One of the nice things about traveling for more than a few weeks is the opportunity to change your mind at a whim. Despite this, Silje and I decided upon arriving in Ecuador that it was time to become better planners. And plan our month in Ecuador we did, spending two days at the South American Explorers Club with our nose in guidebooks and trip reports. It was there that we found out about the BSI, which in turn led to our next adventure, so I guess it wasn´t wasted time after all.

Among the guests at the BSI was Max, a Californian-German, who was looking into a jungle trip a bit more adventurous than a stay at a lodge. Incidentally, so were Silje and I, though we had completely stalled in our research and had the very same morning scrapped the whole project for a quick "let´s just go to Coca and see what we can arrange" decision. As a good German-descendant, Max not only knew what his options were but even had a trip description. The trip was just what we had been looking for, and Max was looking for companions to bring down the price... Hmmm...

After a few glasses of wine, Silje and I came to an easy and mutual agreement to scrap our plans for the next week or so and make a mad dash (with Max) for the jungle town of Coca to try to arrange a 7-day camping trip with a dugout canoe. I had 10 days before going to the Galapagos, so we could just about make it if everything fell into place.

The only way out of Chugchilan is to take the bus at 3-4am or rent a taxi. None of us were OK with the 3am option, and were relieved to see a car pull in to drop off some new guests. The car was returning the exact way we needed to go, and so we had a ride for the next day :-)

A quick snooze and it was morning. Our marathon day began...

Our driver Nestor, despite a scary name, turned out to be one of the highlights of our day. Chatting away non-stop, he didn´t hesitate to screech to a halt whenever he (or we) thought it was a kodak moment. There were many... We were driving the southern route back to Latacunga, known for its stunning scenery. Even the sun peeked out at regular intervals throughout the 3 1/2 hr drive.

Along rugged roads and up steep mountainsides, groups of people were hard at work digging ditches, filling in potholes, and working the fields. This "minga" is a relic from Inca times, when people in the community were forced to contribute a certain amount of their time to collective tasks such as building of cities, farming etc. Though not forced anymore, the "minga" has remained a local tradition, making the work quicker and easier. Wouldn´t you love having the whole neighborhood coming along to harvest your potatoes in an instant instead of doing all the digging alone? If you have ever harvested veggies or fruits, you know it´s boring as hell... Better have some good company!

The mountains are cultivated all the way to the top, with grains, corn and potatoes growing at insane inclines. Horses and mules are useless here, informed Nestor. Though they carry a lot less weight and are a lot more difficult to deal with than mules, the llamas with their 3-toed feet are the only pack animals who can get a grip on the steep mountainsides. As a visitor to the Andes, you can easily be fooled into thinking that they are only used to take photos with tourists... ;-)

Another attraction along the way, which we didn´t discuss with Nestor, was the local ladies fashion - the puffy skirts with psychedelically colored knee socks. We could hardly restrain ourselves from jumping out and buying a few pairs - if nothing else, to wear inside our rubber boots in the jungle... They would have been quite the hit in Norway during the 80s!

Coming to the high altitude plains, Nestor had another interesting story to tell. Apparently, in Ecuador, land over 3,800m cannot be bought or sold but forever belongs to the Government. Anyone can arrive and settle on any piece of land, using it to build a farm or a palace for that matter. Thus, if someone is poor but willing to work hard and live in this treeless, cold place, he can create a new life for himself and his family. Even at over 4,000m altitude, the soil is fertile and the growth season all-year. The only drawback is that the Government can decide to take back the land at any time... but in the meantime, or more probably for as long as they care to stay, settlers will not go hungry.

A lot more people do go hungry nowadays... After the adaptation of the US$ as official currency a few years ago, the cost of living in Ecuador has gone up dramatically. As we passed a hospital run by Italian volunteers, Nestor gave the example of healthcare. Before the "dollarisation", even local peasants could afford to see the doctor when they or their kids needed to. Now, Nestor claims, a visit costs them around US$15, which for a subsistence farmer is a fortune. For the past few years the local indigenous people have been relying on volunteer clinics such as the one run by Italians, and others run by Peace Corps volunteers, for their healthcare. "God help them if these organisations pull out!"

Back in Latacunga, the three of us hopped on a bus to Quito where we secured tickets for the night bus to Coca, had our laundry done, and ran last minute errands to buy, among other things, knee-socks (unfortunately no technicolored ones were available).

We did the 11-hour bumpy-overnight-busride-from-hell sans Max, who forgot to pick up his laundry on time and had to stay the night in Quito and catch a flight to Coca in the morning... Doh! I guess that was the Californian showing through :-) Arriving with near-whiplash at 7:30am without having got a single second´s sleep, we too wished we had forgotten to pick up our laundry...