We’re off on one more small adventure before heading home. One more cheap car rental and four days exploring some bits of Ecuador near to Quito.
Renting a car and just heading off is definitely my favourite way of exploring. It’s about as independent as you can get. Even those travellers who brave local buses or trains are stuck with joining an organised tour once they actually arrive somewhere interesting.
Ecuador is another country where you just need a modicum of care and concentration to drive yourself around it. There are paved roads (with only a few potholes) connecting all significant towns where the main hazards are idiots overtaking lorries on blind corners, and of course the need to pick a less blind spot to overtake lorries yourself if you want to arrive before nightfall. The roads turn to dirt when heading to smaller places, so an eye for avoiding the worst potholes and spotting where a rut is going to cause your little car to scrape bottom is important. And the ability to squeeze almost-but-not-quite into a ditch to let a pick-up pass the other way, of course.
Our rental is second-hand and a bit battered. This is all to the good; not only is it a lot cheaper than the big companies (Hertz, Avis, Budget, etc) but it’s much less conspicuous if we leave it parked somewhere. And since the guidebook advice for Ecuador is not ‘don’t leave valuables in your car parked on the street’ but actually ‘don’t leave your car parked on the street’ this seems extra valuable.
So today we went horse-riding in the Pululahua Crater, a huge ancient volcanic crater much like Gunung Batur in size and in the fact that much of the bottom of the crater is agricultural land. I thought it was a lovely ride, there were lots of bromeliads and orchids growing in the lichen-clad trees along the farm tracks and the various views of the crater were great.
Tonight we’re in Mindo, staying in a lodge with its own small cloud forest reserve behind the garden. Our room is cheap, but so much better than many hotels we’ve stayed in for the following reasons: (1) the bathroom is big, with plenty of room in the shower, (2) the shower is consistently hot, (3) our room has drawers, shelves, hooks – plenty of storage, (4) there are gardens and wildlife outside our window, (5) it is warm all day and night. Okay, so that last is more a feature of the climate in Mindo.
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