I’m keen to share my Galapagos adventures since I went without the net for 8 days, but I still haven’t finished my time in Quito yet! Never fear, my time in Quito was coming to an end.

I finally got a chance to take the free daily walking tour the hostel put on and check out some local (read: budget) sights. First stop, the markets across the road! I made a mental note to come back there for lunch and to grab local fruits to try out later. We wandered up/down hill, checking out the Presidential palace, and learnt some history, especially why the current president decided (more like refused) to live there. Turns out a bunch of prior presidents had a habit of being murdered there. I can see why Quito was named a UNESCO historical city, all the old buildings and churches were beautiful, you could see the Spanish influence. The tour was pretty insightful and I was grateful the guide was heading back to the hostel after because I was lost as fuck. Whilst I didn’t end up having lunch at the market (my choice would’ve been the sea bass fillet with accompanying cerviche which was highly recommended by the Belgian guy I drank with a few nights ago), I did pick up an armful of local passionfruit and a yellow dragonfruit. Alas, I never got a chance to eat the dragonfruit, but I’ll get to that later. I did however try some local berry concoction that would pair really well with vodka…

I decided not to have lunch to brace myself for the food tour later that evening, and boy that did t disappoint! Being useless yet again, I failed to get many snaps of all the food we tried, but damn they were good. Everything from a warm berry drink, to a delicious fermented hot corn drink that reminded me of malted milk. 3 different types of empanadas, a chicken stew, deep fried goodies and stuff smothered in sugar. Ecuadorians like their food accompanied with sugar, then downed in more sugar, but it was amazing. The guide was the same guy from the walking tour, and he made us try some mystery meat which turned out to be grilled intestines, but OMG, whatever spices it was marinating in, made it delicious. The tour ended in the Bohemian quarters, La Ronda. The story goes, when the Spanish sailors used to come to town, they’d go to that area to serenade the beautiful women that would hangout on the balconies, and if the sailors were terrible singers/musicians, the ladies would pour water on them. Annoyed parents would empty chamber pots on wannabe suitors. I can’t remember if the sailors or the women were referred to as ‘rondas’ but that’s how the name of the area came about. People would flock to the place to see ‘la rondas’, the rondas. It’s a beautiful street full of historic old buildings. It’s there I sampled a massive, bigger than my head, deep friend empanada and a local, super potent mulled orange-cinnamon cocktail, canelazo. The healthy pour of cane rum certainly hit hard. 

Saturday morning saw me head back up the hill to meet the tour bus for a day trip to Otovalo markets. Pit stopping at a local town famed for their bichoccio, a type of cakey-biscuit eaten with a local soft cheese, similar to mozzarella wrapped in a local leaf much like a banana leaf, and the most amazing dulce leche (heavenly caramel!). It was a shame I wasn’t feeling particularly great that morning, but I did manage to scoff down all the dulce leche… Another visit to an alternative equator site that was a NFP that looked more at the archeological history of the equator and a pit stop at a local store that made Panama hat (and a little about why they’re called Panama hats even though they come from Ecuador). The hat store conveniently sat next to an amazing lookout with views of another crater and dormant volcano.

Otovalo markets themselves were a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong, it was lively and full of colour, but it was clearly targeted towards tourists and well, I thought the location would’ve been a bit more impressive, it was just in a parking lot. Still, it was pleasant to walk through and see all the wares on offer. Pretty sure I was the only person who didn’t buy anything. Well no, that’s a lie, I bought freshly made lemonade, which was amazing and refreshing. I ended back at the hostel pretty late as the tour ran over, but I was relieved to find the snoring guy had finally moved on! Huzzah! I would get a decent night’s sleep before my 8am flight to the Galapagos the next morning. While I was extremely tempted to partake in the pub crawl organised for that Saturday night, I decided to be good and packed my bag and hit bed early. 

Hitting the airport at 5.45am was a bit of a pain, but remember those passionfruits I bought earlier? Well I finally had a chance to try them. If only I had a chance to eat them earlier! They were fucking amazing, I’m usually not a fan of passionfruit because it can be quite tart and sour, but these were nothing but sweet and juicy. I managed to scoff 3 out of 4 of them before I had to get rid of them to put my bags through quarantine. Sadly, they check your bags (albeit not the most rigidly) for fruit/seeds, so I had to ditch the dragonfruit too. But I was then off to the amazing Galapagos! And man, THAT was an amazing trip….

As I write this, I’m actually on day 4 of my Galapagos cruise, sans Internet, but that’s getting a little ahead of my trip so far. Last you heard from me, I had enjoyed the microbrewery opposite the hostel, and I was plotting how to smother the snoring guy in my dorm. 

Well, a bright and early 7am start saw me on tour again with the Aussie couple. We spent some time at a local market out in the rural area, sampling some amazing deep fried cornmeal fritter stuffed with some sort of cheese. I would’ve taken a photo, but I scoffed it down before I even thought of it. After a deep fried breakfast, we went off to the animal market, which turned out to be a little traumatising. The poor pigs were squealing and chickens were stuffed into hessian sacks, a sheep looked almost trampled to death. But I guess beyond the live animal market, the animals had a pretty idyllic life, completely free range and spending most of their life just grazing on fresh grass. I was pretty excited about seeing llamas though! They were pretty cute.

Leaving the market and heading towards Quilatoa, we made a pit stop along the mountainside to visit a traditional home of the Indigenous people who still live the old way of life. Completely off the grid, in a self made hut. They farm the land they’d been allocated, growing up to 20 different types of potatoes, and bathe in a river nearby. And considering how cold Quito and the highlands are despite being on the equator, guess how they keep their hut warm?! Ok, sure, they have their kitchen fire indoors, but there’s another way they keep their home warm. With cui, Guinea pigs! They literally have Guinea pigs roaming free in their hut, about 150 of them! Apparently they don’t eat Guinea pigs very often, but keep them to sell at the markets, primarily for tourists who are keen to try them. I’m amazed by how far they have to walk to get to the market, and more so, how they’re able to walk back up the mountainside! It’s a long, steep journey. Even the tour van struggled to make it up the incline. But all the women manage to do it, with heavy loads from the market on their back. 

By the time we got to Quilatoa, it was cold. Very cold. And the altitude was starting to kick in. But the view was stunning. I would’ve been happy to just admire the view from the top, I mean, that’s really the best bit isn’t it? But alas, turns out, hiking down was some sort of “thing”. Super steep, and 2 stacks later, I was exhausted just going down! My hiking boots had gone from black to ash grey thanks to the volcanic sand on the path down. As I was hiking down, I was being passed by little kids and older women guiding horses down the crater. Talk about embarrassing, who would’ve thought going downhill would be exhausting? Once at the bottom, I decided not to let my pride get in the way and convince myself of some sort of fitness that would see me not die trying to hike back up. So I hired a horse to get me back up the crater. Heh. Best, and most terrifying US$10 I’ve spent on this trip. I don’t actually think I’ve been on a horse before, so that was an experience in itself. The little kids who had earlier passed me going down the crater, we’re not leading my horse back up the crater. I’d hate to think how many times they have to do the trip every day because of lazy asses like me, but the kids pretty much ran up the damn crater without much difficulty!


By the time I got back to the hostel, I was really hoping the snoring guy would have moved on, but no such luck. He was still lurking around the dorm. Not exactly sure what he was doing in Quito, he didn’t seem to ever leave the hostel.

So I left Perth around 7.35am on Monday, 11 July. At time of writing this, my phone tells me it’s 12.57pm Tuesday, 12 July, in Perth. I’d really like to say that after 29 hours, I’ve finally reached my final destination of Quito, Ecuador. Yeah,  I REALLY wish I could say that. Instead, let’s have a recap of the journey so far.

So after a super enthusiastic start, psyched about flying in luxury, things were looking good. True to form, I slept most of the way to Hong Kong. Now, I didn’t realise the layover in HK was a short one, and with my flight out of Perth delayed by a bit, it meant being greated at the arrivals gate and escorted straight to my next flight. No big deal. So after an 8 hour journey,  I was faced with another 16 hours of flying, which I of course spent a healthy part sleeping. I have to say, the food was pretty good. I don’t even eat that well at home…

After some epic napping action, I finally arrived at JFK. Made it through immigration without any issues, then while waiting for my luggage, I hear the dreaded PA calling my name. Guess who’s luggage didn’t quite make it through the tight layover in HK? Yup, mine, just mine. It wouldn’t be getting in for another 4 hours. Joy. Not that I was in a hurry to go anywhere, my next flight was 14 hours away, and because this schmuck is on a budget, I didn’t bother renting a hotel to kill time. I figured I’d just bum around the airport. I mean, I’d be fine as long as there’s wifi. Well, strike 2. Wifi doesn’t seem to be working. Double joy. 

So after finding a bit of a ‘secluded’ and comfy bit of ground, I made myself at home, and tried to have yet another nap in Terminal 8. 4 hours later, and a much needed brushing of teeth, my pack arrived safe and sound. I was off to Terminal 1, which is a huge improvement from Terminal 8, at least it’s hell of a lot bigger. So here I am, again, making myself at home on yet another bit of ‘comfy’ ground trying to repack my bags a little, God knows how my day pack ended up so heavy. Oh and bonus, my mini bottle of mouthwash was crushed at some point during transit, and now everything smells peppermint fresh. 

Soon after writing this I gave up, pulled out my sleeping bag and had a quality nap. Airport floors get surprisingly cold. So only 3.5hours til check in, and 8.5hours til my flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Yeah, not even final destination yet, ONE MORE LAYOVER. Thank you TAME airlines for cancelling the direct flight I originally booked. Let’s not think about what time I’ll finally reach my end goal….

I wish this was just a taste of what the rest of my trip will be like, but alas, it’s a false comfort. I’m currently living it big, relaxing in the Qantas business lounge, while I wait for my fancy business class flight to NYC. Whilst I’d like to think my current salary affords me such luxuries, who are we kidding? There’s no money in equity, you don’t get into that field for the money. I just stole dad’s frequent flyer points (thanks dad!) to get me to NYC. The smart thing would’ve been to spread the points and use it for some of my other flights too, but let’s not succumb to logic right now. Let me enjoy this luxury.

Luxury aside, my nerves are completely shot. Whilst not my first solo trip, it’s certainly the biggest solo trip where I’m not on a tour or meeting friends for at least 3 weeks, plus the whole, I didn’t quite become semi-fluent in Spanish as I had hoped. My backpack ended up being fuller than I’d anticipated, and everything is a tad bulky, but I’ll manage. This will be a trip of ‘firsts’. My first time in business class, first time in South America, first solo trip this big, first time backpacking. 

To be honest, this trip couldn’t be more aptly timed. I’ve had a horrendous 48 hours. Let’s just say, no one can ever proclaim me to be the black sheep of the family. God my sister is bat-shit crazy. And poor Frankie, he’s been so traumatised, the little thing hadn’t eaten since my sister’s cat came to stay. I was a little worried about leaving him, but he ate a little before I left, I’m going to miss that orange ball of fur. Mum has been instructed to send regular photos of him so I know he’s ok. He sulks a fair bit when I go on holiday. He seemed pretty pissed off with me when I went to Sydney for a bloody week! How’s he going to cope with 2 months?!

Anyway, back to the trip. First stop in NYC, with a short layover in Hong Kong. Not that I’ll be spending much time in NYC, I’m bumming around JFK airport overnight til my flight to Quito, Ecuador, via Guayaquil. What was originally a direct flight, now sees me partake in a flying marathon. Maybe it’s a good thing my long haul is business, everything else is economy, and pretty sure NYC – Quito is a small carrier. I’ve packed a sleeping back on my carry on, so I’ll just find a quiet corner at JFK to have a nap. I was hoping my onward flight would be in the terminal with Shake Shack, but no such luck, I was really craving one of their milkshakes. 

My poor mum, I think she’s a bit stressed, between the drama my sister caused over the weekend, and her youngest (and let’s face it, favourite) child off to South America. It’s the Asian parent worry, though dad was a little excited about me flying business class, they even took a photo of me standing in front of the sign at check in. Talk about mildly embarrassing. There also more than a few curious stares, I’m not exactly dressed like I belong in business class, between the hiking boots, Dockers cap, and the backpack, plus me clutching Alec, I look like a bit of a lost kid.

30 minutes til boarding! Eeep!

Before I venture off into the unknown, let’s have a short walk down memory lane. As I mentioned before, 2016 is the year I decided to face some fears and start crossing off things on my bucket list. One of which, was to learn how to snowboard. Now, I had a poor attempt when I visited Jasper in ’14, but after flying a stupid amount, and not having enough rest time between flights, I lasted a grand total of 15 minutes during lessons before I had to call it quits, my legs gave out. To be fair, they’d ballooned a fair bit from all the flying. It was a little disappointing, so when cheap tickets to Japan popped up, I messaged the Kiwi straight away, 30 minutes later and both of us furiously exchanging texts to determine leave and timing, I’d booked us tickets to Japan for March ’16. In the end Air Asia screwed us around, changed our flights and changed the arrival airport, I sent a somewhat passive aggressive email and eventually get a refund. Only to rebook onto Singapore Airlines at a eye-watering premium. Oh well, lesson learnt.

A nerve wrecking 8hour layover in Singapore saw me catch up with my cousin for delicious local food, misplacing my passport at the airport(!!), almost crying at the thought of being stuck in Singapore for the near future, then finding out a kind soul had turned in my passport to the info counter. It was a rollercoaster of emotions that night. But after a long nap in a member’s lounge (thank you credit card perks!), I finally met up with the Kiwi, who flew in on a later flight, to catch our final flight to Tokyo.

Again, a comedy of errors saw the Kiwi’s snowboarding bag be left behind in Singapore, people staring at me for arriving in shorts and a tee in freezing cold weather, finding Bon who flew in from Brisbane, making our way to the airport hotel, sleeping through our alarm and frantically rushing to catch the bus back to the airport to figure out where to pick up the rogue bag. By the time we picked up her bag, we were too lazy to be adventurous with our breakfast options and resorted to Maccas. Good ol’ reliable Maccas.

I wish I could say I stayed away and enjoyed the scenery during the bus ride to Hakuba, but I’m not going to lie. I slept the WHOLE way. I took time away from my comfy napping position on the reclining seats to explore the cool roadside “truck stops” and the assortment of vending machine goods, virtually missed everything else. The girls informed me that i’d missed driving past Japanese Disney. In my defence, I’m terrible when I’m a passenger in any moving vehicle, I will 100% fall asleep. I even fell asleep on the flight from Kalgoorlie to Perth, that’s only a 45min flight…

Hakuba blew my mind, it was love at first sight. It was like a sleepy little town covered in snow. Well, the part of Hakuba we were staying in was. Now, initially I was a little interested to experience sleeping in a traditional Japanese room, believe me when I say, the novelty very quickly wore off. The first night was fine, but after snowboarding, there were more than a few groans through the night as we each tried to find the least painful position to sleep in. And getting up from the ground after snowboarding the day before was definitely not fun, a lot of swearing was involved. Oh, and the “northern mountain views” listed in the ad sounded a lot more fancy that it actually was.

The girls met a few years back when they worked the slopes in Jasper, so in hopes of catching up to their level, I enrolled for snowboarding lessons. Turns out, I really, REALLY love the ground.  I couldn’t go more than a minute before stacking it, and the lessons were 4 hours long. Oh, and renting a helmet was the best money I spent in Japan. No brain damage for Maz!… This time.

Oh wait, I think that’s title of Bilbo Baggin’s book (you know, from The Lord of the Rings?). Well, I couldn’t think of anything witty to start off the first post, and for some odd reason that’s what popped into my head. I figured with the countdown to South America well and truly on, it was about time I start populating this blog. So fair warning, this first post may be a tad sappy.

This trip has been a very long time in the making. I’m pretty certain the gang and I dreamt up this trip when we were 17. That’s 13 years ago. 13. It still spins me out that we’re actually going through with it and we’ve managed to stay friends. Given, the Kiwi moved to the UK and can’t afford to come, and Candy got married and had kids, but despite that, I think that’s the thing that makes this trip even more meaningful. I’ve had a rough few years, my depression and anxiety have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and horrible breakups have made it really hard to make new friends and trust people, so the fact I’m sharing this adventure with the same bunch of bitches I first went clubbing with at 18, and I first came out to, makes me pretty happy.

The funny thing is, we’ve been travelling together before. Just small trips, and after every damn trip, we swear black and blue we’d never travel together again. But here we are, about to embark on massive adventure. 2 years ago, we sat down with 2 whiteboards, a massive map, armed with a bunch of laptops and planned out a once in a lifetime trip. We bickered, the trip was bigger than Ben-Hur, we tried to fit everything everyone wanted, the cost spiralled out of control, it was insane. Since then, the itinerary has gone under a few changes, not everyone can do 2 months away from work, thing have been cut, and some of us are doing parts on our own now.

Originally we were meant to end the trip in Aruba, we figured after trekking Machu Picchu, we well and truly deserved to relax on a beach with cocktails. But… unfortunately we decided to head to Mexico City instead. The others are heading to Dubai/London/Paris for the beginning of their trip (and departing about 2 weeks later than me), while I’m off to the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island before we all meet up in Rio for the freaking Olympics! In the end, my itinerary is essentially:

Perth – Quito – Galapagos – Easter Island – Santiago – Rio de Janeiro – Manaus – Lima – Cuzco – Mexico City – Toronto – Detroit – Perth

The parts in red are where all of us are together. The rest, I’m all by my lonesome. I’m a little anxious about it. But I’m not going to let my fear stop me. I’ve let it rule my life for too long. I turn 30 this year, 2016 is all about ticking things off my bucket list, and doing things that scare me. So far, I think I’ve done a pretty good job. But that’s a story for another time.

3 weeks and counting.