For those that I may have misled, no we did not end up in jail by drinking rum and losing our visas... Here is our latest passings.
QUITO, ECUADOR: A lot of waiting. The plan was to stay in Quito for a week and then travel up into Colombia. However Mike, not being a Canadian citizen, is travelling with an Irish passport, and he needed to get a tourist visa before entering into Colombia. (I am not sure the details of the reason why the Irish as of recently need a visa but it has to do with a few IRA members of Ireland caught training the FARC, a guerilla group in Colombia.)
Upon arrival in Quito, Ecuador, Mike applied for his visa and we made various day trips to the beautiful surrounding area. We went to the famous Otalvalo market of machine made handicrafts, and another day we rode for about 4 hours on the roof of a train through the Andes. It was nice to have a birds eye (well not quite, but I´m short) of rural life in Ecuador and also exhilerating to do something that would NEVER EVER be permitted in Canada due to safety regulations!
Another activity which helped the time pass were the rum and coke nights, in which we particpated in a few... Every monday, wednesday, and friday, the hostal filled a caldron with 5 bottles of rum and 6 litres of coke and the happy backpackers drank for free. When the bottomless pot was emptied, everyone made a contribution of $1 and a new pot was on its way. This resulted in many social evenings, and the making of many friends.
The most unforgettable things we saw in Quito was the woman´s prison, EL INCA, in which we met various foriengers the majority in jail related to drug trafficing. Many of these foriengers were admittedly guiltly however we met one Irish girl with a very interesting and quite sad story. She was set up by a life long Ecuadorian friend who put cocaine in her bag, who has since conveniently disappeared. She was waiting for take off on her flight home to Ireland when the police escorted her off the plane and showed her what they had found. She passed out on the runway and woke up in prison. Two years have passed without a sentence or trial and sadly those two years will not count as time served once she is actually sentenced. Of course our hope is that with help from Ireland she will somehow be set free and not have to serve any sentence. She told me how she feels George Bush is partly to blame for her ordeal becuase of the United States´ international relations with Ecuador. For every arrest related to drugs in Ecuador the United States gives $10 000 to the Ecuadorian government, regardless of later discovery of guilt or innocence. This has resulted in alot of false arrests, Isn´t it lovely when two corrupt governments work together to nearly destroy people´s lives?
So, between day these excursions Mike made daily phone calls/visits to the Colombian consulate, all ending in the unsurprising south american "Call back tomorrow". After a week of waiting, they finally told him that he had to reapply and it would take at least two weeks to process becuase of the upcoming national holidays. We decided we had been waiting long enough in Quito and that if we had to wait we might as well do so somewhere new. So we bought two cheap flights to Caracas.
Our last night wasn´t a rum and coke night but it did certainly end with a bang. We dined Mexican style with our new friends, and our dinner was interrupted by gun shots when cops just outside the restaurant were shooting at two thieves whom had just robbed two girls walking down the street at 8pm. Yup, we made the right decision and it was time to get out of Quito.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Is dangerous, more than Quito. In our hostal alone there were 12 people who got robbed in one week. Not only by thieves but also by police who wanted bribes from tourists caught walking around without a copy of thier passport. We arrived on a saturday, applied for the visa on monday and after a 4 hour bus ride we were on the beach by monday night. The water was warm, the sand like moist brown sugar, and full the moon lit the sky at night. The beach we stayed at was called Puerto Colombia and we were able to camp for free among the other hundreds of vacationing Venezolanos. A nice getaway...
Luckily everything went as planned upon our return to Caracas and Mike was able to finally get his visa!
SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA: Just today we arrived in Santa Marta Colombia. It is a cute little city right on the carribean. It has been told to us by many travellers that Colombia is the most beautiful country in SOuth AMerica, and that the people are the friendliest. We want to make an unbiased first impression but it seems that everyone was right. The people are so warm, accomodating and sincere, and so far the scenery has been amazing. We will stay in Colombia for just over a month but no longer because we don´t want our mommsies, dadsies, sissies, brudderdsie, famsies, and friendsies to worry ´bout us. Countless travellers have told us that is safe to travel if one sticks to the beaten path and only travels by bus during the evening.
We have booked for thursday a 6 day hike to Cuidad Peridida which is a pre-columbian site and supposed to be very amazing. Tomorrow will be a day of preparation and relaxation before we say good bye to the city (and you all) for 6 days. Till then!!
Jess
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