!Viva Ecuador!

As I got off the plane in Quito I was a little nervous.  This was really the first time in my life that I bought a one-way ticket having no clue which direction I would go! I honestly didn´t know what to expect!  After a lengthy wait in immigration I received my stamp, collected my luggage, and luckily saw someone with a ¨Secret Garden¨sign waiting for me. I got to the hostel around midnight and passed out quickly.  The next day I enjoyed breakfast on the rooftop of Secret Garden Quito.

View from Secret Garden Quito

After breakfast I walked around the city with one of the girls from my hostel.  I was definitely expecting the worst in Quito as I read how dangerous it was.  I must say that I found the old city very lovely and quite secure, especially during the day.  We listened to the police and avoided areas that were deemed unsafe.  Since it was Carnaval most of the city was shut down with just a few random shops open.  It was perfect to tour around the old city when it wasn´t very crowded. 

At 11am every Monday in Quito there is apparently a changing of the guards ceremony at the Presidents Palace.  Both locals and tourists gather to watch the 45-60 minute ceremony.  It was a very enjoyable ceremony and I was glad that I could catch it.  I particularly enjoyed the drunk Ecuadorian man behind me mumbling and yelling to the sky while crying ¨Viva Ecuador¨!

Quito is the second highest capital city in the world  and  I was starting to feel some altitude sickness so I decided to go back to the hostel to rest.  Most of the guests at the Secret Garden hang out on the rooftop and warm up with a glass of wine by the early evening and I was easily convinced to do the same! I hung out by the fire, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed pizza for dinner.  Overall it was a perfect first day in Ecuador!

The next morning I decided to take advantage of cheap transportation to Cotopaxi to stay at the Secret Garden Cotopaxi, which was off the beaten path a bit but positioned in close proximity to Cotopaxi Volcano and some other mountains.   We were greeted with a glass of spiced warm wine and a lunch with fresh lentils and rice.  All of the meals at Secret Garden Cotopaxi were included in the price of the accomodation and the food was always homemade!

Apart from fueling up with delicious food at Secret Garden I was able to take advantage of the surroundings.  One of the workers took us to a waterfall hike nearby.  It was quite a trek hopping from rock to rock (and occassionally doing a little rock climbing on the side of the river).  The view of the waterfalls was beautiful and the were a lot of interesting plants in the trees.

During my second day in Cotopaxi I decided to do the refuge volcano hike given that I had no desire to pay $200 to do an overnight hike to the summit.  The weather was pretty awful but I was hoping I would see a view upon reaching the refuge.  The hike was a straight 45 minute uphill climb with extremely poor visibility due to the weather.  I made it to the top but unfortunately saw nothing!

Back at the hostel I opted to chill on the hammock for the remainder of the day.  The highlight of the day was probably the homemade woodfired pizza and fruit crumble for dinner!

Llama at Secret Garden Cotopaxi

After 2 days of relaxation I was sad to leave the wonderful property but was ready to hit the road again!.  I took an hour ride to Machachi to catch a bus to Baños, known to be a backpacker favorite in Ecuador.  I stayed at Hostal Plantas y Blancos in Baños, which is perfect for backpackers with cheap dorm rooms, a kitchen, and a nice rooftop to hang out.

Baños by night, Hostal Plantas y Blancos

It is hard to say what it is about Baños that makes it so special but I really loved this town.  Surrounded by mountains, hot springs, waterfalls, and extreme activities makes it easy to find things to do nearby.  For me, it was the laid back vibe of the town, friendly locals, and beautiful surroundings!  We would cook family dinners every night, rotating who cooked, with 12-15 backpackers from at least 8 different countries joining in!  It is no surprise that people tend to hang around longer than expected!

Family dinner

Rooftop musica

Baños

In the town I enjoyed visiting the fresh markets and trying local cuisine .  My favorite breakfast/lunch dish was llapachingos, which is fried potato pancakes with an overeasy egg on top and accompanied by avocado, chorizo, and a salad.  I was obsessed!

Llapachingos

Cuye...I was too scared to try it!

During my stay I did manage to do a few fun activities outside the town as well!:

Hot Springs
Baños received its name due to the close proximity of several hot springs.  I went to two of the hot springs on separate occasions.  My first day I went to the closest hot spring, Las Piscinas de la Virgen, which was a 5 minute walk from the hostel.  There were 3 pools there: cold, warm, and hot.  It was very crowded but so relaxing to soak my sore muscles in the hot pool!

On a Sunday we were motivated to wake up at 4:45am to go to a hot spring outside of the town called El Salado.  Eight of us packed into a truck at 5am and went to the hot springs thinking we were so smart and would have it to ourselves! Well, about 100 locals had the same idea and they said that it was a ¨slow day¨! Regardless I found this hot springs way better than the first and it was much cleaner.  They strictly enforced the rule to wear bathing caps which looked goofy but served a good purpose! The views on the walk down were amazing and on a clear day you could see smoke coming out of the volcano.

Waterfalls
For those who are more adventurous there is the option to rent bikes for $5/day and do a 21km bike to all of the nearby waterfalls.  I opted to try this out on my second day in Baños.  While it was fun to be on bikes, the road did not feel like it was meant for both buses and bikers! Every time we were forced to go through a tunnel I would just pedal as fast as I could to get out of there! Although the views along the way were beautiful I don´t think that I was able to fully enjoy it given that I was so terrified of the oncoming traffic!  I actually ended up returning to the waterfalls a second day by doing a 4 hour bus tour for $5.  I found this more enjoyable than biking but I suppose it just depends on your comfort level!

Canopy:
On my organized waterfall tour trip I decided to do a two- way canopy (zipline) for $10.  The lines were very high up, at least a couple hundred feet if not more.  I was so scared to do the ¨superman¨style zipline but convinced myself to carry through (mainly because I already paid!).  Although I had to force myself to keep my eyes open at times it was worth it!

While my friends nearly convinced us to stay just one more day, I continued on my journey down south to Cuenca with my friend Mathilde.  Cumatively, the bus ride took 8 hours, with a stopover in Riobamba.  The ride went through the mountains and passed by breathtaking villages.  When we arrived in Cuenca it was pouring and we unfortunately had to walk through the rain for 20 minutes in search of decent accomodation.  We settled on Hostal La Escalinita which was okay, having cheap private rooms, but certainly nothing special!  The greatest benefit to the hostel was it clost proximity to restaurants, cafes, and sightseeing.

During our only full day in Cuenca we enjoyed strolling around the colonial city.  It felt very European with the architecture and cafe culture. Although it rained for most of the day we were lucky to have a few hours of sun! I particularly enjoyed the dining experience at local restaurants in Cuenca.

Cafe con pan

By the next morning Mathilde was off to Peru and I was on my way to Guayaquil to catch a flight to Galapagos! We will see how my ¨budget¨trip to the Galapagos turns out!

Here I go again!

It has been about 1.5 years since I returned from my last big adventure! After coming home, I decided it was time to join the "real world".  I moved down to Denver and worked in advertising for a year before ultimately deciding that it was time to get out and explore the world once again!

Ever since I came back from visiting my sister in Argentina in early 2009 I kept thinking of the right time to head back to the continent.  Hiking, surfing, and diving are some of my favorite hobbies and luckily Latin America is a paradise for these activities!  In addition, I would love to become fully fluent in Spanish after studying a few semesters of the language in college.  So deciding to spend nearly four months in this region of the world was a no brainer!

While the only plan I have made is a one-way ticket to Quito, Ecuador, the current itinerary is to spend a month in Ecuador before heading north into Colombia then Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and so on if time allows. The beauty of a one way ticket is that you can go where the wind takes you! Stay tuned!

My Darling Dahab (and the rest of Luxor)

I am ashamed to say that I never came around to posting about Dahab and the rest of Luxor.  Its amazing how time passes by!  Some of my best memories from my entire nine month trip were in Dahab, a backpacker/divers paradise located on the Red Sea.  When I come back from South America I vow to finish this post! Until then here are a few of the many wonderful memories from Dahab and the Sinai region!

Red Sea Relax Resort ($8 dorm rooms!)

Watching the World Cup on the roof 

Getting our Advance diver certification at the Blue Hole 

Diving WWII Wreck site- Thistlegorm

Trekking up Mt. Sinai for sunrise 

Kicking back on the beach with good food and friends

Down South to Aswan and Luxor

I arrived back in Cairo from Bahariya Oasis and barely had any down time at Wake Up Cairo before heading out on another adventure.  The last tour that I booked was a five day excursion to Aswan and Luxor.  There were two other girls from the hostel on the tour, coincidentally from the U.S, and I was happy to hear that I would have some familiar faces on the tour!    We all went to the train station to catch an overnight first class train from Cairo all the way down south to Aswan.  I have been on many "first class" trains that were rough but this was actually a very nice, comfortable train ride.

Our guide was waiting for us at the train station where we quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel before beginning our tour.  From the hotel we went to the Aswan Dam and then continued onward on a mellow boat ride to Philae Temple.

Aswan Dam

Philae Temple had a great location with the Nile River as the backdrop to this ancient temple.  One main benefit to the tour was that we had a historical guide for each site which is very necessary for Egyptian tours.  Most of the time I enjoy exploring on my own but it is extremely valuable to have an expert explaining the significance of the sites in such a historical place.

 One thing that I learned quickly in Southern Egypt is that you will get exhausted and dehydrated extremely fast.  After eating dinner and showering I passed out so quickly! We had to wake up bright and early the next morning at 4am to drive to one of the most southern cities in Egypt, Abu Simbel, to see the Abu Simbel temples.  There is high security there so each tour bus had to wait for a police escort vehicle to take them to the sight.  The temples were very interesting as it is two twin temples carved out of the mountainside right next to each other.

From the Abu Simbel temples we took a quick drive to meet our felucca crew for an overnight felucca ride  Once we entered our home for the next day we had a fully prepared lunch already set up.  It was so nice to chill out with the slight breeze and enjoy lunch while cruising down the Nile River.  Within about 10 minutes of finishing lunch we all passed out on the boat.  It was a much needed nap and the mellow boat ride helped to keep me asleep!

Felucca naptime

A feast

After a glorious nap I found myself sitting on the edge of the felucca, taking it all in.  It is so peaceful out there and is certainly a nice change of pace from the very touristy temple sites.  We had yet another wonderful meal from our guide as we parked the boat on the shore for the night.

Felucca Chef Master

The group

With a recharged battery I was ready to keep moving through the Egypt temple route.  The felucca went a bit north towards Luxor where we were picked up to continue on our way.

Next up is a report on the famous temples in Luxor as well as my beach bummin' adventures in Dahab!

The Wild West- Bahariya Oasis

The first tour that I did through Wake Up Cairo was a 3 day/ 2 night excursion into Bahariya Oasis.  I figured that it would be nice to get out into nature before doing more historical sightseeing in Southern Egypt.

I took a 4.5 hour bus ride from Cairo's main bus station to Bahariya Oasis, which is about 200 kilometers east of the Libyan border.  When I arrived in the early afternoon I was met by the rest of my group.  There were only four of us in this small group tour.  We dropped our stuff off at Sahara Camp, which had great accommodation and fresh meals for their guests.

My cozy desert bungalow

After lunch our tour guide loaded us in the jeep for an internal 4x4 tour of Bahariya Oasis.  The drive was a lot of fun and the scenery was unlike anything I have seen before.  We ended the day by watching the sunset over Jebel Ingleezi (English Mountain) before going back to Sahara Camp for the night.  

Salt Lake, Bahariyya

English Mountain

We arrived back at the camp to another wonderful meal.  On these tours it is such a treat to come back from a long day out and have fresh food waiting for you! After dinner one of the workers prepared a traditional Egyptian tea for us.  It is essentially a very concentrated mint tea with a ton of sugar in it.  Although the tea is very strong it makes for a great dessert!

The next morning I joined on with another two guys to go into White Desert.  Along with the two other tourists in the group we had our tour guide and a security guard.  When I asked the tour guide if it was standard to bring a security guard into the desert he said that the only reason he was there was because of me! Apparently the Egyptian government pays for security guards to escort single (especially American) women into the desert.  I didn't know whether to be excited or nervous but I had my own personal bodyguard! 

Hanging out with my bodyguard

On our way to the White Desert we drove through the black desert and hiked up to the top for a view of the landscape.  From the black desert we did one more hike at Crystal Mountain.  At the top of this mountain there is a small cave with crystals inside, hence the name

Black Desert

Before going to the White Desert for the remainder of the day and night we went to a local village with a refreshing cold spring to eat lunch.  It was so refreshing to dip our feet in to cool down from the dry heat of the desert.

While I enjoyed Bahariya Oasis nothing compared to the white desert.  The White Desert is one of the most visually stunning places that I have ever been to.  The desert got its name from the shining white limestone that covers the ground, creating incredible rock formations in the sand.  Every turn we made led us to another amazing formation in this vast landscape.

My awesome tour group

Driving through the White Desert at sunset was magical! I truly felt like I was in some alternate universe...it felt very powerful.  Definitely one of the best experiences I have ever had.  It felt like we have thousands of miles of desert to ourselves.  We pulled over and set up a sleeping area before the sun went down completely.  With no lights in the distance we were able to see the entire skyline and all of the stars.  The desert is definitely the perfect place to sleep under the stars

I woke up the next morning at sunrise to an already prepared breakfast with hot tea.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast before having to pack up and leave the magical White Desert.  I could have easily hung out in the desert for another couple days but I had to continue on my journey to go down south!