Quito into Intag Valley

The rest of our travel was uneventful. We landed in Ecuador around 2am. 33 hours in transit to this point! Our luggage arrived which was my only other concern and our driver was waiting for us so everything was going great! We had a 40 minute drive to get to our Air BNB and we were treated to some great information from our driver Washington! The room was actually like a quant older style mini apartment and it was very cool and cute! No hot water for a shower though which was fine, cold showers are a good simple way to train your mental fortitude! It was 4am when we hit the sack and we set our alarms for 8am to make the most of the day and combat jet lag! We packed our small travel bag, chose some markets to go and get food, download offline maps while we had wifi and ventured out! A lot of the videos that we had been watching highly recommended not walking around with your phone out so we took that on board. Leading up to the trip I had been encouraging Jess on the ways and mindset of Krav Maga and how to always be aware of who’s around your space, and potential dangerous! In my mind Jess was the President and I was her most trusted bodyguard who needed to make sure we both stayed safe. We made it to the markets, not the markets we had thought we were going to but they sold food! Everything was in Spanish of course and everyone wanted us to buy their food! We settled on a vendor with a nice older lady and we got to have a very tasty and filling breakfast and delicious juice for $8! We headed to the Centro Historico because I love history! We went to Basílica del Voto Nacional which was nothing short of majestic. I think the style is called Neo Gothic, could be wrong but they had gargoyles! We walked around for awhile with our jaws dragging along the ground. The architecture was mind blowing.

When we finished we went to go and try to sort out a SIM card so we could use the internet! I wish I knew more Spanish! I had my google translator preloaded with “can you help me get a sim card please?” And found a store that had the Claro sticker outside! The younger shop assistant tried to set us up with her identification details. Half an hour later we thought we were in business however it wasn’t to be the case! While we were trying to sort this out school must have finished because there was a sudden influx of kids running into the shop buying lollies and Ice creams! A group of younger girls came up to me and Jess and wanted to talk to us! They were nervous and giggling and wanted us to take a photo with them.

Since our phone still wasn’t working we decided to head back to the hotel to get some wifi and sort it out. Claro is meant to be the biggest network provider, however, finding out information online was hard because surprise surprise it was all in Spanish. I thought there may have been an English version for us gringos but alas! Somehow I figured it out and we were in business. Armed with data, and unwanted confidence we called a Uber to take us to TelefériQo Cable Car, the chairlift that takes you up to the top of a volcano. Ubers seem extremely cheap here as it only cost us approx $3USD. We boarded the lift and there was a couple in the cart. I decided to test out some Spanish and it went as well as expected! They knew about the same English as we knew Spanish but it was good because this started to give us confidence to even try talking. There was a lot of cloud cover so the visibility was limited but it was still amazing. At the top we were pretty close to 4000m above sea level according to my watch. We were both struggling with fatigue. Any one that knows me well knows I have a strong aversion to coffee, how ever I have decided to embrace new things and we needed to combat fatigue which was gaining the upper hand so Jess ordered me an americano. It was gross but I forced it down! We went off for a walk and it was beautiful. We both felt very second hand due to the altitude though. After a little explore we headed back to the carts to go back down. There was a gay couple in there with us and one of them was quite emotional for some reason. I thought it may have been due to a fear of heights because his partner kept saying “look look” in Spanish but he wouldn’t oblige. Closer to the bottom he calmed and we tried to speak with them. They were from Colombia and knew who Charles Olivera was! (The upset one had bleached blonde hair like Charles!)

Back to the hotel and then it was time for tea. Jess wanted to go to a specific place recommended by a YouTuber so we punched in the address with our fully functioning phone and ventured out. It was getting close to dusk so I was in extra alert protection mode! We found the restaurant but they weren’t open so we went for a cruise around the block. So much to look at! Upon returning to the restaurant they took us to the rooftop and the view there was absolutely stunning! The food was also delicious however I couldn’t tell you one meal I’ve eaten so far! Something to work on!

We headed back to the hotel and I’m pretty sure I observed on 3 occasions pimps and prostitutes, this would later be confirmed by a lovely expat we chatted with in Intag. The next mourning we woke, Jess got about 3 hours sleep and was feeling it. Another quick Uber to grab some breakfast and it appeared we had found the party hostel area! We jumped out of the Uber and were greeted by three female police officers! They welcomed us to Quito and the area but asked us to be careful and look out for each other. What a pleasant contrast to conversations I have with the rozzers back at home! There had been a Taxi T-Boned by a pickup truck which was getting sorted so we ducked into a little cafe! The owner was very nice and keen to chat. He gave us good info and noticed I was wearing my Fightclub Jiu Jitsu top. He said that Muy Thai is the second most popular martial art in Quito and on the coast where Marlon Chita Vera is from BJJ was very popular! Jorge wanted a photo as we said our goodbyes.

Back to the hotel to check out and head 40mins north in a Uber to the bus station. Getting a ticket was easy enough considering how much was going on and nothing was in English. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were on our way to Otavalo to get a connecting bus. We arrived and just missed a bus by 5 minutes so we had 3 hours to kill. The last bus we could catch was at 1730 meaning we would be travelling at night. Nothing could be done about this. We went for a little walk and grabbed some lunch. No idea what we ordered but it was tasty and cheap! Back to the station and my limited Spanish was holding up because we sorted our tickets. There was a vendor next to the ticket booth selling prepaid Claro. I tried to explain that I wanted internet. He showed me a piece of paper that had the options but the most I could get was 50mb and a shit load of phone call credit. This was $12 USD!! We needed internet to download offline maps and translate. Out of options I agreed and he loaded it onto our phone. We boarded the correct bus and tried to explain where we needed to get dropped off because it was a farmhouse outside of a tiny town which I didn’t expect the driver to know where it was and I was even more sceptical they would remember. We set off and the driver was a maniac!! It reminded me of the chaotic driving I experienced in Vietnam! The light soon turned to darkness as the straight roads turned to tight twisting roads. At this point I’m going to say sorry to our parents in advance but I need to recount our experiences accurately and I hope this doesn’t add to your worry and stresses! There is the bus driver and he has a assistant who does things like load other passengers we pick up along the way, their luggage and takes payment. He put on a video and gestured to us. The movie was Gerald Butler who was a pilot. Typical action movie with minimal plot! Plane crashes in the jungle, there is a prisoner on board. There is also some renegade gorillas in the jungle who take the passengers hostage while Gerald and his new prisoner friend are out trying to contact help. Back to our bus ride and it’s dark and raining. The road is very tight, twisty and seemed narrow from what I could tell by looking out the window. No reception of course. I’m watching intently on the google maps where our dot is in relation to our destination. It seems like the ride is going for ages and we couldn’t contact our accommodation to let them know we were on the way. He said that the bus will go straight past his place and would stop out the front for us. As we passed through a few tiny towns they didn’t offer me any hope of getting a taxi if we needed a plan B. We passed the last town and I went to the drivers and showed them my maps and pointed. They spoke with each other and nodded. It was lucky I spoke up because 30 seconds later they told us that this was as close as they could drop us and we would need to walk down the road to our destination! Ok no worries…. We got our packs, confirmed the direction and there we were on the side of the road watching the tail lights disappear in to the night. I set my watch to tell me how far we had walked and off we set. We talked about our experiences so far and joked around but given the movie we had just watched I was once again on high alert. There was a few little houses we passed with dogs that barked at us and came out to the road to investigate. I was looking for a stick to fend them off if they tried to maul us. No luck. A few motor bikes and cars passed us. One pick up truck drove past us, turned around, drove back past, then turned around again stopping behind us and turned their lights off. “Hmmm”. Then in the distance I could make out a moto riding towards us with their lights off. “Here we go!” I thought! Nothing happened and I checked our map. We had walked about 1/3rd of the distance. At least it’s not raining and it’s down hill. Nekk minute - lightning and a clap of thunder!! We laughed making light of the situation. We made it to the accommodation just as the rain picked up and we both felt a wave of relief. After ringing the door bell on the gate and yelling out my patience and appetite was starting to get the better of me! We ended up breaking in and walked through the door to see an older couple and a younger dude with dreads and giving me rasta vibes! “Welcome Jessica!” We had made it!! We sat down and indulged in the food as we spoke with the couple and the dreaded man who had a slight English accent and turned out to be Curtis our host. The lady was actually from Australia and her partner was from Switzerland. After eating and engaging in conversation I was keen to get to bed so we excused ourselves and Curtis showed us our accommodation which was a very cute and quaint tiny cottage! We had access to starlink which was very much dependent on how much cloud cover there was. We rested our weary heads and bodies down. While drifting off I was very grateful we had made it relatively drama free, safe and most importantly Jess and I were working and travelling well together as a team. I was definitely mindful that we are two different people with very different ways of doing things. My travel to this point has been limited while Jess spent the best part of her 20s abroad. I feel the closeness together and a great appreciation for her and what we are doing.