Getting a new passport

Is not easy! So what ever you do, do not loose your passport while travelling! I tell you, it will be endless waiting and cueing, mental breakdowns and tiers, talking to zillion different people and having tons of different papers to fill.

My passport was stolen Thursday night, we reported the police immediately and it took till Sunday that we actually got the report. By this time tens of emails and calls had been made to find out where can I get a new passport as there is no Finnish Embassy in Ecuador. I was told that Spanish Embassy would help me.

Wednesday I started to be really frustrated when nothing was in progress in the Spanish Embassy. We had lined and lined to see if we can see somebody but no. Rob called to the British Embassy (which first had said they only help if you have UK passport) and immeduately it started happening. We got meeting time and everything went well and Thursday I got my Emergency passport!! Juhuuu!!! :)

I am not lying when I say that we went for different offices at least 22 times, sent 56 emails and made more than 30 calls. Thank God for Skype!! I made one call with my phone and burnt 52e in 3 minutes.. I think I have got some grey hairs and definitely some extra heartbeats in the last days. Wednesdays two earthquakes didn't help at all! We were at Embassy building, 14th floor when the second one hit. Damn it was so scary to be so high when the whole building was shaking! We got evacuated from the building and we thought that was it, my legs were so shaky running down the steps from 14th floor. Thank good nothing bad happened, Quito didn't suffer any damage.

Now we are in Mancora, Peru. Border crossing went smoothly and I am happy to be out from Ecuador :)

Good and bad times

Let us start from the good ones :)

Thursday me and Stine went riding when the boys chose rafting. Rob still hasn't recovered from the riding in San Augustin. We rode in the valley and I had asked a fast horse, and I really got one! Me and Jose (the guide) were racing against each others, it was so much fun :) We stopped to admire volcanic rocks from Tungarahua and taste mineral water from a river. There was a spring and a hotspring underneath the river, which made the water sparkle.

Later we said once again byes to the Sweds, hopefully meeting them in Peru in few weeks :) and took a bus to Alausi to ride on a famous Devil's Nose Train. But instead we decided to walk it. It was so beautiful walk through the valley and village communities and the way back along the traintracks was really nice.

And then for the bad news :(

We got robbed on that bus from Baños to Alausi. We only noticed it when we arrived to Alausi. Our bags were infront of us, between our legs and the bastards had crawled on the floor and made a whole on my bag and took all valuables out. Passport being the most important thing. They even took our snacks, croissants and apples plus my water bottle. Damn, they were hungry! I can tell you how frustrating it is to try to talk with polices who don't give a shit (sorry about my language). We called the police and three came, wrote something and left. Next day we tried to get those informations and it seemed that those officers had dissapeared. We got this FGE raport made in the end but police didn't help us at all and refused to write raport. Today we went back again and tried to get the information, but no luck. On our way to Quito we stopped in Riomamba, where the bus company has office and finally got the drivers name and phone number. And in Quito tourist police was still open so we got our police raport! 

There is no Finnish Embassy in Ecuador so I can't get a new passport here. I have talked with Spanish Embassy and obviously they will help me to get this Emergency Travel Document, but that I do not know that can I cross land borders with it. In Lima, Peru there is Finnish Embassy which I have talked to already and they are hopefully doing everything what they can to help me cross the border and get a new passport. But I tell you, it sucks to be robbed in a country where nobody speaks english and police is corrupted.

I really hoped it would have been a bad dream but it wasn't. Thank good we are okey and together. Rob had one credit card hidden and he got his passport back. I don't have any money, cards, camera, identification or passport. Tomorrow will be full office day once again, hopefully it goes as quickly as tonight. Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well and without an enormous hassle!

Cancelling cards

I still had my pebers!! 

Baños

Came here yesterday and already liking it. Baños is deep down in the valley, surrounded by the mountains. And if it is not cloudy you can see Tungurahua volcano. We took bus up to Casa de la Arbol, had an awesome swing and zipline plus we were lucky to see the volcano. 

Today we rented bikes with Stine and Jesper and cycled around waterfalls. Very nice downhill almost all the way, and the condition of the roads! Wow, only if I would have my Kilpuri II (roadbike) here. First stop was El Manto de la Novia, very tall waterfall across the river. We took ancient cable car down, very scary indeed! We were hoping to get some coffee and breakfast down, next to the river but ended up getting a tour around the guys stone collection. His wife wasn't there so he couldn't make coffee.. But he recommended a fantastic MiraMelinda Hotel for us. Oh my! The best breakfast this far on the trip :)

Pailon de Diablo was our next stop. I would say few hundred thousands gallons of water was floawing there every second! Got shower what I didn't need also :) But it was great! We still continued downhill, saw few more waterfalls and villages. Almost adopted one puppy, he was so adorable.  In the evening we had super nice dinner with Müge and Serat also, 4 course home-cooked meal with friends. Couldn't have asked for more nicer day :D

Galapagos

Okey, WOW!! If you haven't concider visiting these islands, please do it now! You can visit three of the main island by yourself and do daytrips to the smaller ones if you are travelling on a budget. We will have to wait our retirement days to go on the cruises :) I am totally amazed of these islands, paradise would be the right word to describe them.

Day 2
Santa Cruz looks much nicer what we had heard about it. Marine life = amazing, absolutely speachless! We dove to Gordon Rocks today with Galapagos Travellers. Very profession diveshop, good equipments, check dive, make-your-own-burger-lunch and super friendly and helpful staff. On our first dive we came across freezing cold currents (+18°), at least 20 hammerhead sharks, mantaray and few turtles. I'm not even going to write how many different fish we saw :) I was totally just one big smile the whole girl.

Between the dives we got to go snorkle with the sealions. It was more like underwater ballet! I was just diving under the surface and they came so close to play with me. Second dive was as good as the first one. Turtles came so close so we could really see how beautiful they are. One point there was 7 hammerheads below me and 2 mantas above, I didn't know which way to look! After the dive we headed straight to Tortuga Bay to check the white sandy beach and land iguanas.

Day 3

We changed island to Isabela, but before that we went to see giant tortoises and lava tunnels with John and Julia. They have been sailing for the past 6 years, never leaving the boat! Started from Turkey, they literally have been every where :) that is a proper hardcore travelling!

Day 5

We did the lava tunnel snorkling tour today and it was great! Actually there is no words for it, we saw so much marine life, snorkled close to the mangroves and lava fornations which looked like caves and tunnels. 7 white tipped reef sharks, 20 seaturtles, 9 colden rays, 2 spotted eaglerays, huge stingray, blue parrotfish, penguins, fur sealions, yellow seahorse,.. Could not keep track :D it was magnificent but cold as hell! And I was the only one with long wetsuit.

Isabela definitely has the beaches to lie in, tortoises to ran in to on the roads, zillions of iguanas lying in lavarocks and sealions taking it easy on the pier. Can't compare to Santa Cruz, both has their highlights. 

Day 7

What a disaster day! Very badly slept night because there were so many ants in our room, plus San Cristobal felt so much hotter than Isabela. We had booked diving but in the morning they just told us that the boat is broken, can't go today. But somehow our divemaster and two other divers were going anyway.. For us it was too late to find another diveshop. So we rented bikes and started cycling towards the other side of the island, Puerto Chino. After 9km straight forward uphill I got flat tier. We had came to a blows with Rob already miles ago so he had gone by himself. So there I was, middle of San Cristobal island alone with my broken bike, no phone or money. It rains only like 10/365 days in here, and one of the days were today. I seriously thought of screaming my head off! I walked few kilometers with my bike hoping Rob would have stopped. No he hadn't. So I just junked my bike on a pole hoping it would be there still when I return.. I hitchhiked a ride to see how far Rob had gone. We needed one more hour a silent treatment before we made a truce.

After checking El junco, freshwater lake, I got a ride from a local couple to the tortoise breeding centre and then I walked rest to the beach. It was more than 1pm at that point, we didn't have any water left or food. And we were starving! Luckily one tourist group had plenty of leftovers and they were kind enough to give us plates. I can't tell you how happy I was for that plate and glass of soda! I have been told so many times that - there is no such thing as a free lunch! But today there was :D

Afternoon went well, swim was so refreshing and we took taxi back and he kindly picked my bike also. We walked to La Loberia beach, tens and tens of sealions :) For dinner it all went wrong again. I must warn all vegeterians, it is not easy to find decent food in Ecuador!! We asked about vegeterian burgers. When the plates came, there was 2cm steak in between the buns. When we waved the waiter back he said - oh, you wanted vegeterian version? Obviously we were not clear enough.. He took the plates and came back in 30s. Same burger just the steak been taken out. No extras, same price. Why am I vegeterian again? 

Day 8
Very good day indeed! We decided to have stressfree day without doing anything. Just lied on a beach like other sealions ;) and snorkled with them also, few of them were so playful. Afternoon we walked otherside of the town to Cerro Tijeretas, saw all the way to Leon Dormido (famous divesite what we missed yesterday) and that bay for snorkling! Wau!! Landscape of the bottom was incredible, lava formations, rocks, tunnels, caves, walls,.. And water was so clear also! Perfect day of ending our trip in Galapagos :) we have afternoon flight tomorrow back to the real life! 

Quito

Quito has been our base for the last week, coming and going. Now we are leaving it again and will return there at least once after Galapagos. 

We have travelled with the local buses and trolles all over Quito plus walked the old town so many times so yesterday it was time to explore the new town with fancy shopping malls. Street names were after European countries, we found Hotel Finlandia also! :D it was so weird being at the shopping malls, shops were so fancy and expensive. 

Friday we went to La Mariscal, restaurant and bar area with Stina and Jesper. The worst indian food what I have ever had! Only the mango lassi was decent. Thank good we were four of us, area wasn't the safest and we didn't see any other gringos walking around the streets when it came dark. Taxi please! Should just stay in San Blas area, enjoying local places in their back rooms, playing card till late like we did yesterday :D I must admid that last days I have felt so home sick. It is Vappu, 1st of May celebrations and I really would have wanted to be in Helsinki with my sisters and friends. At home people start celebrating summer with sparkling wine, I took Glögi (mulled wine) because here starts winter now.