Some of you must of realised that our blogging has reduced. There is one main reason for it – our laptop was stolen from us. It was definitely an unfortunate incident but we have learnt from it. Here is what happened and how you can ensure safety while traveling.
Background
During our South America research we read a lot about thefts in Colombia. We were mentally prepared about keeping ourselves and our belongings safe. But I guess the recent economical development in Colombia provided us a much safer environment. We gradually let our guards down and that came to bite us in the bum in Ecuador.
The Realisation
The incident took place on the bus ride from Otavalo to Quito. The journey itself was uneventful till we reached Quito. We were heading towards our hostel in La Marsical when at the Quito metrobus connection Shruti realised that one of the bags was unusually light.
We quickly opened the zips of the bag to realise that the laptop was missing. Our initial thought was we thought we left the laptop in the hostel. However, further thinking through confirmed that it was not a possibility. As we had checked out early to do the hike around Otavalo, we had locked our bags and left them at the hostel. An email exchange with the hostel confirmed our fears.
We then tried to recall every incident since we left the hostel. The theft could not have occurred on the Quito metrobus as the daypacks were on our laps due to the evening peak time rush. The only situation left was the Otavalo to Quito bus ride.
Theft from under the feet
After our 5 hour hike in Otavalo, we had a decent meal and were ready to board the bus to Quito. Due to the hike and food coma, Shruti and I fell asleep as soon as the bus left the terminal. The daypacks were places next to our feet on the bus floor. Something we have been doing since Colombia.
The thief/ves must have been sitting behind us on the bus. They would have realised that we were fast asleep giving them the opportunity to carry out the theft. At one point in the journey, probably 40 mins after we left the terminal, I woke up for a few minutes to realise the bag was not against the side but halfway under the seat. I thought that the bag had moved due to the rash bus driving along the mountains.
Once we got to our hostel in Quito, we went through the chain of events and realized that we had been robbed by some skillful thieves. The bag was dragged from under the seat, the laptop taken and pushed back to close to our feet.
What Next?
The next 2 hours revolved around changing passwords, estimating the damage and the plan of action. As we had specified the laptop when we bought our travel insurance, we had to file a police report as soon as possible to claim the theft. The tourist police station in La Mariscal area of Quito had an officer who could manage some English and helped us file a police report. In the next couple of days we filled our claim to the insurance and are currently waiting to hear from them.
UPDATE: Our travel insurance replied and they have reimbursed us for the lost laptop! I must say we have the best travel insurance and highly recommend Southern Cross Insurance for everyone! They have only been understanding :)
How to be Vigilant
There are a lot of lessons we learnt from this event. Here are some of our tips for ensuring safety while traveling.
The time on the road is when we have to be most careful. The focus must be to arrive at the destination safe and sound. If you are distracted thats when an incident could occur.
Always board the bus after decent rest. Sleeping on the bus is not an option unless you are hugging your belongings. This incident occurred because both of us were tired and fast asleep. Even when I woke up for couple of minutes during the journey, my tired brain accepted the easiest possibility of bag moving due to the bus ride. I did not think twice or consider other possibilities.
Always lock all your bags, especially the zips with the money and passport.
Never place anything on the top shelf of the bus because if you cannot see it, it is likely to be gone. Under certain circumstances if you have to place some of your belongings on the top, either place it on the opposite side so you can always see it or leave some part of the belonging hanging so it is still within your sight.
Take all the necessary precautions to avoid any damage. If an incident occurs, it ruins the next couple of days and possibly even your overall experience in the country.
Also, always remember that some people are constantly struggling to make ends meet. They are possibly in a situation where taking a chance is their best option. If they get caught, they could probably get away because most tourists do not get involved in pressing charges or taking action. It is almost a win-win situation for them.
In any case, we still count ourselves lucky as the thieves could have taken the entire bag and got off at the next stop. We would have been left with no passports and money then!
Otavalo is a small Ecuadorian town in about 3 hours away from the border. It is well-known for its indigenous Saturday Market where plenty of people flock together to buy, sell, eat and enjoy the day. The town is quite picturesque and upon getting there we realised there is lot to do around it.
Saturday Market
Shruti timed our border crossing and getting to Otavalo alongside the market. On Saturday morning we managed to visit the market and we were not disappointed to the slightest. Otavalo has been the market town of the native people in this area for centuries. It was amazing stepping out of the hostel to see men and women dressed up in their traditional attire. What was even more brilliant was that this was our first sight of native people all around us. We finally felt we were in the Inca Land!
The market took up nearly half of the town centre. Everywhere there were stalls with women selling handicrafts, clothing and art. Sometimes many native women were making handicrafts right there in front of us. The colors of the woven bags, clothes and carpets were phenomenal. We haven’t regretted backpacking many times but this was definitely one of those days. There was so much stuff we wanted to take with us but had no space in the bag whatsoever.
A little away from the handicraft market was the fruit and veg market. There were lots of butchered pigs, fish and small eateries selling native food. There were plenty of green leafy veges, corn and spices. We wanted to try the food but almost all of it was pork based. Therefore, we did a bit of a mixture.
Shruti bought some mora fruits for 50 cents while I decided to try a paella like dish with rice, noodles, veges, pork, eggs and potatoes. It only cost $1 and it was very filling. Later on, we both had a fried banana cake which was fresh and sweet for 30 cents. Finally, Shruti ordered a mix of corn, beans, tomato salsa, tomato bits, onions, coriander and lemon juice. Here in Ecuador the dish is called Choclo but in India they would call it chaat. It was very very tasty!
Ofcourse, the point of a market is to shop and we only had limited space. Therefore, we made a mental rule of buying only from native sellers so we are benifiting a less well off family and buying small so there’s not a problem with space. We bargained a little where we could and ended up buying some little things that we be with us for years to come.
Imbaburra Volcano
We decided to take a bus to Lago San Pablo which was one of the highlights of the area. The bus ride would have been a 15 minute uneventful ride if a native young lady hadn’t started talking to Shruti. We somehow communicated with the lady and found out a little about her home and culture. She told us a little about her town and things to do. At the end, she told us where to get off the bus and we went our separate ways.
The view from the lake had mountains on 3 sides. All the mountains had little villages and farms up their sides mostly growing corn which is the staple of the area. Set against the lake, it was a postcard view. The Imamburra Volcano looked picturesque as the clouds rolled over the top. The dark green color of the grass on the volcano at the top, the lighter green of the farms in the middle, the villages at the base and the lake below that was as pretty sight as we have seen on this trip.
We walked around longer noticing the village life going on around us. Sheep, pigs and cows were tied up or grazing on the pastures next to the lake. As we walked, the villagers were herding the cows back and dragging the pigs and sheep back to their pens. It was heartening to see the simple life of the villagers. We asked a native man about the bus stop and he told us to wave it down. We did and that was the end of our visit to San Pablo.
Cuicocha Lake
Otavalo region is famous for high mountain lakes and we decided to check out one of them, Cuicocha Lake. The lake is in a crater of a volcano which last blew up 3,000 years ago and sits at 3068 metres in altitude. We arrived there from Otavalo after taking a bus and then a collectivo. A few of the other backpackers from the hostel decided to hike the crater trail. We chose not to as my hiking shoes were wet and Shruti’s tattoo was still relatively new on the foot.
We were wowed by the lake as soon as we arrived. The mountains around it rise a few hundred metres above it making the view simply amazing. Moreover, as with the rest of Ecuador, the weather was cloudy and rainy. The clouds at the top of the mountain were moving at a rapid pace. We would see the peaks and then they would vanish again in the clouds.
The lake itself was circular more or less with two islands within the lake. In fact, the name of the lake derives from one of the islands which roughly resembles a guinea pig. In the information provided, it said that the lake was 200 feet deep at certain points. The water was quite clear with grasses at the bottom. We walked a small trail around the lake which showed us the inca solar calendar, lunar calendar, the offerings area and the bathing ritual area. The natives in the area continue to perform the offering rituals related to the lake from ancient times.
Leather Products Village
We arrived in Cotacachi from Cuicocha Lake. The town itself is quite lower than the lake and the surrounding mountains. Our first impression of the town wasn’t significant, it looked like any other native village in the area just bigger. However, we then started noticing all the Americans around. We asked around for the center and were pointed to the leather shops street.
Fancy our surprise when we saw over 30-40 shops selling all types of fashion products made from leather. Some even resembled like high-end shops selling leather fashion in the west. Shruti fell head over heels for the jackets and I admit even I liked the quality for the price. The price was a bargain at around USD 110. I found some nice shoes I could use back in Australia, but we soon realised we didn’t have our debit card on us. What a shame!
Hike Around Otavalo
On our final day, we decided to do some walking around Otavalo. Our first stop was El Lechero for which we had to walk literally to the top of the town. Our hostel owner had told us to walk a trail along the farms but at some point we lost our way. After asking a few native people, we figured we were on an alternate path.
However, being lost allowed us to enjoy amazing scenery in the area with corn farms high above the city and the cloudy mountains in the background. Finally, we made it to the Lechero which is a lone tree on a hill meant to be holy for the locals in the area. We spent some more time taking in the view and then headed towards the waterfall.
Our hostel owner had drawn us a map of the whole area but that was proving to be useless. Maybe we just can’t read maps! He drew a little trail next to the Parque de Condor which was supposed to lead to the waterfalls. But when we got there, we couldn’t find any trail.
We investigated the area a bit and then Shruti spotted a dirt road at the bottom of the hill. So we carefully started our descend down the side of a hill. Once on the dirt road, we walked for an hour up and down hills to La Cascada de Peguche.
The waterfall was quite high and had been worked on by the government so some of the water goes to the villages nearby. On the return, we saw an Inca Museum and holy site set up by a couple. We couldn’t spend much time there as we had a bus to catch to Quito but it was a nice conversation.
On the way back, we couldn’t find a bus or collectivo so ended up walking back to Otavalo. We had a Colombian bandeja for lunch and took a bus to Quito. That ended our 3 day trip in Otavalo!
PS: sorry about not posting plenty of photos. In the next post you will know why.
Our trip in Colombia finally came to an end in Salento. The rest of the way involved heading South, sleeping in small towns and doing the Colombia to Ecuador land crossing. In all, this leg was an adventure upon itself.
First Stop – Popayan
We left Salento at 11am to arrive in Armenia, the nearest city and take a bus to Popayan. We reached Popayan at 7pm without any issues and the bus cost was 44,500 pesos (about USD 14.60) per person. Our hotel, Hotel Alcala was a stone’s throwaway from Popayan’s colonial white city. The cab ride from the terminal was about 10 mins.
To be honest, we knew little about the city and only used it as a stopover. However, the centre of the city, the white colonial buildings were beautiful. There are plenty of churches around as well. Though we never spent much time there, the city had amazing food and was unique due to its colour and architecture. There are some good day trips in the area as well.
First Bus Blues
We called up various bus companies to find out what time was the first bus to Ipiales. One company told us the earliest at 5:30am. When we got to the terminal at 5:00am, the bus company failed to recognize any such bus.
Another group of travelers talked to another company and they were quoted 30,000 pesos (USD 10) per person for a bus that may arrive between 5:30am and 6am. We opted for the safer option of using a bigger company with a confirmed bus at 6:30am for 35,000 pesos (USD 12) per person. As it turned out, we were shoved in the same bus but I managed to recovered our 10,000 pesos after protesting. The ride was crazy as we went through several high mountains, foggy roads and tunnels. It was also some of the most beautiful bus rides in Colombia.
Pit Stop – Ipiales
We arrived at Ipiales at 3pm. There is not much there except the most beautiful church, Las Lojas Sanctuary Church. Virgin de Las Lojas is popular in Colombia, Ecuador and many other parts of the world for helping people in need. We thought of doing a quick trip to the church before crossing the border.
There are collectivos from the bus terminal that drive people for 2500 pesos (less than USD 1) to the sanctuary. Upon getting there we left our backpacks at a shop for 2000 pesos each as we had to walk down to the valley.
The church is incredibly beautiful. Not only is it built on a ravine between two mountains, the glasses, the bricks and the architecture of the church is remarkable. We saw lots of churches and cathedrals in Colombia and this was by far the prettiest. A must do in Colombia!
We took another collectivo back to the terminal for same price. Now, we were ready to cross the border.
At the border
We changed our leftover Colombian money into USD, yes USD is used in Ecuador, at the bus terminal itself. We then hopped into a collectivo from the terminal to the border along with our locals.
Unfortunately, the driver never asked and we never told him that we needed an exit stamp from Colombia. He drove across the border and rest of the locals hopped into another collectivo. Clearly they didn’t need any stamps! We had to walk back over the bridge to the Colombian side and get an exit stamp. A great waste of time.
Tip: The border is open and it is very easy to make this mistake. Remember to get your exit stamp before going to Ecuador immigration. Get off the taxi before the bridge.
Entering Ecuador
Due to the confusion about the immigration, the long queue and Shruti’s Indian Passport took us around an hour to get the entry stamp for Ecuador. While we knew that Indians get Visa On Arrival for Ecuador, the officee in charge took longer than usual around 15 minutes. As a comparison, it took me less than 5 minutes.
We took a collectivo to Tulcan Terminal from Ecuador border for 75 cents each. The ride took about 15 minutes. While the border is open, many tourists visit Ecuador from Colombia making it busy. Please allow enough time to cross.
Tulcan to Otavalo
We took a bus as soon as we arrived in Tulcan at 7pm. The bus ticket was USD 3.50 per person. Our hostel had a check in till 10pm and we emailed them to not lock us out. The bus started at 7pm and it usually takes 3 hours to Otavalo. We thought we will get there just in time.
Unfortunately, the Ecuador police work opposite to Colombia. The bus was stopped twice, once closer to the terminal and second somewhere half way. The first police check involved going through our bags thoughroughly, every zip, every pocket. They made Australian customs look like amateurs. Strangely though, only we were checked. In Colombia, before the bus left the terminal, police officers would check IDs of most locals.
This of course delayed us and we didn’t get to Otavalo until 11pm. Luckily, the hostel received our email and a guy checked us in. Phew!
Long Day
In total, it took us 18.5 hours from Popayan, Colombia to Otavalo, Ecuador. Around an hour of that time in Colombia and at the border was avoidable. We are sure there are better ways of doing the land crossing and below is our suggestion so you do not exert yourself as we did.
Recommended Way for Colombia to Ecuador Land Crossing
We realized later that staying 2 nights in Popayan was a mistake. The highlights of Popayan can be done in couple of hours during the day.
Pasto should have been our second stopover. Ipiales is only 2 hours away from Pasto making the journey to Otavalo 5.5 hours and Quito 7.5 hours. Much better way for bus rides!
Summary
We practically crossed the border in two days.
Day 1 – Arrive at Popayan with plan to spend night there.
Day 2 – Leave at 5am in morning from Popayan and get to Otavalo by 11pm. Long day!
We recommend spanning the journey to three days if you have the time.
Day 1 – Arrive at Popayan with plan to spend night there.
Day 2 – Explore Popayan in the morning and catch bus to Pasto around 1pm. Spend the night in Pasto.
Day 3 – Leave from Pasto in the morning towards Ipiales. Spend 2 hours at Ipiales visiting the Sanctuary. Then cross border to Ecuador. You are likely to arrive in the evening at Otavalo or Quito, without exerti g yourself.
We initially planned on spending 25 days in Colombia, but ended up staying in this beautiful country for over 40 days. We fell in love with Colombia – the place, the people and the culture. Traveling in Colombia was really fun.
There are plenty of things to do in Colombia and every part is pretty in its own way. During our time here we visited popular cities, touristy towns, National Park, sleepy villages and did lots of hikes. Here is a map that shows all the places we visited while traveling in Colombia.
Against popular brief, Colombia is a very safe place to be. Apart from the lanes in Bogota, we did not feel unsafe in any other part of the country. There are police officers, and sometimes even army men, at almost every second block.
Colombians are very friendly people. They are always wanting to chat. Unfortunately, Shruti couldn’t say much in espanol, except Ola and Gracias! Most of her conversations start confidently and eventually died out because not everyone is good in charades.
Colombia has some of the most exotic fruits. We were surprised to know that lot of these fruits do not even have English names! Red beans and rice is staple diet along with plenty of fried food. And, lot of cheese.
Videos of Traveling in Colombia
Here are two videos we edited during our travel in Colombia. We have tried to keep the best parts. Hope you like it.
Btw, the songs used in the videos is the typical beat you would hear in Colombia.
After spending 2 weeks in Guatape, we decided to slowly make our way to Ecuador. This meant, we had to travel south. We had read and heard about Salento a lot so we decided to stop there for a few days.
Salento is a small town in the Zona Cafetera area of Colombia. It is famous for Colombian coffee, Valle del Cocora and the Colombian sport, Tejo. The village was home to coffee and milk farms until backpackers discovered it. Now, Salento is home to many hostels, tour operators and restaurants. Many backpackers have liked the place enough to stay back and open a business.
Getting to Salento
We left at 8am from Guatape to get to Medellin. The bus from Guatape gets to Transporte Terminal de Norte in Medellin, while the bus to Salento leaves from Transporte Terminal de Sur. We jumped in a cab and in 15 mins, we were in Terminal de Sur.
We had researched about getting to Salento from Medellin and most posts said we will have to change bus either at Pereira or Armenia, the bigger cities close by. After checking with a few bus companies, we learnt that there was a direct bus to Salento! Firstly, we were surprised and secondly, we loved the idea of just sitting in the bus without having to change constantly.
The direct bus from Medellin to Salento leaves at 9am and 12pm everyday. The ticket was 43,000 pesos (USD 14) per head and the journey takes 6 hours. The scenery along the way is beautiful so maybe sure you are awake for some bits of the drive.
First Bad Weather
Although we had an amazing time in Salento, it will always be remembered for the bad weather during our trip. Apparently, Salenteños had been crying for rain which hadn’t been showing itself lately. Well, the Rain Gods answered the day we arrived and blessed the town heavily every single day we were there.
Luckily, the view, especially from the Mirador (viewing point) and the temperature of the rain meant that we didn’t quite hate it. We carried a rain jacket around and bought a pair of waterproof hiking shoes. No bad weather only bad clothes as they say in England!
Coffee Finca
One of the things we wanted to do in Colombia was get a fresh cup of Colombian coffee. However, most Colombians don’t drink the best coffee, read about it in your Drinks in Colombia post. They drink it as a shot in the morning and it tastes horrible. 70% of the best coffee is exported to richer countries. The other 30% is kept by the coffee farms and sold in their shops.
Well, our first task in Salento was to walk down to a coffee farm and enjoy the coffee. As it happened, the coffee farms were around 4-5 kms away from main town. Since we were already on the path, we decided to just walk down. The path was all downhill and there were signs for the coffee farms with the distance remaining. However, the view of the valley below was incredible and we were glad to have walked.
We chose Finca Ocaso as it has some nice signs, offered an English tour and also because we reached it before any other fincas. The property was huge and it took us 10 minutes to walk from the door to the reception. Once inside we asked for the English language tour which was scheduled to begin an hour. We rested and killed some time in the game room.
When our turn came, we joined Paula, our guide and 15 other people. Our first job was to tie little baskets around our waists for coffee picking. Paula explained the basics of the coffee plant, its types, plantation, issues with various coffee species and Colombia’s place in the code world. Colombia is the 3rd largest producer of coffee in the world and its coffee fetches some of the best prices in the world.
The next part was picking coffee. We all actually got into the coffee bushes and looked for red coffee beans. Mind you, Finca Ocaso is rain forest certified which meant there was a lot of trees in the area. I really got serious about it and headed deep into the bushes. It only occurred to me later that I never checked with Paula if there are snakes in the bushes. Eeek! After 15 minutes, we compared our coffee cherries and some people had more red than others.
We then took our cherries to the peeling machine. This was a manual machine used in yesteryears. Following this process was the drying, sorting, roasting and packing. In this farm, everything from the tree was used – the cover of the cherries, the dry husk of the cherries and the cherries which are not of the highest quality. Those are sold to local coffee companies to be consumed by Colombians.
Finally, after learning the process, some volunteers ground the coffee beans produced from the farms. Shruti then volunteered to put hot water into the coffee infuser to create the brew. Cups of the best Colombian coffee was then passed to each person in the tour. How did it taste? Not bitter at all, a little sour and easy to drink. It was quite refreshing and possibly one of the only cups of non-milk coffees that I loved.
To remember our time, we bought a 250gm packet of coffee beans. As we hadn’t eaten all day, we ordered two bandejas with rice, soup, veges, meat (in my case) and a fresh glass of lemonade. A great meal in a beautiful location.
The return journey was not so fun though. It had been drizzling through the day but as soon as we left after our meal, it started pouring. There was no shelter or a taxi and we were forced to walk. The walk uphill combined with the rain was no fun. We tried waiting in the shelters but to no avail. Although the view of the valley was phenomenal, we couldn’t wait there forever. We ended up walking the whole way back in the rain, sometimes getting splashed by passing vehicles. Although it wasn’t the best walk, we still had fun and best of all we didn’t get sick!
Shopping in Armenia
After the coffee farm, our shoes were soaked to the point of no return. In addition, we had to hike the Valle Del Cocora. It would be impossible without good shoes. Moreover, we realised that our next destination, Ecuador was currently in the wet season which meant our current shoes were bad for this area.
Therefore, we decided to spend a day in Armenia looking for shoes. Getting transportation to it was easy. One way ride costs 3,400pesos (USD 1) per person. When we arrived in Armenia, we realised that the town was similar to small Indian towns. It had a market for bikes and bike parts, a market only for clothes, a market for shoes and other one for electronics.
With our limited Spanish in hand, we headed into shoe shops. We tried a few but the quality just wasn’t right. As we walked from one shop to another, the lady from the previous shop followed us in. It seemed that she owned a few shoe shops. She patiently helped us both try many shoes. We had to make sure we get shoes which would be waterproof but the shoes had no specific mention of this. In the end, we paid 85,000 pesos (under USD 30) which seemed a bargain.
Since it was one of our last times shopping in Colombia, I must take a moment to commend the shop keepers in Colombia. They were always welcoming with their “a la orden”, helped us as much as possible and were never pushy. Thanks Colombianos!
Tejo
Tejo is a Colombian sport which involves throwing a metal object from a distance onto a clay pit which has a metal ring with some triangles full of gunpowder. As the metal object hits the gunpowder triangle over the metal ring, there is an explosion. It requires some skill, patience and a lot of alcohol. There is a point system and the closest metal object to ring gets 1 point, blowing a triangle gets 3 points, getting in between the metal ring gets 6 points and blowing more than one triangle gets 9 points. Simple!
We visited Los Amigos in Salento which is the most well known place to play Tejo. The cost to play was 1000 pesos (33 cents) and you had to order alcohol. While there, we met David and Sylvia from UK who were tourists like us. All of us realised that we sucked real bad at this game. However, we persisted and the final score was 21-20 to the POMS due to a late surge. It was all in fun and we had some great laughs later bursting the triangles from close proximity.
Tattoo
Shruti had wanted to extend her tattoo for a while. While in Salento, we saw a tattoo shop, Eternal Present Tattoo, and talked to the artist about it. The price was good but we couldn’t get it done that day as we had to hike the Cocora Valley next day. At this point, even I decided to get my first tattoo. We went home, decided on our fonts and the designs.
Finally, after the hike and some rest, we arrived at the tattoo parlour around 6pm. The tattoo artist heard us out individually on what we wanted, designed the tattoos and when we were happy, he started with the work.
Shruti was first and she nearly cried in pain as it was on her foot. Her current tattoo depicts a place she loves – somewhere with sun, water and peace. For about 3 years now she has wanted to extend the tattoo with the word “wanderlust” across her foot. Of course that would hurt, but she says it is worth the pain! And now she is even more happier, she has an aeroplane on her ankle.
For my first tattoo, I was surprisingly calm. I guess I had wanted to get the words – Prajna, Sila and Samadhi from Buddhism tattooed for a long time but had never gone through with it. As the artist started his work, I realized why I hadn’t! The pain was not unbearable but it was difficult to stay still. It was like a needle being pulled through my skin. I could not even imagine how people do it all over their bodies.
Anyway, it was over and the result for both of us looked good. It turns out the artist was also influenced by Buddhism and the name of his shop was also Buddhist-influenced. The total cost of both tattoos was 220,000 pesos (around USD 70). Meaningful tattoo for a great price, Thanks Salento!
Food
There are plenty of great food options in Salento due to the backpacker influence. Our hotel, Casa La Eliana provided fresh baked pita bread with hummus. I also enjoyed a great trucha (trout) with patacon (flat fried banana) at a local shop.
We visited Brunch Place which was a backpackers favourite. The breakfast was great and cheap. We also encountered Beta Town which was a restaurant with soccer field, tejo spot, darts and plenty of place to chill. We ended up getting massive burgers for dinner and massive breakfast as well.
