Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Vilcabumba to Chacapoyas, Peru
Our time in Vilcabumba was a welcome rest with warmer temperatures than we had been experiencing lately. We took time to relax in the hammocks hanging on our veranda.
We spent one day climbing up a mountain which was described as dangerous and difficult. We have learned that if they say that in Ecuador unlike in North America it is true. We spent the first hour hiking straight up the front of the mountain and then proceeded to hike an extremely narrow ridge which continued to the top. This involved at times sitting down and crawling along so you would not fall off either side which would have involved a drop of thousands of feet with no stopping on the way.
The next day we rented horses for the day. My horse was called Khadarfy which was a joke and I renamed her Daisy—she liked to eat the flowers and other than when she was on her way home was in no rush—the constant “vamos” (Spanish for lets go) and clicking ones tongue which is meant to inspire her had little effect. We had a great day though as we did it with a French family we had befriended with their 9 and 12 year old daughters and a Becca look-a-like from England.
We decided it was time to move on and head to Peru. This involved a trip from hell. First we caught a bus at 7am which wound it´s way along typical Ecuadorian windy cliffs up and down hills to a small village 5 hours later. We waited for 2 hours and caught a “ranchero” which is a big truck which has mounted bench seats. The next part was winding along cliff tops on roads so narrow that if another vehicle was coming the other way someone had to back up till there was room. Bridges were the width of one vehicle with no guard rails with huge drops on either side.
We arrived at the Peruvian border and after an easy customs clearance caught a “collectivo¨”. This is a small Toyota station wagon which they load with as many people as possible to go to the next town. We had three people across the front (it has 2 bucket seats), four on the back seat and two and a live chicken in the back with our packs. The Peruvian roads are as narrow and windy as in Ecuador but are much bumpier and the overloaded vehicle kept bottoming out. We arrived in San Ignatius where we got a noisy hotel room.
The next morning we got another collectivo to the next town with only five people and then changed two more times till we reached Chachapoyas in the afternoon. One stretch had a paved road which was quite a treat but then of course that did not last long. The countryside is awesome with valleys and huge hills which go straight up. The vegetation was lusher and in the valley floors they grow massive amounts of rice—now we know why we get it three times a day!! Coffee is the other major crop in the area but we continue to drink Nescafe!! Here, instead of getting a cup of hot milk to mix it with you get a cup of hot water. The other main apparent difference than in Ecuador is that there are a lot more people who are using mules or horses to carry either them or their loads.
We checked into a good hotel here with hot water (not always available here) and the town is very laid back with travelers coming through to visit the major archeological ruins in the area. Spent the first day regrouping from our voyage and booked a 4 day trek for the next day.
This whole area was inhabited by the Chachapoyas people around 500AD they were rumored to be lighter skinned and taller than the other Indigenous people in Peru. They built large communities which are still being discovered. There were about 300,000 people at the height consisting of numerous communities which were ruled independently as provinces. The Inca people finally conquered them but 60 years later the Spanish arrived and they welcomed them as they did not like the Incas. Unfortunately within a short time due to epidemics brought by the Spanish and the warring that had gone on before they were decimated to 10,000 people. These were then assimilated with the Spanish and the original language and way of life was lost.
We started our trek by driving along more narrow treacherous roads made worse by the fact that it had rained the day before and so the tires kept slipping in and out of the grooves. You were in fear that they may slip to the wrong side and you would go down the cliff but I have adapted the attitude that many vehicles do these trips and the odds are in our favor.
We arrived at an area which had huge cliffs with sheltered open caverns in which large sarcophagus were still standing. These were made of clay and sticks, sun dried and decorated. They contain mummified bodies which are still there. Apparently the people who got to be mummified were of importance as there are certainly not 300,000 of them.
We continued to drive to overlook a beautiful fertile valley with a river meandering through. There we left the vehicle to hike the hour to “our hotel”—this was an old adobe hut with bunk beds. We had to sweep out the cow manure before settling in. We had a local guide and a young French girl who is learning to guide in the area and just the two of us for the trip so it was great. A local man with his mule arrived later as it was to carry our supplies the next day. We had dinner and breakfast cooked over the open fire and the next day set off to hike.
We climbed for an hour and then dropped down for three hours to get to one of the old Chachapoyas settlements. They built them in three tiers, each tier having many round houses of stone. There was a group of people from Spain and France there at the time who have permission to map the area—no one has any idea of how big or how many communities there are as they are in the jungle and the area is very lightly populated. They counted 280 houses in this particular settlement. It is the first condo complex!!!—they are all built very close together and are isolated from anywhere else. There are huge stone walls and you marvel at the complexity and amount of work which must have been involved.
After we had fought the jungle to explore we then hiked another hour down to the village we were to spend our next night. If anyone would like advice about how to prepare to hike in this part of the world you should first find a cliff face and hike up for 6 hours then go back down and start it all over again!!!—we must be fitter now than we have been for a long time!!
The village we were to spent the night had just got electricity two months ago so was pretty fancy. They grow coffee there, after picking it they soak it for a day then separate the beans from the outer shell and then spread it out on tarps to dry for 2 days. It is then ready to roast-- in a large wok over an open fire and then it is ground in one of the old meat grinders and ready to drink. It was a treat and definitely the freshest we have ever had. The local people all come and visit and the kids play volleyball on their narrow pathway beside their houses—there are no roads at all. Ken of course had to help grind the coffee and play volleyball with the local kids. The kitchen involved once again cooking over and open fire but the most memorable part was the guinea pigs running around the floor along with the cats, dogs and chicken. Guinea pig here is a delicacy—I have not brought myself to eat it yet—they rotisserie them whole with their little paws outstretched.
The next morning was our horseback ride. Well mine was a mule and Ken´s a horse. This was one hour down hill and then five up. It had rained and so 15 inch deep ruts are made by all of the animals which are filled with water and very slippery. The horses are expected to climb rock faces of several feet and their feet slip but amazingly are so strong that they do not break a leg. Canadian horses would never be subjected to these conditions. We just held on leaning back when going down and forward when going up and let them find their own way, they were incredible. The local men are also amazing—our horse guide walked for 10 hours in a pair of rubber boots. They chew coca leaves constantly and add a small amount of lime to help the enzyme produce. This apparently gives them energy and they are able to go for hours with little food and water. We tried but it had no effect on us and I was not prepared to chew all day.
We finally reached a ridge where there was a little restaurant and after lunch continued to meet a road. The horses went back the 6 hours and we walked for two hours down to a small village where were to spend our last night.
This was our fanciest place yet and we had a great dinner with French fries, salad and beef. We were the only people staying there and the owner was super friendly. So much so that he produced the local liquor which is made with honey and kept producing it!!! Another common thing here is that they have a TV but no reception so they watch music videos. He had one of party music from the 70´s and 80´s so several glasses of sweet liquor later it developed into a party where the 5 of us danced and partied till the wee hours. It was a lot of fun except unlike Ken I knew when to stop so did not feel bad later—will he ever learn!!!
After a somewhat later start than we had planned we left for our last day to Kuelap. This is one of the largest most intact ruins in the area. There were up to 500 houses and 10,000 people here at it´s height. We spent several hours marveling at the complexity of it all and then headed back to our hotel at Chachapoyas with our trip over.
It was another highlight of our journey and one we will not easily forget. We will regroup and then leave for a boat trip down to Iquitos in the Amazon where we will have some time in the rainforest next.
I am sure you are all enjoying summer so hope it is a good one—till next time, love Wendy and Ken
We spent one day climbing up a mountain which was described as dangerous and difficult. We have learned that if they say that in Ecuador unlike in North America it is true. We spent the first hour hiking straight up the front of the mountain and then proceeded to hike an extremely narrow ridge which continued to the top. This involved at times sitting down and crawling along so you would not fall off either side which would have involved a drop of thousands of feet with no stopping on the way.
The next day we rented horses for the day. My horse was called Khadarfy which was a joke and I renamed her Daisy—she liked to eat the flowers and other than when she was on her way home was in no rush—the constant “vamos” (Spanish for lets go) and clicking ones tongue which is meant to inspire her had little effect. We had a great day though as we did it with a French family we had befriended with their 9 and 12 year old daughters and a Becca look-a-like from England.
We decided it was time to move on and head to Peru. This involved a trip from hell. First we caught a bus at 7am which wound it´s way along typical Ecuadorian windy cliffs up and down hills to a small village 5 hours later. We waited for 2 hours and caught a “ranchero” which is a big truck which has mounted bench seats. The next part was winding along cliff tops on roads so narrow that if another vehicle was coming the other way someone had to back up till there was room. Bridges were the width of one vehicle with no guard rails with huge drops on either side.
We arrived at the Peruvian border and after an easy customs clearance caught a “collectivo¨”. This is a small Toyota station wagon which they load with as many people as possible to go to the next town. We had three people across the front (it has 2 bucket seats), four on the back seat and two and a live chicken in the back with our packs. The Peruvian roads are as narrow and windy as in Ecuador but are much bumpier and the overloaded vehicle kept bottoming out. We arrived in San Ignatius where we got a noisy hotel room.
The next morning we got another collectivo to the next town with only five people and then changed two more times till we reached Chachapoyas in the afternoon. One stretch had a paved road which was quite a treat but then of course that did not last long. The countryside is awesome with valleys and huge hills which go straight up. The vegetation was lusher and in the valley floors they grow massive amounts of rice—now we know why we get it three times a day!! Coffee is the other major crop in the area but we continue to drink Nescafe!! Here, instead of getting a cup of hot milk to mix it with you get a cup of hot water. The other main apparent difference than in Ecuador is that there are a lot more people who are using mules or horses to carry either them or their loads.
We checked into a good hotel here with hot water (not always available here) and the town is very laid back with travelers coming through to visit the major archeological ruins in the area. Spent the first day regrouping from our voyage and booked a 4 day trek for the next day.
This whole area was inhabited by the Chachapoyas people around 500AD they were rumored to be lighter skinned and taller than the other Indigenous people in Peru. They built large communities which are still being discovered. There were about 300,000 people at the height consisting of numerous communities which were ruled independently as provinces. The Inca people finally conquered them but 60 years later the Spanish arrived and they welcomed them as they did not like the Incas. Unfortunately within a short time due to epidemics brought by the Spanish and the warring that had gone on before they were decimated to 10,000 people. These were then assimilated with the Spanish and the original language and way of life was lost.
We started our trek by driving along more narrow treacherous roads made worse by the fact that it had rained the day before and so the tires kept slipping in and out of the grooves. You were in fear that they may slip to the wrong side and you would go down the cliff but I have adapted the attitude that many vehicles do these trips and the odds are in our favor.
We arrived at an area which had huge cliffs with sheltered open caverns in which large sarcophagus were still standing. These were made of clay and sticks, sun dried and decorated. They contain mummified bodies which are still there. Apparently the people who got to be mummified were of importance as there are certainly not 300,000 of them.
We continued to drive to overlook a beautiful fertile valley with a river meandering through. There we left the vehicle to hike the hour to “our hotel”—this was an old adobe hut with bunk beds. We had to sweep out the cow manure before settling in. We had a local guide and a young French girl who is learning to guide in the area and just the two of us for the trip so it was great. A local man with his mule arrived later as it was to carry our supplies the next day. We had dinner and breakfast cooked over the open fire and the next day set off to hike.
We climbed for an hour and then dropped down for three hours to get to one of the old Chachapoyas settlements. They built them in three tiers, each tier having many round houses of stone. There was a group of people from Spain and France there at the time who have permission to map the area—no one has any idea of how big or how many communities there are as they are in the jungle and the area is very lightly populated. They counted 280 houses in this particular settlement. It is the first condo complex!!!—they are all built very close together and are isolated from anywhere else. There are huge stone walls and you marvel at the complexity and amount of work which must have been involved.
After we had fought the jungle to explore we then hiked another hour down to the village we were to spend our next night. If anyone would like advice about how to prepare to hike in this part of the world you should first find a cliff face and hike up for 6 hours then go back down and start it all over again!!!—we must be fitter now than we have been for a long time!!
The village we were to spent the night had just got electricity two months ago so was pretty fancy. They grow coffee there, after picking it they soak it for a day then separate the beans from the outer shell and then spread it out on tarps to dry for 2 days. It is then ready to roast-- in a large wok over an open fire and then it is ground in one of the old meat grinders and ready to drink. It was a treat and definitely the freshest we have ever had. The local people all come and visit and the kids play volleyball on their narrow pathway beside their houses—there are no roads at all. Ken of course had to help grind the coffee and play volleyball with the local kids. The kitchen involved once again cooking over and open fire but the most memorable part was the guinea pigs running around the floor along with the cats, dogs and chicken. Guinea pig here is a delicacy—I have not brought myself to eat it yet—they rotisserie them whole with their little paws outstretched.
The next morning was our horseback ride. Well mine was a mule and Ken´s a horse. This was one hour down hill and then five up. It had rained and so 15 inch deep ruts are made by all of the animals which are filled with water and very slippery. The horses are expected to climb rock faces of several feet and their feet slip but amazingly are so strong that they do not break a leg. Canadian horses would never be subjected to these conditions. We just held on leaning back when going down and forward when going up and let them find their own way, they were incredible. The local men are also amazing—our horse guide walked for 10 hours in a pair of rubber boots. They chew coca leaves constantly and add a small amount of lime to help the enzyme produce. This apparently gives them energy and they are able to go for hours with little food and water. We tried but it had no effect on us and I was not prepared to chew all day.
We finally reached a ridge where there was a little restaurant and after lunch continued to meet a road. The horses went back the 6 hours and we walked for two hours down to a small village where were to spend our last night.
This was our fanciest place yet and we had a great dinner with French fries, salad and beef. We were the only people staying there and the owner was super friendly. So much so that he produced the local liquor which is made with honey and kept producing it!!! Another common thing here is that they have a TV but no reception so they watch music videos. He had one of party music from the 70´s and 80´s so several glasses of sweet liquor later it developed into a party where the 5 of us danced and partied till the wee hours. It was a lot of fun except unlike Ken I knew when to stop so did not feel bad later—will he ever learn!!!
After a somewhat later start than we had planned we left for our last day to Kuelap. This is one of the largest most intact ruins in the area. There were up to 500 houses and 10,000 people here at it´s height. We spent several hours marveling at the complexity of it all and then headed back to our hotel at Chachapoyas with our trip over.
It was another highlight of our journey and one we will not easily forget. We will regroup and then leave for a boat trip down to Iquitos in the Amazon where we will have some time in the rainforest next.
I am sure you are all enjoying summer so hope it is a good one—till next time, love Wendy and Ken
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Banos to Vilacabumba
We are now in Vilacabumba in the south of Ecuador. This is a lovely valley which is inhabited by many ¨gringos¨ who came here for a week and never left. Great climate and the valley is surrounded by hills which make for wonderful hiking. We did a hike yesterday which had a 1500 foot climb straight up a mountain then along a knife edged narrow ridge for an hour or so--I had just been telling Mike about the dangers of hiking up mountains alone and the next day was looking down either side of a ridge which dropped several thousand feet on either side realising that although Ken and I were together the only use would be that he would know where my broken body would be if I fell--luckily neither of us fell so can now enter a new blog entry. We have learned that if a hike is described here as difficult or dangerous it is!!!
We left Banos and went to Cuenca--the third biggest city in Ecuador and the most gracious and lovely we have been to in a long time. The buildings are beautiful and we loved wandering the city.
There is a great museum exploring the culture of the many different tribes of the indigenous people. Ecuador is very diverse as it encompasses the coast, the mountains and the Amazon jungle so the cultures are very diverse. The museum also had a great garden which had flora from all regions. There is also an aviary which has great birds.
As in all Latin countries we came across the festival which was celebrating the coronation of yet another virgin. The religions here are a hybrid of Catholic and the original indigenous religions so are very confusing to the uninitiated. It makes for a lot of colour. This particular celebration was just at dark and involved lots of dancing by various ethnic groups and the lighting of huge square balloons which had a kerosene burner inside. The heat let the balloon soar hundreds of feet into the air. Amidst the balloons, music and dance there was a constant firing of fireworks which were set off at the edge of the crowd. As they fell ashes and pieces would fall on the watching crowd. Quite amazing--there seem to be no controls and the unfortunate victims would laugh as they shook the sparks off themselves!!!
Cuenca is the capital of the ¨Panama hat¨. It appears that it was never the Panama hat as it was originally made from a special reed grown only in Ecuador and the hats were made here for the workers who built the Panama Canal hence the misnomer. We both bought hats after much trying on--one more thing shipped back to the boat to keep our packs to a minimum as we travel.
We also took a trip to an Inca ruin which was not large but the bus ride as all around here was spectacular.
A little more on the bus travel. Bus travel is amazing in Ecuador--very few people can afford to buy cars so buses are the main transportation method.
You first get a taxi to the terminal (you must roll the rrrr in the word terminal or the taxi driver will not understand where you want to go) it will cost $1--the cost of most taxis. Then upon arrival there are various men yelling the destination of the bus they are responsible for. You will then say your destination where they will point to the particular company which will get you there. You will then pay 10 cents tax and get on your bus. It will leave and slowly drive along the street with the original man yelling the destination and stopping to let on anyone who wants to go there. A lot of people will catch it outside the terminal presumably to avoid the 10 cent tax. You will now purchase a ticket which will cost $1 for each hour of travel you intend to take--mostly our trips have been between 1 and 6 hours so are $1 to $6 respectively. Now to add to the fun, various people will get on and off the bus to sell whatever they have. There are two options here, the one that takes the longest is when a man gets on and delivers a long compelling speech from the front of the bus. He then walks the length of the bus handing out samples of his wares--candies, soup, pills or whatever. He then goes back to the front and tells everyone why they should pay anything from 10 cents to $1 to buy them. He then goes back down the bus and collects either the money or the candies--it is the original travelling salesman!!! They avoid the gringos as we are generally less than impressed by the speech. Perhaps the language barrier is the problem.
The other is the person, man or woman who will come on yelling whatever they have to sell as they walk the bus offering their wares and being paid directly. They all get off after they have sold enough and presumably catch the next bus back doing the same thing. On one trip of an hour we were offered the following: chicklets, ice cream cones (we are still not sure why they don't melt), fresh fruit salad in a cup, potato and banana chips, mandarins, apples, peaches, chocolate bars and either water coke or fanta. It all makes for a fascinating ride and along with the spectacular scenery and relative comfort of the buses it makes travelling fun. The other amazing thing is that people—often women with babies on their backs and laden with whatever else they have-- will stop the bus in the middle of the mountains with no apparent dwellings sight to obviously walk to wherever they live—I think often it means many hours of walking. We have had people get on struggling with 30lb propane tanks. They are truly a race of hardy people.
We will leave here in a few days and will go into Peru where we hope to do a trip up the Amazon in a river boat for a couple of days to Iquitos--the largest city in the world with no road access.
Hope you are having a great summer,
Love Wendy and Ken
We left Banos and went to Cuenca--the third biggest city in Ecuador and the most gracious and lovely we have been to in a long time. The buildings are beautiful and we loved wandering the city.
There is a great museum exploring the culture of the many different tribes of the indigenous people. Ecuador is very diverse as it encompasses the coast, the mountains and the Amazon jungle so the cultures are very diverse. The museum also had a great garden which had flora from all regions. There is also an aviary which has great birds.
As in all Latin countries we came across the festival which was celebrating the coronation of yet another virgin. The religions here are a hybrid of Catholic and the original indigenous religions so are very confusing to the uninitiated. It makes for a lot of colour. This particular celebration was just at dark and involved lots of dancing by various ethnic groups and the lighting of huge square balloons which had a kerosene burner inside. The heat let the balloon soar hundreds of feet into the air. Amidst the balloons, music and dance there was a constant firing of fireworks which were set off at the edge of the crowd. As they fell ashes and pieces would fall on the watching crowd. Quite amazing--there seem to be no controls and the unfortunate victims would laugh as they shook the sparks off themselves!!!
Cuenca is the capital of the ¨Panama hat¨. It appears that it was never the Panama hat as it was originally made from a special reed grown only in Ecuador and the hats were made here for the workers who built the Panama Canal hence the misnomer. We both bought hats after much trying on--one more thing shipped back to the boat to keep our packs to a minimum as we travel.
We also took a trip to an Inca ruin which was not large but the bus ride as all around here was spectacular.
A little more on the bus travel. Bus travel is amazing in Ecuador--very few people can afford to buy cars so buses are the main transportation method.
You first get a taxi to the terminal (you must roll the rrrr in the word terminal or the taxi driver will not understand where you want to go) it will cost $1--the cost of most taxis. Then upon arrival there are various men yelling the destination of the bus they are responsible for. You will then say your destination where they will point to the particular company which will get you there. You will then pay 10 cents tax and get on your bus. It will leave and slowly drive along the street with the original man yelling the destination and stopping to let on anyone who wants to go there. A lot of people will catch it outside the terminal presumably to avoid the 10 cent tax. You will now purchase a ticket which will cost $1 for each hour of travel you intend to take--mostly our trips have been between 1 and 6 hours so are $1 to $6 respectively. Now to add to the fun, various people will get on and off the bus to sell whatever they have. There are two options here, the one that takes the longest is when a man gets on and delivers a long compelling speech from the front of the bus. He then walks the length of the bus handing out samples of his wares--candies, soup, pills or whatever. He then goes back to the front and tells everyone why they should pay anything from 10 cents to $1 to buy them. He then goes back down the bus and collects either the money or the candies--it is the original travelling salesman!!! They avoid the gringos as we are generally less than impressed by the speech. Perhaps the language barrier is the problem.
The other is the person, man or woman who will come on yelling whatever they have to sell as they walk the bus offering their wares and being paid directly. They all get off after they have sold enough and presumably catch the next bus back doing the same thing. On one trip of an hour we were offered the following: chicklets, ice cream cones (we are still not sure why they don't melt), fresh fruit salad in a cup, potato and banana chips, mandarins, apples, peaches, chocolate bars and either water coke or fanta. It all makes for a fascinating ride and along with the spectacular scenery and relative comfort of the buses it makes travelling fun. The other amazing thing is that people—often women with babies on their backs and laden with whatever else they have-- will stop the bus in the middle of the mountains with no apparent dwellings sight to obviously walk to wherever they live—I think often it means many hours of walking. We have had people get on struggling with 30lb propane tanks. They are truly a race of hardy people.
We will leave here in a few days and will go into Peru where we hope to do a trip up the Amazon in a river boat for a couple of days to Iquitos--the largest city in the world with no road access.
Hope you are having a great summer,
Love Wendy and Ken
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Latacunga to Banos
A few thoughts about Ecuador.
We love it here-- people are great. Food consists of breakfast-usually rice with a piece of chicken and if it is a fancy place a separate plate with 2 scrambled eggs and a cup of hot milk with Nescafe. Lunch and dinner is more rice and chicken but you get a bowl of watery soup with a potato floating in it. Most bigger towns have international options but the small towns don't offer much else. If I never see rice again it will be too soon!!
I found a great hairdresser in Quito. Previously in both Mexico and El Salvador I had a haircut but as all women down here have long hair their expertise was limited to doing the bowl style of cut--they cut the bottom and the bangs but no layering so my hair was looking worse and worse as we travelled. The Mexican cut cost $5 and the El Salvador, as everything in El Salvador costs, was $1. We walked by one in Quito and there were some older women with short hair getting their hair cut which looked great. After I had a $3 haircut I felt brave enough to get her to do my highlights for $20 which turned out great--I think regular trips to Quito are in my future.
After our hiking trip in Quilitoa we spent a few days in Latacunga catching our breaths.
Took a couple of day trips, one to a small market in Pujili. This was smaller than the one at Sasquisili but still colourful and interesting. Another was to a small village which makes the most amazing leatherware. We were unable to resist and bought a jacket each--from $50 to $60. Handbags, jackets and shoes were everywhere--it is hard when you travel on a boat and wear the simplest of clothes--makes you almost want to go back to the real world just so you can justify going on a shopping spree!!! Almost but not quite.
We then took a bus ride to Guaranda, this is the highest sealed road in Ecuador and is spectacular. The road climbs to well over 4000 metres and the huge Chimbarazo-- the 6310 metre high volcano towers from the surrounding hills. Once again these are farmed to impossible heights and impossible angles. They finally stop when the ground becomes so high to be tussock and desertlike. This reminded me of the Desert Road in New Zealand on a larger scale.
Took a day trip from there to Salinas. Another spectacular bus ride and we arrived at the small village where we had rice,chicken and this time a watery bush coffee for breakfast. The village is one of the best examples of the way one should administer foreign aid. Italy had adopted this village and has set it up with factories. They make chocolate, dry mushrooms, make soccer balls and cheese. The Canadians have given them a huge woolen mill and between all of the above the whole village is employed. The Italians are there helping them export their products to Europe. They give tours to the tourists who make the trip out there and of course we had to buy some of the deilicious chocolates what a treat. They took us for a lovely hike up the valley as well.
Our next stop was to go to Riobamba where we had intended going on the train ride which is goes down the mountain in amazing switchbacks. You had been able to travel on the roof of the train but a Japanese tourist had been killed falling off recently so they had prohibited the roof riding so we decided to forgo the train ride.
We are now in Banos, a small village tucked in the middle of the mountains,under an active volcano. The volcano Tungurahua (sounds more like NZ than Ecudoria) has caused the village to be evacuated many times but is now only on an alert as it is only smoking. It is full of tourists who use it as a base to go to the mountains or the Amazon jungle. It is a great small touristy town which has great food (had steak,pizza and sea bass) and lots of things to do. It had recently been closed because massive landslides had closed the roads but reopened a few days ago.
We rented bikes and did a trip down to Puyo which is at the beginning of the Amazon. It was great to be back on a bike. One sobering moment came when we caught the bus back complete with bikes--the trip is 65km down the hill and you bus back-- only to find another huge landslide of monstrous rocks was being cleared from the road we had biked on earlier. We hiked to a multitude of waterfalls which were dropping thousands of feet. It was lovely although as we got further down it was raining which is to expected in the rain forest. We would have loved to have done a trip deep into the Amazon but we have blown our budget booking the Inca Trail so will hope to come back in December or January and do it then. Apparantly the weather is better in the Amazon then anyway so would make sense.
I took some Spanish classes although it is still so hard to understand unless people speak a word at a time--they speak so quickly!!
We are doing some hikes in the area for a day or two and then will continue south to Cuenca which is a bigger town on the way south to Peru. Apparantly it is lovely.
We will work our way to Peru as we can only spend 6 months in Ecuador in any 12 month period even though our boat can stay. We will spend 6 weeks in Peru and then with our Canada and NZ trip we should be able to stay till the end of March when we will be in the Galapagos and head across to the Marqueses.
Keep those emails coming we love to hear from you.
Have a great summer,
Love Wendy and Ken
We love it here-- people are great. Food consists of breakfast-usually rice with a piece of chicken and if it is a fancy place a separate plate with 2 scrambled eggs and a cup of hot milk with Nescafe. Lunch and dinner is more rice and chicken but you get a bowl of watery soup with a potato floating in it. Most bigger towns have international options but the small towns don't offer much else. If I never see rice again it will be too soon!!
I found a great hairdresser in Quito. Previously in both Mexico and El Salvador I had a haircut but as all women down here have long hair their expertise was limited to doing the bowl style of cut--they cut the bottom and the bangs but no layering so my hair was looking worse and worse as we travelled. The Mexican cut cost $5 and the El Salvador, as everything in El Salvador costs, was $1. We walked by one in Quito and there were some older women with short hair getting their hair cut which looked great. After I had a $3 haircut I felt brave enough to get her to do my highlights for $20 which turned out great--I think regular trips to Quito are in my future.
After our hiking trip in Quilitoa we spent a few days in Latacunga catching our breaths.
Took a couple of day trips, one to a small market in Pujili. This was smaller than the one at Sasquisili but still colourful and interesting. Another was to a small village which makes the most amazing leatherware. We were unable to resist and bought a jacket each--from $50 to $60. Handbags, jackets and shoes were everywhere--it is hard when you travel on a boat and wear the simplest of clothes--makes you almost want to go back to the real world just so you can justify going on a shopping spree!!! Almost but not quite.
We then took a bus ride to Guaranda, this is the highest sealed road in Ecuador and is spectacular. The road climbs to well over 4000 metres and the huge Chimbarazo-- the 6310 metre high volcano towers from the surrounding hills. Once again these are farmed to impossible heights and impossible angles. They finally stop when the ground becomes so high to be tussock and desertlike. This reminded me of the Desert Road in New Zealand on a larger scale.
Took a day trip from there to Salinas. Another spectacular bus ride and we arrived at the small village where we had rice,chicken and this time a watery bush coffee for breakfast. The village is one of the best examples of the way one should administer foreign aid. Italy had adopted this village and has set it up with factories. They make chocolate, dry mushrooms, make soccer balls and cheese. The Canadians have given them a huge woolen mill and between all of the above the whole village is employed. The Italians are there helping them export their products to Europe. They give tours to the tourists who make the trip out there and of course we had to buy some of the deilicious chocolates what a treat. They took us for a lovely hike up the valley as well.
Our next stop was to go to Riobamba where we had intended going on the train ride which is goes down the mountain in amazing switchbacks. You had been able to travel on the roof of the train but a Japanese tourist had been killed falling off recently so they had prohibited the roof riding so we decided to forgo the train ride.
We are now in Banos, a small village tucked in the middle of the mountains,under an active volcano. The volcano Tungurahua (sounds more like NZ than Ecudoria) has caused the village to be evacuated many times but is now only on an alert as it is only smoking. It is full of tourists who use it as a base to go to the mountains or the Amazon jungle. It is a great small touristy town which has great food (had steak,pizza and sea bass) and lots of things to do. It had recently been closed because massive landslides had closed the roads but reopened a few days ago.
We rented bikes and did a trip down to Puyo which is at the beginning of the Amazon. It was great to be back on a bike. One sobering moment came when we caught the bus back complete with bikes--the trip is 65km down the hill and you bus back-- only to find another huge landslide of monstrous rocks was being cleared from the road we had biked on earlier. We hiked to a multitude of waterfalls which were dropping thousands of feet. It was lovely although as we got further down it was raining which is to expected in the rain forest. We would have loved to have done a trip deep into the Amazon but we have blown our budget booking the Inca Trail so will hope to come back in December or January and do it then. Apparantly the weather is better in the Amazon then anyway so would make sense.
I took some Spanish classes although it is still so hard to understand unless people speak a word at a time--they speak so quickly!!
We are doing some hikes in the area for a day or two and then will continue south to Cuenca which is a bigger town on the way south to Peru. Apparantly it is lovely.
We will work our way to Peru as we can only spend 6 months in Ecuador in any 12 month period even though our boat can stay. We will spend 6 weeks in Peru and then with our Canada and NZ trip we should be able to stay till the end of March when we will be in the Galapagos and head across to the Marqueses.
Keep those emails coming we love to hear from you.
Have a great summer,
Love Wendy and Ken
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