Category: Ecuador

After Colombia, we headed back to Quito. In my previous Quito post, I told you about the first part of our saga to obtain long stay visas for French Polynesia at the French Embassy in Quito. Well, we were back in Quito to head back to the French Embassy.

We arrived back in Quito on the weekend and wouldn’t be able to get to the Embassy until Monday, so we decided to have a bit of fun. We took the TeleferiQo, which is a gondola lift, up to the Pinchincha Volcano. This is the place to get the most fantastic views overlooking Quito.

We weren’t quite up to the serious hikes you can do to the top having just arrived and not quite acclimated to the altitude yet. But, there were horses for rent! For $10, they gave you a poncho (it was chilly) and you got a nice little ride up the volcano. I dubbed us “The Three Amigos!”

Silliness aside, we were here for some business, so bright and early on Monday we were at the French Embassy waiting for them to open. We each got called individually into the interview rooms to present our applications and paperwork. Luckily one of the officers spoke English. He had some brief questions for us, looked through our paperwork to make sure it was complete, took our fingerprints, passport and payment and sent us on our way. We felt relieved but weren’t going to celebrate until we actually had the visas in hand. We were told to come back in a month and they would call or email us in the meantime if they needed additional information.

After that quick stop in Quito, we headed back to Puerto Lucia to unpack and repack and head out the next day for our month long trip to visit family in the States. As fun as it was seeing all our friends and family in the States, part of our task was to order and pick up supplies and parts that we are simply unable to get in Ecuador. Ecuador is a nice country, but getting boat parts is near impossible. Even if you could import them (which is questionable), there would be such an exorbitant duty charged that it isn’t worth it.

Because our plans are to take us across the Pacific to French Polynesia, we wanted to make sure we had spare parts of everything. So, that meant taking stock of what we have and making a long list of items to purchase in the States and haul back with us on an airplane.

We ended up with four bags (two we could carry on) and two large boxes that we would have to get on the plane, bring to Quito so we could hopefully pick up our visas, put back on a plane to Guayaquil and then somehow make the 2 hour trip from Guayaquil to Salinas. That is a lot of stuff to haul that far and not cheap!

Our flight out of Dallas got delayed (on the plane, off the plane, on the plane again…) which made us miss our connection in Miami. Despite the hassle, it ended up great as we had a day in Florida to visit with some of Mike’s family, who graciously put us up for the night, and a friend I got to catch briefly on our way back to the airport.

It is always a bit nerve wracking going through customs in another country, especially when you have a ton of boat parts that you can’t easily explain in Spanish and that could technically be subject to duty. We got questioned about what was in the boxes and asked for receipts about the solar panels. We’d had these extra panels in the garage for years, and I explained that I didn’t have a receipt as they were not new. So, the official asked, “Usando?” (“Used?”). Si! Yes! That was the magic word, usando. We got waved through.

We had called the French Embassy before departing the States and told to come in at 3:00 on Thursday afternoon. Dan (Kini Popo) wasn’t with us as he was already at his boat in Puerto Lucia, but we were told that one person could pick up all three passports. I got called in first and the officer told me that two of the passports were ready (mine and Mike’s) but Dan’s was not ready. Ugh. He said it would be ready the next day at 3:00. We were scheduled to fly to Guayaquil Friday morning. We called Dan and explained the situation. It didn’t make sense for him to fly all the way up there. We offered to change our flight and stay an extra day to pick up his passport.

With some time to kill in Quito, we found a tour the following morning of a neighborhood we hadn’t been to yet called La Floresta. This was a unique neighborhood with old hacienda style homes interspersed with new cafes, restaurants, independent movie theaters and lots of street art. The guide told us about the history of the street art and murals around town. They were fascinating and added such a colorful flair to this neighborhood. I wish we had found this area the last time we were in Quito!

Friday afternoon at 3:00 we were back at the French Embassy to try and get Dan’s passport and visa. There are two parts to the Embassy, the visa section where visitors go to get visas and the French section for French citizens. There was absolutely no one at the visa section where we had been the day before. We tried calling and there was no answer. After a few minutes, a local security guard told us that they were closed today and would be open on Monday. What??? He suggested we walk around to the French section if we needed to talk to someone.

At the French Section, a nice French Gendarmerie greeted us with Bonjour! And then, Francaise or Espanol? I guess it is Espanol, because I only know a few words in French and definitely not enough to explain what was going on. In Spanish I somehow got across why we were there and that we were told to come back this afternoon. He again explained they were closed on Friday and would be back on Monday at 3:00. At this point, I’m pretty much begging in Spanish, explaining we are leaving the next day and totally blaming the officer from the day before who apparently forgot that it was Friday!

Mike and I were led to a nice room with a couch while the Gendarmerie was rapidly speaking in French on the phone. After a few back and forths with us in Spanish and on the phone in French, he disappeared into another room and came back a few minutes later with Dan’s passport. He was a bit confused that the picture was clearly not Mike and we explained it was our friend’s passport, but he gave it to us anyway. OMG! Did we really just pull that off! Hallelujah! We are going to French Polynesia!

~katie

Our next stop was Baños, about 3 1/2 hours from Quito by bus. The buses are cheap, but not always the most comfortable. We have yet to ride in a bus in Ecuador that has air conditioning or a bathroom. But, when the ride only costs $5, you get what you pay for.

Baños is a cute town that was obviously popular with the backpacker crowd. There are lots of cheap hostels around and a “zona rosa” that is a bit of a rowdy bar scene. But, the real attraction in Baños is the geography. There are stunning mountains, rivers, waterfalls and hot springs everywhere.

Our first night in town, we checked out the nightlife and had a nice dinner out. We avoided the crazy bar scene and found some more subdued hangouts. There were lots of locals out around the town square, and we really liked the vibe of this cute town.

Yes, they eat guinea pig (cuy) here…

I even tried the Ecuadorian version of a Michelada (no tomato juice), which was a bit bigger than I expected!

The next day I wasn’t feeling all that spectacular, so I sent the boys out in the morning without me. They rented mountain bikes and stopped at some gorgeous waterfalls.

The rest did me good, because the boys informed me that we were signing up for a a canyoning trip the next day. That morning we put on full wetsuits, helmets and climbing harnesses and headed into the mountains.

We quickly learned what our day of canyoning would involve as we got a brief safety tutorial. We were going to traverse the river In the middle of the canyon, we would wade through water, climb over boulders, jump off rock overhangs into pools of rushing water and repel down waterfalls. Our two guides were there to help us find the safest way down.

Our initial plunge was a bit of a shock as the water was quite cold. I was instantly glad to have on the wetsuit. In addition to keeping us warm, the wetsuits gave us buoyancy to help us float when emerging from a deep pool we jumped into.

After the initial scramble through the water, we reached the first jump. It was a bit intimidating not being able to see how deep it was below, but we made into the next section of the river. The second jump was even higher as we had at least a 20 ft drop. The water over the overhang was rushing so quickly that our guide had to throw us each a rope in the pool below to help us to the side.

We had reached a large waterfall at least 50 feet that we had to repel down. I lost my footing twice as the rocks we covered in slippery moss, but the guides had a safety line on us the whole time. We had to keep our heads down as we descended or the water from the falls would pummel you in the face. We all made it down and were wondering what the guides were going to through at us next.

We reached the next set of falls and the guides rigged up a zip line with their ropes, so we all flew down the next set of falls and safely into another pool of water.

By the time we had made a few more jumps and repelled another waterfall, we were all starting to feel a bit fatigued. I don’t know if the guides sized us up when we signed up for this tour, but I think most people would not have been physically able to get down the entire length of the river. We were all pooped by the end! It was a thrilling experience that I would highly recommend to anyone that can handle it. Sometimes the best experiences are the hardest ones!

Mike had our GoPro attached to his helmet. Below are some still shots from the trip. I’ll work on editing video eventually. Our guide took tons of pictures and video on his camera for us which he put on a USB drive for us. Unfortunately, the drive got stolen in Colombia before we were able to download to a computer! Ugh! Do not put anything of value (even a USB drive) in checked baggage with the airlines! Lesson learned!

Our canyoning trip included lunch, and we all had fresh grilled trout at an unassuming restaurant on the river. It even had its own trout farm! It was the best meal we had in Ecuador.

After a long day canyoning, we were hoping for a good night’s rest as we had to head back to Quito the next morning. We had been staying in Airbnb places the whole trip, which frankly were hit or miss. As they were much cheaper than a hotel, I again had to say that you get what you pay for.

Our rented home had a courtyard out front surrounded by several other rental properties. Our hosts had rented the courtyard out for the day for a wedding. The wedding tent was literally 2 feet outside our front door. This wedding party had been going all day. When we returned from dinner around 10:30 and found that the party had now switched to extremely loud karaoke, we’d had enough.

We called the hosts to ask how late the party would run to which they had no answer. So, they offered to move us to another rental 10 min away. We packed our stuff and jumped in the taxi with the host’s boyfriend who was Russian and spoke no English. Trying to understand his Russian accented Spanish was a bit amusing. What we did understand was that he was offering us some weed to make up for the inconvenience, which we politely declined. But, at least we got some sleep in a quiet apartment. Lol.

Back on the bus the next day to overnight in Quito before heading to the Colombian border!

~Katie

After a month of working on the boat in the yard, we (along with our friend Dan on Kini Popo) decided to take several weeks to travel throughout Ecuador and Colombia. Unfortunately, a few days before we had to be out of our condo and we were due to fly to Quito, all three of us came down with a horrible stomach flu. Dan’s comment was that it was like something out of the Exorcist. Very bad.

Somehow Mike powered through to have some energy those last two days (I couldn’t move) to help load everything back onto both boats that we had been storing in the condo. Thankfully by the morning we were scheduled to leave, we were all finally feeling a bit normal. We made the two hour drive to Guayaquil to get on a plane to Quito.

Quito sits at almost 9500 feet in the Andes. It is a dramatic view as you drive into the city from the airport. It was quite chilly and we could definitely feel the altitude walking around the city. We had rented an apartment on airbnb that was in a great part of town with lots of restaurants and cafes to walk to. After a quick trip to the market for some snacks and breakfast items to stock in our kitchen, we cleaned up and headed out to find some dinner and check out the nightlife.

We walked to a little outdoor courtyard that had a bar, cafe and restaurants. The boys were apparently ready for tequila and had a couple of tamarindo margaritas. After being sick, that sounded horrible to me, so I stuck with tea. But, we struck up a conversation with the bar owner who had spent some time in the States and was eager to tell us everything there was to do in Quito.

He mentioned that paragliding was big in Quito, and that it was a fantastic view over the city. After a couple of phone calls, we were set to be picked up the next morning, Mike commented that this was a bucket list item that he didn’t even know was on the bucket list!

A short drive to a clearing outside the city the next morning introduced us to our pilots, as we would each be flying tandem with a separate pilot. There was a pretty big group of people gathered on a Sunday morning to fly off of the cliff. It was a clear and sunny day and the conditions were impeccable. After a short briefing of what would happen, we each donned our harnesses and got ready.

As we were flying tandem, each of our pilots would be strapped on our backs. The pilots had the kites and controls attached to them; we were just along for the ride. I was the first one off. When my pilot said to run, I had to lean forward and run toward the end of the cliff. I only got to take a few steps before I was lifted up into the air. The kite lifted us up even higher over the cliff we just left. Our gages said we reached 3200 meters (10,500 feet)!

We soared over the valley with the mountains in the background. The green, fertile hills were like something out of a painting. What a fabulous way to take in the scenery. As we headed toward the landing area, we needed to descend. My pilot asked if I was up for some tricks, which I agreed to. He then started spinning us around and around as we dropped quickly in altitude. My face in this picture probably says it all!

We then slowly started to descend the rest of the way to make a soft landing in the clearing. I watched as Mike and Dan also made their way down, and we all high fived each other after an awesome experience. Check out our Facebook page for the videos our pilots put together for us!

While in Quito, we also took in some other sites visiting the Old Town area and the beautiful churches. We sat in the square drinking coffee and people watching.

 

We also visited the Capilla del Hombre, which is the home and museum of Guayasamin, the famous Ecuadorian artist. I didn’t know anything about him or his art before visiting. He was a contemporary artist, and you can see a lot of influence of Picasso in his work. His artwork was also a social commentary on what was going on in the world and specifically in South American during his lifetime. I found it very interesting and moving. If you go to Quito, I highly recommend visiting Capilla del Hombre.

We also went to Mitad del Mundo, which is a bit of a tourist trap where the equator runs through the city. After having crossed the equator by boat, it didn’t quite have much of an effect on us. But, we had fun anyway eating some local cuisine, tasting chocolate and picking up some souvenirs.

One of the other reasons we were in Quito was to visit the French Embassy to apply for long stay visas for French Polynesia. Without a long stay visa, we would be limited to only 3 months in French Polynesia. There are so many islands to see, and everyone we know that has made the crossing has told us that we have to get it.

We had put together stacks of paperwork, including bank statements, proof of insurance, etc. However, when we attempted to give them our applications, they told us they wouldn’t take them unless we would leave our passports for at least a month! This was a no-go for us as we had planned to travel to Colombia and the States before January. So, we left defeated.

Dan and I were pretty resigned to us having to return to apply in January, delaying our Pacific crossing next Spring, but Mike was determined. Mike headed off to the US embassy to come up with Plan B. A couple of hours later, we got a call to meet him outside the US embassy. We arrived around the block from the embassy where Mike explained we needed to get passport photos. The US embassy would issue us a second “emergency” passport to allow us to travel while our other passports were at the French Embassy. We had no idea!

Excited that we were going to figure out a way to do this, we couldn’t wait to call the French Embassy the next morning to try and get another appointment. Our excitement was a bit short lived as they told us on the phone that we had to come back in December to give them the applications and passports. Argh! We are planning to leave for the 3-4week crossing at the beginning of February, and they now tell us that it is too early to apply. So, now we have to go to Quito in December to apply and return in January to pick them up. Whew!

Next up…Canyoning in Banos!

katie

We arrived in Puerto Lucia, Ecuador after our crazy eight day passage. It looks like the strangely strong winds we experienced may have been effects from tropical storm Nate which unfortunately damaged Pacific Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

To enter Ecuador by boat, you are required to hire an agent who completes the required paperwork and coordinates with immigration, the port captain, customs, etc. They require an advance 24 hour notice of your arrival to get all of the officials to meet you and check you into the country. This is especially challenging for sailboats whose speed depends on the wind, and was certainly a challenge for us.

We were looking at possibly a late Saturday afternoon arrival. Our agent said that the officials were only available until 5:00 pm, and it wasn’t clear to us that they would greet us on Sunday. Thankfully we had the satellite email to communicate with the agent. I really don’t know how boats coordinate arrival that don’t have a way to communicate at sea. It was going to be close whether we would make it in time to be checked in on Saturday, so our agent arranged for the officials to meet us at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.

We did make the Saturday afternoon arrival and were required to tie up to a mooring buoy outside of the marina until we were officially checked in on Sunday morning. The marina gave us a ride to shore to make arrangements for our boat in the marina. Even though we weren’t officially checked into the country, they let us wander around the marina grounds, which included a hotel with a restaurant.

Mike was really craving a cheeseburger, and soon we were enjoying a meal and a beer overlooking our boat. What we were not expecting upon arrival was how cool it is here. We’re basically on the equator and we are wearing jeans and jackets. It feels a lot like Southern California.

A little while longer we were greeted by our friend Dan on the boat Kini Popo, who has his boat hauled out here at Puerto Lucia and were introduced to Arnaud who runs a charter sailing business out of the marina and also helps coordinate work in the boat yard. We were getting the lay of the land and making plans for our next couple of months here.

The next day we had nine people on the boat, including our agent, the immigration officer, the health inspector, the port captain, and various customs agents. Lots of paperwork later and beers passed all around, we were official in Ecuador! Next was moving the boat off the mooring and into the marina. The marina is a med-moor style tie up, except you don’t use your anchor.

We had to back into the marina entrance. (Adagio does not back well in a straight line!) Then we had to reverse so that the stern of the boat was up against a dock with multiple lines from the stern to the dock. On the bow we have two lines tied to mooring balls out in the middle of the marina. You can see how this took many hands to accomplish. There were several guys on the dock as well as two guys in a skiff in the water to tie the bow lines to the mooring balls. This was a first for us!

Our plan here is to haul the boat out to do new bottom paint, raise the water line, do some work on some thru-holes, and a whole list of other projects. We’ve been on the boat full time for almost two years and some wear is starting to show. As we’ve just now had to dig into our hanging locker to find jeans and sweatshirts, we discovered how much mold and mildew may be hiding in places we didn’t know about. So, everything is coming off the boat to do a thorough cleaning. Thankfully the air here is dry and we are out of the tropical heat and humidity.

Considering the work that we were planning, it did not make logistical sense to stay on the boat in the yard, so we started looking for a place to rent. Our friend Dan was also interested in doing this, and we scored when Arnaud found us a two bedroom condo across the street from the beach and walking distance to the marina for only $600/month. We jumped on it and immediately started hauling everything we could off the boat and piling it into our temporary home.

So, now the work begins. We have to arrange for the haul out, order the paint, and work as fast as we can. We want some time to travel around Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. But, in order to do that we need to get all our boat chores done. The goal is to get the boat ready for the next season. After the New Year we will be in full on prep mode for our South Pacific crossing!

~katie