Quito and from there to Colombia

Finding my way to my CS host's place in Quito wasn't easy but when I finally made it he and his family gave me a warm welcome and took me to their beautiful house in Tumbaco, 30 minute bus ride from the capital. Ingo is known in area as the gringo alto, the tall foreigner, and his 2m 5cm height makes him the centre of attention where ever he goes in this land of midgets. I loved it, 'cause close to him nobody even saw me. He, his beautiful girlfriend Genny and the two gorgeous señoritas of the family, Emily & Elise, showed me around in the Quito old town and had lots of patience when I was trying to find vegetarian food in a local animal market fair the next day.

Ingo wanted to increase his farm size (now only including two dogs, two cats, six ducks, four geese, quite a few non-egg-laying chickens, a rooster, a hamster, two rabbits, a lama and a goat) with a female lama and a male goat, but luck wasn't on our side and he only ended up getting his wallet stolen by three old ladies. I was sorry it didn't happen to me instead, especially because I only had 15 dollars.


Besides lama riding they introduced me to many new interesting looking fruit, some of which were delicious just like that and some which taste better as a juice. The funkiest looking one, yellow Pitaya, was my favourite.

Ingo built a fire to celebrate me leaving the next morning, even though I had left them and their wifi to peace for a whole day when I was out discovering Quito ;)






Quito is one of these cities with a spectacular location - in between several volcanoes, one of which is still active, just waiting to give the locals a warm ash shower one day.







Since being well for over a month seemed too long for me, I desided to check out the views over Quito from Teleférico, a cable car taking you to the altitude of 4100 metres. The ride to there (8,5$) was pleasant, but I didn't expect the first symptoms of the altitude sickness to hit me within five minutes.

So after taking a few pics I took the next car down and was met by a worried member of the staff offering me oxygen as soon as I got out. I said no thanks, I'm used to this by now... ;D In 2800 metres the headache, nausea and dizzyness were gone nearly as quickly as they had arrived.


After a few days in Quito it was time to say goodbye to Ecuador and to the southern hemisphere and take a bus to Tulcan (4,5$) at the Colombian border crossing the Equador on the way. In spite of all the warnings I had heard the crossing went smoothly and not me nor my belongings were searched even once.

From Ipiales on the Colombian side I took the first bus to Pasto (5h, 7000 cop, 3€) and was lucky enough to get a seat on the right side of the bus to enjoy these amazing views. (Note the trucks on this pic on the right)



I've now been in Pasto for two nights and haven't really discovered much to see or take pics of in the city. I found a veggie restaurant but besides the nice dinner I also got an overdose of Taoism and meat demonisation there. I'm no longer surprised vegetarianism is not popular here - trying to frighten folks to stop eating meat is hardly going work on anyone with a half a brain (or a year old brain damage).

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