Chimborazo

10.06.11

As if the walk around the lake haden't killed me enough,m we went for another. This time, we chose to climb up the Chimborazo. 6500 meters above sea level, but also - considerring its location close to the equator - the furthest spot on earth from it scenter. Lack of air, the cold, high altitude... extreme experience.



First sight:





As gigh as we were able to get since we had no equipment to deal with the snow peak. We'd started at 3800m and reached 4800.

The Quilotoa Loop

08.06.11

First major hike in the region. The Quilotoa loop in in the center of the country, and takes you through some very authentic villages. Problem: lots of tourists around. Still was extra pleasant. Exhausting walks and nearly fainted after 12 hours of it. ... I blame the lack of oxygen. Fortunately Marie is a MEdic student and knew what to do!



View over the valley. Starting our walk at 7AM



Asking for the way:


PEople who stopped to stare:


Us at teh lake

Path around the lake, at the top of the mountains.



When I was close to death:



When we made it our of the fog. End of the walk.




EXTRAS.


Little yellow flower called "zapatitos" (= "little shoes" or slippers)

Ottavalo.

03.06.11

Ottavalo is a Market north of Ecuador, just a few hundred kilometers on the otherside of the Colombian border. thats where I left Mike and her american mum who owned the jeep I drove.

Crossing of the Ecuadorian border and San Gabriel

02.06.11

I'm in a village called San Gabriel in the north of Ecuador. There's nothing here. But all the same: I feel excited about being in a new country. This place uses US dollars for currency. It doesn't feel quite right paying for my empenadas with green bank notes...

I crossed over the border yesterday with Carole and her son. We're still in the 4x4. Crossing from Mocoa to Pasto in Colombia was fascinating. It was a stone path through the mountains, we had to drive through rivers, water falls by the hundreds over a distance of 100km, and all this under the rain!!! The day after that, we got to Impiales where there's this big cathedral built over a canyon. I'll send some pics as soon as possible.

San Augustin

30.05.11

This morning, I left what may have been paradise on earth. San Augustin was a cheap place for me to stay, especially since evrybody there live hippy style. A metal roof, and a few bricks to avoid your hammock from swinging too much. Good also to not blow out your fire too quicklly. I'm good at living that way and people being so friendly; I was quickly able to mak friends and find a place to stay. Within no time, the whole village knew El Vaquero Chino, "The Chinese Cowboy".

Place is full of archeological sites. i found an old travel mate there: Franck from Tyrona! He's got a life there: his own horse and has nearly adopted his own family. I w invited to people's homes for nearly every meal. Lots to do during the day: suprbe walks and archeological sites to visit. Lots of statues of the type you'd usually associate with latin american ancient cultures. But that's not all. Legend ays that there are tunels under the ground on San Augustin. Currently, an archeologica team from th national university of Colombia is excavating what seems to be a pyramid covered under mud. For centuries, people lthought it was just an ordinary hill. Tunnels ar meant to lead to an undrground hidden city!!!

I met lots of travellers there, and lots of very friendluy locals who helped me a lot. Travelling has become much cheaper since I am able to commuicate propperly;a nd have decent conversations with the locals. I get a lot of help from people, and good ideas. mong other people, i met a north american lady in her 50s, traveling with her 7 year old son in a 4 by 4 they bought in Quito, Ecuador 2 months ago.. She has some sort of a pain in left arm that makes it difficult for her to drive. I suggsted to take her back to Quito where she needs to catch a plane in 12 days. We've now ben travelling together for the past 24 hours, and we're heading towards Ipiales, on the border with Ecuador.

Pamplona and area

15.05.11

Here's another university city right up there in the mountains. Here, wwe're 2600meters up in the andies. I can really tell and feel I'm back in colombia: people are nice, and wearing traditional Ruanas in the streets. Since I lost my Qantas airlines traveling blanket at Caracas international airport, I'm thinking about getting a woolen ruana for the rest of my trip. Its goignt os tart getting cold as I make my way down south, and this city seems to be the perfect place to find one.

I'm makig the most of this place to go walking up in the hills. With the company of a 25 year old engineer in electronics that i met here, I walked up to a lagoon where we found a boat just sitting there on the bank. We hoped in for a ride to get across to the oods on the other side. It was only on our way back doown the mountain that we came across a farmer ho told us that the boat was no longr in use since they had to go fish it out of the lagoon. Ita had already sunken once....

W were starving by the tie we got back to the vilage we'd started from; So the same farmer invited us into his house for some food. He'djust been fishing in the lagoon and had caught a huge red fish that i'd nevr seen before. We did't get to eat the fish that time. instead, his wife offered us this really thisck soop made with the usuall stuff they eat here. So rice, potato, platane, and yuca allmixed together. There was also a bone foting in my bowl, but with no meat on it at all!

Contact me

15.05.11.

Got a new charger for my phone. I'm now reachable again on my french mobile phone number.? hone will be on constantly.


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In order to contact me:

- it can be as simple as leaving a message on this blog. You don't need to have your own blog to do this. You could just type your name in so that i know whos writing. Or you could just write anonymoyusly.
- you can send me an email> ally7567t_ACSJC@hotmail.com
- I use both a colombian and a french sim card here. I can receive text messages sent onto my french telephone> it will cost you no more than sending a text message to any other mobile phone in Europe. I can also receive messages sent to me from websites such as www.textograto.com. Using this will cost you nothing except for a bot of time. don't forget to sign your message after typing it in, so that i know who it is actually giving a damn about where i am!!!!

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