In The Shadow of the Volcano
Posted on May 8th, 2008
by 
Kate Mariposa
Kate Mariposa
In 3 weeks we have travelled from the highlands of La Paz, to Lima, through Northern Peru and coastal Ecuador, to Baños, Ecuador--again in the Andes Mountains.
The night before we left La Paz, I watched the ladies sorting through the trash piled up on the street. Piles of hair (the street of our hostel was like haircutter´s row! The pelequerias were still open for haircuts at 11pm on a Friday night) on top of piles of pink toilet paper (the typical color of Bolivian TP, and everyone throws it all into the trash, as the plumbing can´t handle the paper). The women who ran the hotel, three young cholitas (women in traditional dress, typically who work in the markets... these women wear their long hair in two braids, with shawls and pleated skirts that now are all made of synthetic fibers) were working to fix the internet in our hostel... quite an interesting spectacle to see these traditionally dressed women working to sort out modern technology! (I saw a sign in La Paz, that a store was looking to hire either a cholita, or a chica (young woman), illustrating how the cholitas are seen as a separate class).
We marvelled that the signs in the bus station were in Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and English! The ladies begging in the bus terminal all had on the antique style of mantas (shawls)-- not the bright modern ones that are all machine made. I was sad to leave Bolivia, with its chaos; the people, who when you thank them, almost always say "gracias usted" (thank you), and call everything by its diminutive-- bread is not pan, but pancita; the snacks sold for mornings, different snacks in the evening; sad to leave without seeing the Salar Uyuni, the salt flats that inspired Salvador Dali; and to leave behind the graffiti everywhere in support of Che Guevara and Evo Morales.
After 27 hours in the bus, and 6 movies... we returned to Lima, to stay in the wealthy Miraflores neighborhood-- what a contrast to the city we had just left--on the coastal cliffs of the Pacific, buying our food again in the Whole-foods esque Vivanda, and eating at the health-food Madre Natura.
We stayed only briefly in Lima, and then we headed north to Trujillo, a city of about 1 million people on the coast of Peru. We visited the Chan Chan ruins, which are from the pre-Incan Chimu people, who built their city between 850-1470 AD. The ruins, of adobe, have only recently (within the past 10-20 years) begun to be excavated and renovated by the Peruvian government! The ruins complex is vast, rising out of the desert coast. We also visited the small fishing town of Huanchaco, where residents still use the traditional reed boats for fishing.
Our true intention of heading north and to the coast was to get in some long-awaited beach time! We first headed to Mancora, arriving around 11 at night. While we were looking for a hostel, a drunken man tried to grab Wade´s backpack... luckily he was too drunk to be successful, and Wade easily fended him off, although it did shake me up a bit and remind us to be more careful at night! Also, it was hard for me to have to let go of some of the trust that I so easily give... Mancora is known for good surfing and parties, not exactly our scene, so the next morning we moved on!
We found a really lovely, peaceful beach at Punta Sal, a bit north of Mancora. We had some relaxing swims and walks on the beach, and great hammock time, until a large group of tourists arrived to have a pig roast, play volleyball, and drink a lot... and it was again time to move on!
We had to head back to Mancora to catch a combi north to Zorritos. The driver would head north through town, with the assistant yelling "Tumbes, Tumbes," (the eventual destination). At the north end of town, we would turn around, to repeat this process 4 or 5 times until the combi was full enough for us to continue on! If the manta is the representational object of the Andean culture, and the machete is the object of the jungle, the bucket is the object of choice along the coast, we saw heaps of people carrying them around. (I don´t know what was in them, I guess seafood?). Also along the coast, it is possible to buy ceviche from a cart (raw fished that is "cooked" by lime juice). It is a true testament to the strength of the locals stomachs that they can eat this after it has been out in 80-degree plus weather all day.
We stayed at the Tres Puntas eco-hostel just south of Zorritos--a funky looking place made of bamboo and recycled materials, with beer bottles as light covers in the bar and shells and mosaics in the bathrooms. We again had our own nearly deserted beach for walking and swimming, and even some decent body surfing! The hostel was deserted to the point that the restaurant didn´t even have food, so we delightedly cooked for ourselves!
We decided it was time to head north to Ecuador... and we were glad we choose a recommended bus company, as the border crossing from Aguas Verde to Huaquillas had been mentioned as the worst in all of South America! I think it´s because the Peruvian and Ecuadorian border offices are on the opposite sides of town, and many people get scammed by combis and taxi drivers who don´t inform them of the distance between points until they are asking for extra money. (We got on and off the bus at the appropriate times, got our exit and entrance stamps, and we on our merry way, hassle-free).
Our first impression of Ecuador was how green and lush it is! Also, there are so many banana plantations-- the first we´ve seen in such abundance! Almost always there is music playing in the bus, usually merengue or other lively dance music! It makes the bus ride quite fun! Another thing we´ve noticed is that it seems to be a requirement for every song we´ve heard in South America to mention at least once, the corazon, or heart. Wade bought some souvenir CD´s in Puerto Lopez, and it was amusing to see how many of the covers featured scantily-clad and toples women!
Another phenomenon unique to Ecuador is that boys, occasionally men, get on the bus and give speeches about the impoverished youth they are working with. They hand out incense, or candy, or Cd´s, and continue to speak. Then they ask for money for the items, collecting them back if you don´t want them.
Before we entered Guayaquil, we saw many processing plants for both coffee and cacao.
The bus station in Guayaquil was like a mall, complete with an American-style coffee shop! I was so excited to get coffee in a to-go cup (something so regular in the states, but that I haven´t done once in the past 3 1/2 months)... but we only had about 10 minutes to catch our bus to Jipijapa ( pronounced Hippie-Happa). The signs even had color-coated charts that indicated where the bus companies to different parts of the country are located. I slept through most of the ride, although Wade observed many people living in extreme poverty, houses on stilts, as we travelled through the sprawl of Guayaquil.
Our first 2 days in Ecuador, we tried 5 different kinds of fried bananas! We had fried breaded plantains on the bus, chifles (plantain chips) in the bus station, and patacones at a Colombian restaurant (a big, flat fried chip, something like you´d get a taco salad in). The next day we had maduros (fried plantains), and a different kind of patacones, with a layer of corn flour around the fried plantain. I found myself for only the second time of our trip wishing to be home again, this time missing the Boulderite healthy diet!
We spent 5 days in and around the fishing town of Puerto Lopez on the coast. Almost everyone we talked to asked us where we are from, even when the exchange was brief-- us asking a person one question to which they gave us an answer, and then asked us where we are from! We found the people in Puerto Lopez super friendly, probably the most outgoing of anywhere we´ve been yet. On our first night, as we stepped off a bus, a moto taxi driver stepped forward to offer information. He of course asked us where we are from, and from then on we saw him repeatedly around town. "Estados Unidos!" he´d always exclaim and wave!
In Puerto Lopez, we bought passes to the Machalilla National Park. Our first day we visited Los Frailes, one of three beautiful beaches that we reached on a hike through the coastal dry forest. Only 1% of this eco-system remains. It is rich with the scent of the palo santo trees, whose wood is used for incense, in addition to many beautiful flowers, butterflies, lizards... the trees of the dry forest lose their leaves in the winter, though the leaves were still there for us! We tried to hike around some rocks during high tide. We were treated to views of many crabs and tidal pools, but had to turn back to protect our backpacks and Wade´s camera! We water was warm and inviting, we could´ve stayed to swim all day, but we also wanted to see the Agua Blanca community of the Manteña people. Luckily we were able to catch a moto-taxi between the two sites, saving quite alot of hiking! The Manteña people have done an excellent job of creating a museum and loop tour of their land, with lots of homemade signs about the importance of taking care of the environment. Each of the 75 families has one person who works as a guide, thus spreading the work through the community. We again hiked in the dry coastal forest, and got to swim in the community´s sacred sulphur pool. We were surprised to see that they had a traditional sweat lodge identical to ones used by Native Americans up North... they use theirs only for solstice ceremonies, however. Luckily we found our friend the moto-taxi driver that evening, and shared a ride back to town with some other American travellers.
The next day we visited the Isla de la Plata, an island about 1.5 hours from shore by boat, known as "the poor man´s Galapagos." On the island we saw many pairs of blue footed boobies, an albatross, and many frigate birds circling overhead. Frigate birds are the ones shown in pictures of the male with the inflated red balloon-like pouch under his beak, though they only put on this display during mating time, which it wasn´t... We also got to go snorkeling above the coral reef... many fish and delightful underwater colors of anemones and such...
We spent one night visiting Alandaluz, which means "winged light," and is an eco-lodge. The buildings are made of bamboo, they use composting toilets in the cabins, and re-use the grey water. We rented a tent from our hostel, and camped almost on the beach... We were disappointed, however, that the organic gardens and land they are protecting were far off site. We had hoped for something more educational, but all we learned was from the signs hung up. We were at a resort for wealthy Ecuadorians on the long May 1 (Labor Day) holiday. We treated ourselves to Alandaluz cocktails (the local Aguardiente strong sugar liquor mixed with coconut milk and passion fruit juice--yum!), I also had seafood mixed with coconut milk served in a coconut shell, and Wade had veggies in peanut sauce served in a bamboo.
From Puerto Lopez we headed to the capital of Quito- a 12 hour bus journey from the coast back into the mountains. We arrived at 8pm, later than we had planned. We drank bottles of black tea with guarana and ginseng, trying to figure out if we could stay in Quito or should head on to Baños. We had planned to arrive earlier, somehow forgetting that the buses are always late. The ladies in the cafe where we ate warned us multiple times how dangerous the bus terminal is, and to watch our bags! We decided we didn´t really want to arrive in Baños n the middle of the night, and found a hotel in Quito. In the cab, we were happy to hear Andean music again, this from the Northern Ecuadorian town of Otavalo. Our driver told us the story of how how the "Ecuadorian" Incan Atahualpa defeated his brother the "Peruvian" Incan Huascar for control of the Incan Empire... though Atahualpa was killed by the Spanish not long after. (Our guidebook told us how the Ecuadorians still tell story this with pride, and I was surprised at how true that was!).
In the morning, we were delighted to see how lush and green the hills around Quito are, giving it the prize for the nicest big city we´ve seen on our trip! We ordered 2 cafes con leche... and received 2 cups of milk. When I tried to explain to the waiter that we wanted big coffees with only a little bit of milk, he brought us a giant canister of Nescafe to mix into the milk... I forgot the advice of the guidebook, to always wait and ask for milk after mixing the coffee... In Ecuador a "coffee" is usually a cup of hot water with Nescafe, and a cafe con leche is a cup of hot milk with Nescafe... we´ve had varying results asking for cafe con leche, my favorite is when they give you a pot of real coffee and a pot of milk to mix yourself...
We finally arrived Baños after our 3.5 hour "direct" bus ride turned into a 5-hour, 2 bus journey... we got to observe Tungurahua volcano billowing smoke, which I believe is a rare sighting, as we have found the top often shrouded in clouds. As we hiked up one road that seemed a potential lava flow route, Wade saw a sign asking "are we living the last of days?", in addition many of the houses on that road are for sale (along with many others in town-- the volcano has been active since 1999, in that year the town was acutally evacuated).
We have been taking daily soaks in the "Virgin´s Hair" hot springs (under a waterfall of the same name), and also visited another hot springs just outside of town. We took a hike past the Mirador (lookout point) of the Virgin of the Sacred Waters to a small village called Runtun. After a first quite steep section, definitely re-adjusting to altitude, we had spectacular views! We met an old man who told us he´s about 73, and he recounted to us some of the recent tragedies such as the cyclone in Burma and the flooding in Quito. "Life is sad," he told us. He, too, had a song about the corazon, stopping walking to yell down the side of the mountain to someone named Ricardo about his cows... when we asked if we should come back the way we came, he told us no, the trail is muy peligroso, very dangerous, and that´s a sad trail because there are no people on it.
We caught a cab ride down to town and were dropped off in front of a sugar cane juice stand. We were just about to pay when two men from nearby Ambato started talking to us. Their names were Byron and Fabian, and they introduced us to the interesting combination of aguardiente and sugar cane juice. They kept refilling our glasses, telling us they´d like us to come and visit for a free dinner. Byron sells meat, and Fabian has a chicken roasting business. Since we knew we´d never make it, we didn´t bother to explain the whole vegetarian thing... Many hours later, we saw them stumbling through the streets, saying they were taking a bus home, which I hope is true!
We also visited The Church of Our Lady of the Holy Water (all of the water in the hot springs is considered agaua santa, holy water). The Virgin has performed many miracles, protecting the town several times from the volcano´s eruptions, and also helping many people in need. It is amazing how the volcano provides life and death for these people, rich soil and healing waters, and the threat of destruction at the same time. They are living in the shadow of the volcano, holding the shadowy balance between life and death.
In Baños, and Ecuador as a whole, we have seen possibly the most Americans of our trip. It is interesting, because they use American money and electric currents here, and it is indeed weird to be spending dollars again--somehow everything seems more expensive this way! In Baños we have eaten a "Hindu special" (chickpea curry) and Nasi Gurang (the national dish of Indonesia). One thing we have been delighted by in Ecuador is that there is hot sauce everywhere, often homemade, making this the spiciest food of our trip!
On May 4 the Santa Cruz province of Bolivia had an election in which 80% of the votes were in support of autonomy for province. While up to 40% of voters abstained, there is a growing class of people who disagree with Evo Morales. The Eastern part of Bolivia holds much of the natural resources, and thus wealth, of Bolivia. Bolivia is already the 3rd poorest country in the Americas, and would suffer greatly if the wealthy part of the country separates. We are interested to follow the news in Bolivia, and were glad to leave before the election, due to the looming potential for uprising and instability.
Tomorrow we head to Loja, and then to Vilcabamba, in the Southern Sierra of Ecuador...
The night before we left La Paz, I watched the ladies sorting through the trash piled up on the street. Piles of hair (the street of our hostel was like haircutter´s row! The pelequerias were still open for haircuts at 11pm on a Friday night) on top of piles of pink toilet paper (the typical color of Bolivian TP, and everyone throws it all into the trash, as the plumbing can´t handle the paper). The women who ran the hotel, three young cholitas (women in traditional dress, typically who work in the markets... these women wear their long hair in two braids, with shawls and pleated skirts that now are all made of synthetic fibers) were working to fix the internet in our hostel... quite an interesting spectacle to see these traditionally dressed women working to sort out modern technology! (I saw a sign in La Paz, that a store was looking to hire either a cholita, or a chica (young woman), illustrating how the cholitas are seen as a separate class).
We marvelled that the signs in the bus station were in Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and English! The ladies begging in the bus terminal all had on the antique style of mantas (shawls)-- not the bright modern ones that are all machine made. I was sad to leave Bolivia, with its chaos; the people, who when you thank them, almost always say "gracias usted" (thank you), and call everything by its diminutive-- bread is not pan, but pancita; the snacks sold for mornings, different snacks in the evening; sad to leave without seeing the Salar Uyuni, the salt flats that inspired Salvador Dali; and to leave behind the graffiti everywhere in support of Che Guevara and Evo Morales.
After 27 hours in the bus, and 6 movies... we returned to Lima, to stay in the wealthy Miraflores neighborhood-- what a contrast to the city we had just left--on the coastal cliffs of the Pacific, buying our food again in the Whole-foods esque Vivanda, and eating at the health-food Madre Natura.
We stayed only briefly in Lima, and then we headed north to Trujillo, a city of about 1 million people on the coast of Peru. We visited the Chan Chan ruins, which are from the pre-Incan Chimu people, who built their city between 850-1470 AD. The ruins, of adobe, have only recently (within the past 10-20 years) begun to be excavated and renovated by the Peruvian government! The ruins complex is vast, rising out of the desert coast. We also visited the small fishing town of Huanchaco, where residents still use the traditional reed boats for fishing.
Our true intention of heading north and to the coast was to get in some long-awaited beach time! We first headed to Mancora, arriving around 11 at night. While we were looking for a hostel, a drunken man tried to grab Wade´s backpack... luckily he was too drunk to be successful, and Wade easily fended him off, although it did shake me up a bit and remind us to be more careful at night! Also, it was hard for me to have to let go of some of the trust that I so easily give... Mancora is known for good surfing and parties, not exactly our scene, so the next morning we moved on!
We found a really lovely, peaceful beach at Punta Sal, a bit north of Mancora. We had some relaxing swims and walks on the beach, and great hammock time, until a large group of tourists arrived to have a pig roast, play volleyball, and drink a lot... and it was again time to move on!
We had to head back to Mancora to catch a combi north to Zorritos. The driver would head north through town, with the assistant yelling "Tumbes, Tumbes," (the eventual destination). At the north end of town, we would turn around, to repeat this process 4 or 5 times until the combi was full enough for us to continue on! If the manta is the representational object of the Andean culture, and the machete is the object of the jungle, the bucket is the object of choice along the coast, we saw heaps of people carrying them around. (I don´t know what was in them, I guess seafood?). Also along the coast, it is possible to buy ceviche from a cart (raw fished that is "cooked" by lime juice). It is a true testament to the strength of the locals stomachs that they can eat this after it has been out in 80-degree plus weather all day.
We stayed at the Tres Puntas eco-hostel just south of Zorritos--a funky looking place made of bamboo and recycled materials, with beer bottles as light covers in the bar and shells and mosaics in the bathrooms. We again had our own nearly deserted beach for walking and swimming, and even some decent body surfing! The hostel was deserted to the point that the restaurant didn´t even have food, so we delightedly cooked for ourselves!
We decided it was time to head north to Ecuador... and we were glad we choose a recommended bus company, as the border crossing from Aguas Verde to Huaquillas had been mentioned as the worst in all of South America! I think it´s because the Peruvian and Ecuadorian border offices are on the opposite sides of town, and many people get scammed by combis and taxi drivers who don´t inform them of the distance between points until they are asking for extra money. (We got on and off the bus at the appropriate times, got our exit and entrance stamps, and we on our merry way, hassle-free).
Our first impression of Ecuador was how green and lush it is! Also, there are so many banana plantations-- the first we´ve seen in such abundance! Almost always there is music playing in the bus, usually merengue or other lively dance music! It makes the bus ride quite fun! Another thing we´ve noticed is that it seems to be a requirement for every song we´ve heard in South America to mention at least once, the corazon, or heart. Wade bought some souvenir CD´s in Puerto Lopez, and it was amusing to see how many of the covers featured scantily-clad and toples women!
Another phenomenon unique to Ecuador is that boys, occasionally men, get on the bus and give speeches about the impoverished youth they are working with. They hand out incense, or candy, or Cd´s, and continue to speak. Then they ask for money for the items, collecting them back if you don´t want them.
Before we entered Guayaquil, we saw many processing plants for both coffee and cacao.
The bus station in Guayaquil was like a mall, complete with an American-style coffee shop! I was so excited to get coffee in a to-go cup (something so regular in the states, but that I haven´t done once in the past 3 1/2 months)... but we only had about 10 minutes to catch our bus to Jipijapa ( pronounced Hippie-Happa). The signs even had color-coated charts that indicated where the bus companies to different parts of the country are located. I slept through most of the ride, although Wade observed many people living in extreme poverty, houses on stilts, as we travelled through the sprawl of Guayaquil.
Our first 2 days in Ecuador, we tried 5 different kinds of fried bananas! We had fried breaded plantains on the bus, chifles (plantain chips) in the bus station, and patacones at a Colombian restaurant (a big, flat fried chip, something like you´d get a taco salad in). The next day we had maduros (fried plantains), and a different kind of patacones, with a layer of corn flour around the fried plantain. I found myself for only the second time of our trip wishing to be home again, this time missing the Boulderite healthy diet!
We spent 5 days in and around the fishing town of Puerto Lopez on the coast. Almost everyone we talked to asked us where we are from, even when the exchange was brief-- us asking a person one question to which they gave us an answer, and then asked us where we are from! We found the people in Puerto Lopez super friendly, probably the most outgoing of anywhere we´ve been yet. On our first night, as we stepped off a bus, a moto taxi driver stepped forward to offer information. He of course asked us where we are from, and from then on we saw him repeatedly around town. "Estados Unidos!" he´d always exclaim and wave!
In Puerto Lopez, we bought passes to the Machalilla National Park. Our first day we visited Los Frailes, one of three beautiful beaches that we reached on a hike through the coastal dry forest. Only 1% of this eco-system remains. It is rich with the scent of the palo santo trees, whose wood is used for incense, in addition to many beautiful flowers, butterflies, lizards... the trees of the dry forest lose their leaves in the winter, though the leaves were still there for us! We tried to hike around some rocks during high tide. We were treated to views of many crabs and tidal pools, but had to turn back to protect our backpacks and Wade´s camera! We water was warm and inviting, we could´ve stayed to swim all day, but we also wanted to see the Agua Blanca community of the Manteña people. Luckily we were able to catch a moto-taxi between the two sites, saving quite alot of hiking! The Manteña people have done an excellent job of creating a museum and loop tour of their land, with lots of homemade signs about the importance of taking care of the environment. Each of the 75 families has one person who works as a guide, thus spreading the work through the community. We again hiked in the dry coastal forest, and got to swim in the community´s sacred sulphur pool. We were surprised to see that they had a traditional sweat lodge identical to ones used by Native Americans up North... they use theirs only for solstice ceremonies, however. Luckily we found our friend the moto-taxi driver that evening, and shared a ride back to town with some other American travellers.
The next day we visited the Isla de la Plata, an island about 1.5 hours from shore by boat, known as "the poor man´s Galapagos." On the island we saw many pairs of blue footed boobies, an albatross, and many frigate birds circling overhead. Frigate birds are the ones shown in pictures of the male with the inflated red balloon-like pouch under his beak, though they only put on this display during mating time, which it wasn´t... We also got to go snorkeling above the coral reef... many fish and delightful underwater colors of anemones and such...
We spent one night visiting Alandaluz, which means "winged light," and is an eco-lodge. The buildings are made of bamboo, they use composting toilets in the cabins, and re-use the grey water. We rented a tent from our hostel, and camped almost on the beach... We were disappointed, however, that the organic gardens and land they are protecting were far off site. We had hoped for something more educational, but all we learned was from the signs hung up. We were at a resort for wealthy Ecuadorians on the long May 1 (Labor Day) holiday. We treated ourselves to Alandaluz cocktails (the local Aguardiente strong sugar liquor mixed with coconut milk and passion fruit juice--yum!), I also had seafood mixed with coconut milk served in a coconut shell, and Wade had veggies in peanut sauce served in a bamboo.
From Puerto Lopez we headed to the capital of Quito- a 12 hour bus journey from the coast back into the mountains. We arrived at 8pm, later than we had planned. We drank bottles of black tea with guarana and ginseng, trying to figure out if we could stay in Quito or should head on to Baños. We had planned to arrive earlier, somehow forgetting that the buses are always late. The ladies in the cafe where we ate warned us multiple times how dangerous the bus terminal is, and to watch our bags! We decided we didn´t really want to arrive in Baños n the middle of the night, and found a hotel in Quito. In the cab, we were happy to hear Andean music again, this from the Northern Ecuadorian town of Otavalo. Our driver told us the story of how how the "Ecuadorian" Incan Atahualpa defeated his brother the "Peruvian" Incan Huascar for control of the Incan Empire... though Atahualpa was killed by the Spanish not long after. (Our guidebook told us how the Ecuadorians still tell story this with pride, and I was surprised at how true that was!).
In the morning, we were delighted to see how lush and green the hills around Quito are, giving it the prize for the nicest big city we´ve seen on our trip! We ordered 2 cafes con leche... and received 2 cups of milk. When I tried to explain to the waiter that we wanted big coffees with only a little bit of milk, he brought us a giant canister of Nescafe to mix into the milk... I forgot the advice of the guidebook, to always wait and ask for milk after mixing the coffee... In Ecuador a "coffee" is usually a cup of hot water with Nescafe, and a cafe con leche is a cup of hot milk with Nescafe... we´ve had varying results asking for cafe con leche, my favorite is when they give you a pot of real coffee and a pot of milk to mix yourself...
We finally arrived Baños after our 3.5 hour "direct" bus ride turned into a 5-hour, 2 bus journey... we got to observe Tungurahua volcano billowing smoke, which I believe is a rare sighting, as we have found the top often shrouded in clouds. As we hiked up one road that seemed a potential lava flow route, Wade saw a sign asking "are we living the last of days?", in addition many of the houses on that road are for sale (along with many others in town-- the volcano has been active since 1999, in that year the town was acutally evacuated).
We have been taking daily soaks in the "Virgin´s Hair" hot springs (under a waterfall of the same name), and also visited another hot springs just outside of town. We took a hike past the Mirador (lookout point) of the Virgin of the Sacred Waters to a small village called Runtun. After a first quite steep section, definitely re-adjusting to altitude, we had spectacular views! We met an old man who told us he´s about 73, and he recounted to us some of the recent tragedies such as the cyclone in Burma and the flooding in Quito. "Life is sad," he told us. He, too, had a song about the corazon, stopping walking to yell down the side of the mountain to someone named Ricardo about his cows... when we asked if we should come back the way we came, he told us no, the trail is muy peligroso, very dangerous, and that´s a sad trail because there are no people on it.
We caught a cab ride down to town and were dropped off in front of a sugar cane juice stand. We were just about to pay when two men from nearby Ambato started talking to us. Their names were Byron and Fabian, and they introduced us to the interesting combination of aguardiente and sugar cane juice. They kept refilling our glasses, telling us they´d like us to come and visit for a free dinner. Byron sells meat, and Fabian has a chicken roasting business. Since we knew we´d never make it, we didn´t bother to explain the whole vegetarian thing... Many hours later, we saw them stumbling through the streets, saying they were taking a bus home, which I hope is true!
We also visited The Church of Our Lady of the Holy Water (all of the water in the hot springs is considered agaua santa, holy water). The Virgin has performed many miracles, protecting the town several times from the volcano´s eruptions, and also helping many people in need. It is amazing how the volcano provides life and death for these people, rich soil and healing waters, and the threat of destruction at the same time. They are living in the shadow of the volcano, holding the shadowy balance between life and death.
In Baños, and Ecuador as a whole, we have seen possibly the most Americans of our trip. It is interesting, because they use American money and electric currents here, and it is indeed weird to be spending dollars again--somehow everything seems more expensive this way! In Baños we have eaten a "Hindu special" (chickpea curry) and Nasi Gurang (the national dish of Indonesia). One thing we have been delighted by in Ecuador is that there is hot sauce everywhere, often homemade, making this the spiciest food of our trip!
On May 4 the Santa Cruz province of Bolivia had an election in which 80% of the votes were in support of autonomy for province. While up to 40% of voters abstained, there is a growing class of people who disagree with Evo Morales. The Eastern part of Bolivia holds much of the natural resources, and thus wealth, of Bolivia. Bolivia is already the 3rd poorest country in the Americas, and would suffer greatly if the wealthy part of the country separates. We are interested to follow the news in Bolivia, and were glad to leave before the election, due to the looming potential for uprising and instability.
Tomorrow we head to Loja, and then to Vilcabamba, in the Southern Sierra of Ecuador...
Access: Public
May 2008