El Angel

Northern Ecuador

Being a pretty unorganised sort of person when it comes to traveling means either that I just wing it and hope for the best or I travel with someone who has organised the whole thing for me. After the parties of Carnaval and with still a few days off, luckily my work companera and good friend Anne-Marie organised us a trip up north. Along with us, was another young German girl who was on the same student exchange programme as Anne-Marie and a whole Ecuadorian family, some of which were part responsible for organising the student exchange programme, or so I believe.

Normally, when I have travelled the world, I know exactly where I'm going and have some idea what each place is generally all about. On this trip however, I had absolutely no idea what to expect and for most of the many places that we travelled (and stopped through) I still don't actually know where we ended up. I will though try to recall as much as possible.

We only spent a few days away. The first day we travelled up north from Quito. It's pretty amazing the countryside of Ecuador as soon as you extend beyond the borders of the Capital. We stopped off at some scenic viewpoints which often incorporated stunning mountain views and large blue lakes, sometimes with a llama thrown in to complete the Ecuadorian picture. Our journey continued through small towns where the parties of Carnaval continued in the busy plaza's. Our night concluded with a stop by a sunset of sheer gold, and which appeared to me as though the sun was cracking through the sky around it (Iv'e never seen anything like it), before we finally reached the town of Ibarra.

We spent our first night in Ibarra, a relatively large town (population of 151,000), yet though has a very cosmopolitan feel, it still manages to cling to the surrounding mountains and countryside with suprising ease. We arrived at night and were leaving early the next moring so I never really got to experience the true Ibarra, apart from the few glimpses that passed me by.

The next day, we continued north along the Panamericana where the road sweeps and snakes down into the Rio Chota Valley. We stopped off here to take a look around, mainly because the area is quite unique. At 1565m above sea level and due to the geography of the area, the valley is very hot and very dry. A chocolaty river sweeps between cacti covered hills. Here, the inhabitants are dominated by afro-ecuadorians who descended from the the 17th century plantation slaves. Through Carnaval celebrations (still proceeding) we watched as large numbers of afro-ecuadorian locals had fun listening to music and playing in the river to escape the skin-itching heat.

We continued north, past a small town which appeared to be famous only for the intricate carvings in some bushy trees, within the central plaza, before climbing in altitude and further north, close to the borders of Ecuador and Colombia, to our main destination - El Angel.

El Angel is a small Andean village, enfused with Ocher grasses and some very bizarre flora. The village is part of the 16,000-hectare El Angel Ecological Reserve and it was soon easy to see why you would come all this way to see it. We stayed in a famous hostal outside of the village, called Polylepis Lodge. You stay in private wooden lodges, but dine in a large wooden hall, complete with log fire and a very cosy feel. It's needed up here too. At over 3500m in altitude, it stays pretty cold most of the time and particularly at night.

The lodge is surrounded by a unique and very ancient forest, made famous for the odd Polylepis trees which fill the area. Polylepis, otherwise known as 'paper trees' for their thin peeling bark are not the only strange vegetation found in the area. This part of the world seems to attract rare and otherworldy plants often which have characteristics of fuzzy leaves and thick trunks. We took a walk through the forest on the first day with a local guide who explained the history and nature of this eerie place. Our hike, saw us pass through thickly stood trees, round quiet lakes and past some vibrant waterfalls.

After some, heart-warming food we took another walk in the forest but this time at night. We each had a lantern to light our path and with a large group, all followed our guide in single file. I felt that we should have all been wearing long cloaks and chanting some sort of religious prayer to complete the scene but no such luck. We didn't see anything particularly exciting at night that we couldn't of seen (and clearer) in the day, but it was an enjoyable experience.

Although the room was comfortable and warm (many blankets), I found it quite difficulat to sleep at the lodge. I knew the reason - it was altitude. I had never slept at 3500m before and one of the side effects of altitude sickness is being unable to sleep. It wasn't all that bad and I did manage to fall off to sleep eventually, but you certainly notice it at this height, especially when your trying to get some kip.

The next day we took a final hike around the area. This time though, we climbed up one of the surrounding hills and along its crest before making our way back into the forest. At the top, you get the most fantastic views of the deep valleys, filled with tress as far as the eye can see, and which surround you from all sides. After some time we headed back and prepared to leave. Our journey back to Quito was long but we stopped in enough places to save our rear-ends getting too sore. Late at night we arrived back to the capital, where it was back to routine life. The holidays were over - it was time to get back to work..............................