Last stop and we are on the way to home.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

The long flight went nicely watching movies and in the early morning hours we arrived to Madrid. Four and half hours to the next flight and it's basically midnight in Ecuador time, so we are slightly dead..

Here's some videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gPbSWYWB53T24SU7A

Add comment

No comments posted yet

First flight to Lima went fast and we spent the night near the airport in a hostel. Passing the border control we found out that Lima is one of these stupid airports that have a mandatory airport tax for exiting the airport on transfer. We would have needed to stay inside the airport and sleep somewhere on the floor or pay the $30 airport tax when re-entering the airport if we leave it.

However, it doesn't seem to be enforced in any way or then they failed something. We tried to pay the tax on the airport tax desk when departuring and were told that it's not necessary. We passed the security checks and border control just fine, so I guess there is no system in place to check if the tax has actually been paid. Well, won't complain.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

Souvenir shopping, walking around the city and the last day in Quito was spent. Now it's the time to start our long way to home via three stops, spending the next night in Lima. The package tags with flights on three different days look kinda depressing..

Add comment

View 1 posted comments

This day was pretty much wasted waiting for the replacement car to arrive. The road from Quito to Tena goes high over the mountains and is in bad condition, so it's only open for couple of hours at daytime due to repair works. The rental company driver couldn't use that route, so he had to drive a long way to us via Banos and only arrived in the afternoon.

Having received a new car, a horribly ugly toy car Chevrolet Spark we drove through the mountain road to Quito. The road was open in the evenings after 6pm, so we could pass through but it was already dark. At some points the road was just mud and even had small rivers flowing over the road. It was raining, dark and the road is actually listed on some website as one of the most dangerous ones in the world so we didn't exactly enjoy the experience. Thanks to the rental company for the late delivery of the car..

Everything went well though and we arrived to Quito, dropping off the new car to the rental company. Luckily they agreed with us that the damage in the car was pre-existing and the now broken steel wire repair had been done during some earlier rental. We did drive it through that bump, but it would have not caused anything if the old repair wasn't weak. So, this mess didn't cost us anything and they even refunded the taxis we had to take between Misahualli and Tena.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

Well, it looks like our car was not so lucky to survive with just a minor plastic reattachment. We drove to the nearby bigger town Tena in the evening and visited a local car repair shop, who immediately noticed there was no pressure in the cooling system left. So, it's also leaking somewhere so it will take a bit more effort to fix. The car is insured though so that shouldn't be a huge problem. We called the rental company and after some mess of a discussion with them and the repair company in half-spanish they will send a roadside assistance and new car tomorrow in case it's needed. The broken one is now in a safe place, under night guard's eyes on the yard of a repair company that obviously repairs all the police cars of the area.

Earlier during the day we did a tour down the river with a motorboat and a local guide. Seems like this tour was also a good selection, the guide was definitely not in hurry to anywhere and seemed to also have some genuine interest and knowledge in nature. We learned a bit of the local gold digging tradition and ceramics and hiked for some hours in the dense, wet jungle. No big animals, but a lot of insects, birds and flora.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

After leaving Banos we stopped for a while at Casa del Arbon, a small restaurant and garden on top of a mountain with high swings above the cliff and later on at Paillon del Diablo. The later one is an 80 meter waterfall with high water volume and some beautiful stone stairs around the waterfall. Heavy rain begun while we were exploring the waterfall, so we were soaking wet from both the rain and the water from the waterfall when we returned to our car.

Driving out from the waterfall village to the main road I didn't notice a concrete water canal on the side of the road and one of the tires hit there. As the result some plastic support structures from under the car front bumper broke and I spent a nice half an hour laying in monsoon rain on a pool of mud water temporarily fixing the bottom so that the car would be drivable. Luckily I always carry some parachute cord with me. Actually it looked like the same part had been broken earlier and had been fixed with a steel wire which was now cut.

Well, we managed to fix the car enough to drive the rest of the way to Mishuahulli, a small town on the edge of Amazonas area. Properly fixing it shouldn't take more than a moment from a repair company and cost next to nothing, so that won't be a big problem.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

The baths were an interesting experience. Already at seven in the morning there was a lot of locals soaking in the hot pools, in the slightly worn out building next to a high waterfall. The water in the pools was very hot, well above 40C and you could also shower in the freezing cold water of the waterfall.

Not the best hot springs I have been to, but very interesting. And hot water was definitely nice in the cold morning, the city is very cold as it's located high on the mountains. Night temperatures are only around 5C and there is no heating in the houses, so thick blankets are required. Now off to a much warmer place, the Amazonas.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

Long driving day was uneventful and we arrived to a popular hot springs spa town of Banjos. The hot spring spas open at five in the morning and we plan to go there early in the morning, so let's see how they are.

The road though half of the country again passed through variable landscapes, from dry mountains to rainforest, ugly and less ugly towns. Definitely the best way to see the whole country. At the highest point the road climbed up to four kilometers, really interesting to drive with our totally underpowered ugly white horse. Now in Banjos we are next to an active volcano Tungurahua, higher than any European mountain at over five kilometers.

Add comment

No comments posted yet

The diving day was not a bad day either. We took the boat 40km from the coast to the Isla de la Plata again in the morning and did two dives there. On both dives we were accompanied by multiple huge manta rays, over five meters in wingspan. The water was cold at sub 20C temperatures, so the dives were done in thick seven millimeter wetsuits which took a while to get used to. Much the same gear which is used when diving in Finland at summertime. Unfortunately our eight person dive group consisted of six total beginners and us, so.. There were so annoyances in avoiding the bouncing rookies and uncontrolled fin kicks, but the mantas made up for that.

After the dive a young humpback whale baby and the family arranged a show for us. The baby (just the size of a regular car, unlike the bus-size parents) was playing around all the time, jumping in the air, swimming belly up on the surface and even splashing water on one of the boats. Was fun to watch and photograph. :)

In the afternoon we reached the town again, had pizzas in an Italian restaurant and drove in darkness to a bad hotel in middle on nowhere, in an attempt to reduce some of tomorrow's driving. Tomorrow will be a long driving day to reach the highlands again.

Add comment

No comments posted yet