Las Lajas, Colombia and Tulcan, Ecuador

We got up really early, got ready and out the door before 6 a.m. to meet up with our driver in the square.  He's been doing these tours for years now and is one of Joyce's friends.  He had a really nice tour van too.  Another Ex-Pat (another one of Joyce's friends) also joined us, he too, met us in the square.

My mom, Caitlin, Khealynn, Amy, Josh, Joyce hopped in the van. We made sure we had our passports, water, some snacks, charge up phones and cameras and a sense of adventure.  We were on our way to Colombia!  The trip was going to take up most of the day and we would be making some stops along the way.  The distance from Cotacachi to the border of Colombia was about  100 miles which would take us about 2 hours to get there. We took the E-35 freeway.

We picked up two ladies who were staying in Ibarra for their vacation.  They were going to spend the day with us.  We talked to them about various things on our way to Colombia.  The trip was very mountainous and the roads were very windy in places.  We watched the countryside turn into mountains and the mountains turn into very rural farmland as far as the eyes could see.

At about the halfway mark we pulled into this out in the middle of nowhere restaurant that was right off the highway.  It was called Paradero Las Sauces and it was located in between the towns of Bolivar and Carchi.  We walked in and it wasn't too busy.  There was a set of guys nibbling on the biggest breakfast they offered on the menu, cheese sandwich, eggs, rice and a guinea pig!

We got in line and we each ordered what we wanted.  I got the simplest meal, cheese sandwich, eggs and warm Chocolisto...which is the Mexican version of Ovaltine.  Most of us ordered the same thing except for Josh, he got the bigger version of our meal minus the guinea pig.  I wasn't sure how the food would react on a long van ride in a foreign country so I didn't go too crazy.  I waited and waited for my eggs because they were cooked to order.  The rest of your stuff they handed you on a tray.  I was being passed by with my eggs.  About fifteen minutes later I finally got my scrambled eggs.  I wonder why it took so long?  I made my cheese sandwich into a cheese and egg sandwich and drank my Chocolisto.  We all used the restroom before we got back in the van.

As soon as we got in the van and headed down the road a bit we stopped again near Bolivar and La Paz.  We pulled over at the Bolivar History Museum but sadly it was closed.

It would have been fun to go inside and explore.  We spent a half hour looking around the property and I got a picture with the huge mastodon.

I looked to see if there was a geocache here and I was disappointed.  Come on all you cachers who received one of the coveted virtual cache rewards!  This mastodon was perfect!  Plus, there was a lot of history here so people would learn something on their visit.

We did use the outdoor restroom if anyone needed to go before we hopped back in the van and drove off.

Our next stop was going to be the Colombia border!  I honestly never thought I would be riding in a van on its way to Colombia.  The things I have gotten to experience on this trip I never dreamed of doing except maybe ziplining but not in Ecuador.  As I watched the countryside pass by, I sat there thinking about all the things I had to go through just to be sitting here.  All the misfortunes I had after I graduated from college, the countless co-workers I had to work with, some good but most bad, all of the stress I had to go through wondering if I could pay next month's bills or my car payment, juggling holidays, get togethers and parties with my friends and family when I worked my precious weekends away, getting mono and having to deal with that while I had to work or I didn't get paid, finally getting a job at the state so I could start saving money so I could have an opportunity like this one without the worries.  It was a rough ten years but I learned a lot and figured out what was worth spending a lot of my time and energy on.

We approached the border and traffic and congestion got a little heavier.  We saw a lot of cars lined up on the side of the road selling gas to each other.  Apparently, gas was cheaper in Ecuador than it was in Colombia.

We reached the border and to our surprise the border wasn't all that controlled.  We think of Colombia to be some sort of gun controlled, drug filled, dangerous country because that's what we see on the media.  I thought there would be several military personnel with large guns checking everyone...like each vehicle and person were subject to be searched.  It was just like any other border but because our driver is well-known the guy at the booth just waved him through.  We didn't even have to show our passports or his list of passport numbers.  It was not what I thought would happen.

Once past the border, we found ourselves in the city of Ipiales.  This city is very well known for their guinea pigs (cuy) and we saw a lot of statues of cartoon guinea pigs all over the city when we drove through it.  We headed to the Las Lajas Sanctuary, a basilica church built inside of a river canyon.  We were going to take the teleferico (cable cars) down but they weren't working yet so we found a place to pull over and took a picture of us from the viewpoint of the church down below.  It was quite the view from up here.

We drove down to the parking lot of where the shops started.  I got out of the van I saw the llamas.  I needed to sit on one of those!  They were all dressed up wearing hats.  It only cost a dollar if you took your own picture so I had mom take my picture.  Best dollar I've ever spent!  Mom and Amy decided to join in on the fun and got their picture taken as well.

We walked down to the church shortly after, stopping at some of the shops along the way.  We saw some really cute things and some stuff we've already seen before since shopping in Otavalo.  I pretty much had everything I needed so we continued down to the church.

There was a lot of people walking up and down the stairs.  I was glad we were walking down them and we didn't have to walk back up them because we would be taking the teleferico back up in a couple hours.  Apparently, as tourists, we all stuck out like a sore thumb because we were wearing flip flops.  I guess a lot of people who live in northern Ecuador and southern Colombia do not really wear flip flops.

I noticed the cotton that was stuffed into the walls near the memorial plaques and names in the walls.  I asked what the cotton meant and they said they were the people who were injured or sick and they either died from those injuries or sickness or are being prayed for to recover from them.  You learn something new everyday.

We spent the next 45 minutes or so exploring the church.  Mom and I walked around the rest of the canyon walk to the waterfall at the end of the trail.

We meandered back hearing that it was almost time to reconvene and head to the teleferico and meet up at the van.

We got in line at the teleferico and it took forever to get up the hill.  They were doing maintenance on some of it and it was slow going up the hill.  I can't even recall how long it actually took but we were in that car for a while.  I was so excited when we finally got up to the van.  I was ready to move on to the next stop.

We drove back through the town that was known for its Guinea Pigs and this time we briefly stopped.  There were several open restaurants actively cooking the Cuys on spits rotating above a fire pit.  I stood there thinking to myself, if this isn't the most South American thing I've seen so far, nothing was.

I kinda thought about trying it but I wasn't that hungry.  Several people have told me that it was the most delicious thing they tried down there.  I was going to miss this opportunity again.  Maybe next time?  Mom and I ran I into the small convenience store on the corner for an ice cream bar, we ate that along the way to Tulcan.

We crossed the border back into Ecuador and headed into downtown Tulcan.  He pulled the van around the corner and found a spot to park.  He said to grab our bags and make sure you keep the with you at all times.  Just in case.  We were told that a lot.  I just got used to taking my backpack with me everywhere.  We walked into a building and up the stairs to this café.  It was super busy but we got a table for our entire group.  Mom and I shared chicken, rice, soup and Jello.  I got a Coke and she drank her bottled water.  We chatted for a bit, let our food settle and paid for our meals.  We used the restrooms and walked back to the van.

In a short drive, our tour guide pulled over again and parked the van.  This time we were at the biggest Catholic cemeteries I have ever seen.  It was insane.  We spent the next hour walking around the cemetery and getting lost in the shrubbery.  The place was so clean and immaculate.  I felt like I was at a pristine museum.  I really liked how they buried their dead.  It kept people from stealing the items people came to remember them by.

I was having a hard time keeping stuff at Grammie's headstone and if we did do it like they did down here, nothing would get stolen.  We found all of our people and met outside of the cemetery for a group shot at the Tulcan sign.  We went into the shop across the street for a bit just to see what they were selling.

We hopped in the van and headed back towards Cotacachi.  We got off the main highway and took a detour to Gruta de la Paz, which was about 16 miles south of Tulcan.  We parked the van in the lot, used the restrooms and walked down to the cave.  I had no idea there was a church inside the cave.  We spent some time as a group exploring the cave.  We saw bats flying around.  I took a bunch of pictures of the cave, the bats and the Apaqui River flowing through the cave.

About a half hour later, we walked back up slowly (we were still in high elevation) to the van.  We had to get back to Cotacachi so Caitlin and Khealynn could get packed and taken back to Quito for their flight back home.

We stopped along the highway near the sugarcane fields so we could gas up.

We got out to stretch our legs and to grab a few snacks.  I got a Coke and some Doritos to munch on.  It was getting dark by the time we dropped the ladies off in Ibarra.  We thanked them for coming with us and that it was nice to meet them.

We got back to Cotacachi around 6:30.  He dropped us off in the square near Joyce's house and thanked him for the fun adventurous day.  We walked to Joyce's house and we all got cleaned up, did a load of laundry and spent some time packing up our stuff.  We had to get up really early to head back down to Quito for our flight home.

Next Adventure:  Heading Home Via Mexico