Quito to Bogota: Hell's Wrath

Not much to write home about on Quito. I guess I didn't give it a fair chance but weather wasn't that great when I was there, I felt kind of sick and the hostel we were in was pretty bad. There was alot of speculation on how I was going to get to Bogota to meet Fiona and Katherine by the 25th. There were not alot of options. A plane was $300 minimum and the bus ride was a minimum of 28 hours. If the bus option was going to be direct, that wouldn't be a big deal but it soon became obvious that there were no direct options to Bogota. I chose to go for it...I chose wrong. Everything started out fine. I got a bus to Tulcan which is the border city with Colombia. I fell asleep which was the first problem. After waking up an hour later I soon began to realize that things from my bag were missing...first the Kindle...and then the external hard drive....and then my dad's leatherman. All nicked. I've never been properly robbed here so I guess it was my travel karma taking its fee. I think I'm giving up on owning a kindle here. It's just too much of a damned liability...and I don't really need anymore things calling attention to me. My hair does the trick just fine.

Anyway, after getting a cab to the border station from Tulcan I instantly had a Colombian latch onto me asking if I needed a ride across the border to the bus station. Maybe it was the fact that I was tired, maybe it was because I was grieving over the loss of my electronics or maybe it was because he was wearing a Yankees hat but I took him up on his offer and then was taken for a ride, literally and figuratively. I was instantly shuffled into a cab with another dude driving and Edgar (Yankees Cap) talking a little over 200 words per second in spanish at me. I asked how much it cost for the 5 minute ride and I couldn't really understand what he said. I ended up paying 40,000 pesos for the cab fare and Edgar's "tip." Which is around $22 I found out. I mean, I wasn't going to argue and risk being stabbed and getting blood on my remaining important possessions so it was kind of unavoidable. Ironically, Edgar was the one that told me that Colombia was a changed place and that gringos don't get ripped off anymore. Bastard. I curse his family.

Luckily from Ipiales (the border town in Colombia) there were direct buses to Bogota which I was told was a 22 hour bus ride. That didn't happen. First of all, we were stopped at 4 in the morning by a police checkpoint. Usually, they do a cursory glance at the people and maybe check a few bags but Colombians are thorough. Maybe it's because of them trying to rid themselves of the cocaine trafficking reputation but they searched every bag in the bus which took around an hour. Then, in some small town we were stopped by a blockade of people protesting about something in the street which added another hour onto the trip. When I finally got to the hostel in Bogota I think the total trip time clocked in at about 30 hours. Luckily Fiona and Katherine were there to give me a warm welcome. We went to a club with some others form the hostel even though I felt like I was floating. Rum helped to sort that out though.

Bogota is...ok. We've been hearing alot of stories of muggings which has kind of put us off of going out at night. I mean it can't be worse than Lima but I think everybody is spooked. I walked around today with some people and there are some parts of Bogota which are quite nice but it's cold here. I'm having flashbacks of Chile and then I remembered its winter in about a month in S.A. We're leaving tomorrow for more northern parts of Colombia.

Ecuador...

We got into Montañita early this morning after a front row bus ride across the border. It could have been one of the most sleep filled bus journeys that I've had here since we were in the front row and for the first time in my life I had enough leg room in a bus.... if it hadn't been for the fact that we were in the front row and woken up every 10 minutes by a street vendor coming onto the bus and yelling "Pollo Seco!!!!" into our faces. I don't know what the hell that is anyway....it doesn't make sense...it's not even dried chicken.

Ecuador is a currency enclave for the U.S dollar which means, basically, that the government decided its own currency was such shite that it would be better to adopt U.S money as its national currency. What's funny is that it was impossible for me to find any dollars in the town. No one would change my Peruvian Soles and my card didn't work at the one working ATM in the town. Luckily Anahita let me borrow money.   Montañita is a cool little town and, to me, better than Mancora. Surfing here is great...I wish I surfed. Instead, I just jump into the waves like a Salmon over and over again until I get tired. It's really the simple things in life that give you pleasure. Met up with some Israelis who we knew from Mancora and had a good time. Literally, every other day is some kind of Israeli holiday so one night they made us all this dish called Shakshouka which was delicious and then went to a bonfire. We were the only Goys in the place but it was cool since they were all super welcoming. I love Israelis...they're the only ones that party harder than Americans. It's impressive...and kind of unsettling at the same time.

After Montanita, we went to Baños, Ecuador. Baños is a small town in the Ecuadorian Highlands that has become famous because it has an active volcano looming over it that allows the people who live there to take a dip in naturally heated pools of varying temperatures and thus the name. It's the main social activity so you just enter thru the gates and can lounge around in different pools with Ecuadorian old men and families. Oh, and it's also right next to a waterfall since its outside. I know waterfalls are gay and everthing but I have to say it was one of the coolest things I've done here. We rented this small buggy and drove outside of Baños to its surrounding waterfalls which was also a ton of fun. It wasn't as impressive as Iquazu Falls but the scenery was great, especially when you see it out of a buggy that's too small for you. The last waterfall was el Pailón del Diablo and you can get right next to it after hiking for a bit. It was pretty overwhelming to see the raw power of a waterfall that close. After almost being able to not start the engine in the buggy (their was a problem with the alternator since the engine wasn't even kicking on, we got some Ecuadorian to help us. He literally stuck a Sacajawea dollar coin into the terminals and got it to start, it was awesome) we had a pretty good meal at a local Swiss restaurant and then left for Quito. I here Quito is a pit so I'm not exactly looking forward to it but I have to see it and Anahita has a tour that leaves from there so it's a must.

The Beach

After finally getting the heck out of Lima after working my last week at the bar, I went to meet with friends in Mancora, Peru for what promised to be more madness so I had to stop in Huaraz, Peru to get some alone time. Huaraz is known as the "Switzerland of the South" because of its amazing views of the Andes. It's in the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains so it's pretty great. I talked to an American from Virginia who was probably the first legitimately crazy person that I've met in South America. You begin to see alot of people like this when you travel. Old Expats that are single, usually in their mid 50s and just wandering aimlessly around South America. I may not know what I want to be when I grow up but meeting this guy made me know what I DON'T want to be. I didn't do any trekking but I went to some old ruins, only stayed for a day and a half though because I was ready for somewhere warm.

Mancora, Peru is a small beach town that's lately been flooded with tourists. Not much to do there besides drink and hang out on the beach. I met some Aussies and some others in Lima who were also there in Mancora with the promise of them renting a house on the beach (which never really materialzed). 5 minutes into meeting up with them, we were playing Bar Jenga which is, well, just a giant Jenga set with 2 x 4s and that has dares that you have to do on each plank you take out...and 5 minutes after starting, someone was running naked around the pool table. I'm glad I didn't get that one. I just had to get a girl to give me her bra...which is harder than it sounds. I tried begging, asking really nice, trading my underwear for her bra as collateral but it all failed miserably. Promising a woman alcohol usually gets her to do almost anything though in my experience and in the end, that's the strategy that won out.
I ended up renting a private cabana on the beach to sleep in which was pretty cheap actually and meeting my friends at nights at the party hostel for the fun...which there was too much of. I'm leaving tonight with a friend for Montañita, Ecuador which I hear is another great beach town. I also heard that the last person who crossed the border was tricked into illegally trafficking a baby into Ecuador. This is actually true since child trafficking is a big deal in Ecuador. Fuuuunnnnnn...

Lima: Week 2

I've been working behind the bar here and it's been an interesting experience. Everyone I work with is great and it's fun pouring drinks and pretending that I actually like talking to people. I've found that I'm really good at faking it. On the other hand, I think I've seen all that Lima has to offer. I went to the Catacombs under a Franciscan church which was pretty cool since I'm into bizarre things. There were literally just heaps of bones from random people thrown haphazardly in some places behind bars, sometimes arranged into geometric patterns but none of it looking like what I expected. According to all my research in the 3 "Scary Stories" books from when I was in 5th grade, if a body isn't laid to rest "properly" then you get a ghost that haunts you until the bones are buried properly. That being said, I don't plan on going back there in the dark nor do I plan on stealing any of the bones as a souvenir which would be ridiculously easy to do since they're just lying around...I've got enough bad karma already.

I also went to the Church where Pizarro was laid to rest. Francisco Pizarro was pretty much the Spanish dickhead who was responsible for making the Incas think that he was a god, enslaving them, making them work in mines, and then stealing all the gold and silver and putting it into these massive cathedrals all over Peru. The fact that he's venerated all over Peru is kind of a mystery. Anyway they don't have stop signs here either. Alot of things in South America don't make sense. It's fun.

I'm waiting for a package that mom sent. I'm hoping that it gets here before 2012. In the meantime, I've been trying to learn how to surf with my Austrlian friend Nick which is one of the most difficult physical things I've ever done. There isn't much about it similar to snowboarding really except for the balancing aspect so I'm essentially starting at 0. The hardest thing is pushing yourself up off the board after you catch the wave in order to stand. It takes an incredible amount of upper body strength, which my baby arms lack so it ain't easy. Poco de poco.