Day 15 in Ecuador

Good-bye to Ecuador

Rose early and contemplated that this was my last day in Ecuador. It’s been an incredible trip – and I’m not sure I’ve ever before done so many things in such a short time. The people have been wonderful, the traveling has been easy, fun and inexpensive, and the sights have been incredulous.

Having been on the plane a good chunk of yesterday, I decided to get out for one last walk into New Town. Specifically, I wanted to visit the Ethnic Café again – the most delicious latte’s are served there in such a feel-good environment. Walking along past the park, black clouds of diesel fumes from the continuous buses going by, and crowds of people scurrying off to their morning work, I kept eye-balling the mountain that flanks Quito on the west. It is the tallest peak around the city and has a Gondola running to the top that I had wanted to take, but hadn’t done yet. I could see that it was running – the little cars were slowly going up and down. I decided to try to squeeze it into my last morning and walk to it, and see the view of Quito from the top before leaving. Quickly calculating my total pocket money (I didn’t carry a purse with me – just pocket money) I figured I probably had enough to both ride the gondola to the top and come back down and have the latte at the Ethnic café.

Finding the way through the twisting and turning streets without my map, I finally arrived at a University situated at the base of the Gondola mountain. I asked some students for directions which wasn't very successful, then finally found an English-speaking traveler and she said it was still a looooooong way up the mountain, too far to walk. I hailed a taxi and sure enough indeed – had I continued walking I might never have arrived! It starts from darn near half-way up the mountain!

Leaving the taxi and walking to the ticket counter I was already feeling the shortness of breath these high altitudes bring. I began to wonder if I should actually do this, but decided I could always hop back into the Gondola and ride back down if I found I couldn’t breathe at the top.

There was a family of 8 Ecuadorians – two women about my age and the rest were youngsters probably in high school – who were purchasing their tickets just in front of me. We ended up talking a little and discovered that Norma, the older woman, is an English teacher in Guayaquil – they were traveling their country with their children. She told me that the minimum number of people allowed to ride in a Gondola car is 4, maximum is 6, and invited me to ride with them.

It was a slow ride to the top and my ears were having a few challenges with the popping process. They insisted that if I covered my ears and head with my jacket that the pressure wouldn’t affect my ears. I found this to be quite curious (and was unable to understand it scientifically), but two of them covered their heads completely with their jackets. The inside of the car became quite warm, and that in itself was causing a lack of oxygen. I kept yawning to try to pop my ears. The other older woman who rode up with us was already looking half-dead – Norma told me she experiences very low blood pressure at the top of this mountain and that she really shouldn’t have come up to the top. Finally, just to please them, I covered my ears with my jacket for the last 5 minutes of the ride. I don’t think it made any difference with the popping, but it appeared to make them happy. Finally, we reached the landing at the top of the mountain, and exited the Gondola. There was a brisk chill breeze that whipped across us as we gasped for air.

I tried to control my light-headedness and followed them over to the building housing the indoor cafes and shops that sits atop the mountain. The half-dead woman plopped herself into a bench at a table and Norma and some of the youths joined her. I wandered around for a few minutes looking at things, then told them I was going outside to take pictures.

Looking out across Quito and beyond, the views were from higher than the airplanes were flying – you could see the planes passing far below. You could see the current airport, and the big new one they’re building far in the distance, and separate valleys almost unpopulated to the west and east of Quito. The views of Cotopaxi and the other giant volcanoes were majestic – they were covered in snow and draped with a few small clouds. After shooting dozens of photos, I saw a path that appeared to go yet higher and achieve views from another angle. Walking up there, very slowly with several rest-stops along the way, I found a sign that read the elevation – 13,451 feet! No wonder I was feeling a trifle spent and wobbly!

After being on top of the mountain for about 40 minutes, my body was calling for lower altitudes. Walking back down the higher path, I met up with four of the youths who were coming up the path – they said Norma and the others had already taken the Gondola down, and they were just waiting for me! Unbelievable how thoughtful these Ecuadorians are! We descended the trail to the Gondola together and rode it back down. What a difference it made in how I physically felt to get lower by only a thousand feet. I started feeling much better less than half-way back down. By the time we hopped out of the Gondola at the bottom, my light-headedness was gone and my breathing was better. And that was still well above the 9,500’ that the city of Quito sits at.

We parted – couldn’t find Norma to say good-bye. Rode a courtesy bus down about a mile where it turns around and picks up other people to take back up to the Gondola. I got a trifle disoriented for a few minutes trying to figure out where I was (lost without my map and the roads were confusing), but then saw some familiar landmarks and set off walking down. I hailed a taxi and lo and behold – it was the same taxi driver that had taken me up to the Gondola! He seemed quite happy to see me and we actually started talking a little – my Spanish is very poor but he seemed to understand me. After a very enjoyable conversation and ride he delivered me to the Ethnic Café and I waved good-bye.

The Ethnic Café is a place of sanctuary here in Quito. It has beautiful soothing music playing softly in the background, the delicious scents of perfectly roasted coffee, and the aromas of the most yummy foods pervading from the kitchen. It is extraordinarily artistic and colorful in it’s decoration and display of mementos and coffees and tea sets for sale. The lighting is warm amber colored lamps of curved, angled and textured glass – this little haven has an ambiance of peace, comfort and rest.

I ordered my latte and apple strudel, and perched myself at the counter overlooking the street. All was well with the world from within the cocoon of the Ethnic Café. My latte and apple strudel arrived and tasted like perfection. It seemed unreal that within one hour I would be at the airport and heading home.

After sipping the last of the Latte, I slipped into the excellent tourist shop just next door to the Ethnic Café and purchased a small gift for a girlfriend – a male frigate bird in mating posture carved from the Tagua Nut, known as “vegetable ivory”. The nut is extremely hard and durable, and has an ivory color. It is from the palm tree called Phytelephas Macrocarpa that grows in the rainforest and coastal region of Ecuador, and is being used regularly now for carving in lieu of the tusks from elephants, walruses and rhinoceros.

From there I walked back to my hostel, through the large parks, along the streets filled with people, and the buses with diesel fumes, and the taxis zooming past, and the scents, sounds and sights of Quito…at the hostel I ate my leftover fish from the incredible dinner the night before, gave my good-byes and hugs, grabbed my bags, and hailed a taxi from across the street. I arrived at the airport just a few minutes after 12 noon – my flight was to depart at 2:10.

The flight to San Jose, Costa Rica was routed through Guayaquil, so for the second time in as many days I got to see the massive flooding from the air. After refueling and taking on new passengers, we were again airborne and on our way to Costa Rica.

Arriving at San Jose through the immense cloud cover didn’t seem strange until I deboarded. All of a sudden I was surrounded by a different culture entirely – Western Whites! Wow! What a different group than the Ecuadorians I had been enjoying the last two weeks. I could hear aggression and egos, and - excuse me for saying so – what translated to me as quite juvenile banter in some of the grouped male conversations, something I hadn’t heard for awhile, and now distinctively apparent. I was incredulized by how many U.S. folks there were at the airport – probably 90%!

Once boarded onto our Lacsa flight to LAX and taxied out to the end of the runway and ready for take-off only 30 minutes late, the Captain suddenly announced over the speakers that there was a malfunction of some gauges and the plane needed to return to the gate. I couldn’t believe it! This was my 8th flight total during my two-week trip, and the only one that needed to arrive on time due to my friends driving all the way from Palm Springs to LAX to pick me up so late in the evening (scheduled to arrive at 10:16 p.m.), and now it was being delayed! All my other flights had arrived at their destinations on time, but noooo – not THIS one! After 2 hours delay we finally lifted off from San Jose, for the long flight back to California.

And then, another strange thing happened….on re-entry to the U.S. I was pulled aside, as were several others at random, to go through additional security checks! Perhaps it was because I had declared the carved nut as a gift. It cost me another 30 minutes of time and almost lost me my nut! Fortunately, they decided to let me keep it, and I FINALLY got out to the lobby, and PRAISE THE UNIVERSE! My friends were still there waiting for me! They had almost returned to Palm Springs because the flight I was on had already deboarded so long ago and I had not shown up, but they had decided to wait a little longer…may miracles never cease!

We arrived back in Palm Springs by 2:45 a.m. and we were all in bed by 3! I lay there on my bed, my head swirling and my body still rocking from the yacht movement. I had arrived back in one piece with all having gone very well. As soon as the scabs on my buttocks heal from that demon saddle that ate my fanny back in Vilcabamba, I’ll be as good as new. It was an excellent trip, all in all, and I hope you get to go and have an adventure yourself real soon. Off to zzzzzzzzzzzzzz land.

Say

P.S. Stay tuned for the next adventure, coming this summer, when I hike parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and the Wonderland Trail. S

Day 10 in Ecuador

Wednesday in Quito!

Slept in til the alarm went off and dragged around my room for a few minutes. Then rejuvenated myself with a delicious banana (no GMO here, folks – bananas taste like their supposed to, still) and went to breakfast on the Terrace with my laptop (one egg scrambled, coffee or tea, on large croissant, and a small bowl of fresh cut fruit - $1.00). A lovely couple from Calgary shared my table as there were no other tables available, and we discovered that we were all going to the same place today – Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world)! We decided to go together, so after breakfast we rendezvoused down at the reception area of our hostel, and off we trekked to the appropriate bus stop – the Blue Line.

Caught the bus ($.25) which took us waaaay to the northern end of Quito to a major Bus Terminal, then transferred to another bus heading to Mitad del Mundo ($.10). We wondered whether we had boarded the correct bus as it made stops almost every 15’ picking up anybody and everybody alongside the road who was waiting for a bus! But finally, 1.5 hours after we left the Chicago Hostel, it dropped us at our destination and we entered the area said to be the equator’s dividing line between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.

Of course, I had to have my photo taken with one foot in each of the world's hemispheres!

Mitad del Mundo is quite the tourist center ($2.00 adults, $1.00 seniors and children), with a large 8 story monument to the equator’s line, and within that building is quite an excellent Cultural Museum on each floor of the various indigenous cultures of Ecuador – I had no idea there were so many! The amazing thing is that many of them are still living the old way, though they have almost all been introduced to Christianity and much of current living trends. Some of them still live naked with the males tying their penises up with a string so they don’t get in the way of daily living – quite amazing to see the current photos! The basket work and weaving are highly talented, with one of the groups doing the weavings from the reverse side! Astonishing! I’ve never seen weaving done that way before.

After 8 floors of reading about the various cultures in Ecuador and seeing examples of the products and large color photos of them (we weren’t allowed to take pictures in that museum) I wandered out and looked for my friends, Rhonda and Mike, from Calgary. While looking for them I found the scales that you can put a quarter in and it will give you your weight at the equator, which is supposed to be a kilo less (about 2 pounds) than in either the Northern or Southern hemisphere. To me it seemed that my weight was the same as normal, and probably that is because it isn’t the true equator, as discussed below. Found my friends and visited for a few minutes, then we decided to both go our own ways, and rendezvous again once we're back at the Chicago Hostel.

I was famished and went to a little restaurant in the tourist area and ordered a ¼ chicken, rice, potatoes (the potatoes and rice are excellent down here), salad and water – the whole lunch was huge and cost $4.00! I had about 1/3 of it left over so brought it home with me. There are many, many shops in the tourist village area with all types of souvenirs for the purchase, and several high end gorgeous restaurants.

Walked over to the western side of the exhibits and saw the Museum del Sol, then the Insect Exhibit which was nothing short of incredible with the most gorgeous and imaginative insects of every kind I’ve ever seen (again we weren’t allowed to take pictures), then the French Museum, then the Geological Museum, and then out the gate and north to the Museo de Sitio Inti-Nan - the REAL center of the world.

Now THAT was truly interesting. This place says IT is the true equatorial center, and it is 200 meters to the north of the first one. It’s equatorial line was determined using GPS when that technology was newly discovered, so it was learned after the Mitad del Mundo was built that the TRUE equator is actually a bit north of where the large monument and tourist villa now stand.

The tour at Inti-Nan cost $3.00, and a group of three others from Vancouver Island and myself had an English speaking guide. It was fascinating! We learned and saw some of the ways of the indigenous peoples used to live, their house styles, cooking ways, saddles, burial traditions, guinea pig raising (they eat guinea pigs here just like we eat chicken in the states), and even how they shrunk heads in certain areas in the past. We also got to see some skins and some very large stuffed Anacondas. You wouldn’t want one of these snakes to spy you when they’re hungry!

Finally we got to the fun stuff! We got to see how equatorial time is told with something similar to a sundial, but different since the sun is 6 months on one side of the stone dial, and 6 months on the other – the direction of the shadow changes depending whether it’s winter or summer. Then we got to see water drain from a portable sink – clockwise in the southern hemisphere, straight down directly on the equator, and counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere – and it was only 6 feet off either side of the equator, yet it made such a difference! Incredible! Then we tried to balance an egg on a nail – our guide could do it, but none of us could. Then we tried an exercise where kinesiology is at play – trying to pull a person’s thumb and forefinger apart while they tried to hold the connection of those fingers together. Supposedly it is difficult to pull them apart in either hemisphere, but easy to do on the equator, as there are opposing centrifugal forces which weaken a person’s strength. This exercise didn’t play terribly well, but it was fun. Then we tried to walk the equatorial line with arms outstretched, thumbs up, and eyes closed. This was supposed to be again difficult because of opposing centrifugal forces, which may be the case, but I challenge that it is difficult to walk a straight line anywhere when the eyes are closed and your arms up outstreched to either side and you're having to heel-to-toe touch all the way. Try it - the difficulty has little to do with being on the equator.

Finally our guide showed us some more indigenous dwelling replicas, and some captive guinea pigs (poor sweet things - they were scared and squeeling when we looked at them - they are eaten like we eat chicken). He led us back to a woven wool shop for purchases of rugs, etc., and stamped our passports with the 0’0’0’’ mark which shows we’ve been to the center of the world – pretty cool!

The nice folks I took the tour with offered me a ride back to Quito in their taxi, and within minutes we were back in the city – so much different than the bus! I checked out about 4 more hostels in the vicinity of their hotel (nice area!) then headed over to the Tierra de Fuego Tourist Agency and got updated about my trip departing to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow, and started walking back home.

Along my return to Chicago Hostel there was an excellent coffee shop called “Ethnic Café” where I stopped and had my first Latte since I’ve been down here (it was superbly made) and a half beef and vegetable sandwich which arrived in a whole wheat pita pocket with side salad and miniature baked potatoes. Total bill, $5.48. And it was absolutely delicious and the place is the best I’ve been in since I’ve arrived in Ecuador – could’ve been in a swank part of San Diego!

Continued walking home and passed a couple musicians playing on the street – Andean music of wood flutes playing over pre-scored background music, speakers and all powered by a very quiet generator humming along right beside them – what a hoot! And they were good, so of course I had to buy one of their CDs - $5.00.

Finished walking home and now getting ready for the Galapagos Islands! The tour agency will pick me up tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. to take me to the airport and my flight departs at 9:45. I expect to arrive in the Galapagos around 1 p.m. I will not be able to access internet in the Galapagos, to my understanding. That'll be different!

Say

Day 9 in Ecuador

Tuesday in Quito!

Woke before the alarm to drizzle and gray outside my window…looks like Seattle weather. Putzed around until about 8:30 a.m. and went downstairs to wait for my 8:40 pick-up (they call it Transfer) to the tour bus for the day trip to Papallacta Hot Springs at an elevation of 3307 meters! I waited and waited…cab after cab went by and though all the empty cabs wanted to give me a ride, none of them appeared to be my pick up person, and I waved them on.

Finally I determined they must have forgotten me – the tour was leaving at 9 a.m and it was already that time by my estimate, so I walked across the street to the little shop where there is a Cabina (Pay telephone) and was just dialing the tour office number when the tour company pick-up van came by! I couldn’t believe it! They were a full 20 minutes late, but I was so happy to see them! I really didn’t want to miss Papallacta.

I was the only passenger in the van, besides the driver and the guide, and everything was different than I had expected. There was no other bus we were going to, this was it - a very new and modern van that seats 9 behind the driver and front passenger seats. And we were on our way to pick up the other 3 tourists who had arranged this trip.

We introduced ourselves: Vince (or Vinnie) is the driver, and Felix is our Naturalist Tour Guide (with excellent English). Winding through all the traffic jammed streets we arrived about 20 minutes later at another hostel, and picked up the three tourists: Sallie (a nurse) from Australia, Jay (worker at an RV park in British Columbia) and his father who owns the RV park and whose name I can’t remember.

Leaving Quito took a very long time on a road that was once an ancient trail descending steeply down into a valley. The trail has now been turned into a narrow two lane road, well cobbled and cared for, but originally it was a foot path and then later a horse trail. We almost got into an accident around one sharp corner, and it really rattled our Tour Guide for a minute. Thankfully, both vehicles stopped in time and avoide contact.

Finally we were in the country away from the city and the landscape became the gorgeous Ecuadorian mountains and valleys I’ve come to enjoy so much for their spectacular beauty.

The road started climbing and eventually we were at the top of a 4000+ meter pass and Vince, our driver, pulled over to let us out. Though it was drizzling with high billowy clouds, you could see across the valley a huge snow covered volcano mountain – it was immense. clamored back into the van and descended downFrom there we descende down into a verdant pristine valley with a large clean-looking lake. After passing the lake we turned left and onto a dirt road, then descended some more, then up again and finally!! Voila! We arrived at Papallacta!

What a spectacular place! Nestled just below a saddle pass between two mountain ranges, there are large organic gardens with extremely healthy, gargantuan vegetables growing (giant kale, swiss chard, lettuce, dill, everything). The buildings are very well maintained and look classy enough to be from Santa Fe or Santa Barbara. There is a hotel, restaurant, and other offices, but all so un-signed that it just looks like a highly attractive small villa.

Felix, our Nature Guide, led us on a 45 minute trail hike through the rainforest along the river that feeds some of the cold water to cool the hot springs. The hike brought us by many tropical plants – bromeliads, bamboo, flowers of many kinds and colors, fungi, and always the heavenly sound of the rushing river over giant rocks. Walked back on a dirt road, fairly wet and getting a little cold, and majorly starving. I ate the apple I had brought with me, but the others had nothing.

We paid our $7.00 admittance fee and walked through the gate into the hot spring pool area. Wow Wow and more Wow! Extremely well done stone work, flower gardens, artistically designed pools – the whole place was thoroughly enchanting! There were at least 10 pools of various sizes and temperatures, some painted with pale blue bottoms, others left natural with rock. There were lockers to store our things, dressing rooms, bathrooms, a steam room (but we couldn’t figure out how to turn it on) and cold plunge pools. I felt like a kid in a candy store…which pool first, which pool first! They all looked so deliciously inviting! And while there were a number of other bathers, there really weren’t all that many – it wasn’t overcrowded by any means.

We four touristas started out in one pool and then decided after a few minutes it wasn’t hot enough, and migrated to another blue pool that had steam rolling off. We stayed in that one for the rest of the time, with little jaunts just to toe-test the others, then back to the perfect temp pool. Every 5 or 10 minutes we did the cold plunge pool – that was really refreshing and brought the tingles to your skin when you were back in the hot water.

Finally it was time for us to rendezvous with Felix again (he and Vince didn’t join us in the pools but were out in the van, reading and napping). We departed the lovely hot springs and drove down the hill to a restaurant they dearly wanted to take us to, not too far away. It was large and clean and nicely decorated with wood and warm paint, with varnished wooden tables and bench seats. We had a window next to our table where we could look out across the entire valley to the mountain range on the other side – breathtaking! We all ordered exactly the same thing – trout with rice and salad and potatoes, and a cervesa! It was delicious! Everything was very tasty and prepared excellently. Total price of the meal - $6.00 (that includes the beer).

On the drive back we stopped at the lake and took pictures of it with the mountains as backdrop – ahhh gorgeous Nature! Then we all slept quite a bit on the drive home, and arrived back in Quito about 5:30 p.m. (only 2.5 hours later than originally scheduled). I was the first one they dropped off. It was strange to be back – I felt like I had been in MagicLand and now I was back in – a small boring hostel room all by myself.

Walked downtown to go to an ATM machine – took me three tries before I found one that worked, and it was way on the other side of the large park not too far from my hostel. On the way back I saw the Hilton and went in to ask for room prices for the night of the 28th – I thought it might be nice to have my final night in Quito be at an upper class hotel - $200! The hostel will be fine. But I did go to their restaurant and ordered Seafood Soup. It was excellent! Huffed and puffed my way back to the hostel in the dark (still not used to these high altitudes, and with a full stomach it’s even harder!) with a wad of bills in my pocket totaling $500.00 – I kept a sharp eye out and no one looked twice at me.

Now I’m hopeful to get to Mitad del Mundo tomorrow – “The Middle of the World”. It’s the equatorial line which is still somewhat disputed in that several different places claim to be sitting on top of it. I have heard from people who have been there that they have a moveable toilet that you can take to one side or the other of the line, and even put it on the line itself, and the water goes down differently each time depending which side or the middle that you’re on. Also, an egg is supposed to balance on a pin there, and we are supposed to way about a pound less! I can’t wait to see this!

Say

Day 8 in Ecuador

Monday dawned early, long before my 7 a.m. alarm. Showered in the strangest shower stall I’ve ever been in – the water is delivered from so high up that by the time it reaches you it’s cooled considerably, and the opposite side of the stall from the shower head is split in half with a deep recess on one half, and the other half very close to the front wall of the shower…odd! But the warm water felt great! One appreciates the little things here that we take so for granted at home.

Walked all the way to the Mariscal area which is the hub of activity in New Town. The Quito map I had was less than clear, and the hefty load of diesel belching from all the busses going by almost turned me around to simply purchase a flight to Galapagos on my own through the internet and deal with lining up the boats over there. But I persisted.

After meandering around the Plaza Fuch area (don’t get excited, it’s not pronounced that way), and visiting 3 tourist agencies, I happened upon one that was perfect. The young woman spoke excellent English and she was a whiz on the computer. She had it nailed and she didn’t take any time about it. She found me the perfect Galapagos tour which will depart on Thursday on a Luxury Yacht and I’ll return to Quito on Sunday afternoon. I’ll visit 4 islands and see lots of wildlife and get to snorkel, kayak, hike and who knows what else! I placed a deposit as I didn’t have the full amount with me and told her I’d return in the afternoon.

Walked all the way back (it’s about 1.5 miles one way from Hostel to Travel Agency) and had to lie down for a moment – that much walking in this much warmth at this altitude - 9,500'…whew! It’s a sunny day today – first one I’ve had since being here, so it’s definitely warmer than the rest of the week – 28 Celsius.
A bit later in the afternoon I walked again all the way to the Tierra de Fuego Travel Agency (they’ve got 5 beautiful glass awards on their back shelf) and Lorena, my agent, was gone to lunch. So I went with the flow and wandered down the main boulevard and found a shop that made quite divine pastries and had one, and while I was in mid-bite my new Oregon friends, Laurel and Doug, walked up! What a shock to see them! It was great, considering we had just said good-bye yesterday morning at Hosteria Izhcayluma in Vilcabamba! And out of the entire city of Quito, which is 1.5 million strong, we happened to bump into each other at the same pastry store! Unbelievable.

They had just arrived to Quito on a flight, and they each took ice cream bars while I finished my pastry and we sat around and chatted awhile at the little outdoor table along the street in front of the sweet shop. Then a guitar player came up and even though Laurel told him no, he started to play and sing, so we stood up and walked away, and he followed and she told him in a big way “NO!” again and he walked away as we ducked into an beautiful shop filled with very expensive keepsakes, all made in Ecuador. After looking around a few minutes, we said our good-byes (til summer when I hope to visit them in Oregon) and I headed back to the travel agency.

My ticket to the Galapagos was all wrapped up and I was walking away when suddenly I realized I had forgotten to ask my agent, Lorena, about Mindo-Nambillo Protected Forest, an incredible botanical reserve that isn’t far away. I turned around and walked back into her office, and she said she’d try to get a tour together for Wednesday for that, but if not, I can always take to bus there and back (though it sounds a little sketchy). She asked me if I wanted to go to Papallacta Lake District and Hot Springs tomorrow, as they have a tour going for the day, but I have planned to visit my friend Johnny Douglass’s friend on the outskirts of Quito who has a sustainable farm with solar and more.

Walked all the way back to the Hostel again (2nd time today, and realized I must’ve walked 6 miles total). Passed a shop with a large poster showing every place where one could lose fat through the treatment they were offering. There are certainly enough people that could lose weight in this city. Looked similar to lipisuction only no invasion. Looked kinda like a scam, actually.

By this time it was about 5 p.m. and I was getting hungry. On my return walk I bought 4 nectarines from two female fruit vendors in traditional native attire. I’ll wash them very well before consuming. Later I passed a Chinese restaurant, and ordered a shrimp (camerones) and vegetable dish, thinking that’s all it was. But underneath the surface of veggies and shrimp was a large mound of noodles, so it wasn’t quite what I thought I was getting, but still quite good compared to what I’m seeing of most other available foods here in Ecuador’s cities. They eat TONS of sweets of every kind, artificial and natural, bur mostly artificial. And many of them are grossly overweight.

Later that evening I suddenly got a call from the great niece of the farmer I was supposed to meet tomorrow. Basically, they have Market Day tomorrow (like our Farmer's Markets) and my visit doesn’t work well for them, so I thanked them very much anyway and said I’d tried to arrange to meet them in the Fall, if I return then.

After that call I dug out Lorena’s card and luckily it had her cell phone number on it, because by now it was 8:30 p.m. Called her and she put me on the books for the tour tomorrow to Papallacta. Wow! What luck! I’ll be picked up in the morning at 8:45 to rendezvous with the tour bus, and we’ll be back in the afternoon tomorrow around 2 p.m. This is supposed to be an incredible National Park at high elevation that has natural hot springs warmed by hot magma below the nearby active volcano. The flora and fauna should be quite different up there, and we will have a Nature Guide to explain it all to us on the tour.

Packed up for the little excursion tomorrow and am ready for that next, new adventure!

Say

Day 3 in Ecuador

Wednesday in Vilcabamba! What a day!

Woke up to cloudy skies but the weather is delightfully warm. Last night the cacophony of noises finally subsided and I got some excellent sleep – what an incredible bed! Took a great shower - the shower stall is sided in stone wall - beautiful! And there was nice hot water that didn’t disappear after a few minutes! Divine!

Walked down to the Spa and had a superb facial that must have lasted a full hour even though it was advertised as 45 minutes. Totally professional and almost Asian in character with the sensitivity of music, lighting, touch and incredible ingredients that were on my face. During the treatment there were a total of 7 towels on my face – 6 hot and the final one cold. I think she cleansed my face twice, restored it a couple times, and left something literally silky on at the end. What an amazing treatment. And only $12.00. All organic and natural…incredible!

Caught a taxi downtown and tried to call the travel agency that I’m hoping can take me early next week on a Galapagos Tour. They didn’t answer and I finally learned that from 12 to 3 p.m. businesses everywhere close.

I decided to take a couple hour hike in a Nature Reserve called Rumi Wilco EcoLodge and Nature Reserve. It’s just a 10 minute walk from the bitsy town of Vilcabamba, so it was an easy adventure. As I followed the dirt road which became a dirt path down along the river, a guy with a big machete and a woman with a machete and 3 little dogs were ahead of me. The man walked slower and slower and even though I dallied and took my time, I couldn’t help catching up to him. He was eyeing me sideways a couple times and said something indiscernible in Spanish. And here I was wearing my purse slung across my chest, and camera hanging around my neck! Sheesh! I immediately imagined how I’d de-groin him with my knee, remove his machete with a sharp left arm move, and jab my right elbow into his esophagus… somehow we all ended up on the cement bridge together, with the woman with the machete in front of me, and he with the machete behind me.

Now, to explain the cement bridge. The Nature Reserve describes the bridge that crosses the river over to the Reserve as “Tilted but OK.” You will appreciate the word “tilted” by the picture to the left. At one time the river flooded and took the bridge off it’s shoreside braces and crashed it further downstream at a 45 degree tilt. The Vilcabamban’s have “fixed” it in their creative style, and now there is a new piece of arching concrete that allows you to cross to the beginning of the bridge, and on the other side it landed on the shore, so they just left it there. They have strung bamboo poles on the leading edge of the bridge across the span, so you have something to hang onto as you cross with gravity urging you into the river. Quite exciting, especially with machete bearing non-English speaking natives in front and behind you !

Now in fairness, I should let you know that I was never truly afraid. Had I been, I would have extricated myself from this scenario before it got to this point. But I sensed that it looked more dire than it was, and that proved true. I did allow the man who was behind me to go ahead, so ultimately I tailed them across the bridge, and the woman almost lost her beautiful little black dog into the drink, but rescued him by the scruff while he clung for dear life with his front paw toenails scratched into the concrete bridge. All ended up well and we parted ways on the other side of the river and I went on to hike the trails (actually much more treacherous) in the Nature Reserve.

I could go into great lengths about the six inch wide "trails" that descended into oblivion down a sheer slope on one side and straight up on the other side, and the rain ravaged steep canyon that led from the ridge to the riverside with trail completely washed away and vertical slope of mud and gravel at an angle of at least 75 degrees at times…but you really had to be there. Incredible orchids along the way – I guess Ecuador is known for its orchids. Amazing birds everywhere. And the trees – definitely from Pandora! They even have gigantic thorns on the barks of the trees to protect themselves – cool!

When I got back to Vilcabamba, I met a woman named Daya who told me there are about 300 ex-pats who live here. She invited me to join a group that would be gathering for a movie at one of their houses this Friday night. So I’ve accepted. I'm looking forward to meeting these folks and learning more about why they moved here.

I had just finished my unsatisfactory phone call to the Galapagos travel agency when I bumped into Dennis again (the orchid grower I met yesterday) in town by the plaza that was so ravaged by shaving cream and screaming people and flying water and flour. It’s all cleaned up today and business is back to usual. Dennis had me come with him to a place just a quarter mile outside of town where he was meeting some friends for a sauna. While they sauna’d, I explored the area, then met back up with them. We took a taxi waaaaay out another valley, waved good-bye to the taxi-man, and walked another half mile to a little home Dennis is having re-done. It was beautiful – the greenery up there and the views – a whole different perspective on the Vilcabamba Valley. Lots of food growing up there and lots of folks giving Ecuador a try and living off the land.

We had a long walk back into town - stunningingly green valley views all the way, and I grabbed a taxi back at the Hosteria Izycayluma again. Dinner with my Oregon friends while gazing down upon the Vilcabamba valley was delicious. Afterward, I organized my Saturday massage and Sunday facial. Ahhhh, Life.

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Day 2 in Ecuador

Hello again from tropical Ecuador…the adventure continues.

My first night in Quito was at the Chicago Hostel which I recommend wholeheartedly if you’re ever down this way. It’s about half-way between New Town and Old Town, so pretty quick to get to either, and in a nice quiet area not far from a beautiful park.

I was rummy with fatigue, but couldn’t let the day go to waste, so visited with some Danes, Swedes, Brits and later some Canadians – it’s a world wide group of travelers down here. Then I wrote you all the first installment from the rooftop terrace of the Hostel – incredible views from there – and watched a BatMan movie that was playing in the common room with the fellow who picked me up at the airport and the two Brits. Later we caught the bus ($.25) for a ride into New Town where we had the most delicious steak I may have ever eaten at an Argentinian Steak House. Returned to the hostel and finally crashed.

5:30 a.m. my alarm went off and I was still not used to the new time zone. I had lost many hours of sleep in the flights, but managed to get myself up. My previously arranged taxi arrived at 6 a.m. on the button! The owner of Chicago Hostel had told me I had to be at the airport for my flight to Loja a full two hours before its departure. My taxi got me there lickety-split - the roads were free and clear at that hour of the morning - and we arrived at the airport at 6:30 a.m. When I attempted to check in, I learned that the ticket counter wouldn't be checking in my flight for another hour!

So, now with an hour to burn, I wondered around the airport and learned they are building a brand new airport that should open this year (2010). It is being built by three companies – Canadian, Brazilian and one from Houston. Amazing! It will be larger than their current airport, and more out-of-town.

Then I began to watch the folks preparing to take the morning flight to the Galapagos, and even met some of them and learned some info about tours over there, etc. What’s terrific is to see so many families taking their kids to the Galapagos. One group who had organized their own trip had two couples with kids, 5 kids, and one older couple, so they had 3 generations in one family going together. How wonderful! There were many sets of couples who were in their 60’s and 70’s or so, which was also impressive.

Finally it was time to get my ticket – no problemo – and I proceded through security into the waiting area. And, delightedly, there was free wi-fi again! So I checked email and answered a bunch, and then boarded my Tame flight to Loja which had a total of maybe 15 passengers on a plane that could have held over 100 people. It was a quick 50 minute flight above the clouds which seem to blanket most of Ecuador right now, and we were served fresh-tasting orange juice that didn’t taste artificial in the least! It tasted almost fresh-squeezed! I was impressed.

Upon departure at the Loja airport I was met for the second time ever in my life by a person holding a sign with my name on it. My driver and I made a speedy get-away from the crowds and terminal – how delightful. And then the gorgeous 2 hour ride all the way to Vilcabamba through the most verdant, abundant plant-filled wide expansive valleys, stunning ridge lines, steep dropping canyons – awesome. Once again I was reminded of Pandora in the movie Avatar. We passed small towns and crossed rivers, and finally arrived at Vilcabamba. It is a small town, very pleasant looking with a town square surrounded by businesses, restaurants and trees. My driver drove on another 3 kilometers to my destination. Pulling into the driveway of my hosteria was gorgeous - flowering plants and trees and artistically arranged landscape was in every direction. These folks have created an oasis!

The Hosteria Izhcayluma is enchanting. It has individual cabins, or dorms, or shared rooms, a pool and jacuzzi, a Spa, a restaurant, bar, movie room and pool table. I was terrifically glad I booked my private cabin over a month ago! This is Carnival week, and though the holiday is finished tonight it gets pretty crazy in the small towns. The big thrill is throwing buckets of water on people – they just can’t get enough of it. Another thrill is foaming people with big cans of pressurized foam – I don’t know what kind it is, but looks somewhat like shaving cream. Anyway, the town is inundated with people, though they’re mostly leaving now to go back home to their cities. There is a real scarcity of rooms to be had in small towns at the last minute during this national holiday.

I had lunch at the little restaurant at the Hosteria. It’s open air, and has a couple of beautiful hosteria-owned dogs that meander through, looking for pets and maybe a hand-out. The squack of parrots in nearby trees frame the spectacular views of the valley from the lunch table. The place is stunning!

After lunch, I took the taxi ($1.00) into town, and spent 2 hours exploring the Town Square area and its shops and restaurants. I did get hit on the backside once with water, as there were hundreds of kids gathered around a town square (park) that were engaged in water and foam fights, but for the most part I avoided the dangers. Took some pictures and learned about horseback rides into the National Park, then caught the taxi back to the Hosteria for dinner.

During dinner of chicken in red wine sauce, rice, braised potatoes and salad ($5.25) with a HUGE Pilsner beer ($1.25) I ended up meeting more people – a couple from Oregon and then a woman from Germany and another from Canada – and learned alot of travel info from them. Great folks traveling! It's been awhile since I'd traveled like this, and I’d forgotten how fun it is to meet other globe-trotters.

At 9 p.m. the kitchen cooks and waiters erupted in water fights and hysterical laughter and screaming and tearing through the restaurant in chases after each other so I called it a night. If employees had behaved like that in the U.S. they would have been instantly fired, but here it’s different - and it's the end of Carnival. Before retiring I borrowed a plug adaptor to recharge my laptop battery - I had forgotten to bring one, and they’re essential for these countries. My laptop plug requires the ground prong, and of course none of the outlets in my cabin have the third hole. But fortunately my neighbors (new friends from Canada) had one they loaned me for the night.

I hope I’ll be able to sleep. There are the strangest noises going on outside on my deck somewhere…it sounds like some kind of animal is chewing on the deck! And some of the cries and calls and other noises I’m hearing I’ve never heard before – a little unnerving, as there is nothing but a glass wall between me and the deck. I’ve locked the glass door and before that I went out once to investigate, but saw nothing. Meanwhile, the outsides of the glass are covered in very large moths trying to get in because my bed lamp is on…Hmmm. If you don’t hear from me again it’s because whatever is eating the deck somehow got in and found me tastier !! More news tomorrow, hopefully!

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Day 1 in Ecuador

Well it's been quite a journey so far!

The drive from Palm Springs to LAX and then trying to find the Hertz rental car drop-off location and then a gas station for tank fill-up had me quite frazzled before getting to the Airport itself. Once there, all went very well, though I was pretty tired by the time the plane departed at 12:30 a.m. I've never flown LACSA before and it was quite good. They showed a movie which I got sucked into before nodding off. I was awakened in early morning when they served a fairly decent breakfast - at least by most plane standards.

Weekend flights have an additional stop in El Salvador which weekday flights don't have, so I spent about half an hour in the San Salvador Airport. Re-boarded the same plane after they refueled and cleaned it and had a beautiful flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Gorgeous from the air - beautiful land, ocean, clouds, farm fields - it's so Pandora-like in places down here. The San Jose Airport is amazingly efficient - it puts many States’ airports to shame.

We de-boarded to a bus which drove us 2 minutes to our next gate, got off the bus, climbed some stairs and voila! There was our connecting flight to Quito, Ecuador. They had free Internet in the waiting area, which is better than LAX which has only pay-as-you-go T-Mobile. Within about 15 minutes we boarded (after I checked free email) and had another excellent flight to Quito.

Quito is absolutely amazing from the air to fly in on. It occupies plateaus and valleys in a long corridor between ranges of mountains. Their population of about 1.5 million people are celebrating a holiday right now, but it is very quiet in the city. Apparently the city folk go to the small towns to have their noisy celebrations, so the cities get quiet.

I was greeted at the airport (after going through very easy visa and customs) by an official greeting party bearing my name and "Welcome" on the sign. How absolutely lovely and they whisked (and I do mean whisked...they drive like crazy) me away to my hostel and after the quickest check-in I've ever experienced, I climbed (huffed and puffed) up three flights of stairs (altitude here is 2850 meters elevation) and finally reached my room with my heart trying to explode through my rib cage. My room is very nice and is the only room in this hostel that has it's own balcony, much like you'd see in Europe, with nice wrought iron fence and the balcony hanging out over the street. STUNNING views! And the hostel has free wi-fi - and a terrace roof-top to sit and work from while purveying the views.

There are lots of travelers here - from Denmark, Sweden, and other European countries I haven't yet met. Needless to say I'm feeling quite rummy with fatigue (it's 3 hours later here, so not only was my journey quite long, I also lost 3 hours) so I'm going in with Jacob, a young Dane with dreadlocks who works for the Chicago Hostel, and some of the other hostel guests on the bus to an area called New Town for dinner tonight (the bus ride costs .25 cents) and then come back and crash. I will get up around 5:30 a.m. tomorrow and a taxi will pick me up and take me back to the airport where I'll catch my 8:30 a.m. flight on my journey to Vilcabamba, the Valley of Longevity. My flight should arrive in Loja around 9:30 where I will have another welcome party waiting for me with a taxi which will drive me 90 minutes to my hotel in Vilcabamba.

Even though I have zilch for energy right now, I love it down here. It's quite mild and warm, lots of billowy clouds, amazing architecture and simply stunning and startling views everywhere. I'll keep you posted as the trip unfolds.

These are a couple views from my third floor hostel balcony! Lovely!

More tomorrow. Say