I must hurry up with the last postings about South America, since I'm already back to my ''real life'' and readjusting takes quite a lot of my time.
So - Ecuador!
(One surprising fact I found out just before crossing there is that they have the american Dollar as official currency !!! )
I don't know how, but in the bus from Piura to Loja, i was the only foreigner. I guess everybody goes to Mancora and then Guayaquil, which I would have loved to do myself. But I was expected in Coca (also known as Francisco de Orellana) and from what I read, this was the shortest route.
At least I traveled first class
and we had a Stallone + Schwarzeneger movie… if I well remember. But it started with the end and then they reloaded it and we could see the first half before the end of the ride.
In the Loja terminal , I asked around for a direct bus to Coca, but there wasn't any. So best offer was to go to Macas then take another bus. And so I did - another bus to Puyo and then another one to Coca… Good thing, I never needed to wait more than half an hour. Altogether an about 30h ride. From Piura. I think it was the hardest segment of my journey
In Coca I was to join a film crew that was shooting a docu-fiction and work on 2 animation scenes. I wandered about for a few hours till i finally reached the production assistant and she picked me up and took me to the Albergue where they were accommodated. The crew was pretty small : there was the director-ess, one actress/interviewer, a cameraman, a sound man, the production assistant who also was the art director-ess and the editor-ess. I found out pretty soon that almost everything I discussed with the directress in the passed months was disregarded and there was nothing prepared for shooting the animation. The production plan was also made in complete disregard of my schedule and availability. Also everybody was pretty much pissed of and disappointed with the state of things.
So what happened was that I waited around for 4 days, trying to help with the shoot, walking around, although there was nothing much to see…
…we finaly got to shoot something - a really short stop-motion scene on the same evening I left for Quito. The team was supposed to do the rest of the footage needed for rotoscoping without me, according to the storyboards I gave them… We were to meet again in a couple of days in the capital and do the second stop-motion piece
I arrived in Quito very early on a saturday and after spending one hour in the bus terminal waiting for daylight, one other hour in a café waiting to wake up, I made my way to the hostel where, of course I was to early for check in. So I dropped my luggage and went walking around down town, which was pretty nice, cause after that I didn't get to see it so empty
...And walk around up and down Quito, was pretty much all I did for the next three days waiting for the crew to arrive from Coca. Luckily I had a 'local guide', that I found through Couchsurfing for an evening, and he took me and another girl to La Ronda and Parque de las Tripas - both very nice places that only come to live at night. I didn't have the camera with me, though...
So the day came when I was supposed to start working on the second animation… I was not very surprised when the directress told me that she is unsure of the use of it all (if you ask me, I think the film will never come out) So I was not sorry at all to just pack my things and be on my way again.
I made one last stop before the Colombian border - Otavalo. A nice little town, mostly visited on weekends for it's animal market. I got there on a wednesday and there was not much going on, the artisans market was huge, but there were no tourists… I actually got scarred to walk through, like there were wild beasts inside just waiting to tear me to pieces. I'm exaggerating
But I went on a hike to the Cascada de Peguche
I only stayed less than 24h there, but the hostel I found was really nice - it is called Flying Donkey, it looks great - quite a remarcable care for detail and I could see the owner at work: welding and painting and repairing and cleaning :)
Next : Colombia!
So - Ecuador!
(One surprising fact I found out just before crossing there is that they have the american Dollar as official currency !!! )
I don't know how, but in the bus from Piura to Loja, i was the only foreigner. I guess everybody goes to Mancora and then Guayaquil, which I would have loved to do myself. But I was expected in Coca (also known as Francisco de Orellana) and from what I read, this was the shortest route.
At least I traveled first class
In the Loja terminal , I asked around for a direct bus to Coca, but there wasn't any. So best offer was to go to Macas then take another bus. And so I did - another bus to Puyo and then another one to Coca… Good thing, I never needed to wait more than half an hour. Altogether an about 30h ride. From Piura. I think it was the hardest segment of my journey
In Coca I was to join a film crew that was shooting a docu-fiction and work on 2 animation scenes. I wandered about for a few hours till i finally reached the production assistant and she picked me up and took me to the Albergue where they were accommodated. The crew was pretty small : there was the director-ess, one actress/interviewer, a cameraman, a sound man, the production assistant who also was the art director-ess and the editor-ess. I found out pretty soon that almost everything I discussed with the directress in the passed months was disregarded and there was nothing prepared for shooting the animation. The production plan was also made in complete disregard of my schedule and availability. Also everybody was pretty much pissed of and disappointed with the state of things.
So what happened was that I waited around for 4 days, trying to help with the shoot, walking around, although there was nothing much to see…
…we finaly got to shoot something - a really short stop-motion scene on the same evening I left for Quito. The team was supposed to do the rest of the footage needed for rotoscoping without me, according to the storyboards I gave them… We were to meet again in a couple of days in the capital and do the second stop-motion piece
I arrived in Quito very early on a saturday and after spending one hour in the bus terminal waiting for daylight, one other hour in a café waiting to wake up, I made my way to the hostel where, of course I was to early for check in. So I dropped my luggage and went walking around down town, which was pretty nice, cause after that I didn't get to see it so empty
I also went to see the Ecuator - read: the line that some people painted on the ground where supposedly the middle of the globe is. And this is disputed by two sites : the Mitad del Mundo
and the Intiñan Solar Museum. You can skip the first one if you are in a hurry
So the day came when I was supposed to start working on the second animation… I was not very surprised when the directress told me that she is unsure of the use of it all (if you ask me, I think the film will never come out) So I was not sorry at all to just pack my things and be on my way again.
I made one last stop before the Colombian border - Otavalo. A nice little town, mostly visited on weekends for it's animal market. I got there on a wednesday and there was not much going on, the artisans market was huge, but there were no tourists… I actually got scarred to walk through, like there were wild beasts inside just waiting to tear me to pieces. I'm exaggerating
But I went on a hike to the Cascada de Peguche
I only stayed less than 24h there, but the hostel I found was really nice - it is called Flying Donkey, it looks great - quite a remarcable care for detail and I could see the owner at work: welding and painting and repairing and cleaning :)
Next : Colombia!
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