Anna in South America

Have been spending the last couple of days with Robin, just pottering around Quito - we wanted to go to the Otavalo market in the north, but the indigineous road blocks put paid to that and we couldn´t get out of Quito. So yesterday we embarked upon our trip to Banos, a spa town around 2 and a half hours south of Quito. We got to the bus station and we asked if we would be able to get there, they said there were a few road blocks, but we could go to the nearby town of Ambata and then get one of the frequent buses from there to Banos.
So off we went - we set off at around 10 am, with me keeping an eagle eye on our luggage (heard lots of stories of rascals nicking tourists´stuff), in a pretty good mood. All was going well, until we arrived at the first roadblock after around an hour and a half, we managed to get through that one. We thought we were out of the woods, but 15 minutes later, we got to another one. The roadblocks basically consist of hundreds of people chanting, surrounded by burning tires and police - quite an impressive sight. Anyway, the bus couldn´t get through this one, so we were told to walk through the block to the other side (for around 20 mins) and then the bus would take us further. A bit of an arse as we had our massive backpacks with us and it was boiling hot, but we thought never mind, we´ll just get on with it. And we also met a nice business man who walked with us to make sure we didn´t get any trouble from the mostly peaceful demonstration. Unfortunately, after walking 20 minutes we discovered the roadblocks were more widespread than we thought, so we walked an hour in the blistering heat until we got to a horrible town called LataCunga, which was really kicking off. Tried to get a lift with the Press, but they weren´t having any of it, then we luckily found a red pick-up truck, which we sat in the back of , which bypassed us past the trouble to the end of Latacunga, where we should have been able to catch a bus to Banos.
So we were quite chuffed with ourselves (me, Robin and this business man) and thought we were through the worst. Unfortunately, at the other end, the demonstrations were even worse, so we had to keep walking. We also had to let the locals know that we were not Americans, as the demonstration was against the US, so that added to the excitement (”Somos Inglesas!!”).
After walking a couple more hours uphill with a massive backpack in the blistering heat, I was starting to get a bit down, but I wasn´t going to let it break me! But then a massive thunderstorm started and it was hailing these enormous blocks of ice. It was impossible to walk through, so me, Robin and the businessman (Cristian) had to wait in a shop doorway for half an hour until it eased off - but it didn´t ease off and it was getting abit late, so we had to troop on in the pouring rain and the floods, with no chance of a lift (no cars could drive through the fast rapids) for another hour.
We finally made it past one of the last roadblocks and this other pick-up truck (this time made of wood - very uncomfortable) charged us a dollar to bypass us past the last roadblocks. So on we got, sat in the back under the pouring rain, when a psycho demonstrator with a giant metal spike ran towards us to try and puncture all the tyres, but luckily he got sidetracked by another van, so we sped off on this dirt track for about half an hour. It was lovely countryside actually and I got a good view of the volcano, so it wasn´t all bad, but it was absolutely freezing on the back of that van, so everyone sat/stood in silence, trying to fight off the onset of hypothermia.
We finally arrived on the road to Ambata, at top speed, bit scary. Robin and I were pretty happy to be on an actual road, so started to relax and bit, despite the cold. Then the worst bit of the day happened (for me, anyway). The van was going so fast that it ran over a dog, which we got to see the result of (being in the back of the pick-up) and this poor thing was yelping and screaming in pain - wasn´t quite dead, but wouldn´t live. So I felt pretty shit after that, as you can imagine.
Luckily we arrived in Ambata soon after, we jumped off the back of the truck (when it was still moving, they never stop for you) and then the business man met his Dad, who then took us to the bus station, where we just managed to get the bus to Banos.
And we finally arrived last night: the trip which should have taken 2-3 hours, ended up taking 10 hours and included a 25k hike (5 hours!) in all weather conditions with our bloody big bags. So we´re taking it easy today, going to go to the hot springs, but I´m not going to even think about how we´re going to get back to Quito!