TeleferiQo and the Day of Angels

As Elisa would agree, one of the joys of travel is finding funiculars. The fancy version of funiculars is cable cars, and Quito’s is named the TeleferiQo. After an early morning adventure depositing cash into a bank account for the Galapagos tour (sometimes you just have to go with it and hope you don’t get arrested) I decided to hail my own taxi in Old Town rather than use a hostel approved taxi. (Remember the lesson from ‘Quito’? Hint: I didn’t) So…I get in the taxi and Victor seems like my friend. About an hour later we arrive at the TeleferiQo and the $5 taxi ride is now $25 and turns out Victor is not mi amigo. Disappointment behind me I figure it’s the tourist tax and the price Americans pay for the financial exploitation we’ve done in Ecuador and I move on to the ticket booth. The only problem is I left the hostel with $40 – Victor just got $25 of it and so I have $15 to ride the TeleferiQo and get home. The TeleferiQo is $8.50 leaving only $6.50 – which should be enough for a taxi back to the hostel but only if I get the price agreed to ahead of time. What to do? Do I buy the ticket and take a chance or do I just head back to the hostel while I still have enough cash? I decide to move on and buy the ticket. At worst, the next taxi driver will get shortpaid but maybe he can go find Victor and they can work it out 😇

Lucky me – when I get to the ticket booth who is there but my friend Karen from Ohio (from the walking tour the day before)! The whole big city of Quito and there is Karen (and friends from her hotel). It was a welcome sight to see a friendly face and laugh about my first tourist tax. We rode the cable car up together and in the end they were all so kind to make sure I had enough money to get back to the hostel.

Luckily I found an honest driver on the way back – the ride took 15 minutes, cost $5 and I let him keep the extra $1.50 as a tip. He was very grateful (as was I). This was also my introduction to the 4 questions. These are the 4 questions that every Ecuadorian asks foreigners: Where are you from? Are you married? Do you have babies? Do you like Ecuador? (This will be repeated daily along the trip).

TeleferiQo complete then it was time for my first intercountry transit via the bus system – and the adventure continues. I took a hostel taxi to the north bus station in Quito, Carcelen (45 mins from hostel/$10) and was then on my own. For whatever reason I could understand ‘boleterias’ and found the ticket booths. After some mucking around I found the right bus operator and asked for a ticket to Otovalo. I got back a ticket (but no change) and attempted to wander in the direction of the buses. Looking pretty lost (and probably pretty funny to the locals) a nice young man walked up next to me and while I couldn’t understand anything he was saying I could tell he wanted me to follow him. I did get enough that he was also going to Otovalo and we were on the same bus. (This man yet another guiding spirit along my journey). Made it to the bus, asked about ‘cambio’ again, got some pointing and just sat down. Maybe I’ll get my change, maybe not – overall decided it was what it was. The bus took off with a hacked version of Overboard (the remake with Anna Feris but dubbed with a Spanish lover) and I just sat back and watched the roadside unfold. Turns out somewhere along the way you will get your change for your ticket. The ticket guy comes through the aisle and takes your ticket and gives you the amount of change written on the ticket when purchased. (Kind of reminded me of the ticket process on trains in Europe – I can never tell if there’s a special moment in the journey when they come out, and what happens if you don’t have a ticket, but it always happens and then it’s over).

Now I’m embarking on advanced bus traveling here as I have to change buses to get to Apuela and my stay for the next two nights at The Pacheco Farmhouse. The bus change is in Otovalo and the directions from Pacheco were good, but again, my Spanish not. Again, another guiding spirit at the bus station helps me translate and helps me find the bus. At one point before we leave the street vendors walk the bus trying to sell snacks, watches, whatever before the ride begins and most of it was not interesting but then there was the guy selling chocolate bars that had a lot of cash. This guy:

Again, my translation of what he was saying had something to do with raising money for Venezuela, but somehow I don’t feel like there’s that much free cash floating around Otovalo to support charity. I’ll never really know but it was interesting.

On the bus I stumble through some more Spanish and ask the driver to drop me off at Tierra Sol, which is supposed to be across the street from the hotel. The driver kindly comes and gets me when we’re supposedly at the stop and asks me a bunch of questions about walking or a taxi (which I mistranslate and tell him it doesn’t matter because I’m just going across the street), but surprise (lol) apparently this bus doesn’t go to that stop – so there I am – loaded down like a pack mule, in the middle of nowhere. I might be close to the stop, I might not. Who knows and there’s no cell phone service to help. But wait – just as I run out of mental options, more kind strangers appear. There are two men working on construction of a house and I think one of them offered to drive me to the hotel in their John Deere tractor but then a government pickup truck came by. They loaded me in it and they drove me the two miles left to go to get to the farmhouse. I answer the 4 questions just in time to get to Pacheco and find I’m about to stay at the cutest place ever – The Pacheco Farmhouse.