After some deliberation we decided to spend two days in Bellavista Cloud Forest in the western lowlands about 1 1/2 hours from Quito. The Lodge was a bit beyond our means, a nights accommodation was US$16 and our daily budget is $20. We managed to fit a round peg in a square hole by not buying there food ($30 a day) and instead making Tuna sandwiches and crackers with vegemite for 3 days (the nearest village was 18km away so not an option to eat there).
When we arrived it was everything we hoped for and more (see there web site http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/bellavista/ ) Our dorm beds in the domed lodge were on the top floor where there was 360 degree window over the forest velly bellow. Down stairs on the balcony we had humming birds buzzing about our heads constantly as they hovered, drinking from the feeders while we sipped our coffee. The forest was serene and beautiful, while some the the hiking trails were quite demanding. This will be good practice for our Macchu Picchu hike, especially at this altitude (about 2500m). Not only was the senery spectacular, but was got to see some of the local wildlife. I saw 6 Tucanns one day and the nights produced a number colourful moths a little smaller than an adult hand.
The weather was great in the mornings and as is the nature of the cloud forest it closed in of the afternoon and rained lightly. It was refreshing and raised the spirit rather than dampen them (ha ha).
We came back to Quito today and got stuck in a traffic jam in a tunnel. All those fumes undid all the good work of the forest :( Oh well, we got to the beach tomorrow and I bought a surfboard this afternoon. So looking forward to the next month learning Spanish and Surfing :) Hoorah !!!

Becoming South American Explorers

Kim and I arrived in Quito,Ecuador yesterday (17th January 2003). It´s the second highest capital city in the world at 2850m. Sunshine greeted us as we left the airport, a balmy 25 degrees. Caught the local bus into the city which took about an hour and cost a tidy sum of 25 cents each! So after finding a hotel (only US$8 a double) we thought we´d check out the place, but in no time we were wacked out, lathargic and tired. We thought it was because of the lack of sleep on our 15hr o/night flight but later read that these are mild symptoms of altitude sickness. We perservered and found the people to be happy and helpful even with our very limited(non-existant) spanish, which is somewhat contradictory to the guide book which stresses the need for awareness of pickpockets.

So far our impression of Quito has been good, lots of nice green parks, relatively clean streets and the city is surrounded by lovely green hills, several of which lead to volcanoes. All the buildings are nice and brightly painted, lots of different types of architecture, colonial, baroque etc. Loads of restaurants everywhere, some look interesting but dodgy, others smell and taste great. The staple looks like chicken and rice with a salsa dressing and different soups with veg and meat. Breakfast is good rice (again), stewed meat, fried egg, fried banana, rolls with cheese or jam and coffee and juice. Lots of fruit stalls everywhere as well selling fruit drinks and slices up fruit pineapple, papya, orange, lemon, melon, cocnut, guava and mango. We have been having a hard time staying away from the juice stall as they look delicious but usually contain tap water, a big no no for our tummies!

Met an English guy Stu on the flight over who we meet up with last night for an early dinner. We were all exhausted from walking around so high above sea level, it leaves you quite breathless and lightheaded until you get used to the altitude ( we seem to be alot better today though!) So we all ended up in bed at 8pm.

Tonight we are meeting Stu again in the new town for a quiet beer or two. We both got sunburnt today, but its nice to get a little colour.

We have paid for our room until Monday when we think we will head either north or south, not entirely sure yet as we have to read up. We have to stay at the same altitude until Thursday as that is when our anti-malaria tablets kick in - mozzies dont live up this high. So on Friday we hit Canoa on the our little fishing village where we will start our spanish lessons next Monday

Catch up Blog of Last 4 Months

Well I finished my Eastern Europe Trip on the 3rd of January. I was really slack at writing after I left Berlin so here´s a quick rundown:

Poland
Overnight train from Berlin to Gdansk a Northern Port City which historicaly held great strategic importance. The weather was a bit on the wet side, but the old town was quite pretty. It 2 huge gate towers at either end on the colourful old town. Food was pretty nice too. We regularly ate at this super cheap joint Nuptune which had preprepared meals so you could just point to the one which took your fancy. We also had some horrid vegetarian... it looked like a big plate of shit. The beer was cheap so we took full advantage of that and got quite "munted" most nights.
Lebe
Malbork
Krakow 1000yo salt mines and Auswitz

Czech Republic

Slovakia

We are in Solvakia's second largest city "Kosice", at the moment but go to Hungary tomorrow to a little village "Eger" in the west of the country. We went Hiking a few days ago and the weather was beautiful, it was in a National Park call Slovak Raj or "Slovakian Paradise", with all the autumn leaves out and crystal clear mountain streams it lived up to is name.


Hungary

Romainia
Yes I'm in Romainia, but it wasn't easy. I'm currently sitting in a cafe in Cluj somewhere in the middle of the country near Transylvannia. No sightings of Dracula as yet but am keeping my eyes peeled.
So why wasn't it easy? I think we bit off a little more than we could chew in Slovakia, in that from the town of Pecs we thought we could make it across the border without too much hassle and onto a nice town somewhere. WRONG !!

Caught the 8 am Bus from Pecs to Szeged arriving at 1pm then on to the 2pm bus to Nadylak on the border arriving at 4:30ish. To cross the border by foot took us over an hour to the village of Nadlac by which time the sun had set and dodgy geezers seemed to be everywhere. No bus station could be found and the train left just as we showed up, so we were stuck in this horse and cart town for the night.



Bulgaria

Greece

Italy

Tunisia

Italy

Greece