My alarm went off and I shot up like a spring. Today wasn’t just another day. Today was the day that I would fly to Lima Peru. 24 hours until I would see Cati. One month of traveling alone in a country in which I knew nothing about was enough for me. I was defiantly looking forward to seeing someone that I had a connection with. Someone who I had history with. Someone who could climb with me every day! Yes, the next 48 hours were going to be exciting and special. Ecuador ill miss you, but get me the fuck outta here!
The night before, I had packed all my stuff and I was pretty much ready to go. Around 8am, I left Juan’s house after saying goodbye to my new climbing friends and I walked the 10 or so minutes up the hill. I caught a bus from Cojitambo to Azogues, another from Azogues to Cuenca, and a cab from the terminal in Cuenca, to the office of the Transport vans Juan had suggested and made a reservation for. For a few more dollars then the regular bus system you could get a ride in a brand new minivan. There were 3 girls that looked like they had been partying for the independent days waiting, and no one else. My original plan was to leave a day earlier and stay the night in Guayaquil but I opted to stay my last day in Ecuador in Cojitambo so I could climb and Juan had said that the mini vans only took two and a half hours rather than the four that the busses took. So, it was cutting it a little closer then I usually cut it because I had to make it from Cojitambo to Guayaquil airport and then catch my flight that left at 640pm.
Just before we left another group showed up and I noticed another minivan waiting out front. We loaded into the vans and left at 1030am as scheduled. I had the whole front part of the van to myself which included a bucket seat that folded almost all the way down. I started watching some random movie and once in a while looked outside to see the tall mountains and cloudy valleys pass by. This was my second drive through Cajas Nation Park but it was equally impressive. Really thick jungle, waterfalls, deep valleys and lots of hair pin turns as we climbed to 4000 meters.
I was sucked into my movie and didn’t notice that we had stopped on the side of the road. When I did notice, I realized something was wrong with the minivan in front of us. I laughed. What are the chances that one of these vans breaks down? By the look of them they were only a few years old and well kept. The vans passenger rear tire was smoking and by now, the whole lead group was out of the van and staring at it. My driver and the lead driver jacked the van up and took the wheel off. It looked like the break pad or rotor or some oil line had blown up and there was oil all over the inside of the rim, rotor and pretty much everywhere else. I don’t know much about cars so I kept my distance and hoped they would fix it soon. I was starting to doubt my plan about staying the extra day in Cojitambo. After about 40 minutes of sitting in the van watching the two doods scramble around, the tire was back on the lead van and we were on our way. As I drifted asleep listening to my iPod I remember thinking how glad I was that I wasn’t in the lead van as it hurtled down the mountain pass going way too fast and passing cars around blind corners.
I arrived at the airport with about 5 hours to kill which I didn’t mind because I had to check in, pay my departure tax, and clear Ecuadorian customs all before I could get to my gate. After I checked in, the lady guided me to a bank that was inside the airport that was specifically there to collect departure taxes from people as they flew out of the country. Weird. It cost 30 dollars for me to fly out of Ecuador and I’m still not exactly sure what they use the money for as the airport was kind of ghetto. However I do know that when I fly from Peru ill have to pay another departure tax so I guess it’s pretty common.
After clearing security I sat down and used the internet for the whole wait. I love free wifi, so easy to kill time. It was a strange feeling sitting in Ecuador waiting to fly to Lima. A new city, new cultures, whole new unknowns. While sitting waiting, a soldier and a really goofy golden lab came by and he sniffed my bag. I remember Cati telling me that Peru and Ecuador were trying to crack down on drugs being smuggled through their airports. When we finally boarded the plane I went through something I’ve never went through before. After showing our boarding passes and passports and walking down the corridor bridge to the plane, there were 2 soldiers patting people down and a dog sniffing people as they passed onto the plane. A little over kill on the security if you ask me.
The flight was chill and I got a really good view of Lima as we flew over. Such a massive city, If I wasn’t meeting Cati tomorrow morning; I defiantly wouldn’t be stoked on being here. We landed on time, my bags were the first bags out of the carousel (that never happens) and I went to the customs line. They asked me how long I was planning on staying and gave me a 60 day visa on site. I had one more line to pass through which was really funny. You show your passport, push a big green button and if the light in front of you flashes green you can go ahead and leave the secure area and if it flashes red, you have to go and get your bags searched by Peruvian customs officials. I got the green light and went outside the security doors.
There was a fence outside the door and behind it was a mass croud of people waiting for passengers to get off. There were at least 50 people holding signs with names on it. I had arranged my hostel to pick me up to I was supposed to be looking for my name on one of these 50 signs. Fuck. I walked up and down reading each sign and didn’t see my name. Every 5 seconds a guy would ask me if I wanted a taxi. Why can’t I find my name! After 20 minutes of walking around I gave up and went to change some money. The currency here is Peruvian Nuevo Sols. (Peru New Suns). 1USD is 2.7 Sols. I found the taxi stand, arranged a taxi and walked out the airport. While I was walking with the driver, I saw this middle aged fat man hurry past me with a sign that read “Max Hoodrich; Loki Hostal”.
“Hola, Señor!! Yo soy Max. Your late dude.”
The cabbie I had arranged from the taxi stand glared at me as I jumped taxi ships and took off with my new driver. It was about 9pm as we raced through the streets. For a city of 9 million it was actually kind of quiet. There were stray dogs, shanty buildings, and beside them McDonalds and a Bata store. The pollution was really bad and I could feel it sting my contact lenses and burn my lungs. Every car was a junker and puffing out tons of smoke. I was amused to see the occasional tuk tuk driving around and I later found out they are called “Moto taxis”. The drivers who drive these half motorbike half rickshaw contraptions are equally as crazy as they are in Bangkok and as I’m writing this, I’m being told a story about the refuge keepers wife almost dying on a Moto taxi and he says he would never ever get on one of them. This coming from a 50 something year old Peruvian, I’ll take his word for it.
My hostel was nothing special. It was filled with partiers from all different countries and my dorm room which cost 27 soles and had 7 other people sleeping in it smelled like dirty ass and was really musty. I went to sleep as fast as I could. I woke up the next morning stoked! The dorm room didn’t have windows and I had to use my headlamp to dig out my toiletries. After taking a shower and packing my things up in the dark room I went outside and caught a cab back to the airport. I arrived 2 hours before Catis flight so I went and had a sandwich went to star bucks (yes starbucks) and finally went down stairs to stand behind the same fence from the night before.
After what seemed like an eternity I saw Cati come out of the doors and I ran to greet her. We hugged and kissed and I’m sure most of the people were staring at the goofy gringo couple making a scene. It was just a month we spent apart but it felt a lot longer. This moment marked the end to my traveling solo and the beginning of my traveling climbing trip with Cati. What a great moment!
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