Historic Centre, Quito/ Volcan Corazon, Ecuador

First Cultural Excursion...done! Hardest thing: hmm...actually nothing for a change!!
Second Volcano climb...done! Hardest thing: trekking back to camp after our jeep got stuck in mud!!

Folks,

Hope you guys are all fine and dandy!! Here is the latest installment from my side of the world! Had a pretty action packed weekend after a relatively quiet week in Quito.

Saturday: Decided to do a tour of the Old City as I hadnt actually got round to seeing the sights, despite being here for 4 weeks...not sure how that happened (well...easily!) but decided I had better get going as I havent got long left in Quito (more on that later...)
So, arranged to meet a friend in the morning to have a walk around the old part of town, which is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site!! Our sightseeing was delayed a while as we enjoyed a rare bit of sunshine and decided to chill with a coffee or two instead!! When we did get going, we had a fun time seeing the sights (there are alot of churches and squares!!) and hanging out with the weekend crowds!

Inkeeping with this new climbing hobby I seemed to have discovered, we went into La Basilica, which is a huge (very impressive) gothic church and climbed to the top of one of the towers!! It involved about 5 flights of stairs, a spiral staircase for a couple of levels (behind the clock face etc) and then three ladders (!), past the Belfry and into the roof!! It was well worth it as the views of Quito were incredible, plus I had to get my $2 worth!! hehe!

Other highlights...
La compania de Jesus, a church which has been gilded with 7 tonnes worth of gold and took 163 years to make!!
The ice cream at Heladeria San Agustin which has been around for more than 100 years. (well the place has, hope our ice cream hadnt!!)
The kid who jumped onto the trolley bus without the rest of his family and whose mum was thoroughly unimpressed when we drove off with him!!
The three course curry for $2.50!!

So...over curry, it took all of about 3 mins for Eeva and her boyfriend Oliver to convince me that I wanted to climb another volcano on Sunday... initially, I wasnt interested as I actually had a night bus to catch (more on that later) but once I confirmed (and re confirmed and re confirmed again) that we would be back in good time, I decided that it would be great fun to climb Corazon (4800m) with them (???) -I did check time and time and time again, that this would not be a repeat of Pichincha, and when they said climbing it wouldnt be that of the vertical sort!!

Sunday: Met at 7am and set off in search of Corazon (quite appropriate to be climbing a volcano called heart so close to Valentines Day!!) After a couple of hours of driving and a pit stop for breakfast and to pick up our helmets (why would we need helmets...I thought I had made sure that we couldnt fall OFF the mountain!!), we got to out start point at about 10.30am. Set off, trekked for a while, then began scrambling and about 4 hours later reached the summit!! (Needed the helmets as the rocks were all fairly loose, so no big deal...although I found they came more in handy in the back of our little jeep as it was a VERY bumpy ride!!) Had a few others climbing with us, an American and a Canadian, who were both really nice, so it was alot of fun!! We sat and had lunch, though it was cut short as the weather took a turn for the worse and it began to hail!! What's with all this hail?!
We were making pretty good time and were back down in about 2 hours...I think it was only about 15kms worth of distance altogether, but the altitude makes it a very tough 15kms!! Got back to the jeep, was feeling pretty hunky dorey about making it to Quito in time for my night bus to the jungle! And then out of nowhere, thunder, lightning and a helluva lot of rain!! So away we go, driving back towards our camp (about an hour and a half South of Quito), when we come across a fairly muddy section in the road (we struggled to clear it on the way there, so I think Fernando (our guide) was wishful thinking when he thought we could clear it this time round!!) So...we didnt!! And the more he tried, the deeper we got stuck...attempted to lay some sticks/branches/logs etc down (as there were no rocks in sight...despite the mountain being fairly closeby!!) to provide a bit of traction, but with the amount of rainfall, we didnt have a chance!!

I got a bit panicked about potentially missing my bus from Quito, but after I reasoned that I would SURELY be back in time, I found the whole situation extremely amusing!! Actually we all did, so we had a real laugh!! Weirdly enough, when I booked my night bus ticket on Saturday, I had had a choice of a 10pm or a 11.30pm from Quito and when I booked the latter of the two, I had told Eeva, it was just to have an extra hours buffer, should we get a flat tyre or something...who knew!!

So..after a gallant effort on behalf of Fernandito, we decided to give in (drenched and muddy) and make our way back to the main road.....hitched a lift with a pick up, which added to the fun as it is fairly funny sitting in the back, going at 70km/h on a main road with rain and hail!! Back at camp I decided that I needed to hustle for a free hot choc and slab of cake after our ordeal which was granted (woohoo!) and after a couple of hours of chilling, we headed back to Quito. Got back at 9pm, so had time for a shower and to pack my stuff....

Then, off to the bus station, caught the bus at 12.30am (I forgot that Ecuadorian timekeeping, would have bought me that additional hour!!) and after an uncomfortable night along bumpy mountain roads, I find myself in Lago Agrio with a couple of hours to kill until I am picked up and head into the jungle for the next 5 days!!!

Should be an interesting week and I shall email ya when I am back...I think my camp is about 5 hours downriver (!)