Backpacking

Oh well. New country and everything. Ecuador is chockingly different from Venezuela, for various reasons. Colder, of course, more organised, more tourists. The Spanish here is much easier to understand. And here are mountains!!!

We managed to arrive in Quito without any problems with the altitude (after all, not all people do). We took it easy, spent more than a week above 2500 meters, to adjust properly, before we went down south to experience some real mountains.

Ice axe, crampons and fleece underwear. We were going to climb Cotopaxi, a snowcovered volcano and Ecuadors second highest mountain... We started from the climber's refugio at 4800 meters, our guide woke us up at midnight to do the climb to the top, 5897 meters above sealevel...

Cotopaxi

My god, I have no idea why I even tried to do it! I mean, I was already feeling the altitude sickness at that height! And also, I don't like being cold!!! I like snow when it can be used for snowboarding, and that's about it. It might have been the simple fact that I had already paid for the climb. And, oh well, I tend to be a bit stubborn from time to time...

Climbing practice on the glacier. This is before I got ill...

First I felt fine. Made it up to the glacier entrance (5000 meters) and all. Dark, cold and most of all weird, to be... on top of the world! Because that is what it felt like. I guess that feeling kept me going. So we put on our crampons and started climbing the glacier. It's goddamn beautiful! White and clean and quiet, and huge. Thunderstorms at the horizon, a bit of snowfall where we were but the sky sparkling with stars still.

But what happened? After 200 meters or so I started feeling dizzy again. Rested for a while, kept on going... and then I puked on the glacier. And worst of all - the only thing I could think about was how nice and white and clean it was before that, and how I destroyed it all... I felt like an environmental disaster!!!

So, we had to go down again. I felt really really bad because Joakim (my boyfriend) had to go down too, and he felt just fine. But lucky for me, it turns out that all the groups have to go down, because the weather was getting worse. So it wasn't completely my fault that we didn't make it...

Down in Latacunga now, I feel fine. Though, I don't know if I'm up for any more mountains, at least not for a while...

//Susanna
(More Ecuadorian pics in my photo gallery!)

So, finally guys... I know you want pictures, but I don´t really have time for internet cafés - as you can see on the picture below I'm too busy having fun!

Though, here are a few. Check out my Venezuelan photo gallery fore more!

Cheers
//Susanna

Man at the morning market in Caripe

Gulliver - Santa Fe

Green bus at Playa Colorada

Two stupid dogs in the small indian village La Tierra Blanca. One of them (the black & white one) stole a chicken from us and is therefore known as Chicken Eater.

The last house in the indian village Las Bonitas

Well, they kept playing samba music pretty much all of the time at the sleepy little bar on Playa Pui Puy. So why not? Let's dance!

I´d like to start off with saying: we haven´t been beach bums all the time here in Venezuela! For instance, we did a pretty though 4-day-hike through immense (and very muddy) rainforest, in order to reach Canaima, the jump-off point to Salto Angel - the highest waterfall in the world! - otherwise only accessible by plane...

Though, Venezuela is in fact the only Caribbean country in our itinerary. Obviously, beaches, Calypso music and fruity coctails have to be a large part of it!

That´s why we went to Playa Pui Puy. According to Lonely Planet, Playa Pui Puy is "almost as beautiful as Playa Medina". Well, I haven´t been to Playa Medina but it must be goddamn beautiful! Because Playa Pui Puy is truly stunning. Crescent-shaped and postcard-perfect, and completely hidden from the rest of the world(it was actually a pain to get there). Big waves - though not big enough for surfing (as the disappointed surfer who had come all the way from Puerto la Cruz found out).

A few houses in the eastern corner of the beach. A bar, selling beer, snacks and water (occasionally) and playing loud salsa music (continuously). A small bodega selling other stuff (mostly canned tuna and cigarettes). And the brightly-painted posada with the huge veranda where we were staying. Since there weren´t any other guests, we had the veranda to ourselves most of the time. A few meters only from the sea - and it was perfect to watch the sunset from!

When we first got there, we panicked. "There´s nothing to do here! We are going to get bored!!!". You see, we were really keen to DO stuff - and it wasnt´t even possible to hire a surfboard!

But after a few hours we calmed down and exhaled. ...and 3 days passed by, just like that! To swim in the waves, to make small expeditions in the surroundings, to read on the veranda, to "have conversations" with the locals (i.e. to ask questions in poor Spanish and not understand the answer) - activities sufficient to keep us busy. And more than anything, enjoying the peacefulness, and the beach with its beauty... very relaxing.

Arrived in Santa Fe yesterday - it took us five different vehicles to get there from Pui Puy. The beach here is quite touristic but there are no tourists really, and the village is just as sleepy as they all seem to be. Still, various activities are available (such as kayaking and snorkeling) and we´re finally able to Do stuff!

Also, for the first time in Venezuela, we´ve actually been able to order coctails on a Carribean beach (which was sort of the whole purpose with this part of the trip...). Last night, the electricity was off (seems to happen quite frequently here) so the beach was in complete darkness, except from the lightning in the sky and a couple of candles at the tiny but delightful beachfront restaurant. Though, food was available, and so were the coctails... Yummy!

Today, we´ve spent most of the time in the water, snorkelling with colourful fish in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The islands in Mochima National Park are full of pretty little beaches to spend the day on and surrounded by coral reefs to explore with the snorkelling gear. So, here we are. Relaxing.

And Angel Falls? Yeah, it was pretty cool. But that´s a whole different story. I might tell it some other time.

In a few days, we´re off to Ecuador!!!