Cartagena to Medellin to Ipiales to Otavalo.

Well a lot has certainly happened since our last blog. Our second day in Cartegena was spent in a similar fashion to the first, after a slow start we wandering the streets of the old town though thankful as it was a Sunday the streets were less filled with people. We stopped for lunch at a different local eatery and both ordered different types of fish off the menu. When our food arrived Ilona discovered that rather than a fillet of fish, she had in fact ordered a whole fish, bones, tail and fins in all, really showing where our Spanish is lacking! This however didn't faze Ilona too much and she tucked in avoiding the bones.
After walking around a bit more we returned to our hostel and opted for an early night because we had a 4.30am start the next morning in order to catch a bus to Medellin.
On the way to the bus station the next day, Ilona started to feel unwell and ended up being sick in the bathrooms before we borded the bus. The 13 and a half hour bus ride was spent in agony on her part, as every bend threatened further chundering and prompting us to voice our desire to be back on the boring old straight and flat roads of Argentina. However, we got to Medellin in one piece at around 7:30pm to enjoy the sight of the hills surrounding Medellin lit up by the hundreds of house and street lights like a blanket. One overpriced taxi later and we made it to our hostel, which is run by a fellow kiwi and called the Black Sheep Hostel. There we met our fellow room mates, a nice French-Canadian couple called Anike and Francois.
The next day we began like every other when we are in a new city. By exploring and getting our bearings. We went straight to the metro which was about 1km away from our hostel and headed to an interchange where we caught a cable car up one side of the valley. The cool thing about Medellin is that it is nestled in between two mountains that provide awesome panoramic views of the city, and the metro goes straight up the middle, making all parts of it very accessible in a short amount of time. At the top of the mountain we caught yet another cable car to a national park on the other side, which was still under tourist development, so we didn't hang around too long. We did however eat two of the best empanadas we had ever tasted and bought a very cheap jar of wickedly good salsa.
The rest of the day saw us take in the botanical gardens and the main art gallery, where the Colombian artist Fernando Botero had donated a large portion of his work. I have to say that now I have seen some of his art, that he definitely ranks up there as one of my favourite artists.
On the bus trip to Medellin, Ilona had expressed her desire for cold pizza as a bus meal, so that night we headed to a nearby pizza place to get us some for our next day's bus trip. We ordered what we thought were four slices, but it actually turned out we had bought four whole pizzas, further emphasising our lack of proficiency in Spanish.
The next day we walked to the southern bus terminal which was a lot further than we expected and booked a 2:30pm bus to the southern border town of Ipiales, which is where we would cross into Ecuador. The bus left about 20 minutes late and we settled in for a very windy 21 hour bus trip down the Andes. The thing about overnight bus trips is that I get very little leg room, even on the most spacious buses, so that combined with the bends and curves of an Andean traverse means that I get very little sleep. This is also combined with the fact that the bus drivers are mad and take very sharp corners in excess of 80km/h, overtake on blind corners and drive perilously close to sheer drops off the side of the road, so one would not particularly want to sleep, lest it be their last waking hours!
However there were no problems with the trip until around 6am the next morning where we both woke up because the bus had stopped and the lights were turned on, as there was a disturbance up ahead in the road. There were lots of lorry trucks parked around us and their drivers were all outside arguing with one another. I and a few others on the bus got up to have a look at what was going on, and as I got off, a police officer rode up on a motorbike, prompting all of the drivers to start yelling at him and arguing. I asked around what was going on, but nobody spoke any English, so all I found out was that there was a problem in the road ahead. after about 45 minutes of this we got on our way again.
For the next hour and a half, it was smooth sailing, although I did notice the lack of vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. We soon stopped once again at a truck stop high in the Andes, where we were asked by the driver to get off the bus and grab our things. Ilona and I began to worry at this point because neither of us knew where we were or what was going on. It was then that Ilona asked a guy if he spoke English, which he did and proceeded to explain to us what was happening. It turned out that many of the lorry drivers, particularly those of petrol tankers were striking in protest of the Colombian government's plan to create a state-run shipping initiative due to rising fuel costs, which would lead to many of these drivers losing their jobs. Many of them had blocked off the main arterial routes throughout the country and leading to the borders by parking their trucks diagonally across both lanes and slashing their tyres. So we were pretty much screwed it seemed as we were still around 2 hours away from our destination and with no idea if we would even be able to cross the border even if we did make it there.
At this point, there were lots of people riding around us on motorcycles like vultures, making me a little nervous. It was also wet and extremely cold as we were pretty high up in the mountains, with the cloud cover surrounding us. But it turned out that these guys were just there to give people lifts down the mountain to the town of Pasto around 4kms away, so with our heavy pack on our backs, we jumped on the back of one each and made our way down.
As frightening as it was (I had never ridden on a motorcycle before) going down the wet road, it was very exciting at the same time, and we saw some of the best views of the Andes we had seen yet. I definitely recommend travelling the Andes by motorcycle as you get a far greater sense of the weather, the altitude and scenery than you would from a bus or car. As we reached the town, we jumped off and met up with our English speaking friend, who introduced himself as Gustavo from Chile. We followed him into town with two other Colombian guys, passing police in full riot gear, heading towards the bus terminal, which was "only 1-2 kms away". 6 or so kms later, we arrived there where Gustavo went to the desk of the bus company we were with and tried to see how we could get to Ipiales. Thankfully the road was clear, so they organised a small bus for us and away we went.
We arrived about an hour and a half later and said goodbye to our three travelling buddies, endlessly thanking Gustavo for all his help, without which, we probably would have been stuck in Pasto with no clue of what was going on, and no clue of what to do next.
Our original plan was to go and see a nearby cathedral that was built over a gorge and spend the night in Ipiales, crossing the border the next morning. We decided that we should probably cross that day as we didn't know how the protests would progress, so we quickly dumped our bags at the bus terminal's luggage drop and caught a taxi to the nearby town of Las Lajas to see the cathedral. It was amazing to see as it was very well maintained due to the many pilgrims who travel there and the dramatic backdrop brought out the beauty of the architecture and audacity of those who built it in such an extreme site.
After taking it all in, we headed back to town and caught a taxi to the border. By this time we were both very tired and had hardly eaten all day, so all we wanted was to get to Otavalo in Ecuador and into a hostel. We went through Colombian emigration ok (as it seemed) but when we walked over the bridge to immigration Ecuador, Ilona was told that she had to go back because she had been given an immigration stamp dated the next day, instead of an emigration stamp dated the current day. So, almost at tipping point, she trudged back over, only to discover while waiting in line again that the Colombian official had actually realised he had made a mistake, given her the correct stamp, but on a different page! Braving wolf whistles from all of the lorry drivers standing around at the bridge, she walked back, we got our stamps for Ecuador and carried on.
Thankfully we got a bus straight away from the Ecuadorian border town of Tulcan, paying a mere US$3 each for a near 3 hour journey to the town of Otavalo. Along the way, an Ecuadorian man who spoke English noticed us constantly looking out of the window and at our map, so he asked where we were going and said he would let us know when to get off. The thing about this bus was that it didn't stop in terminals, it was more of the kind that you just tap the driver on the shoulder when you wanted to get off and he would slow down and open the doors for you, sometimes not even stopping. At this point it was getting dark and raining, so upon our Ecuadorian guide's instructions, we got off at the right place and he then waited around until we caught a cab, telling us where we had to go and how much we needed to pay. Our day had been saved once again by a second good samaritan, which despite everything, kept a smile on both our faces.
Our hostel wasn't expecting us until the following night, so thankfully they were able to give us the room a day early, which is very spacious, with our own bathroom and huge shower. At this point it was around 6:45 in the evening and we were both incredibly hungry, so we asked our host where the nearest supermarket was. She informed us that it would likely be closed very soon, but suggested a cheap mexican restaurant close by. We opted for that and made our way over, along the way noticing the general cheeriness of the people of Otavalo and the amount of smiles we were getting. The mexican place was called Taco Bello and was just amazing. I had two burritos and a coke, while Ilona had two tacos and a sprite, all of which came to US$3.75! I immediately fell in love with Ecuador.
The reason we wanted to be in Otavalo so soon was that on saturdays, the largest open air market in South America took place. On other days, the market still runs, but is generally just contained to the central plaza. The next day being a friday, we just wandered around the town, getting our bearings again and having a look through some of the daily stalls in the market. Most sold really nice alpaca wool blankets, scarves and ponchos, with others selling more touristy knick-knacks like bracelets, keyrings, bags and t-shirts. As tempted as we were to just buy things then and there, we said we would wait until saturday for the big market. One really cool thing about Otavalo is that many of the townsfolk still wear traditional clothing, with the men having single plaits and the women all wearing the same kind of gold beaded necklaces. We had lunch at a nice restaurant where we both ordered the set menu, which consisted of fresh tamarillo juice, omelette, soup, spaghetti bolognese and a white chocolate mousse, all for only $5.75 each, leaving us very stuffed and very satisfied. We lounged about for the rest of the afternoon, acclimatising to the 2500+ metres above sea level altitude.
Today we woke up and had a quick breakfast then headed out into the market, which had swelled into all the roads adjacent to the central plaza. The general theme for most of the vendors was scarves, blankets, tablecloths, ponchos, really cool pants, flutes, bracelets, little coin purses or religious items. There was also a food section of the market where elderly women dressed in their traditional clothing sold their produce, beans, corn, spices, chickens and other similar foods, while there were some stalls with entire roasted pigs, serving up meals of delicious smelling pork with rice or potato, corn and vegetables. There was such a huge array of colours and smells that we both got slightly overwhelmed and took refuge in a coffee shop off one of the main streets for a while, also nursing slightly upset stomachs. When we emerged, our shopping spree commenced, with us ending up buying a really nice and huge alpaca wool blanket, a woven tablecloth, scarves for both Ilona and I, a belt for myself, some of the aforementioned really cool pants for both of us, lots of small items for gifts and a small ukulele-like guitar with a rounded back that I swear I will learn how to play! I don't know how,but we will somehow get all of our purchases into our packs. We also managed to sneak in a visit to a pie shop that we went to the previous day, that makes the most amazing homemade sweet pies, we tried the blueberry and the blackberry, both of which were amazing. Our evening meal was decided by me, because I just had to go back to that Mexican reastaurant. This time we got a quesadilla, rice, beans, nachos and deep fried tortilla meal for two between us, two very strong margaritas and another quesadilla for me, all for what was supposed to be $9, but the owner only charged us $5.50 because we had come back a second time! Score!
So anyway, I know this was a very long entry, we put off writing it for far too long and hopefully our next one wont be too far off. We are totally in love with Ecuador and are really looking forward to seeing more, so until next time, hasta luego!
Mike.