Flight of the Condor

Having planned our days in order to be in the right place in Ecuador for our flight to the Galapagos (still can´t believe we are going!) we went south to Popayan, known as the white city, as the centre is all whitewashed colonial style buildings. The journey was marked by the attentions of a very friendly, English speaking physiotherapist, desperate to be our guide. He was so genuine and eager but he really wouldn´t put a sock in it. After 3 hours of non-stop babbling during which we were asked if we had seen the papaya over 200 times, and if we saw the sugar cane even more, we were ready to throw in the towel. Anyone thinking that this a pot-kettle-black scenario should not underestimate the world-class relentlessness of this perniciuos fellow. Once out of his clutches (thank god he got off half way, and yes, I refused his phone number) we stayed in La Familiar de Descanso in Popayan, one of the sweetest places so far, with grandmotherly style, nice big blankets (it has started to get Andean cold) hot showers and plants all around. We met Hanna, from Tampere, who we went around with for a few days - enabling her to enjoy some drinking after dark - something she hadn´t been doing since getting mugged on her first day in Columbia. Anna and I took a day trip to Agua Hirbeando, hot springs out in the hills. Friendly locals poored us AguaArdiente, the local firewater, as we played head-tennis and splashed about in the mineral-rich pools of varying temperatures. It was a lovely day but our overriding memories will be of the seriuosly pungent sulphurous smell that was very hard to wash off, and the lovely cat we petted for an hour while waiting for a ride out.

Popayan was friendly and fun to walk around. And so was the centre of Pasto, where we had to spend a night before the border crossing to Ecuador. We ate terrible pizza, but again enjoyed more mountain views all around and paced the centre of another progessive-feeling Columbian city. The border crossing to Ecuador was painless and, once across, the scenery got even more impressive. The south of Columbia is marked by three mountain ranges that come together to form the Andes proper, and as the relief grows more severe, the land is scarred by deep ravines and canyons. Much of the land is precariously farmed and there are some major volcanoes around to spice up the skyline.

Our first stop in Ecuador was Otavalo, where I write now. It is one of the craft centres of Ecuador and we have just been shopping this afternoon. It is also the town with the most pizzerias and internet cafes per square mile in the whole wide world ever. There are lots of indigenous folk around and our hotel has a free rooftop pool table with views to the surrounding valleys and volcanoes. Otavalo sounds Finnish and actually means the imperative ´take light!´.

This morning we went to Parque Condor, a unique Andean bird-of-prey sanctuary, set on top of a hill with 360 views across to the lakeland and distant vocanoes as far as the Columbian border. We saw a whopping Andean Condor up close and saw the flight show with various eagles, buzzards and hawks. And we coo´ed at the very cute owls. I used my charms to blag a lift back with a local family from Quito. The coffee is arguably better here than Columbia, though we have been drinking too much the last few days.

Tomorrow we are heading through Quito and on to Salinas in central Ecuador. Our book says it the cheese, salami and chocolate capital of the region. Wild horses... So we will swerve Quito, partly because we have just a few days to get to Guayaquil, but mostly because everyone we meet gets mugged and/or altitude sickness in Quito and we haven´t heard anything good about it.

It was this time last year that my dad left us. My thoughts now are with Kusti and his brothers and sister, who just lost their father. I can´t imagine what they are going through but we are thinking of them.

Snowy owl, like what we have back home hiding in the Finnish wilderness


The famous blinking owl of Otavalo