23 Km South of the Equator.

After 26 hours of bus travel over a 48 hour period, I finally arrived in Quito, Ecuador. I planned to leave Medellín, Colombia at 11pm on 11/18 and take a direct 18 hour bus ride to Pasto where I would stay the night before heading to the border the next day. When Esteban, his brother, and I arrived at the Terminal de Transportes however, we were told that the bus company was not taking people directly to Pasto because of the rioting that had been happening due to nearly the entire population losing their life savings in Pyramid Schemes. They said that during the day it was fine, but arriving there at night when most of the rioting was occuring was more risky. The suggested I take a 9 hour bus ride to Calí instead and then I would have no trouble getting a connecting bus to Pasto. I didn´t understand what the difference would be between going there directly or stopping in Calí and then getting another bus, but what did I know?

So I bid farewell to Esteban and his family who hosted me graciously for a month and borded a very very cold bus toward Calí. I slept most of the way wrapped up in my sleeping bag and despite the cold and my paranoia over getting my bag ripped off I was pretty well rested when we arrived in Calí just before 8am. I went to the ticket window for the bus company I was riding and inquired about a ticket to Pasto or Ipiales, the border town 2 hours further. They said that the next bus wasn´t leaving until 9pm. There was no way I was sitting in that bus station for over 12 hours waiting to take an 11 hour bus ride. Frustrated, I sat for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do. The bus station was still mostly closed when I arrived, but the longer I sat more businesses and restuarants opened and people appeared shouting out destinations and trying to get your business. I started walking and got no more than 20 feet before someone asked where I was going and I was led to a bus leaving for Ipiales in 45 minutes. I bought a ticket which I think they overcharged me $5 for, but I didn´t care because I just wanted to get moving again. I had a quick breakfast though I wasn´t hungry and headed back to the bus.

The next 11 hours were spent on a smaller, less comfortable, un-airconditioned bus. Luckily the windows opened for fresh air and as we were mostly traveling through the mountains, the temperature was fairly comfortable. On the break between Pasto and Ipiales the only people left on the bus were myself and Liliana, a 25 year old Ecuadorean woman and her 4 year old son, Ari. Liliana struck up a conversation with me and we talked (in Spanish!) for the next two hours until Ipiales. We decided to share a hotel for the night for $5/person.

In Calí, Ari´s luggage was stolen from the compartment under the bus so we spent the morning buying some new clothes for him in the Centro, had some breakfast, and then took a taxi to the Colombian border. Liliana invited me to come stay with her family at their beach house in Manta, 8 hours from Quito, but I think this will have to wait for another trip. Ari took a liking to me and told his mother that she was his Mamí and I was his Mama. Liliana said that when I leave Ecuador I will be leaving a son behind. Her family has two houses for sale on the beach...a 4 bedroom with a garage for 40k and a 2 bedroom, totally furnished, motorcycle/scooter included for 18k...any takers??

The border crossing was very quick and painless, though I am very sad to see the discontinuation of the passport stamp. Yes, you still have record of your travels but it´s printed manually, instead of the nice unique stamps often with handwritten entry/exit dates. We walked across a bridge to enter Ecuador and then went through a simple entry procedure, took a taxi to the nearest town where we stopped for lunch and then hopped on a bus with no air conditioning and no openable windows for the next 6 hours. I thought I was going to suffocate and get violently ill in the closed, cramped, conditions.

Once we arrived in Quito we said goodbye and I took a taxi to some weird German themed hostal for the night, finally arriving at 9pm on 11/20. It was absolutely freezing. By that I mean it was like 50 degrees, but after being tropicalized and without heat it was enough to send me to bed completely bundled up.

This morning I woke up and was really on my own...unassisted. All I wanted to do was hide in the hostal all day and then take the next bus straight to my first WWOOF (www.wwoof.org) placement to avoid having to do anything alone at all. Eventually after nursing a pot of tea for a good hour at the hostal while reading a lended guidebook I eventually worked up the nerve to take the trolly into the Old City. Once in the Old City I didn´t know what to do so I pretty much walked in circles around the main plaza for hours terrified to take out even my point-and-shoot camera after reading about all the muggings in the guidebook that morning. I managed to direct myself to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch and finally took a couple pictures in the plaza.

Since 2000, the official currency of Ecuador changed to the US dollar. If you ever wondered where all the $1 coins are circulating...I found them. It´s strange to see how far American money can go. A $6 cab ride for instance usually doesn´t get you more than 10 blocks, here it takes you half way across the city. It´s nice to have a currency I understand, but bad for me because I am very aware of exactly how much things cost.

Tomorrow I plan to begin heading South. Rather than one long bus ride to my first placement near the border with Peru I am going to work up the courage to stop in a few destinations so I can experience the country instead of just see it pass me by through the window. First stop - the tallest active volcano in the world? Or maybe the thermal baths? Traveling alone will take some adjusting, but I´m sure I will get the hang of it eventually.