First Glimpse of Ecuador

We are now in Ecuador, the tenth country in our journey. We crossed the border at Ipiales, the only border crossing point between Colombia and Ecuador at an elevation of 2’800 meters (roughly 8’500 feet). We spent our last night in Colombia in the Sanctuario de las Lajas, with its beautiful gothic cathedral built on a rock at the bottom of a canyon. The image of the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared on the cliff facing the cathedral sometimes in the 18th century. I looked hard, but could not see anything though… the place is crowded on weekends and is very atmospheric. We spent the night in a hostel managed by nuns! We slept actually in a former nun cell! It was a bit cramped and mattresses were quite hard, but there was plenty of hot water and we were awakened in the morning by holy songs!

After this, we embarked on another border crossing; this one went surprisingly fast, only an hour. After a couple of hours drive, interrupted by a long wait due to some rocks having fallen on the road, we reached a very nice campground near Ibarra, run by a German family. There is hot water, electricity and very fast Internet, one cannot ask for more. We are facing two inactive volcanoes and a little lake. The weather is kind of moody: it can be very warm when the sun shows up or quite chilly when cloudy; there are gushes of wind on and off; it changes all day long, so fleeces on and off all the time. But we still sleep at night without heating the camper. Today, we are just staying there, relaxing and planning our route throughout Ecuador. There are plenty of sites to visit: the capital Quito (World Heritage site), active and inactive volcanoes, colonial towns, Inca sites, festivals and a “devil train” running up and down the Andes. More on the coming blogs, but in the meantime, it is so nice to spend a day actually doing nothing!