Quito to Cuenca with GAdventures

For our next phase of the journey we moved from Colombia to Ecuador! We landed quite late at night and on the next morning we went on an early bus with GAdventures on the Highlands of Ecuador Tour. 

 Quito from the top

There are a huge number of National Parks in Ecuador's Highlands and we visited Pegucha National park in Otavalo. This had a very beautiful waterfall. 

We met our first Llama here. 

At the waterfall

 We went around few lakes on our drive from Otavalo to Cotopaxi. 

 We also visited a handicraft shop and understood how the natives of Latin America produce the colours for the wool and cloth. 

  

Llama wool, new wool, sheep wool & alpaca wool was all different when touched. Never knew that! 

The native flags for East, North, West & South. Each square represents a Native American tribe on the continent. 

Graffiti on the walls of Ecuador

We met Babsi and Elvis on the tour and they were a fun German Couple! Babsi celebrated her birthday on the trip! 

We reached this beautiful lodge near Cotopaxi and it was one of the best places we had stayed on the whole trip!

 Rainbow on the walk

Six of us from the group went on a walk in the woods and it was beautiful. 

There was a waterfall near the Lodge too! 

Next morning we were planning to climb Cotopaxi and we found its 5897 Meters Above Sea Level! 

The fire was lit and we tucked in for next morning's climb to Cotopaxi! 

Welcome to Cotopaxi National Park. Nice and sunny!

Nice and sunny all along the route.

but as soon as we stepped on the mountain, down came the rain, storm, hail and wind! it was treacherous condition for "non-mountaineers" like me! We decided to head back to the van & we were shivering in the cold!. It must be around -5 deg C with an Altitude of 4500 meters above sea level!

We found that the easier route wasn't that easy!

Next day we went to Alausi and on a train journey to see the Native Village

The train was late, but the romance wasn't! ;-) 

Ha Ha! We met Wendy and Linda on the trip and they were fun! Here the 3 ladies are posing as Charlie's Angles! How childish!

The guide explained us the native lifestyle and how they are still working hard to preserve their culture. 

on to our next national park. This was Cajas National Park, around 50 kms from Cuenca. The lakes to our left send water to the Amazon River which is 2000 miles away and the lakes to our right send the water to rivers that go to the Pacific. This is supposed to the dividing point of the Andes Mountains. 

Lamma was here too

 

Flora was very different to what we see in Europe. The biggest challenge is that, there are no seasons in the Andes and the flowers and plants have evolved in such a way that they can survive in extreme cold and low oxygen!

wherever they find water, the plants start growing!

It was cold but not freezing!

Some more plants here and there. 

We found the paper trees of Andes and they grow quite old. This was supposed to be around 700-800 years old.

And we also saw some wild horses. The one sitting on the ground is a very pregnant horse and the other two male horses are protecting her.

Couple of photos with the GAdventures group

Our Christmas Dinner on 24th 

Our Christmas Dinner on 25th

Colombia - 2019

Few photos from our Bogota and Medellin trip. All the stories about drugs and mafia might be true in the early 2000s but Colombia is a beautiful country with exceptional people, great food, wonderful weather, delicious fruits, talented baristas, wide range of coffee choices and incredibly clean streets!

Roaming the streets on a free walking tour. 

Around old town, La Candelaria. 

The graffiti and art scene in Bogota is brilliant. One must try to go around town and see the walls. Also its not illegal to graffiti the walls of Bogota. 

few more graffiti

Pachamama Graffiti

Some of the walls are exceptional

The funny green figure at the top of the wall, was painted by our guide.

We ended up visiting a museum and they requested us to pain one of the walls! 

Us along with all the artists. 

We went on a Heroes Tour with this over enthusiastic lady! 

Bogota from the top of Cerro Monserrate

That's around 3200 meters above sea level

For the next phase we went to Medellin and loved the city even more. We couldn't believe that we were only spending 3 days in the city and not more. 

Fernando Botero is one of Colombia’s most famous artists, known for his unique style that depicts people and animals with large, exaggerated or fat features. We found one of his figures destroyed during the bad times of Medellin, but its kept as it is to remind people of the bad time. Botero has also made a similar statue but which is perfectly fine to show the good times ahead!

We also found the teleferico in Medellin was brilliant to go around the hills of the city.

The Arvi park was beautiful

& were ready for 31st December

Coffee at Cafe Revolution was our regular for every morning!

This is what we miss everyday in England! Sunshine! 

and the sun shines on the righteous 

we also visited Barrio 13, this was one of the most dangerous places on the planet in early 2000s

and the graffiti was brilliant too

The whole barrio is modernised and has escalators all along!

customary photo at the top of the barrio

The Latin Americans do get over the top with Christmas! 

The agave plant is used to make a lot of things including - Taquilla and Miske! ;-)

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft - Shame on you!

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were part of a conspiracy to win the match under any circumstances. They were acting like a mafia gang. I am sorry for these guys, but there is no point crying now!
Would they have had these press conferences if they didn't get caught? Are they crying today because they got caught or because they are now ashamed of match-fix by altering the condition of the ball?
I blame them for their state but also blame the money involved in each series. These players are under tremendous pressure to win, because each win you win a test series, which then links to the contracts that these players have with their IPL teams, sponsors and the respective boards! And then, sometimes the brain makes them do things that are outside the laws of the game.
IPL season starts in 1st week of April, just after the Aus- SA series! IPL also pays these players in £ millions. If Smith & Warner went to India with series win against South Africa, they would have reached the shores of the sub-continent as "leaders of Australia that conquered Africa" (something like that in marketing terms). Which could mean that Smith would be captain of Rajasthan Royals & Warner would be captain of Hyderabad for a long long time; that would have resulted to loads of more ££s. I feel sorry for them but also blame the ££s that now run cricket.
All players should understand that they are multi-millionaires today because they play the sport with passion and in the spirit of the game; not because they cheated & never get caught. The sport will survive for many 100s of years, but your cheating won't survive for long!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/43585892