Ecuador Part 3

'April 21, 2010,

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. Much has happened since I last wrote. We landed in Quito and were soon at our hotel. The hotel was fantastic and other than a stiff bed it was precisely what we needed to cure our delirium after 3 flights and 18 hours of travel. Yesterday morning we left the hotel and took a cab to the bus station. It was about 40 minutes and provided us a cursory view of Quito. We found bus pretty easily (despite the charming people at the ticket counters yelling at us) and embarked on the 4.5 hour ride to Mera. Most of it was fairly nondescript, though scenic. The main towns we passed through were Latacunga and Ambato, both uninspiring. Then we reached Banos. Banos sits on the edge of an active volcano and is a total laid back hippy town that we intend to visit. The last hour of the bus trip from Banos to Mera is beyond stunning. The road meanders along a gorge that has waterfalls all around and incredible vistas. I've driven the Big Sur coast and I think this tops that as the most amazing drive I've been on. We got off in Mera, a tiny sleepy town. There we got a cab out of town along an incredibly bumpy road to the path leads to Merazonia. We were really psyched at this point. The hike is about 1.5km each way and before we even got half way Andrea got terrible blisters from the boots and then it started to rain. And when it rains it pours. I mean that in more ways than one. So after struggling through the hike and barely making it we got to take a shower and unpacked. It was then that Andrea noticed her camera was stolen. I can't explain how upsetting this is. She was obviously and understandably a wreck. For a minute there we were contemplating leaving then and there. We were careful but not careful enough. We figured that it had to have happened on the bus ride, even though her bag was at our feet the whole time. That's how quick and insidious these people are. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and I'd like to think that if this person knew how much pain they caused then they might not have done it but I really don't know. I'd also prefer not to think that every Ecuadorian is a shifty camera thief but clearly we have to remain on guard at all times. But we're pushing on and we'll make the best of it.

Merazonia. We are smack dab in the middle of secondary jungle. This makes Algonquin seem like a joke. It'll take me too long to properly expound on my observations of this place so mainly I'll record what goes on in hopes that it'll trigger more insight when I'm home and then I'll write properly.

There are 8 people here and 3 dogs. Darwin is the biggest and scariest. He is essentially an adopted street dog from the Galapagos so he barks a lot and can come at you quite aggressively. He's basically harmless but it can be a little scary at times. The here are all very friendly and easy to get along with. They've definitely helped us adjust and it really is quite an adjustment. Frank, who owns the operates this area took us around today to show us how the feeding/cleaning goes. There are a couple different enclosures that house monkeys and a couple that house birds. Part of my adjustment is just to remember the names of the different species. Today was a bit of a struggle but I can feel it getting easier almost by the hour. Both Andrea and I got shit on by birds. After the afternoon feeding we went for a swim in the river. The water is moving really fast so we had to find a place to get in. It was cold but really refreshing. It's also incredibly clear and drinkable. That swim made us both feel a lot better and optimism is creeping in. This is definitely a character building experience'

Where to begin. First I should apologize for such stilted prose that's riddled with inconsistent tense.

That first experience in Quito was a total blur. We arrived super late at night, woke up at 8am to have breakfast at the hotel and then catch a bus that left around 10am. This was perhaps the most fundamental mistake we made on the trip. Not allowing time to acclimatize after the long travel. Instead we found ourselves in the middle of the jungle less than 24 hours after arriving. We would have been much better served if we spent a day or two in Quito before embarking to Merazonia.

Andrea's camera being stolen on literally our first bus ride was pretty devastating. That camera was really important to her and trying to deal with that loss was made all the more challenging given how isolated we were at the time and the fact that we still had 99.5% of the trip ahead of us. I suppose the only positive (and I use that term loosely in this case) was that she literally hadn't taken a single pic so at least this thief didn't steal any memories. I was/am mainly shocked at how brazen it was. The bag containing the camera never left our sight. Someone sat down behind us on the bus and reached under our seat and that was that. I shudder to think at what I would have done had I caught this person red handed because I would have totally lost it. Even now the thought makes me extremely angry. Sadly this happened a couple weeks later to another tourist on a bus we were on. Her bag was slashed with a knife. In talking with other travellers I got the impression that this kind of thing is more prevalent in Ecuador than it is in most other South American countries. After the initial shock I thought Andrea handled things remarkably well and from then on we always had our defenses on high alert.

Something else I notice in my writing is how upbeat I sound when talking about Merazonia. I think I was trying to convince myself that things were going well and didn't want to just dwell on the challenges. I'll write more on Merazonia itself in the next entry.

The cabs that they have in Mera are really just pickup trucks with covers over the back and benches to sit on. The reality is that only a 4x4 would even be able to traverse the unbelievably bumpy, rocky crevice filled road that leads out of town and up into the jungle. Easily the worst road I've ever been on. We were genuinely excited by this as it led us further and further away from any civilization and closer and closer to real adventure, our reason d'etre. The 1.5km trail into the park (all uphill I should point out) proved quite challenging. Andrea didn't wear socks under her waterproof boots and that quickly spelled trouble as she developed massive blisters on the backs of her ankles that very severe enough that they didn't heal until after we got back home. So she was in pain for almost the entire hike and about halfway through the torrential rain came down, as only it can in the jungle.

It's hard to imagine a more auspicious beginning, and that seemed to set the tone, at least for my Merazonia experience.