someone else came along with it in his car. I crossed the road and got straight onto a bus, took some money out and got my ticket to Guayaquil.
The journey was ok but there was a traffic jam near the end so it actually took about 6 hours. I hadn't booked anywhere to stay but as it is low season, thought I should be fine. I took a taxi to one mentioned in the Lonely Planet and got a room in Hostel Suites Madrid in the centre. It was $20 a night but with a private bathroom so it was ok.
It was really hot there and went out to find Ali Baba's restaurant which had veggie food. I walked along the road and thought I had gone the wrong way and ended up at the river. But there was a pizza place so ate there. Walking back, I consulted the map and found I had actually gone the right way but obviously missed it so I'll go there tonight.
After eating, I went down to the river where the bars are but it was really quiet and hardly any were open. For the biggest city in Ecuador (3 million), it felt very strange. I walked around a lot and went in one called El Colonial. There was a guy playing live music and some people in there so at least there was some entertainment. When I bought a second beer, it went really quiet all of a sudden. The police came in and I wondered what was going on. It seemed to be just that they were checking that it closed at midnight, which all bars do here. Very odd again. There was nothing else to do so I just went back to the hostel.
I thought that this city was actually quite boring but there were places to see so after breakfast, I went to a high point by the river, up 444 stairs and there was a good view.

I saw there were also lots of small bars so I'll check it out tonight. I then walked through the park by the river and had lunch there. It was very nice and I took things very leisurely. I also wanted to find the place where there are iguanas. I expected it to be in some enclosed area but they are actually in an open park in the city, which was strange. I loved seeing them though. There were about 50, either walking around on the ground or lying on branches in trees. I asked a security guard about them and he said they generally stay inside but have been known to get run over when they wander out. They've been in here for about 15 years and generally get on fine with the people around. They don't mind the pigeons, either...

I went back to the hostel and slept a bit as I woke up at 7 again, wrote this blog and I'll go out to eat soon and move onto Cuenca tomorrow, which should be something special.

Week 11 - 7 November

So I've just finished my last full week here in Ecuador. By that, I mean I will work until next Wednesday and leave early on Thursday so I can spend a week travelling around the country a bit more. I will be going to Guayaquil, the biggest city, and Cuenca, a UNESCO heritage city. I'll also stop off in 3 other places and it will be like an anti-clockwise circuit of the country.
This week, it has been yet more back-aching work! We cleared the medicianl garden of its weeds, which took two mornings. There are plenty of interesting plants growing here and we had a talk about what they are used for. Of course, I would have to see scientific results to know if they actually do - they are influenced by shamanic medicine here.
It was said to have Gaz leave us as things got a lot quieter without him. We used to play cards a lot in the common room and just chat and so on. But we got two more volunteers this week, a young American girl on Monday and a Canadian guy on Thursday, who actually lifted the mood here noticeably. He had been in the Amazon with the natives and told us a story of him having a ritual where he ended up being stranded while under the influence of hallucinogenic plants. He thought he had been gone for a day but it turned out to be three days! It sounded scary but it must have been rather interesting...
Regarding the other work, the biodigestor that we were digging had to be altered to put slopes at each end for the pipes to fit into. We had already dug a one metre cubed pit for the end result and then after I had made the slopes the best I could, found out we had to remove the one slope.... and fill in the metre cubed pit as the end container would now be inside the main trench. Honestly, it's like having to do things just to do something. It is actually the company's first biodigestor but we wish they would get the plans straight with us so we don't have to kill ourselves doing things that don't need doing.

 (Me and Rosie after digging the slope back out)
After we filled the hole in, it was topped with some good clay soil and it became too full, so just for fun, I decided to sculpt it into a pyramid. Maybe in a few years, they can fool archaeologists about ancient ruins... ;)

One of the Ecuadorians also found a snake while we were working that afternoon.

We actually got to do some tree planting again this week and it was easier as we went back to the field where we had cleared the trees the week before. We planted some more canelo and hijua trees in the lines where there were spaces. We didn't have to hack through a forest so we got 46 trees planted that morning, between 4 of us.

I didn't go on the hike again on Friday as I preferred to try to get back to making the soil table I had to stop last week, as I went to hospital with Gaz. The chainsaw was available but I expected something to go wrong. After cutting two pieces of wood, the petrol ran out and there was no more there. I doubt that I will get it finished so may have to leave the plans for it for someone else to build after I've gone. It's frustrating for me as, even though I will probably never use it if I get it finished, it's just the knowledge that I won't have completed a job that I thought of right at the beginning. But hey, that's life sometimes...
We didn't go away this weekend. for me, it's best to save some more before I travel and two of the volunteers were ill so we're going to make pizza for dinner today at the reserve.
The other thing worth showing you was the tarantula that had been exploring our bathrooms and was later found on the grass in front of our house.

It was a full sized one, though when I touched it with a stick, it didn't move so maybe it had already died.
So next time, you will hear from me after I have left La Hesperia. Hopefully, my travels will go without any bad incidents but of course, I will be careful and only take the minimum of things out with me.

Ps - Happy birthday Mom. Sorry I couldn't phone you but I was at the reserve all day Friday.

Week 10 - 31 October

Well, I suppose the easier weeks couldn't last forever... This week hasn't been especially bad but I've been suffering from a bad back again.
Before the working wekk started, as we didn't go away last weekend, we had Sunday free so I decided to make some more things! I made a bench to use by our camp fire, which I quite like.

After I finished this, I started work on another one but as I still didn't have the chainsaw, I started cutting the wood off another log with the machete. I was making good progress but once I'd cut down one end, I had to turn it upside down but it wouldn't stand up. so I used a piece of wood to support it and continued with the machete. Unfortunately, it slipped off the wood and as my left hand was also holding the wood, it moved to the right as the machete came down... I was wearing strong gloves but I knew it was bad. I tore off the glove and I had sliced down the outside of my thumb nail and it was bleeding. I ran to the sink for cold water and it didn't bleed a lot but it looked like it had cut deep into it. I put on some antiseptic lotion and obviously had to stop work for the day.
Luckily, as it healed over the week, it wasn't as bad as it looked and now it's very close to being fully healed so there's no problem with that.

(This is the meal we had last Saturday)

The work for this week has involved some macheteing weeds down again, which we did twice. Even though it is a boring job, it is necessary to help the rarer trees to grow better. I was also given the task of measuring the 'canelo' trees for their height and circumference as someone from the ministry of the environment was due to visit the field where these trees were growing.
Other things that gave me back ache were digging for new soil. We collect soil from the forest with lots of dead leaves as they contain nutrients which are used like compost. I did this a couple of times this week.
And still there was more digging! We went back to the biodigestor to dig the trench for where the resulting gas is to be collected. This had to be 1x1x1 metre and three of us just about got it finished in a morning.
There was still some delay with knowing if we were going to be working after Wednesday and in the end, we decided to stay as there would be too many people travelling on the Thursday to go for a long weekend break. We were pretty much left on our own but given some easy jobs to do. I had asked to use the chainsaw to make the table for the nursery to hold the soil which was to be used for planting new trees (to save the back ache of taking it from the ground). I also had to fix one of the steps up the house where the pieces of wood which hold it in place had broken. That didn't take long but I was waiting to find where the chainsaw was. In the meantime, Gaz had had another injury from playing football the day before and had twisted his knee. He was in a lot of pain and I made him a walking stick on Thursday morning. The others talked about the problem as he is due to fly on Sunday night and we didn't know exactly what the problem was. So we said he should go to hospital in Santo Domingo, which he agreed to. I went with him to translate, and Carmen drove us in her dad's car. We went to the public hospital and waited half an hour before he was seen. He needed an x-ray in case it was fractured but it showed nothing and the doctor said it was a general injury around the knee and needed to be immobilised. So went drove around the town to find a support and got one before driving back and arriving just before 7pm.
I meant that even though I had located the chainsaw at 11.30am, I had only cut two pieces of wood then had to abandon it to go with Gaz. Maybe I can continue next week. Incidentally, I had to use the big chainsaw which must weigh about 15kg and is hard work to use...

(This moth was in our bathroom - my thumb is right next to it...)

So, 5 of us left to go to Baños, a place I'd been to before briefly and liked a lot. Gaz's leg was still hurting but as he was leaving, had to go anyway. There was a lot of traffic on the way there so were expecting to have difficulty finding a room. However, there are tons of hostels here and after asking in about 5, we found one for $7 a night. We went up and waited for the man to prepare the beds. We closed the door of our room (me and Gaz) to then find out that the man didn't know where the key was. We had all our stuff locked in the room and couldn't get back in... He had to go and find all the keys he could, tried them all and none opened the door. We waited up there for two hours until he finally had to pick the lock. We said we'd leave all our stuf in Jeanette's room and leave our door unlocked. It was a pain having to waste our time for this but then went out, ate some good food, had a couple of drinks but we were all tired and got back to the hostel by 11pm.
Today (Saturday) is Gaz's last day with us and it will be a shame when he goes as I have had some good laughs with him but hopefully we'll stay in touch.