Off The Beaten Track

• Lucyorsman's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Ibarra

Trip Start Jan 05, 2011 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 03, 2011 Next
Entry

  Ibarra, Ecuador
Sunday, January 16, 2011

It is a 3 1/2 drive north of Quito to the Pantavi. The hosteria is on the edge of a small town, we are in a remote mountainous farming community. This is a developing area so there is building work everywhere, but the Pantavi is an oasis, lovely rooms full of art, the owner is an artist, and it has beautiful gardens.

Harry and I play tennis, the rackets are those wooden ones, 30 years old, and it's a good job we are playing singles as there is rubble on the doubles strip.

The next morning Caitlin, Lizzie and I go horse riding. We travel by truck to another village, the villagers come out to see the aliens - that'll be us! There are three horses standing in the street and there are three men shoeing one of the horses. They are not the best farriers and eventually they decide that one shoe is enough. We mount our horses and set off, things are going well, then we turn onto a narrow track, it's very steep, it's downhill and there is a sheer drop to one side and the horses like to walk as close to the edge as possible. It takes your breathe away and I think, "shit what have we done", as Lizzie whimpers and Caitlin tries to reassure her. We have no choice but to just trust the horses, we reach the bottom of the valley and start the assent, going up is much easier, the rest of the ride is a peaceful Trek through amazing scenery. After two hours we are at the meeting point and boy oh boy am I ready to get off that horse, my bum and legs are killing me.

We get in the truck and go to meet the boys, they have been on a 3 hour hike, nothing too strenuous, just a mountain! They look exhausted and pleased to see us.

In the afternoon we visit the local thermal springs, this is not a spa as you know it! Next to a stream on the slopes of a volcano, there are a number of pools, the first is 48' degrees, lovely, there are four other pools, each larger and cooler than the last. There is building work all around us as they build more pools, tourism is an emerging market and it is busy at the weekends with Ecadorians who come for day trips. We spend about an hour hopping from pool to pool, we all have a great time.

The evening is very pleasant, we sit in the bar sipping Ciapirinha's, (tequila, lime and sugar) while the children are in the games room - bliss.

Today I do a lot of running, mainly to the toilet - it was a mistake not to bring the sudo cream!

We are flying to Peru today (our 14th flight in 14 days) enroute we stop for lunch at an indian village. It's lovely, on a hill over looking the city of Imbarra, there is a community of 100 families, they are self sufficient, growing all their own veg and rearing animals to eat. We eat in the home of one family, but there is no guinea pig, they are saved for festivals.

We leave Ecuador, it is a lovely country, the people are friendly, the cities have some beautiful buildings and the Andes Mountains mean that the scenery is spectacular, although travelling by car is slow. The food is okay and the Caipirinha's are great.

Slideshow Share

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Hosteris Pantavi	Court yard   Comments!	Our Bathroom   Comments!	The Three Amigos!   Comments!
The steep sided valley	At the Indian Village	Lizzie on a Llama	Harry on a Llama
Lizzie	The bottom of the valley at last

Previous Entry Next Entry