The H2 Project - Ecuador, middle of the earth, middle of the trip

Ecuador, middle of the earth, middle of the trip

Monday, 22 September 2008

We cross the border on a Saturday: the customs office are closed on the Ecuadorian side but we decide to follow an electrician who enters the building. Our ruthlessness is paying off: a civil servant is working extra hours and kindly accepts to do the our paperwork.

After a few hours we reach Montañita, the Mecca of Ecuadorian surf where we spend 2 nights in a hostel exotically decorated with bamboos before going to do some camping on a beach the following night.

A few kilometres further we quickly visit a national park before getting to Puerto Lopez where we organise our following day: a visit to the island of Plata "the Galapagos of the poorer". During the journey by boat we can admire the show of some whales. The visit of the island is indeed poor and has a very limited fauna and flora apart from some funny blue-legged birds.

Enough with the beach, we decide to go further inland and drive all day long to Quevedo, a mid-size town. We spend a good night-sleep at the local Hilton but a religious procession wakes us up at 5 o'clock in the morning; thousands of people marching with a candle singing psaulms whilst children are throwing fireworks at each others... Weird customs!

The following day we go across some fantastic landscapes in the region of Cotopaxi and decide to visit the Quilotoa lagoon, an inundated crater. A strong rain shower makes the climb back from the crater very adventurous as we have to fight impressive aluvions landslides. Drenched, tired, packed in the car (we have to put the luggage inside the car as it is still raining and we don't have the plastic cover anymore), we eventually get to Latacunga where we spend the night. The owners of the car-park where we leave the car are very nice; they enquire about the Project and invite us to come back for the black mama day 3 days later. We will come back after a short stay in Baños, a turistic village with spring sources.We rent bikes on the first day and cycle alongside the jungle whilst enjoying the view of incredible water cascades. Despite a strong rain we go rafting on the second day. Wohhoooo!

Back to Latacunga for the fiesta where we reunite with Patricio and Clotilde at the car-park. We won't stay long despite their hospitality and insistance on staying.

Let's go to Quito where a lot of work on the H2 Project is awaiting for us.

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Mema is back to Buenos Aires

After 2 months of hard work and adventurous travels, Mema has gone back to Buenos Aires. Thanks a lot for her support. We'll see again very shortly ;-)