Facing the darkest hours to see the dawn

Wednesday, August 30th

It is hard to fall asleep when the curvy roads and bumps make your face hit the window glass and other interior objects with violence. It was 2AM and it seem like we had been going on the road for 8 hours where it was only 3. The radio made sure we added to our fears but broadcasting government messages telling the population to report acts of terrorist by the guerrillas. In fact, the would play messages by ex-hostages that would say things that happened while they were kept by the guerrillas. It was quite freaky and everywhere you could see reminders that this was unsafe territory.

Tried to sleep but couldn´t. It was now about 4:30AM and the worse was visibly over. We had stopped at Popayan and now at Pasto. This is the closest major town by the Ecuadorian border. Shortly after 5AM we left Pasto and you could see sun rays peaking through the sky very dimly. The landscape has changed quite a bit and it´s getting really cold. The Andes mountain range have taken over and the pleasant heat of Cali is way behind us. At this point Alexey and I noticed that some people got off the van so we moved on those seats and attempted to sleep by making use of the reclining feature of our new seats. Alexey did sleep some but I could not. This was way too close to Ecuador, my final destination, so I wanted to experience what I was living to the fullest. It was now morning and we arrived into Ipiales, the last town in Colombia before Ecuador. There are about 2 km from here to the Rumichaca bridge which divides the two countries. It is freazing in here!!! It must be something like 5 degrees celcius and we really don´t have any warm clothes.

We take a taxi to the border and reach there around 6:30AM. After stamping our exit from Colombia at the migration office we crossed the final border of the trip. We spent some time in the middle of the bridge taking pictures and enjoying having met our goal to reach Ecuador by land. In the other side we do migration work once again and we are in! There are ¨colectivos¨ that go the 6km between this border and the next major Ecuadorian town of Tulcan. We take one of these vans and reach Tulcan before 7:30AM. The colectivo drops us at the bus terminal where we are hackled by a myriad of bus people trying to take our bags to their own busses heading for Quito. We get mad and they back off. After a little decision making we take a bus for $4 each to the capital of the country. We thought about stopping by a few cool towns in between but we really need to reach Quito to sleep comfortably tonight after the long trip from Cali.

The bus leaft around 8:20AM and picked up passengers along the way so it made it much longer than expected. The trip was supposed to be only 5 hours. Along the way, we were stopped by armed police dressed in fatigues three times. The first time, they checked our bags. The second, they checked our IDs and asked someone in the back to get off the bus. And the third one, somewhere near Otavalo, the took everyone off the bus and lined up women and men in different queues. They searched us and checked IDs again. Not sure why so much security but it was very weird.

The bus passed by a few cool looking, snow covered volcanoes and the San Pablo lake. It was past 2PM when we reached Quito. Ahh.. finally a place where I have been before! Now there is nothing to worry about! We arrived at the bus station after a bunch of bus vendors had told us everything about their products in vane. We were sooooo hungry and tired. I called Juan Francisco, on of my best friends, who has recently moved from the Bay Area to Quito. He tells us that he won´t be able to meet us before 8PM because of a business meeting. However, we can go to his home, drop our stuff and relax for a bit as soon as 5PM when his mom gets home.

So we decided to walk around town to kill time until 5PM. We took the Trole (Quito´s version of Bogota´s TransMileno) into the city center and we were there in 5 minutes. Walking through the narrow colonial streets of the Ecuadorian capital we passed by many restaurants with set menus. Most of these were between $1 and $1.75 US. So we decided to splurge with the upper end $1.75 which included a delicious soup, rice with beef stew and juice. We also bought some bread and other drinks since we were hungry. We chilled sitting at this restaurant for a little while to relax and then continued walking with our backpacks towards the Plaza Grance (main square). There, one can see the Palacio de Carondelet (governmental palace) and some really nice and old churches. We sat down at the plaza by a water fountain to observe people passing by and to read our books. Now I have started Around the World in 80 Days and Alexey has taking the plunge into Brothers Karmazov.

It was now 5PM and we take a taxi to Juan Francisco´s place. We reach his house and meet his mom, a very nice lady who is really easy going and welcoming. We put our stuff in Juan´s room and chill at the couches watching TV. We are so exhausted that Alexey falls asleep in the living room while watching TV. I took a shower and waited for my friend. Juan´s sister came from work and soon after, the electricity went out. We were in the dark for a while with candles (so romantic :)) when Juan got in.

It has been a while since I have seen Juan so we do a little catching up and get ready to go out. The three of us then went out to the area known as La Mariscal. First we went to dinner at a kebab place where food was abundant and the price was low. Then, we walked past a few strident musicians who were offering a concert. Everyone was out, which is great if you consider it is Wednesday! We settled at a place with a live band and had a few drinks there. We are so incredibly tired now so we decide to head back. The crowd here seems very young and fun with even some gringos mixed in. We can´t wait to come out tomorrow.