Tulcan, Equador

[dennislevy]

OK,

This is the first full report from Equador.

Tulcan is a pictaresque town perched on hills about 5 miles inside the border. from the border to Tulcan by cab is $3.50

The streets are narrow and steep, and its COLD here. I ve been sleeping with four heavy blankets and Im wearing a heavy leather car coat and a scarf and long sleeved shirts......

I have a good room, not spaciious but a double bed, hot water, decent sized shower for $10 a night, Hotel  Lumar.....three floors, 26 rooms, If you took the same layout and put it in the middle of St Germain de Pres in Paris, youd be looking at easily $200 USD a night.

There some foreign tourists here.....but not many.  The first night at the hotel I shot the breeze with a  young couple  from Brooklyn and a 39 year old single guy,  an elementary school phys ed teacher from St. Louis.     

Its cheaper then anything I saw in Colombia, the cheapest decent single hotel room I had in Colobmbia was in Monteria in Cordoba...25,000 pesos a night about $14 USD. 

Yesterday, I saw a $6 single hostal room right dwn the street from my hotel....in Tulcan.....really small, rough and a single level bathroom with a spigot in the wall..... there s a lot of difference in quality for $4.!!!!!! I was just  curious, jejeje.

I had my normal visit at the cathedral...quite a big church takes up a big block, all the windows and doors and open apetures all have romanesque arches  white and baby blue paint scheme, one big cupola at one end, one bell tower at the other end.

The hotel has a restaurant attached to it......breaKfast has been 2 scrambled eggs, a large tinto, 2 cornbread rollS with butter and a large glass of mora, pineapple or papaya juice for $2.25 with tip This morning I had a perfectly satisfactory barber shpp hair cut...another $2.25 with tip.

 Tulcan has several VERY good Chinese restaurants and there are quite a few Chinese merchants here.   Last night I was in the dining room of the Hotel Palace Imperial.....thats high end...$15 a night!   its 8 floors, white with a red pagoda roof. I talked to a leather faced toothless old guy in the town sqaure and he called it the Chinkies hotel!

The restaurant has a traditional red and gilt decortation scheme , pagoda pàper shaded lamps, with the red hanging tassels and pictures of Jesus AND the Great Wall and very good chow....I had shrimp with lobster sauce and rice and a coke for 6.75 including tip.  I ve eaten in Chinese reatauants from Beijing and Hong Kong to Chinatowns in the US and now in Equador! Its a bit of a cultural mind bender to see some of the indegenous locals (with their traditional black bowler hats and long poncho blanket coats chowing down on Chinese food.

The narrow streets in el metro are dominated by clothing, shoe and leather goods and small groceries strores. Everthing is stacked up on shelves or in piles, we re not talkiing about sophisticated retail display or lighting techniques.  Yesterday I bought a couple of cans of peaches and I walked past a pile of sacks of oats for horses in the same store. 

There are pletny of cars, where Im sitting right now is combination grocery, small stationery store and internet cafe.

This one is well lighted. internet costs 70 cents an hour, In Colombian usually 1400 to 2000 pesos an hours 85 cetns to $1.20
A 1.5 liter bottle of Coke is a dollar............. in Colombia....anyhere from 2400 to 3000 pesos ($1.40 to 1.80

I havent seen many good looking women at least here in Tulcan...but to be fair everone is wearing several layers of clothes, Jeans, sweatshirts, sneakers  and long pocho blankets are the mode here

OK; tomorrow Im heading out...

Vayan con Dios caballeros
Dennis

[whitey]

Good stuff, Dennis - keep it coming!  Although based on your first report, I'd have to say "NEXT" to Ecuador.   

Hopefully it gets better - maybe down by the beach where Kiltboy is going to build his B&B.

Que disfrutes!

[Dan Las Vegas]

Keep the reports coming Dennis!!!!
 
Dan LV

[Kiltboy1]

Dennis
 
Hit some of the spots on the Ruta Del Sol I sent you in the email exhange.Much better weather and mucho mas linda chicas
 
KB

[dennislevy]

KB et al
 
I m still in Tulcan, 10 days now but its time to move on. My ex wife s nephew is serving a misison for the Mormon Church in Ibarra, which is two hours south of Tulcan and I ll see him tomorrow. its a bit f a habit, my third time in Tulcan to unwind for a few days after Colombia and I had been in Colombia traveling for seven continuous months.
 
Tulcan is a bargain, but not much to do except walk around.
 
I had a funny experience, I was the Western Union office doing a transaction and over the speaker came Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford..... of course in English. So I went down low, found my bass voice and started singing with 5 locals watching!  They had their mouths open, jejejeje
 
The food is terrific.  I´ve eaten succulent shrimp every day, rice and vegetables...just great Chinese food, as good as anyhing that I ve eaten off a menu in any Chinatown in the US. I have a decent room, I eat an American breakfast 2 eggs, toast coffee and fresh papaya juice and  two big Chinese meals for about $22 a day.
 
The weather is a bit warmer, and the girls are showing more skin...but to be honest Tulcan is not like a Colombian city...there are some beauties, but they are scarce.  I saw two more foreingers last night, a couple of young Dutch women and we said hello in a restaurant.
 
Today, I tried to  find a government office to see what my options were for extending a tourist visa in Equador the initial period is 90 days conseutively or non consecutively in a calendar year. i got clear directions walked 4 blocks and couldn t find it the goverment agency 
 
This was the Tulcan office of the Equadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I thought there would be a sign. I finally looked at the second floor window above a florist shop and saw a bunch of people sititng on chairs and waiting.
 
I went upstairs  and its was typical bureaucracy, cubicles...and a waiting space with platic chairs. 
But the entrance to the government offices from the steet was a rolled steel door as you would see on a loading dock and there was NO sign on the building! 
 
And I ll have to go to Quito to do it.
 
Tomorrow, I head south.   

[AndyLee]

Good trips reports Dennis, thanks, I enjoyed reading them. I'm looking forward to getting some of that Chinese food one of these days. The biggest thing I (personally) miss by living in Colombia is the wonderful selection of ethnic foods available in the US.