Christmas in Bad Aussee, Austria

To wrap up our small expedition: The 4 months or travelling have been fantastic. Poeple we met were always friendly, and we did not experience a single serious situation during our trip. Some parts have been exhausting, but travelling as we did has enabled us to meet people, not just museums. We have also experienced what the countries have to offer today, not just what they had 500 years ago. Following the gringo trail in the north part of Ecuador opened our eyes to what normal tourists see, and we are incledible happy for what we have done. Last of all, not all people have the opportunity to shoot off to another continent for 4 months, or any time at all. Thanks to everybody that have helped us accomplish this. Another thanks goes to our loyal (and also disloyal) blog readers. It is fun to write when people read.

At Heatrow airport, London / Miami Airport

 We arrived the Meier residence in Bad Aussee after 32 hours (16 of them waiting), 2 ice creams, 3 films, some naps and a couple of sore behinds. The bicycle decided to catch another flight, and will be with us after christmas. Erhard came all the way to Vienna to pick us up (3 hrs each way). Thank you Erhard. Most of today was spent with the kids (Johannes, Flora and Miriam) and the rest of the family at Lydia and Koens place.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

The very last travel album for now: http://picasaweb.google.com/eirik.sunde/QuitoDecember2008#

Leaving Ecuador

The days in Quito have not been as eventful as we might have desired, but we have carried out some important tasks. We sold Anitas bike for 220 USD (New price: 385 USD). Eiriks bike is now totally dismounted and packed into something American Airlines might accept without charging us 250 USD (as they have threatened us to do). Eirik is very pleased to have a bike in the Styrian paradise Bad Aussee.

Eiriks bike packed

Anita gave some clothes she does not need anymore to a very nice woman, who gave us some yummy pastry in return. We are taking farewell with good and cheap vegetarian food, fruit juice stands and pollerias (grilled chicken). Bonus for our last day: We finally found a internet place selling coffee (even most of them are called names such as coffenet etc). Yesterday, we dropped into a large mall, and are very happy to avoid the christmas chaos you all are exposed to at the moment.

The tourist project of the day: Basilica del Voto Nacional, built in the 1900 century

Our plane departs Quito at 10:20 tomorrow, flying over Miami and London. But hey, Austria here we come!

Tick-tacking the time left

Quito

The trip is coming to and end, and we had a moment of useful statistics on the bus yesterday:

Time spent on bus: 52 hours (north Peru / Ecuador)
Time spent with backpack: 280 hours (mid peru)
Time spent on bicycle: 102 hours (Bolivia / South Peru)
Time spent together: 2934 hours
Time spent away from each other: 15 hours!!!

My (Eiriks) greatest worry, prior to leaving Europa, was the intensity of each others company. During a span of 123 days, we have just spent a bit more than a half a day away from each other (that almost includes bathroom visits). It proved to be no problem at all, maybe because the time walking/cycling behind each other feels like time spent alone.

Leaving Baños was a bit sad, because it was an excellent place to relax. We had heard several things about Quito, and most of it was things we did not want to hear such as muggings, scams, and worst of all: rain! As we arrived the bus terminal, the rain started and did not end before we had found a nice hostel in the Quito Old Town. We checked in, went out to eat what they called a Caesar salad (any salad with chicken is a Ceasar salad here), and headed sleepily home to bed. After turning and tossing the whole night Eirik was, according to Anita, annoyingly awake at 0630, and could no longer tolerate that Anita was soundly asleep.

The higly recommended breakfast place did not open as early as we desired, and we therefore walked up into the New Town and the Mariscal Sucre aka. Gringolandia. Quito has proved itself worthy for a visit so far, with street entertinment at night and a good street atmosphere. Adding a talk with a bicycle company and a short trim of Eiriks beard, we are left here at this internet cafe.

Relaxing in Baños

After two days of reading, hammock swinging and bathing we yesterday decided to get active again. We rented two quad-runners and drove up closer to the vulcano. We were surprised by how much it actually smokes. Quoting Eirik: "If the vulcano had been a powerplant, then Greenpeace had been there with their posters long time ago."

 
In the afternoon we biked 18 km of the "Waterfall-Street" to Pailon del Diabolo (the devil's cauldron), a very impressive waterfall where you can crawl through a long tunnel-like stone niche until you stand behind the waterfall and get splashing wet.

 The perfect ending of the day was spending the whole evening in the hot and cold pools of "La Piscina de la Virgen". Now we're ready for Quito.

P.S. The parade on December 16th was very fun to watch. All the towns institutions participated, including two geriatric homes. The act of electing a beauty queen must be deeply rooted in Ecuador, as also the geriatric delegations had a (approximately 80 years old) beauty queen walking in front. I found that quite cool. Who says that beauty has to be linked to youth?

Baños

After a long day (5 hours on the train, 4 hours in the bus) we arrived yesterday evening in Baños. Eirik tried bravely to comfort tired and therefore grumpy Anita. We had just slept 4 hours the night before due to packing late and getting up early. But here we are in Baños ("baths"), the perfect place to relax. The water is warmed by the active Vulcano Tungurahua and is rich in minerals.

 We woke up to marching music at 8 o'clock and were sure it was some kind of military parade. It was therefore quite surprising to see small school children beating drums, playing xylophone, dancing and marching in formation. They were practicing for tomorrows city fiesta and it was impressive how good they were.

 
The hot baths are situated right next to a high waterfall. The hottest pool has over 40C and after 2 minutes it gets too warm. Luckily there are big pipes with cold water directed from the waterfall under which one can stand afterwards. Very nice!

Nariz del Diablo - Riobamba

After returning from Chimborazo, we slept for a whole day. The volcano Chimborazo is in fact as far away from the center of the earth as you can get (with the feet still planted on the ground) due to the equatorial bulge. We have therefore been higher up than mount Everest, which is kind of cool.

Another thrilling experience was waiting for us this morning, the infamous Nariz del Diablo train route from Riobamba to, yes, the Nariz del Diablo. We woke up at 05:20 sharp (and even left the bed), ate breakfast, showered and headed to the train station where we found loads of already waiting and expectant tourists. Our train was packed with an organized tour group, who had given out lollipops to the participants. After filling in the last available seats on the roof of the train, and paying 1 USD for a comfy pillow, the train slowly departed Riobamba. At first, it felt a bit like a zoo with white tourists throwing food to the people we passed along the road. In the end of the day, it was quite nice. Kids came running towards the train when they say it coming, knowing that there might be something for them. Farmers walking along the train tracks smiled and waved at the train. The scenic was breathtaking, and in such an easy way. We did not even have to walk or bike!

At 12:00, we arrived at Alausi, and had to go back to Riobamba by bus. We entered a bus that departed right away, which in Ecuador is like seeing pigs flying. Then, in the middle of the trip, the bus collectively drew their breath. Outside the side window, a pig was flying next to the bus. The poor creature had fallen down from the roof where it was packed with the other goods. It still hang in its rope, trying to climb up the ladder again. The bus stopped at last and the pig could finally come up into safeness again.

Flying pig rescue operation

At the moment, we are trying to finalize a deal for our bicycles. If our potential buyers do not want to pay our price, we bring the bikes home. The bikes are pretty good. After the deal is closed, we head towards Baños where we will relax for some days. And for all concerned parents: We will go to Quito (3,5 hrs away) within two days of our departure.

Tracks going down on the cliff

Our train

The conductor fixing the brake wire

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/eirik.sunde/NarizDelDiabloDecember2008#

Climbing Chimborazo

Juhuu, we did it!! Tonight we climbed the top of Volcano Chimborazo (6310m).

We were nervous if we`d make it, as we were neither sure about our acclimatization nor our fitness but in the end everything worked out fine. Our guide Ivo picked us up from Casa del Condor at noon yesterday and we drove to the lower refugee on Chimborazo (4800m), were he cooked a delicious all-vegetarian lunch for us. The street to the lower refugee was crowded with children-loaded buses, bringing them to a day trip on the Volcano. Or, as a matter of fact, the buses were rather empty because the children were running around outside throwing snowballs at each other. In Ecuador you have to go high up to see snow. After lunch we walked to the upper refugee (5000m) were we repacked the backpacks, drank tea, looked curiously at the other climbers and had dinner before hitting the bed at 6 pm The alarm was set for 1030 pm but we didn't sleep much, our heads spinning with thoughts.

The Refugio at 5000m

When the alarm rang we were nevertheless sleep-drunken and didn`t manage to eat much of a breakfast. At 1130 we stepped out into a near cloudless sky, the but-one-day full moon shining brightly and Chimborazo throning high. We were excited! Slowly we set in motion, on foot by the other, and that shouldn't change much the next 5 3/4 hours. The ascent was steep, very very steep, varying from 35 to 55 degrees. Soon we put on the crampons and used the icepick to manage in the snow. The tiredness came soon but we managed astonishingly well. Still, the higher we got, the more difficult it became and in the end we had to stop every second minute, our bodies being so exhausted.

Ivo (our guide) and Anita during a short break

At 0510 am the steepness finally declined and a dance floor of snow broadened out in front of us. Five minutes later all three of us started dancing on top of the Volcano, out of happiness and to chase away the cold (-12 degrees celcius). The moon was still shining but on the other side of the horizon gold, yellow and pink colours predicted the suns arrival. We watched admiring but the cold and wind chased us away before the sun itself rose.

Eirik and Anita on the dance floor at sunrise

It took us over 2 hours to reach the refugee again and the descent was quite painful to our exhausted and tired bodies. The only bonus was that we could watch the valleys awake from their sleep. Now, the only thing we want to do, is sleep ourself.

The shadow of the Vulcan Chimborazo stretching out into the horizon

Anita at our short walk on the resting day to Piedra Negra (black stone)

Cooking at Casa del Condor

On top of Piedra Negra, overlooking Chimborazo

Waiting for Ivo, Eirik whistled and played the guitar while two kids helped out with the strumming.

The beginning of the sunrise at Chimborazo

The route tracked by our GPS

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/eirik.sunde/ChimborazoDecember2008#