Exhausted

After I arrived in New York this evening, and got through immigration, my first order of business was finding a hostel in which to spend the night. Considering that it was 12:30am by the time I got past the gates, I was kinda dreading this a bit. I hadn't made a reservation anywhere, as — unlike for the South American hostels — none of the hostels here in New York accept simple "online booking requests"; all that they accept online is a live advance credit-card payment, which I wasn't prepared to make. Anyway, I knew it wouldn't be fun searching for a bed at this hour on a Saturday night; but I never imagined that it would be this hard! I had the phone numbers of 6 different hostels: I called all of them; and of the places that I called, 3 didn't respond, and the other 3 were fully booked. Apparently it's Columbus Day long weekend here at the moment, and New York is packed with visitors. Just my luck, eh?

This morning I woke up at 8am, in order to make my 9am tour to the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. After last night's adventure, however, this early start was not very fun. I really should have gone to bed early last night — it was so stupid of me to have gone out pubbing all night! Anyway, I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed, to check out of the Hostel Inn (since I'm going to Brazil tonight), and to wolf down some breakfast, before falling into my seat on the bus. And it was lucky that I did manage all that: because I definitely wouldn't have wanted to miss the breathtaking sights that I saw today. Iguazu Falls are bloody amazing.

This evening at the Hostel Inn, I stuffed myself silly on the delicious all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner, I slurped away on the giant bucket of serve-yourself capirinha (after all, this is almost Brazil here), plus I enjoyed the great Tango show that they put on after the meal. Since I booked a tour to the falls for 9am tomorrow, that should have been all I did for the night. But I was silly enough to convince myself that I was being told the truth, when an Irish guy suggested that we go into town for "a few quick drinks". Hah: Irish — drinks — "a few" — "quick" — who was I kidding?! Anyway, I can't say it wasn't fun, staying out at the pubs of Puerto Iguazú until 4am; but as for tomorrow morning — that was Not Very Fun At All™.

It's been a big and exhausting week of snowboarding, the past seven days. Today, I had a well-deserved day of rest. Reading, blogging, eating burgers, drinking hot tea. And realising how seriously, utterly bruised I am! I didn't really feel it until today: but now that it's hit me, I've realised that pretty much every part of my body is aching in the aftermath of repeatedly being knocked and whacked about on the mountain. Could be a little while before I'm fully back into shape. Ah, well: haven't got anything too hectic planned for the next few weeks, apart from more steak-eating and wine-drinking; so shouldn't be too much of a problem.

After getting through my two connecting flights yesterday evening, from Quito to Santiago, I arrived back in Chile at about 2am this morning. Let's just say that I had a bit of a "rough" welcome. They let me into the country in the end: but not until I'd paid yet another gringo tax. Which, upon stepping off the plane, I quite literally could not afford.

There's only one thing you want to do, the day after a stint of mountain-climbing: nothing. And nothing is exactly what I did today. After I got back from the Cotopaxi climb yesterday, I didn't hang around in Quito very long: headed straight to the bus terminal, and hopped on a bus north to Otavalo. And today, I discovered that Otavalo is the perfect place to spend a Friday resting, blogging, reading, and eating some cheap local food. R&R in Otavalo: just what I needed.

After the all-night affair that was last night, I took it nice and easy today. Got up waaay too early (like, 9:30am) so I could catch the Secret Garden laundry service, as well as their rooftop breakfast. Hey, let's face it, everything that happens at that place, happens on the roof. Considering my physical and mental state today, it made a perfect day for staggering around the streets of Quito, getting acquainted with a city that seemed to be just as tired and hung-over from a big Friday night as I was. That's right: nice place, but absolutely dead on a Saturday.

Patrick and I discovered that the main way of getting out of the village of Chugchilán, is by catching a bus that heads for Latacunga — via the very poor road that goes through the village of Sigchos — and that leaves Chugchilán at 3am! We weren't too happy about it, but we had few other options — and it meant that we'd be back in Baños nice and early, without losing the day — so we took the graveyard-shift bus this morning. Not a fun ride at all: but hey, now we've done the full circuit of the Quilotoa Loop; and now we're back in Baños, in time to party all weekend long!

Although I have no particular problem with my lodging at Sol y Mar, I have been persuaded to change the hostel that I'm staying at, for tonight (my final night) here in Máncora. The ever-indecisive Einat can't stand the unreliable water and the crowded little dorm of Sol y Mar any longer; and she's convinced a Canadian girl called Erin, and myself, to come with her to the HI down the road. Personally, I really couldn't be bothered moving for one night; but then again, I couldn't be bothered arguing with Einat either. This place is much nicer, but it's a bit more expensive as well.

My bus this evening left Chiclayo at 10pm, and pulled in to the sandy shores of the beach resort town of Máncora at about 3am. Seems like this is about the best possible time to get in — it's that kind of a place. The entire town was pumping full-volume with discos, clubs, and bars. Drunk gringos and sleazy locals everywhere. Girls squealing, hips grinding, beers clinking. Pity that I was too buggered from my bus journey to get into it. I checked into a budget dorm at Sol y Mar (yep, front desk open and kicking at this time), downed two shots of vodka, and crashed until the morning.