Quito? No...!

More scenery
see all photos »

What a scary place...  We landed in Quito at around midday, and the airport was manic.  It seemed that everyman and his dog had come to "welcome" us, and what a welcome it was.  You never really appreciate the word vulnerable, until you´re walking though a foreign airport, with your entire life on your back (and standing beside you), pushing your way though hundreds of very scary looking people staring and shouting in your direction... We decided there and then that we´d be on the next flight, boat, coach or rickshaw out of there....!

The coach trip.
see all photos »

We headed for the nearest information booth and booked a 38 hour coach to Lima, leaving at 6pm.  That left us with quite a few hours to kill, and so we took a taxi to Quito centre to check it out. Driving through Quito didn´t ease our nerves, and it was getting dark very early.  We found a restaurant with an armed guard outside and sat ourselves in there for hours until it was time to get a taxi to the coach stand.  Unfortunately we don´t have any photo´s of Quito, partly because we didn´t see much of it, and partly because we were too scared to take our camera out.

Stark contrast from Quito...
see all photos »

Once inside the very luxurious Sleeper Coach, we felt safe enought to take out our camera, so here´s some of Ecuador in all it´s glory...  from the coach...

The coach ride was interesting to say the least, but we met a few other travellers from Israel, who spoke some Spanish, so we latched onto them.  Without them we may not have eaten for the entire journey...  : )

Anyway - 30 hours into the journey, and nearing the Peruvian border, we were all looking forward to arriving in Lima, that is until the driver told us that there were riots at the border and so we were unable to cross.  The alternative was to reroute through the highlands, adding an extra 10 hours to the journey... and an extra $5 per person for petrol - We would have paid ten times that just to get us across the border!!  Fortuanately for us, the detour was made worthwhile by the views from the highlands which were stunning...!

Backpack Status:  Still AWOL.