Ecuador – thwarted day by day

We turned up to our hostel in Guayaquil to find that they wouldn't let us in. Literally - we waited on the street talking to someone behind metal bars at the entrance to the building. Whilst Bernard talked to someone on the phone when we realised that there was double booking, the hostel was completely full and we were on our own to find a suitable alternative. We were feeling particularly on edge having read that Guayaquil isn't particularly safe at night, wondering around from hotel to hostel in search of a place to stay. We eventually found a room at the Hilton. Naturally we paid much more than we intended, but we got a fantastic room, the last they had available. We asked why the city was so full and found out that a medical conference was taking place in the city – with 2500 delegates and only 1500 rooms in luxury, first, second and third class lodgings. We at least had a comfortable place to stay – nay, luxurious place to stay for a night. We watched TV – ordered room service (I had a salad – a luxury in south america) and hoped that we would find somewhere else to stay the next day.

It didn't happen. The city was full. So we booked cheap flights to Quito, found a place to stay there and headed off without further delay. We got a free transfer to the airport and were bumped onto the earlier flight.  Our luck is changing, we though.  Then we arrived in Quito, took an expensive taxi to our hostel through what looked like an incredibly grim part of town. We walked around Quito to find somewhere to have lunch – it was Saturday afternoon, many shops were closed, locals were out in force (a signifnant enough number were intoxicated) and the entire time didn't see many other tourists and were constantly stared at and were even called gringos to our faces. My blond hair seems to draw some attention. It did make us slightly nervous and wondered why Quito is hailed as such a lovely place to visit. We ordered pizza that night – simply unable to face walking around for somewhere to find dinner.

But after good sleep and hearty breakfast at our friendly hostel, we set off in search of last minute Galapagos tours. We soon realised that on a Sunday the town was pretty much closed, even for tourism, so we wondered around Quito “New City” and discovered that the city really does have some rather nice parts. The next day we booked a last minute cruise to the Galapagos – OK the last minute price was an absolute bargain, but still broke my budget for Ecuador. But we are hopeful that it will be one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and worth every penny.

We then wanted to get to Banos (a town I had wanted to visit for some town) only to find out from the owner of the hostel that the Volcano Tungurahua had been active the last few days and had perpetually covered Banos in thick layers of ash. We were informed the area was not safe to visit which put a real spanner in the works. Great. The only place in Ecuador I really wanted to visit I can't. So we changed our plans once again and booked another three nights in Quito and decided to take day-trips to other spots as we felt like it. Ecuador really wasn't showing us its best colours. Later that day we headed off to a western style supermarket – could have spent $100 on all the fantastic cheeses, meats and other luxury items from home. Instead we bought all one needs for a super veggie pasta. My body in particular was delighted with such a feast.