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A Life Less Ordinary

Tag: overlanding in South America (page 3 of 3)

Living Large for Two Days in Quito, Ecuador’s Capital

After our tour of waterfalls, lakes, and hot springs in Northern Ecuador, Mark, Maya, and I checked out one more campground, a potential refuge for me when my husband left for the US. We enjoyed the company of Fernando and Evelyn and the center of Puembo, so kept it as an option.

As a matter of fact, our two-day trip into Quito was squeezed between “skinny” campground stays. I wanted to get my bearings at Hostal Colibri, which sounded promising in iOverlander at only 10 minutes from the aeropuerto. But this meant planes landed over our heads, similar to our Point Loma experience on a three-month house sit stint in San Diego, California. Because of that fact – and the price – we ruled this option out!

No way, Mark and I were going to take our “massive” truck camper Thirsty Bella into the center of Quito. Instead, we stored it at a campground under construction, with an amazing view over the city. We paid $8 to leave our home on wheels there, safe and sound. Staying here as campers would set us back way too much money ($10 per person, officially), so we didn’t even consider it.

Why Quito?

There was no doubt that we wanted to visit the historical center of Quito one day, without driving there. When we learned that our motorcycle friends Katherine and Brandon were leaving their vehicles near the border in Colombia and flying out of Ecuador’s capital for a summer stint in the US, the deal was sealed. We would spend their last two nights on the continent together and split an Airbnb.

Four friends reunited at the Airbnb in Quito

Our Airbnb

Well, what can I say? Mark and I did try to find a more modest apartment to rent for those two nights, but they were either more expensive or in an undesirable location. So, we ended up with an entire, 170-year-old house with three floors, funky layout and colors, and ample space. One of Ecuador’s presidents lived here in the 1930s. Once we didn’t get lost anymore, we enjoyed the rooms and courtyards.

The historic center

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Waterfalls, Lakes, and Hot Springs in Northern Ecuador

On May 4th (an easy one to remember), Mark, Maya, and I crossed the border from Colombia into Ecuador; a non-event that took about two hours and was much more relaxed than any Central American crossing we remember from 2006. Our visa stamp allows us to stay for 90 days.

Northern Ecuador Sights

Tulcán

Our first stop – after shopping for groceries and being pleasantly surprised to see dumpsters everywhere – was the topiary garden of the Tulcán cemetery. That first day in Ecuador, we also managed to get a SIM card and buy data and non-sweet bread, before settling at a great little spot by a pond.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

San Gabriel

Laguna El Salado

If you’ve been reading my previous blog posts, it won’t come as a surprise that Colombia wore us out. Despite being enamored by its cute towns, beautiful scenery, and extremely friendly (and curious) people, the country is still rough around the edges and quite busy and loud. So when we stumbled across our first free boondocking (wild camping) spot and discovered it was quiet and attractive, we stayed for almost a week, catching up on sleep, work, and walks with Maya.

El Centro

Coming from Colombia, which has heaps of colorful, historic pueblos (towns), we knew not to expect much architectural eye candy in Ecuador. The center of San Gabriel was alright – tiendas (stores) and panaderias (bakeries) abound – and we learned that prime street parking spots (marked with blue lines) come with a fee.

Cascada de Paluz

Some locals had told us about this off-the-beaten-track waterfall, so we decided to check it out. After following a potholed dirt road for fifteen minutes, we reached this well-maintained and pretty park. The waterfall was impressive and overlooked by elves!

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The Trampoline of Death in Colombia – A Road Block in Mocoa & Visuals of This Notorious Ride

El Trampolin de La Muerte (the Trampoline of Death) in Southern Colombia connects the city of Mocoa with the town of San Francisco.

Before we even reached this notorious route, we had to deal with bad roads, crazy drivers, more landslides…

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

…and one other giant obstacle: a road block with miles of backed-up traffic that had been there for days.

After waiting in a fuel station for five hours, one of the protesters took pity on us and guided us through the blockade. It was a slightly unnerving but peaceful experience.

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A Popular & Fascinating Destination in Colombia: San Agustin’s Archaeological Park

San Agustin in Southern Colombia seems to be on the list of every visitor. We marked it way back as a top destination as well as another archeological site in Tierradentro, but gave up on the second, “underground” part when hearing reports of recent criminal activity in that region.

We reached San Agustin in the middle of April, after a two-day drive from the Tatacoa Desert.

(Click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

The town itself doesn’t have much to offer. We might be spoiled with all the cute and colorful pueblos we encountered north of here.

It was still nice to walk to town from our free camping spot, shop for produce at the market or Ara grocery store, go out for a couple of meals, and watch the scene from a park bench. The main reason we spent a handful of days here was to do online work.

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Colombia’s Capital and Surroundings – Historic Bogota, Camper Work in Cota, Cute Guatavita, the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira & Tire Terrorists in Soacha

The drive from the Cocora Valley to the nation’s capital was long. We had an early start but due to road, traffic, and weather conditions, we didn’t arrive in Cota until 6:30pm. We hate driving in the dark, especially when rain is present, but sometimes there is no choice. We needed to reach a decent stop for the night. Mark finished our trip slowly and carefully and I kept my teeth clenched.

Approaching Bogota and Cota after dusk

The day started out okay, with toll roads that actually were worth paying for and tons of amazing tunnels through the mountains. They depicted animal names with pictures, so we learned a thing or two. La Linea is the longest tunnel in the Americas. And there were donkeys!

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

As the hours and the scenery passed by, we reached the congested suburbs with deteriorating roads. We had to top up our propane tank, so that was a rush against the clock as the place closed at 5pm. We made it but were surprised to find this business in an industrial area with crowded, potholed, dirt roads. When we left with a full tank, the attendant asked if we wanted to take a puppy. They had one on their property and didn’t know what to do with it. We declined, heart-broken, as we listened to the yelps of the pup.

Church in Cota

Cota

The reason we decided to base ourselves in Cota, a “suburb” northwest of Bogota, was because we knew a helpful Colombian there, Juan from Overland Sally, who’d be able to assist with whatever we required. We had some projects to take care of, one of which was building a wooden platform to raise our camper a bit (after Bella’s overhang in the front banged onto the truck’s cab roof when driving down a bumpy hill one day).

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