From the Pan American Highway we cruised back directly to the Mariscal, passing other inferiors like a low-flying jet. On the way we learnt that all the Americans worked together at the 180 employee-strong US Embassy - what do they all do¿ We also stopped in to take breakfast at a fancy cafe on the highway but were refused as they were full - "did you have a reservation?" For breakfast?? After gratefully shaking hands and saying goodbye to our saviours Luke and I took breakfast at where else but Kallari, then went our respective ways to recover.
Kelsay had also recently arrived back from jungle adventures and we discussed ways to go hiking in Cajas National Park together near Cuenca. This didn`t end up happening as Kelsey went to hike the more weather-friendly Quilotoa loop instead but in the meantime I dried, cleaned and gave away stuff in preparation to leave Quito.
Several months ago in Chile I had put up a lonely Lonely Planet online message inviting travel companions for my jungle journey to Colombia. A lady named Ali from Queensland answered and expressed interest but our itineraries made it impractical to meet up. However we stayed in touch and finally caught up (along with her friends Mica and Stefan) to have dinner and then try to go up the Telerifiqo cable-car to Pinchicha Volcano the next day. The tickets turned out to be over double the price quoted in the 2009 Lonely Planet - $8.50 - what a rip-off! So we went to Kallari instead. *sheepish smirk* Afterwards we went to a shopping centre and I was asked for my name, passport number and sexual preference to buy a tupperware container!
So the name in this blog, `Yasuni`, refers to the large national park including a Huaorani indigenous reserve in the Oriente (Ecuadorian Amazon) that after reading of in the excellent book ´Savages´ by Joe Kane I was inspired to visit. However, after the heat and sickness of the Peruvian and Colombian jungle lowlands I was a little put off returning there in Ecuador. Furthermore there seemed a lack of independent exploration options and a glut of expensive exploration options. So I didn´t get to Yasuni, but it sure has been an adventure! The closest I got was talking to 2 American students studying Saki monkeys at the most biodiverse research station in the world, Tipituni within the park. Oh, and standing outside the ´Hostal Huaorani´ in the Mariscal.
I said goodbye to Quito and La Posada Del Maple, snapping a few memories before leaving. The breasts belong to a highly-unrealistic bust in Maple - usually these sculptures are created by men. The sign is of the Mariscal bus stop - each stop has a unique silhouette image and I thought this one being a punk was particularly cool.
The bus trip to Cuenca was late, cold and smelt like toilet, but I got to enjoy JCVD in ´Hard Target´ - I heard on the grapevine there was an internal management feud over the name, a serious push being made for ´The Perfect Mullet´. Great film. Once in metropolitan Cuenca I taxied to `El Cafecito` for an easy bunk and was lucky I was tired and could sleep because of loudish music until 3am. Outrageous!
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