I'm Peace!

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I'm Peace!

We finally got out of Quito, it felt like our real adventure
was beginning, and the joy of hindsight allows me to say that we hadn´t fooled ourselves.
Destination one was Santa Lucia, a lodge up a mountain that
took over an hour of hard and wet hiking, especially with with 10 months on my back, and the way Celeste packed for 2 weeks, her too!

The lodge stood for everything organic; the toilet thanked you for giving something back to nature and I can´t remember the last time I saw a candle used for practical use (although since, I have had a slight obsession for candle light!).

My outstanding memory of St. Lucia comes in two forms. Firstly,
the lodge manager (well, the eldest at least), told us there was only one dangerous animal in the forest and that was seen by him only three times in six years.

It was a snake, about a metre long, scales resembling diamonds
in a colour green an author would describe the love interest as having in a romance novel; 'bright and alive with mischief'. I am able to describe it so well (please indulge any ego) because we spotted one on our return from three beautiful waterfalls and a gut spinning jungle swing.

The second highlight was playing footy with the Ecuadorians at
2000meters altitude, on the muddiest pitch ever to resemble a bath. In cliched fashion (I swear Hollywood were filming), we managed to over turn a heavy deficit to win 8-7, and a cup, well, 2 bottles... of beer!

Second stop was Mindo, unrivalled chocolate cake and a pizzeria
that surely sets the benchmark for greatest pizza outside of Italy. The owner represented everything to love about Italians, big smile, big heart (he worked for Save the Children) and a big heart passionate about food!

The pizza was so good, me and Celeste shared another after our
first! According to your priorities (I really love Pizza), perhaps more exciting was the canopy tour, shooting across the sky from a rope, 400 meters high, at 60 kph, upside down!

Another notable contribution to our stay in Mindo, an overrated
village, but certainly fun, were the '3 High Riddlers', the inspiration behind this blog title and of course the holders to all the answers (aint all stoners?).

Anyway, if 1 and 2 equals 3, and 3 equals 5, 4 equals 4, as
does 5, then what does 6,7 and 8 equal? More to the point, who cares?

Third stop, Baños, beautiful, volcanic, wonderful waterfall
and a majestic massage... and LOTS of fruit. Nothing much more to say really other than that!

Finally, our trip took us to Tena, a dirty, bustling town, but
great for kayaking and pizza (perhaps the second best pizza outside of Italy). While I found the kayaking to be rather like the career of Arwel Thomas, mostly frustrating amongst moments of magic and excitment (remember Scotland!), the evening turned out quite eventful. We were invited to a Quechua wedding....

HAHA... STICK THAT IN YOUR 2007 EDITION LONELY PLANET (I´d now like to thank Lonely Planet for saving my behind on numerous occasions)!!!

Their traditions were fascinating, everymeat under the sun must be cooked; I counted chicken, beef, pork (various pig concoctions... go wild with your imagination), fish and Cuy (roasted guinea pig). Perhaps more interesting was the tradition of the groom buying as much alcohol as he possibly could for the bride parents. Should he not buy enough, they are entitled to criticise and make snide remarks behind his back...

fortunately, he bought 280 big beer bottles, many wine cartons (diguised as fruit juice) and enough cigarettes to make Charlotte Church cough. So the groom did well, and we did well from it. The 'brideside' proceeded to get everyone drunk, without exception (not an event for a t-totaler or a vegetarian) by
pouring a shot of whatever into a glass, having them drink it and then moving onto the closest person.

It reminded me of Church Communion... but a LOT more fun!
Perhaps the highlight of the evening, was dancing with the Quechua women to music resembling Merengue and Salsa... and been totally outclassed... they were amazing!

Well, we found the adventures we had been looking for, and some surprises along the way. Unfortunately (although not for this blog... sorry for the length) after all that fun, me and Celeste said goodbye

¡Que Rico!

Matt.