it felt good, as we carried our backpacks on saturday morning to the bus terminal. it was time to leave quito behind. we took a bus via latacunga to chugchilán, halfway on the so-called quilotoa loop. the bus had a lot of clearance, soon we knew why. the raod changed from sealed, to pebblestones, gravel and finally dirt. we passed deep gorges and impressive mountains. the grass changed from vivid green to dry brown the higher the bus climbed.
chugchilán is a little village on 3066m. as we arrived, it was raining cats and dogs. so there was nothing else to do than learn some spanish;-) and enjoy dinner:-). luckely the sun was back the next day. early in the morning we catched a bus to laguna quilotoa (3610m). the volcano, the turquise water of the laguna, the surrounding peaks... mind-blowing! we hiked a bit along the rim until a path descended down towards chugchilán. from now on the landscape was dominated by deep canyons and steep cliffs, everything looked sort of grey-brown-green - at times very surreal! i loved it, took picture after picture. back at our hotel, we decided to leave straight away for another walk. this time we climbed a nearby mountain, from which one is able to see as far as the coast in favourable conditions. we didn't see the blue sea, instead a white one, made out of clouds. not bad neither;-)
the next day we hopped on the morning milk truck to sigchos. we were standing on the back of the pick-up from where we enjoyed 360º panorama views and got a bit of a taste of the country life up here, as we collected the milk along the way. well-shaken, we and the milk (maybe butter by now;-) arrived one hour later at the small town. life went on the ecuadorian way, we had to wait three hours for the connecting bus...
baños hit the headlines in 1999, as the so far sleeping volcano tungurahua gave signs of new activities. in october the township was evacuated. it was a desaster for many. not only did they have to leave behind their houses but were also forced to sell their livestock at very cheap prizes. with no major eruption by january 2000, the people forced their way through the military blockades and returned after some severe fighting to their homes. in september 2002 the alert was changed from orange to yellow and these days most things are back to normal. the tourists returned to enjoy the beautiful surrounding mountainous area and relax in the famous hot baths after which the place is named. naturally we too soaked ourselves - be aware! some baths are so hot, that we felt like a chicken in the soup! with fresh energies we hiked up to the lookout for tungurahua. somehow we managed to miss it, eventhough there were signs all along the way - it wasn't a problem though for the volcano was hidden behind clouds. only as we were back in town, we finally saw it. there was even a bit of smoke coming out from the crater and we could hear some scary noises from deep out the earth. no worries! smoke and thunder are nothing special here, guess besides tourists nobody even takes notice of them;-)
the highest volcano, and thus mountian, in ecuador is chimborazo (6300m). on the bus-ride from baños to guayaquil we passed nearby. it's really impressive how this cone-shaped mountain rises from a flat plateau high into the sky. as we descended towards the coast it became noticeably warmer and humid. suddenly our warm jackets weren't the right thing to wear anymore. we also passed all those rice-fields which are responsible that lunch here (called almuerzo) mainly consists of a huge serving of rice with three pieces of meat, a bit of sauce and a spoon serving of vegies. without exaggeration: we eat more rice in ecuador than in asia;-) quayaquil is the largest city in the country (exactly 2,117,553 inhabitants). we mainly came here to catch our plane to galapagos. tomorrow we will encounter another world: sealions, iguanas, spectacular birds and who-knows-what-else... we're looking forward to! posted by christoph 02:58
Friday, November 19, 2004
quitos main attraction is the old town (unesco world heritage listed, just like salzburg;-). it's jampacked with colonial buildings: church, church, plaza, another church... the center is plaza grande (or plaza de la independencia) which is surrounded by presidential palace, cathedral and archbishop's palace. my favourite is the marvelous monastery of san franciso (s. photo). many churches are full of magnificent wood-carvings and other treasures which remind me very much of european ones - it isn't really surprising if one considers for how long the spaniards have been here on their mission.
worth mentioning is also la basilica. it's still unfinished, construction began in 1926 - seems like a "real" basilica even today needs at least a century to be finished;-) however, it's already an impressive sight. the climb up the dome and as well the hiiiiiigh bell tower is an adventure itself. the ladders are narrow, steep and don't really look trust-worthy. the higher you get, the less safety railings are around. sometimes it really felt as if there were are strong wind you had no chance to prevent a fall... the magnificent city views were worth all the efforts and anxious feelings;-)
today we went to the center of the world (mitad del mundo). a monument honours the equator and a line shows where it actually runs. we had some fun hopping back and forth from one hemisphere to the other - you can't do that every day;-) next door is the excellent museo solar inti ñan. recently gps-technology has revealed, that the equator actually runs through the garden of the museum, some 200m away from the monument - somebody must have made a mistake here in the old days... we could witness some experiments which only work at this special place, like: in which direction turns the water down the drain in the northern hemisphere, the southern one and on the equator; is it really easier to balance an egg on a nail here; a sun-clock whose shadow falls six months on one side and six months on the other (on two days a year, for a minute or so, there is no shadow at all).
close to mitad del mundo lies volcano pululahua. the volcano hasn't been active for a very long time, so today the massive crater is home to a village and vast areas of farmland. as we approached the rim, the clouds had already started to set in - if it weren't for the postcard-vendors we still wouldn't have an idea, how great it is supposed to look. it's incredible how fast the clouds move around here. usually the day starts with beautiful blue sky. just after noon the first clouds appear and soon the sky is overcast the like that the sun has gone completely. as the rainy season has already started, it also tends to pour down for about an hour in the afternoon. so, if you want to enjoy the day, you better get up early! posted by christoph 02:54
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
i had been looking forward to the bus trip from buenos aires to mendoza. the argentinian luxury sleeping buses are quite famous. they got seats similar to the ones found on planes in first class (the seat folds out into an almost proper bed). there's also a stewardess who besides serving dinner keeps passengers happy with red wine, champagne and whisky;-) our bus had black leather seats and a lot of red velvet around. unnecessary to mention, that it didn't feel at all like a bus - it was a fun ride, much better than i had ever dared imagine!
one night and over a thousand kilometers later we arrived at mendoza. if the name rings a bell, it's most likely because you find it on almost every wine-bottle produced in argentina. mendoza is a pleasant city, compared to buenos aires a very slow moving one. the roads are wide and lined with trees. there are plenty of parks. the biggest one is about the size of the town center and called parque san martin. mendoza is like a city built in a huge park - me gusta. everything looks very clean and well organised - the town is supposed to be the tidiest one in south america and if you see people clean the pavement twice a day with water even on a rainy day, you believe it. todays town center is relatively young. the original one was destroyed by an earthquake at the end of the 19.century. these days this area is called area fundacional and besides some ruins of the church of san francisco, there is an excellent museum depicting the life of the area during it's heydays and a park (what else!).
on our second day, we explored the famous wine region by bike. it was a mistake! i wasn't used to ride a bike anymore at all. so, after just half an hour, my bump started hurting like mad - i spent the rest of the day riding my bike in a standing position. the people must have thought i'm from mars and just learnt to cycle around. furthermore there were none of the imagined vineyards around, just industrial area. however, after two hours (for only 15km!!!) we arrived at at maipu at our first winery. lopez is a real wine factory. impressive for it's size, but the wines are very disappointing, they just miss a soul. much better are small family run wineries like vina al cerno or di tommaso. they mainly produce red wine, just think about those terrific malbecs! still, there are some very interesting white ones around (like torrontés). a visit to a winery is very different from back home. here you get to see the whole place: vineyard, production area, cellar. in the end you can taste one glass of wine, if you're lucky two - sort of different, isn't it? the good thing is, that the people are very friendly, they show and explain without ending. at one place we even got an excellent introduction into how to taste properly (things like check the colour over a piece of white paper).
our idea was to travel from mendoza to santiago de chile by bus, which meant crossing the andes. we were looking forward to see the spectacular mountains and places like the natural stone bridge at puente del inca. there was only one problem: it had snowed and the pass was closed! who would have thought of that in the early argentinian summer. so after about one hours drive the bus got the information and simply turned back. in mendoza we went straight to the airline. to our delight, it was no problem to change the flight only one day in advance to one day further back
the next morning we were greeted by blue sky and sunshine. it looked like there were no problems with snow today... we were wrong again! sun down here doesn't mean everything is fine up there. so after a turn-around at the bus-station we found ourselves buying a flight-ticket to santiago - means, we were doing exactly what we had tried to avoid in buenso aires:-( in the evening we had our third farewell-dinner with malbec and steak (manuela had wine and pasta, even in argentina she strictly remains vegetarian).
the third attempt to reach santiago worked. the plane left on time. from the window we could see the impressive mountains and sometimes even the road we would have loved to travel on. after a bit of waiting in the transfer terminal we took off for quito where we landed save and sound in the early evening.
it's already our third day in quito, ecuador. we based ourselves in the tourist-ghetto area of mariscal sucre. here everything is set up for foreigners: hostels, restaurants, bars, internet cafes and heaps of travel agencies (all specialised in galapagos, djungle tours and of course climbing snow-capped volcanoes). we too want to experience the famous wildlife on galapagos, so we had no choice than to jump in head first. it wasn't that easy to find a spot on a boat, high season! once or twice offered beds were gone only a couple of hours later. it was annoying, but finally we got lucky. we're leaving on the 25th of november. meanwhile we finally have some time to have a look around quito and explore some areas in the andes - sounds promising! posted by christoph 03:30
Monday, November 08, 2004
during our first weekend in bs as we went to a football game, we did the same on our last one. the ultimate rivalry between river plate and boca juniors was on. as the game was in the stadium of river plate, we found ourselves amongst the visitors, the notorious boca fans. looking for our seats was accompanied by one of those strange feelings in the stomach. however, everything turned out to be alright, we had no problems what so ever and got to know the fans as peaceful and honest. the atmosphere was electric. three quarters of the stadiums were strictly red and white (the colours of river), while the fourth one was nothing than blue and yellow. in order not to draw any attention to us we had to clap our hands everytime boca had a good action and to boo every now and then a river player. it was quite a good game but as asual with futbool there was no justice. boca had many good chances, missed them all. on the other side river managed to score twice in a rather strange way (as boca fan, i have to put it that way;-). the home-side won 2:0. everytime they scored 40.000 of the supposedly 55.000 spectators jumped up and performed sort of a ritual dance, the stadium turnt into a sea of red and white. i enjoyed being there, it was a perfect day (well, almost, if only boca had scored three times out of their ample opportunities)!
adios buenos aires! once more time passed quickly. however, this city conquered a big place in my heart. our spanish course was quite good too. in only four weeks our brains got filled with heaps of vocabulary and grammar - some of it very confusing;-). the actual situation: understanding ok, speaking mas o menos and many things we should know. compliment to the school.
now it's time for our real travel adventure south america. to start with we catch a bus to mendoza and further on to santiago de chile from where our flight leaves to quito, ecuador. then... we'll see! if you wonder, why we head directly from one corner of the continent to the other, it's due to the seasons. in patagonia it's still a bit too cold, while in the andes the rainy season isn't that bad yet. posted by christoph 20:40
Friday, November 05, 2004
infected by the tango fever, we decided to try some classes. ricardo, a seventy-year old, tanned señor wearing a tailored suit, snow-white shirt and shiny shoes proudly introduced us to the passion of tango. to give weight to his words, he told us about his four children by four women in four countries. there was one problem: according to ricardo we were not able to learn to dance unless we knew how to walk (whatever that meant to him). so we walked, walked and walked. there was sort of hope, when he announced that we all got a free lesson, because he didn't have the proper music to make us walk on that day. however, we ended up walking up and down the dance floor once more during our second class for over one hour. imagine!!! well, we didn't give up that fast. instead we tried the argentinian tango academy (sounded at least great). we learnt our first basic steps within fifteen minutes. so far so good. then we were to practise. how frustrating! none of the ladies wanted to dance with me, for all of them knew already quite a bit about tango and were understandably not interested in doing the very basic pattern with me over and over again. manuela was luckier. there were plenty of eager argentinian guys around who were more than willing to lead her over the dance floor:-(
more to my liking was a classical tango show at cafe tortoni with a singer and two dancing couples. almost as fascinating as the dancing were the elegant dresses. i decided that night to prefer watching to dancing tango meanwhile;-) unforgettable was a night at a dancing place called la catedral. it was funny to see young couples dance tango in jeans and t-shirts - all of them danced pretty amazing! occasionally some artistic or arty show was put on. the antique looking room, which really might have been once a cathedral, was the perfect surrounding. on the way home, i caught myself thinking that i should give dancing tango another go... (to be continued - maybe;-).
teatro colón is supposed to be one of the best opera houses of the world. we needn't to be asked twice to go to rossinis elisabetta. the opera was put on stage in a very classic way. the words were in italian, the overtitles in spanish, i didn't understand a word and the story remains unknown to me until this day. however, this isn't that bad for to be at this magnificent place was wonderful enough. the beautiful theatre seats 2.500 people on seven (!) stories. eventhough we were seated on the balcony furthest up, we could hear the sound of crumpled paper when an actor performed just that action far away down on stage - wow! we liked colón that much, that we happily joined some friends who were going to see a ballet one week later. don quijote starred paloma herrera who must be quite a star, for after every appearance the audience bursted into a loud applause. it was a wonderful performance, full of colours, variety and thrilling dancing; sort of the opposite to elisabetta. i wouldn't have thought that i will ever enjoy a ballet so much.
we learnt some very intersting things on a guided tour. teatro colón is one of the big four opera houses of the world; together with vienna, paris and the scala in milano. it took three architects (one of whom was shot by the lover of his woman) and almost twenty years to completion in 1908. many precious materials were brought by ship from europe: marble from italy, velvet for the curtain and chandelliers from france. the main chandellier weights over one ton and has an opening in which up to fourteen musicians can play heavenly sounds like thunder or voices of angels from far atop. the reason for the acoustic being so good, is the perfect balance of soft (carpets, velvets etc.) and hard materials (wood etc.). particularly impressing is the basement. it consists of three stories where everything used on stage is produced in-house: costumes, wigs, shoes and stage designs.
it's incredible, how much buenos aires has on offer from a cultural point of view. somewhere i've read, that there are more premieres on stage per year than in london - the city can easily be compared to broadway! there's a booming theatre scene like no other. almost in every street a venue can be found, hardly no tickets can be bought without standing in line for quite a while. besides the usual international movies, there are many argentinian and other south american ones. manuela and i couldn't resist, tried ourselves on a spanish spoken road movie. guess it was quite good - as far as i can tell from the pictures,-). posted by christoph 20:41
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
there's a lot to be discovered in buenos aires. each suberb holds its own little secrets and a unique flair to itself. the cbd and most bodies of the government are found at microcentro. the endless pedestrian area florida is where shoppers dreams come true, while wide avenida de mayo runs all the way from the congress to the pink house (seat of the national government). avenida the mayo is lined with inviting cafes, where argentinians follow their passion of discussions.
san telmo, "our barrio", is one of the most historic ones. it's a very relaxed one too - except on sundays, when the antique fair is on (see former entry). we love it here. the cultural and culinary options are amazing. whatever we're after, it's just a short walk away.
la boca was born as the first port of the city. caminito is sort of an open air museum, famous for its colourful houses. red, green, yellow and blue are found being painted happily together on the same facade. the reason: the inhabitants were often poor immigrants, mainly from italy, who couldn't afford to buy paint for their houses. so they ended up using the left-overs of ship-paint. once the last drop had been used, they had to wait for the next left-over which hardly ever was of the same colour they had been using the last time. this makes sense and explains the vivid but unusual appearance of these houses. unfortunately la boca is one of the poorest neighbourhoods of buenos aires. only a few blocks from where tourists hunt for souvenirs, examine paintings and enjoy tango-shows, many men don't know how to raise enough money to support their families one more day. a welcomed distraction from this tough life is the pride of the suburb: the soccer team of boca juniors. even for a normal championship-game the huge stadium is sold out and the crowd cheers for their team ninety minutes non-stop. one of the most famous argentinian painters, benito quinquela martín, got inspired by the ships of the area. we got a chance to adore some of his paintings at the museum that is named afer him - a good selection can be found online at www.zurbarangaleria.com.ar. the visit awoke imaginations of how this busy port must have been like in the beginning of the 20th century. unfortunately, these heydays have long gone bye. the port has moved to another place. thesedays the water in la boca looks sad and neglected (dirty).
poshier is recoleta. argentinian and foreign tourists alike pilgrim to the cementario de la recoleta to honour evita. here are the mausoleums of the famous and important (means wealthy;-) argentinians to be found. there is a saying, that "it's good to live in recoleta but far more important to rest here in peace". a walk over the cementery is like ambling through some small streets in an antique little city, including some church like structures and countless statues of angels (imagine mini houses though, not normal sized ones). 6.400 graves are in this small area. often it's possible to see the inside of a mausoleum. usually there is a small altar, some pictures of the deceased and the properly arranged coffins. sometimes one, sometimes ten. it's a mysthique place. it stirs - get's close - makes you think about what we are not able to run away from. on weekends, there is a lively, merry market just outside the gates. some excellent handicrafts are on sale; musicians, dancers and comedians perform; the usual three or four living statues hope for coins to get a chance to stretch their limbs. people sit down in the grass and watch the world go bye. if you want to escape the hustle and bustle, head to the museo nacional de bellas artes. rembrandt, rubens, van gogh, monet, manet, cezanne, picasso, dali, kandinsky and last but not least paul klee (to mention only a few; -). incredible how many big names are represented in this museum. i wouldn't have expected to meet my first rembrandt in south america.
palermo is the place to be concerning nightlife. the former meeting place for bohemians and artists is now taken over by a vibrant bar- and club-scene. many of these places can be found around plaza serrano. trendy are international restaurants - from tapas & oysters to sushi and mexican. there are even some fancy design-orientated places. hard to decide where to go, if there are so many tempting choices:-)
everybody knows, that people here eat loads of steaks and other tasty meats from the parilla (charcoal grill). very convenient are the places that offer tenedor libre (all you can eat buffet, including sirloins and the like:-). to drink there are excellent wines, malbec being a favourite. beer is usually served in litre bottles, which are shared amongst friends (with the exception of the guys who know now friends other than themselves;-). however, did you know that during the day argentinians drink mate, a kind of herbal tea. usually they take a rounded cup, fill it to three quarters with the herb, pour hot water over it, drink it, refill it, drink it, refill it etc. all day long! mate is drunken with a sort of metallic straw. the taste is difficult to describe, quite bitter. once used to, it's good!
live in bs as is really good, we haven't been indulging ourselves so much for a long time. there's a very simple reason for that: it's cheap. where else can you eat huge steaks (over 400gr) for less than 4euro. even a bottle of good red wine doesn't cost more at a bar. for breakfast you can have milk-coffee with three little croissants (they are called medialunas here) for 75cent. there's no way to resist... posted by christoph 20:42
it felt good, as we carried our backpacks on saturday morning to the bus terminal. it was time to leave quito behind. we took a bus via latacunga to chugchilán, halfway on the so-called quilotoa loop. the bus had a lot of clearance, soon we knew why. the raod changed from sealed, to pebblestones, gravel and finally dirt. we passed deep gorges and impressive mountains. the grass changed from vivid green to dry brown the higher the bus climbed.
we hiked a bit along the rim until a path descended down towards chugchilán. from now on the landscape was dominated by deep canyons and steep cliffs, everything looked sort of grey-brown-green - at times very surreal! i loved it, took picture after picture.
quitos main attraction is the old town (unesco world heritage listed, just like salzburg;-). it's jampacked with colonial buildings: church, church, plaza, another church... the center is plaza grande (or plaza de la independencia) which is surrounded by presidential palace, cathedral and archbishop's palace. my favourite is the marvelous monastery of san franciso (s. photo).
the climb up the dome and as well the hiiiiiigh bell tower is an adventure itself. the ladders are narrow, steep and don't really look trust-worthy. the higher you get, the less safety railings are around. sometimes it really felt as if there were are strong wind you had no chance to prevent a fall... the magnificent city views were worth all the efforts and anxious feelings;-)
