First version written in September 1999
By clicking on the country-names of each part you'll end up in the album for that country (or in the Chilean case, the part of my journey there).
I left home at 11 am on Saturday 26th of June. First I went to the airport (wow), then from Trondheim to Oslo, then Oslo - Amsterdam and at last Amsterdam - Curacao - Guayaquil - Quito. I arrived in Quito at 8 am Sunday morning, after a little more than 30 hours of travelling.
In Quito I was staying with a family. The family was nice. Their two daughters were both teachers at my Spanish school, and there was also an other student living in the same house. I spent four weeks learning Spanish in a school called Cumbre Andina - the peak of Andes, or something like that. I was having six hours of classes each day, and taht was a little too much. The classes were very intensive, with one teacher and one student. I think I'll recommend about four classes a day if anyone asks me :-)
After five days in Quito I went on my first trip outside the city: together Roland, the German student living in my house, I went to Otavalo to visit a famous market with lots of artesania, wood carvings, animals, fruit and whatever people well in markets. We went there on Friday night, it was a three hour terrible and horrifying bus trip! I was scared, really scared. Imagine darkness, no lights along the road, of couse, but you can see the lights of some houses. About 500 m down. Under the steep hill on your right hand side. On the left hand side there is a steep mountain wall. The bus driver is driving like hell, about 60-70 km/h downhill. I don't really know if he was using the brakes or if he was regulating the velocity by the gas or the gear or whatever you use. But scary!! - Luckily it was daylight when we returned the next day...
In Otavalo we stayed in a nice and expensive hotel. Well, expensive... USD8 for a single room with bathroom. But I was really able to spend money in Otavalo even if my hotel didn't take most of them. I bought 5 knitted sweaters for my family, scarves, caps, hang mat, bag... lots of small stuff - but together they filled a bag and weighted some kilos. I thought about sending it all home, but I didn't do it as I had heard scary stories about the postal services of Ecuador (sorry, Esther!) - som I didn't do it. I'd regret that later. In a way.
The day after Otavalo we went to visit Cotopaxi, the world's highest active vulcano about 6100 metres above sea level. Opposite to our school mate Robert (from Holland, poor guy), who wanted to climb the mountain - all the way up, more or less - we went by car to a parking lot at about 4500 m. From there we were to walk - or rather climb - a rather steep and sandy (actually nothing but sand to walk on) hill up to a cottage at 5100-5200. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all the way up - even though the air was very clean compared to Quito, there was small amounts of it... Anyway the view wasn't that great - quite cloudy and grey.
The next day was strange in many ways. First, it was my second week at school, and I was no longer a freshman. Actually I was able to guide new students and all that. Showing them the bank and the internet cafe and all that. Second, my muscles were aching after the physical exercises during the weekend. But more important: the taxi drivers were on strike. I Norway a strike among the taxi drivers wouldn't be that serious. I mean, no taxis, but so what? Go by bike or bus, and make sure you go home early enough - but that's it. In Ecuador things are different. The taxi drivers weren't only on strike, they were blocking the streets as well. Almost no buses or cars could drive into Quito. The air pollution decreases by 70% compared to normal level. That was probably good, since the strike meant that we had to walk to school. And that meant 2-3 km uphill (really steep hill - too steep for sidewalks, they had to make stairs in stead) and then the same distance on relatively flat (compared to the hills...) surface to school. And we were lucky to live only 5-6 km from school, Quito is about 40 km long and 3-6 km wide. Some of our teachers really had problems during the strike - walking 25 km in the morning wasn't very nice.
The strike lasted for two weeks. During this period the local currency, sucre, devaluated a lot compared to USD. When I arrived, 1 USD was 11500 sucre, during the strike it was 15000 and now I think it is about 12300. Ecuador has lots of economical problems. While most other countris (except Mexico) have an inflation between -1.5% and 10%, Ecuador had about 60% inflation in 1998, and the expect/fear 80% in 1999.... The problems have many reasons, of couse, some key words are low petroleum prices, lower banana prices, many and high loans abroad, rising unemployment, wars between Ecuador and Peru, natural disasters, El Niño, corruption.... almost all you can imagine. The scary part of it comes when you compare the export of Ecuador and Norway: petroleum and fish is most important for both countris, Ecuador has the bananas, but that's about the only big difference in export. The big economical difference is that Norway got lots of money and equipment for free from USA after WW2, while Ecuador only have loans. Norway has also been lucky not to suffer from wars and natural disasters every second year. Now Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, while Ecuador is among the poorest in Latin-America.
Next weekend we were able to get out of Quito, by pickup/camionetta. We went to a place called Aldea Salamandra, a friend called it "jungle light". It was kind of a natural reservate, to protect the local biodiversity. We stayed there for the weekend, living in exotic straw- and bamboo cottages (well, I know it wasn't bamboo, but it sounds cooler and after all I don't remember the correct name ;-)). On Saturday we ate a lot and went into the jungle to look at medicine plants. We also swam in the river and rested in hang mats with a river view. Mmmm :) On Sunday we went to a really tall cascade, I don't know how tall it was, 20-30 metres? The trip to get there was quite strabatious, but the cascade was great.
After two weeks the strike was over. It was probably a disaster for the Ecuadorian economy; the government had to freeze the gas prices, give loans in sucre in stead of dollars and also some other things. And they lost lots of the credibility they might have had abroad. The good thing is that the presidents Mahuad and Fujimoro signed a peace treaty between Ecuador and Peru this summer, so hopefully the wars between the two countries are over now....
After four weeks in Quito I was rather fed up. Quito was quite boring when I was stuck there during the strike, so I was really happy when I left. It was sad to say goodbye to friends and school and family, but I know I will come back and I hope I will meet people again. So, I went to Guayaquil, to visit my penpal Esther. It was nice to see her, but unfortunately she was having exams during all the period I could stay. So I was asked if I wanted to go to her uncle and his family in Manta on the Pacific coast. I accepted the generous offer, and wen there next day. I spent four nice days there, with beach, sightseeing, family life, relaxing a lot. Then I went back to Guayaquil, unfortunately with a pretty red back... Yes, it really was stupid of me to fall a sleep on a beach at ecuator without sun-blocking (luckily I only slept for a few minutes). In Guayaquil I did some sightseeing and was able to spent some time with esther. I really hope I didn't ruin her exam results....:-)
After five weeks in Ecuador I went to Chile. There I was going to visit my old friend Paula, who graduated from high school with me when she was an exchange student in Norway four years ago. When she left, I promised to visit her - and here I was. I spent a great time with her, her family and friends. Of course both of us had changed a lot, but things still somehow remained the same, and we spent the nights chatting and the days sleeping and watching TV... I consumed a lot of wine, my poor liver was probably crying, but I was too drunky (not really drunk, just...drunky) to hear it. And I learned a lesson: don't mix beer, red wine and Pisco Sour (the local liquid). Your head definitely won't feel good next day. Ouch.
In Chile I spent all the time with Paula. We spent six days with her family in Molina, about 3 hours south of Santiago. It was nice, but it was very intense because I am not really used to such amounts of famly life - I usually see my family for Christmas and maybe some birthdays if we are all there at the same time. So I guess I was kind of happy when we wen back to Santiago, even if that mean that Paula had to go back to University. (Well, she is as serious as me when it comes to semester start...) In Chile it was winter when I was there during the two first weeks of August. It was really cold, and I had to borrow clothes (I knew it would be cold there, but I didn't want to carry my winter equipment all aroud the world..), some mornings the grass was white from frost. I think I will visit Chile in November - February next time - the climate seems more suitable for me then. But, now I do understand what Paula meant when she said her year in Norway was part of the longest winter in her life - from July 1994 to September/October 1994.
After Chile France was on my list. First I spent three days in the flat of the parents of my friend Alexandre. I didn't really like Paris, it is a boring city, but at least I saw the usual highlights and all that. Then I went to Lyon. There I visited Alex. I and Alex have been penpals for about ten years and have met once before, five years ago. It was great to see him again and I spent a nice time in Lyon. Lots of good food, fast network connection, wine and interesting trips around and in Lyon. And Lyon is a really beatiful city, with nice houses and nature. I liked it a lot more than Paris.
Then I went to Belgium. I went by train, and I was glad I didn't have to change trains very much. My luggage started to get heavy. I guess it had gained 7-8 kilos since I left Norway. I think there were only some extra clothes - the souvernirs from Otavalo - and some wine. But it would get worse....
In Belgium I spent a couple of days near Antwerpen, with my friend Ragna. One more of my long lating penpalships - we have been writing for more or less 12 years. She showed me her village, their mountains (hills ;)) and we went to Antwerpen and to Bruxelles. I had a nice time there and I am sure I saw lots of things I wouldn't have seen if I was on my own there.
From Belgium I went via Amsterdam to Germany. In Germany I visited Sylvie, my Norwegian-speaking friend. I had a nice time there as well :) We talked a lot, went on sightseeings and shopping. One day we went to a fort/castle, Hohenzollern. It was great :-) Lots of people were curious about the language we were speaking, they guessed both Finnish and...eh... something else?
I then went straight home from Germany, only three changes of trains - that also meant only three heavy breaks with my luggasge. It had now gained some 12-13 kilos more, mostly (a little too much) wine and beer from Germany. Kind of a nightmare to carry - and I REALLY regretted that I didn't send home stuff...
So, I had a great vacation :-) I met lots of new and old friends, and they learned me a lot about the world, the universe and everything - including geography. Now I know that Chile has no tipis, that Ecuador have four climatic zones, that Provence is in the south of France (not in north-west) and that Lyon is almost there and that Tubingen is not in the eastern part of Germany. And lots of people klnow that we have lots of fish (bacalao, I think it's cod in English?) in Norway, that we eat fish and meat and rice and pasta and potatoes, that we are not vikings (and that the vikings 1000 years ago didn't have horns) and that we have no wine culture in Norway (and probably very little drinking culture as well)....