Day 1

We take the bus from Guayaquil to Guaranda, our starting point. The drive takes about 4 hours. Already 1 hour after departure I need a toilet. I go to the driver. He doesn´t speak any English or German. I start a very emotional spectacle to show him how urgent it is. The whole bus (lots of people) are watching. Seems nobody understands English or my body language.

Probably they do…but just enjoyed my performance so much, they do not want to admit it. In the hope I will play-act again. No chance guys! I sit on my place in the back of the bus. Try not to think about flowing waters or waterfalls. About 1 hour later we finally take a break. I feel relieved!

The landscape is changing with the increasing altitude. Fewer banana plantations. It´s getting much colder (20° C) and humidity decreases. Very pleasant!

We arrive at Guaranda. It´s a small town. There is not much going on. We hike to the petrol station to get some petrol for our camping stove. The owner doesn´t understand, why we want to hike and not going – more easily – by bus. He gives us the petrol for free. No idea if he´s impressed or feels pity. It doesn´t matter! We are highly motivated, as we start to hike. We are hiking to the outskirts of Guaranda (5 km). Need to get used to the altitude. Building up the tent, on a meadow. Lots of people are coming by and taking pictures of us. We are famous! Unfortunately, nobody speaks English. Solo español! We curse ourselves for choosing Latin in school…