Quito and Goodbye South America

We spent the last day and a half in Quito, before coming home, it was a long trip and we did not want to sound a lot of time in a big city so did not see much of Quito.

It was about a two hour bus ride from Peguche to Quito and parts of it through vast areas of green houses where roses are grown for export. Ecuador exports a lot of roses to other parts of the world. A bouquet of roses in Ecuador costs about fifty cents, fresh out of the green house!

Farming in the Mountains

After getting settled into the hostal, we wandered around the tourist area and went to a large North American style mall, in an area where there where lots of government ministry offices and even a United Nations office. The mall had many of the same stores and fast food outlets you see in Canada. We found a nice little restaurant where we wanted to go for supper and went back to the hostal to repack and rest

Then off to the restaurant, we checked with the owner to see if it was safe for us to walk, and it was! About a block from the restaurant we were accosted by three blacks guys that came out of the bush, one in front, one from behind and one from the street. They were not a group of street singers, but they did manage to increase our heart rate for the next five or six minutes. By the time it was over they had Loreen's wedding and anniversary rings, my wedding ring, my watch and about $90 collectively from Keenan and I. Although I did not fight, I did resist and got a small cut on my chin. Keenan did put up a bit of a fight by kicking one of them in the crotch and got punched in the face. Most of my money was in an inside shirt pocket so they just ripped the shirt off. There was no one else on the sidewalk during this time.

The unhappy mugee

We contacted the police and they drove us around the underbelly of Quito for an hour or so looking for them, but no luck. They even have less respect for the police there than people do here, but the police treated us very well. It was not the best goodbye from Ecuador!

So I am the only one in my family to have been mugged twice, but Loreen has me beat, she went through two muggings and a snatch and grab when a kid tried to take her watch in Chile. While in South America we traveled fairly safe and were aware of the scams, this time we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Our last day in Quito we spent at the location the equator goes through the northern portion of the city. There are two sites where you can visit the equator, about a half a mile apart, so not sure which is the true equator, but to a tourist what the heck, I can say I have stood with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere.

At the Equator

The first place is an indigenous tourism site where they have all kinds of gimmicks to try, walking a line with your eyes closed, balancing an egg on the end of a nail, which way the water swirls north or south of the line, etc. Oh and no shadows, well it is overcast or raining there most of the time so that was no trick. It was fun and we tried to figure out all the tricks that were used, the water one I think I understand.

At the Indigenous Equator Site

Then to the original site where the equator was established by a French Scientist, this one was much more developed and has several buildings where there are numerous displays. More money, fancier and maybe not as much fun. 

At the Original Site

We returned to the hostal early as we had to be at the airport at three in the morning. The three hour layover in Houston was great, lunch in the airport with a couple bottles of wine made the flight to Calgary very nice!

We had a great trip travelling through South America, seen some wonderful things, met some good people and appreciate that we ahave the ability to go on adventures like this, that said we are also so gratefull to be back home and to be able to live in a country like Canada.

Indigenous Village and Family

We spent the last week of our Ecuador experience in an indigenous community in northern Ecuador, close to the Columbian border. We came to spend time with  Keenan's host family who she stayed with in 2009 during her teaching internship.

Keenan, Loreen and the family

Piguche is a true indigenous village, most of the residents dress in traditional clothing and there are few vehicles. The hostal where Loreen and I stayed had llamas in the courtyard and pigs and chickens in the yard.

Yard Pig

While having breakfast in the cafe we would watch the villagers leading their cows down the street to pasture.

Doing the laundry and bathing Peguche style

Keenan's host family are great people, and have a large extended family that welcomed us as their own. Grandma and Gramps are both 78 and still perform their daily chores, in fact Gramps slaughters a pig once a week and butchers it for sale. 

Grampa and Grandma

We joined in with the family for the indigenous custom of honoring the dead on Good Friday. The tradition consists of the families visiting the departed members of their family at the cemetery, where they eat and share lunch with family and friends at the gravesite. They believe that this custom not only honors the family that have passed but eases the mourning process for those left behind. It seemed like there were thousands of people there having lunch.

At the cemetary

Keenan and Loreen committed to cooking a traditional turkey dinner on Easter Sunday, so Saturday was spent hunting through three different grocery stores in an adjacent town looking for ingredients. We found a turkey, so that was quite a relief. The menu included turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, mixed salad, carrots, string beans, apple crisp, apple/pear pan dowdy and ice cream. The only things on the menu that they commonly eat were the beans, carrots and salad, everything else was new.

As they had never eaten this type of meal before they asked us to serve them - then they managed to get their own seconds. We served eighteen for dinner and it was completely enjoyed. It was the first time that Grandma and Gramps had ever had a special meal cooked for them.

Easter Dinner

We also managed to find some foil wrapped chocolate, Kinder Eggs and other treats and Keenan led the younger ones in an Easter Egg hunt, again a first for all.  The adults were more enthused than the kids!

We spent our last day in Peguche driving through the country side and seeing some of the expat communities. First, an American development that looks like suburban blue grass country with big homes, big lawns and horses in the back. Then across the valley a British retirement community, where the British government supposedly invested eight million US in infrastructure to allow British retirees to move to Ecuador and still have British type comforts. All very interesting, when both communities are bordered by indigenous corn fields.

Saying goodbye was hard, Grandma cried, Loreen cried, but it was time to move on and spend the last day and a half in Quito.     

Ecuadorian Amazon

As our winter journey winds down we are still exploring different areas of Ecuador until we move up to Otavalo to visit with Keenan's host family from her teaching internship in 2009.

Banos, baths in English, is a touristy vacation spot located on the edge of the transition zone from mountains to jungles. Banos has mineral hot pools, world class waterfalls, mountain hiking, expat micro breweries and chefs from Chicago.

Being an adventure type place, Keenan's dare devil attitude kicked in wanting to try all these adventures. Zip lines and cable cars over deep canyons, rafting, tubing, biking, canyoning etc. I kept remembering this was the place where Loreen got hurt canyoning three years ago and the guide did not have a first aid kit, just his t-shirt and a bungee cord to wrap her arm, and every thing was in high water so I drug my feet as much as I could and managed to get out of most things.

Banos Cable Car

 We did take a trip in a four wheel drive jeep with a wannabe rally car driver to the Devils Cauldron, the wildest waterfall in Ecuador and then up to the top of the highest point around Banos to look across the valley at the active volcano.

Devils Cauldren

 We got above the cloud level but the volcano was not visible so back to town the long way, through farms and villages. I was really comfortable with our driver, I like driving on the wrong side of the road speeding around corners, while he is chatting to Keenan in the back seat!

Taking hay home for the cows!

He did stop every farmer or farm lady we passed and had them pose for pictures, such as carrying the milk home, cutting grass for the cows, etc.

Taking home the milk!

 Then off to Tena, in the upper Amazon basin of Ecuador. Known as the kayaking capital of Ecuador, Tena also provides great white water rafting, float tubing, jungle treks and an Amazon Jungle experience.

After four months in South America, and six countries, we thought we had seen pretty much everything but Tena pulled out all the stops for us. We checked into our hostel room, went out on the balcony and were greeted by a giant grass hopper, five or six neighborhood chickens and a tarantula. I chased the grass hopper away, clucked at the chickens while Loreen stood on the third story ledge and flicked the tarantula off the ceiling onto the ground. When we later checked on it, it was working it's way back up the wall, where to we don't know.

Then across the river the trees started shaking and the branches swaying, I thought another rain storm was coming, but no, a troop of a couple of dozen monkeys appeared. They chased one another up and down the trees for awhile before disappearing into the jungle again.

Once we got settled in, we headed off to the "finest dining" restaurant in Tena for steak, salad and chicken breast in a nice apple purée, when all of a sudden Keenan and Loreen are screeching and jumped halfway across the room, while the waiter is trying to calm them down in his limited English. Me being me, I was casually looking around for the wasp or some insect that might have scared them, when above my head I detected some movement and looked up and there was this big lump of grey fur slowing moving across the valance. Seems we had disturbed one of the pet sloths the owner keeps in his "fine dining" restaurant. No problem, the sloth moved to a new hiding hole and we went on with our dining, for some reason we where all a bit more thirsty than usual. I was happy as finally Keenan was more scared of something than I was!

We return to the room and check it out for critters, nothing, so we all relax and are reading away when Keenan exclaims "Dad, there is a frog in here" and sure enough there the little guy was taking large jumps around the room catching flys. So we shooed it out and eagerly await the surprises tomorrow might bring.

Feeding the monkeys, Tena

Culinary delights, Tena

 On our last day in Tena we went on a river boat trip down the Napo River, the same Napo River we were on in February in Peru, only now we are on the head waters versus the outlet into the Amazon. The river is still high, but probably six feet lower than it was in March.

High Water was above the blue platform!

 We went to an indigenous museum, where we learned about the traditional methods of trapping, snaring animals and fish for food. Similar to methods used in other parts of the world, but very interesting to see traps made out of wood and vines, more like jungle booby traps really.

Face Painting on the Rio Napo

Looking for a treat!

Then we went to an animal recovery center, that takes in animals bought as pets and then when too big, are given to the recovery center to try and rehabilitate. Birds, monkeys, cats, turtles etc. About one third are too damaged or too domesticated to ever release.

Indigenous Bridge Rio Napo Area

Off to live in a high Andes indigenous village for the next week and then home to Calgary.

Expat Cities

Ecuador is becoming known for the number of expats that are moving here, and we spent some time in two of their favorite communities. We wanted to visit both these cities with high expat populations to see what it was all about, not that we plan on moving from Canada, as the more we travel the better Canada becomes as a country!

First stop was Salinas, a beach resort town with condos and apartments and although no all inclusives, it does have a nice beach, tourist hotels and restaurants. Mostly rich Ecuadorians come here with their families, but there was a smattering of us snowbird types as well.

Beach in Salinas

 We lounged on the beach and went to the local expat watering hole for St Paddy's Day green beer, green margaritas and that basic Irish standby of boiled potatoes, boiled cabbage, carrots, and roast beef. Just like growing up on the farm!

We had a good evening, visiting with a couple of fellows from Vancouver who are in Salinas looking for property. It turned out that I knew the one fellow's daughter through work and had also dealt with him in some past business issues in 1990. Small world!

On to Cuenca, touted as one of the best places in the world to retire. I can see why people chose Cuenca and if I was looking to move to South America it would be one of my top choices of the areas we have been to. Cuenca is a very colonial and European style city. Clean and prosperous, even the surrounding farms and villages seem to be mostly prosperous with painted buildings and clean streets. The gringo population seems to be concentrated in the central, historic part of the city with a few restaurants and bars owned by expats and catering to gringo tastes.

Cuenca

 Through sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture there were a number of free cultural events in Cuenca while we were there. We managed to attend a concert by the Cuenca Symphony, director was from Spain, that played a symphony of movie songs from Jaws, West Side Story, Indiana Jones, The Pink Panther, etc. It was my first and only symphony and I rather enjoyed it. Then later that week we attended a Blue Grass concert by a three piece group of Americans now from Mexico City. While the girls quite liked this one I was a bit disappointed, mainly because I wanted to hear some Charlie Daniels and they played mostly Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs music.

Cuenca has the most elegant cathedral we have visited in South America. One lady we met compared it to the cathedral in the Vatican in Rome. It is huge with stained glass windows of various religious figures, high blue domed towers and enough gold plating on the interior to fill a good size treasure house. Even an agnostic like me was impressed!

Cathedral

 We spent a day at Ingapirca, ancient ruins of both Canari and Inca. The Canari were a pre-Inca civilization that also had established religious and astrological sites in parts of Ecuador. A matriarchal society that took the moon as their main Goddess, they had established a calendar of thirteen months that tracked the 28 changes of the moon through the month. Conquered by the Inca and absorbed into Inca culture the site was changed to the Inca religion of sun worship. In this instance they had established a sun wall that had four altars set at precise locations. As the earth rotated around the sun, sunlight coming through specific holes in the roof of the building would entirely illuminate each one of the altars on days corresponding to the winter and summer solstices, spring and fall equinoxes.

Canari Calendar

Sun Temple, Ingapirca

 Today the Canari dominate the farm land and villages in the highlands around Cuenca, while the Inca are mostly extinct.

The high valleys around Cuenca are full of farms and the plowed fields have soils that look black and rich. They grow a number of different crops and vegetables and there are a lot of dairy cows. Farming here is not an easy way to make a living. The ground, while fertile, is steep and no machinery is used. Plowing is often done with a team of oxen and a wooden plow or the extended family coming over with shovels and hoes.

Oxen with wooden plow

 We stayed at the Casa Ordenez in Cuenca, an old family home that has been converted into a B&B. The B&B is family run and absolutely fantastic. We had a semi-private living room with our pick of 2000 pirated DVDs so spent some time catching up on movies.

The Ecuadorian Riviera!!

Backpacking up the West coast of Ecuador with our thirty year old daughter that travelled here before by staying in $3-a-night-hostels, eating meals from street vendors and chatting up all the street folks (the bracelet-sellers with dreadlocks and plaited beards) can be a bit trying to say the least. 

Backpacking in Ecuador

We landed in Ecuador to spend a couple of weeks on the beach and Keenan spirited us off to Montanita, her favorite beach resort town in Ecuador. So I merrily travel up the highway with visions of Ixtapa or Cozumel in my mind and looking forward to four star resort restaurants- boy was I surprised! Montanita is more like Haight-Ashbury before the hippies moved out in the sixties. I did see three North American/European white males over 55 while in Montanita, two with dreadlocks, beards and peace necklaces, and the other similar to me. 

The pool girl at Swisspoint

Montanita does have a lovely beach and good restaurants. We stayed at the really nice Swisspoint Hotel on the edge of town, with nice rooms and a great pool. Twice we went to Olon, the next little fishing village, and spent the afternoons soaking up the sun, drinking beer and coconut rum and eating at the beach cabanas that all had the same seafood menus.

Montanita beach

Keenan making friends in Olon

Chuckwagons at Olon

There are miles of lovely beaches along the coast, some with no people for miles, others like Montanita with shoulder to shoulder surfers and sun bathers. 

After a week in Montanita we moved North up the coast to an eco lodge where we could do some day trips. The views of the ocean from the lodge were beautiful, looking out through palm trees and tropical flowers. 

Our first day trip was a horse back ride to the top of a mountain through the rain forest jungle. I was given the privilege of riding a mula, a Jenny in North America, that had absolutely no stop whatsoever. She was strong and willing, but would totally do as she wanted, so there I was, fifty years of cowboy behind me, being led up the mountain on mula by a sixteen year old! The horses that Loreen and Keenan rode were much better minded when they were not stopped eating palm leaves or treats along the trails. 

Mula & the guides

Mom & "grazer"

Again my expectations were a little more than reality, I envisioned a road or path, where in actual fact it was more of a goat trail through the jungle, in places too steep to ride either up or down, so it was dismount and scramble up on foot or slide down through the mud, did I mention it is rainy season here and the mud was ankle deep in most places. In one place, crossing sideways on the mountain, the guides walked below the horses pushing on them to make sure they did not slip sideways down the slope. But we made it to the top and spent a half an hour watching a group of howler monkeys. Both our guides could imitate them and convinced the primary male that another male was in the vicinity. He hung out of the tree above howling and growling to scare us off. 

We saw a few parrots, a couple of toucans and one venomous snake on the trail, that the guide instantly smacked on the head with his machete.

After a three day consultation in Bolivia with the toilet seat, I had steadfastly avoided any street food and now back in the village we were led into this little dark, dirty two roomed building for lunch. The kitchen was just big enough for the cook, her two gas stoves, a work table, the dining table and a few chairs (no sink or water in sight)! Three bowls of vegetable/chicken soup appeared before us and Loreen and Keenan dug in with gusto, so I sucked it up and dug in. This was followed up with a plate full of rice, with a spicy vegetable sauce and another piece of chicken. Loreen and Keenan even had seconds, I stuck with one plate. Actually it all tasted pretty good, other than the chicken was probably the great, great grandma to all village chickens, it was that tough. After we left, Loreen told me "as long as it is cooked it should be okay" and the man of the house did keep the chickens, dogs and cats chased outside while we ate. After this I felt bad and thought maybe I should go back for seconds! 

Our transport driver picked us up to take us back to the lodge and much to my amazement, he turned around in the middle of the road and headed off in the other direction. After a couple of miles I asked Keenan to find out if this was another way back. No, he just liked us and wanted to show us his farm where he grows just about everything: pineapple, banana, papaya, corn, sugarcane, melons, pumpkins, squash, oranges, tomatoes, guava and a few things that I didn't know. He was very proud of his farm and after a half an hour loaded us up and took us home laden with fresh picked bananas and papaya.

Our driver & his 9 month old papaya tree!

The best part of the day was feeling the warmth of the Ecuadorian village people, the friendliness of our guides, Danny and Jonathon, the way this elderly couple welcomed us into their humble home and the friendship and pride of the driver in his farm, village and country. 

The 3 Musketeers on Isla de la Plata

The next day we visited the poor man's Galapagos, Isla de la Plata, a small island an hour and half by boat out of Puerta Lopez. Isla de la Plata supports many of the same bird species as the Galapagos, but has no turtles or penguins, but for $20 I was able to get up close to the blue footed booby, watch hundreds of frigate birds whirl in circles in the sky and had the opportunity to snorkel. Snorkeling was not good, so Loreen and I stayed on the boat and watched every one else splash about or high dive from the top roof.

Blue-footed booby and her baby

Keenan making a splash

Now off on our next adventure, catching a local bus to our next destination. Now, did the guy at the lodge tell us to catch the green bus? The red one? Or maybe it was blue. I wonder where this guy with the bananas is going? I hope they didn't put that ladies chickens in our luggage compartment! 

Waiting for the green bus

The End of the GAdventures Tours

Well the Gadventure tours are over and we leave our new friends to continue on our own into Ecuador. So we say goodbye to Arnold and Diane, Mary, Marleen, Louis and Daniella, Aral and Lila our tour guide. 

On our last night together we went out for dinner and drinks and ended up at a Cuban dance club on a swinging little side street in Miraflores, Peru. As we piled into two cabs, I will always have the picture of our tour guide hanging out the rear window of her taxi waving at our taxi to make sure the driver made the right turns. We had a few more drinks at the club and watched the bouncer at the club next door search all the male patrons for weapons. Seems it was a fight club or it turns into one at some point in the wee hours of the morning. Alas we had to leave prior to any action as we had an early flight to Ecuador.

The tours were great and we enjoyed the great people we travelled with.

The Last Supper!

Land of the Incas

We arrived in Cusco after an uneventful 8 hour trip by van from Puno. After we checked into the hotel our guide Lila took us out for a quick orientation of the city around the Plaza de Armas area. Loreen and three other ladies stayed out to do some window shopping and went to a bar for a beer. Back at the hotel I ran into Lila and she was worried that they had got lost. When I told her they were out drinking she was amazed, five years of taking tour groups, this was the first time she had people go off drinking on their own. I told her she needed to travel with Loreen more!

Next day we went on a tour of the Inca ruins/sites that are close to Cusco. We visited Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo and Tambomachay and then back to town for a tour of the church Iglesia De Santo Domingo.

The three Inca sites seem to all be part of a huge complex of towns, temples and fortress's on the entrance way to Cusco from Machu Picchu. The religious theory of Inca culture is based on three elements: fire, water and earth. All that was needed to survive was water, the fire provided by the sun, and Pachamama, the earth.

I was impressed at Tambomachay, a stone structure that captures clear spring water and takes it via channelsto a series of baths. Known as the The Bath of the Inca, theory connects the site to the Inca water culture, one of the three religious elements. The Inca were very adept at building water systems to collect and transport water for drinking and bathing. Not so much for agriculture as the terrace systems they built captured and retained water for long periods.

Water system at Tambomachay

I managed to find one lady on the trail that liked me and insisted she have a picture taken with us.

Photo Op!

Q'enqo, zigzag in English, is a religious temple built in a natural set of caves and follows a zigzag pattern from the entrance to the exit. Used as a ceremonial place it is speculated that it was a place where animals, mostly llamas, were sacrificed. Unlike the Aztec the Inca are not known for human sacrifice.

Saqsaywaman, the Inca name, but most folks just call the site Sexy Woman, is a huge site, with both military and religious significance. At the height of it's importance it is estimated that 5,000 warriors were stationed here. It had huge towers for both water and food storage - the largest one 22 meters in diameter. Today about 20 percent of the site remains, the balance either destroyed by the Spanish or the stones taken to build churches and homes. The largest stone used in the building of Saqsaywaman is around 300 ton, transported to the site on log rollers and pushed and pulled by who knows how many slaves, for the Inca was a slave culture. There are lots of stones there that weigh in the 160 ton range.

The huge stones at Sacsaywaman

The Inca ruler at the time envisioned the settlement of Cusco to be in the shape of a Puma and Saqsaywaman was designed as the head where 22 zigzag walls were put in place to represent the Puma's teeth.

We toured the Sacred Valley so named by Incas because of the year round river that flows through the valley. The river floods and brings sediment to grow crops, creating it's own micro climate in the highlands, the Sacred Valley is still a highly productive growing area.

First stop was at Planterra (GAP sponsored) community project to help women living in the village to become self sufficient with crafts, etc and the men are employed as porters for GAP. Here the women hand spin the wool from sheep, llama and alpaca into thread for weaving. Using various plants, leaves, roots and rocks for dye, the material is colored, then colors are randomly selected for weaving into table runners, scarves, etc. No patterns are used as the designs are done from memory.

Weaving

Next stop was at Pisac ruins, an agricultural village where many terraces were established, these terraces create individual micro sites which allowed different crops to be grown for food. Pisac also contained religious and administrative offices form this area of the Inca empire. Part of the town and houses remain, as well as a cemetery area with some 6000 burial caves. Pisac also has a stone aquaduct system that brings water about a mile from a set of springs to the town site area, for drinking and bathing.

Pisac Terraces

The Ollantaytambo ruins totally blew me away. A highly terraced fortress and religious site, Ollantaytambo is one of the few Inca sites to be known for an Inca victory over the Spanish. The town itself sits at the bottom of the terraces and many of the Inca houses are still used today as homes by indigenous people. In the surrounding mountains are high structures that were used as granaries for storing grains and other food. Taking advantage of the wind these granaries had natural cooling and refrigeration.

From the top of Ollantaytambo

One of the Stones at the top of Ollantaytambo

The Chief and I at Ollantaytambo

At 100 meters above the valley bottom a temple was still under construction when the Spanish came, several 80 and 90 ton stones had been put in place, others are still lying in front of where the temple was to be constructed. These stones were brought to the site from a quarry six kilometers away on the top of another mountain, lowered 1100 meters, transported across the valley and the river, then raised back up 100 meters to get to the site, what an effort by human power.

Machu Picchu at last, undiscovered by the Spanish, the site is intact, although they are still finding more there under the jungle. This site was an administrative area for an "Inca State or Province" and depended on other sites like Pisac and Ollantaytambo for food supplies. One theory is that as these food sources were destroyed by the Spanish, the people of Machu Picchu moved out and the city was never found until 1911 by the American Hiram Bingham. So far about 260 buildings have been found, with an estimate that about 100 of those were residences, the rest being used for storage or for temples, etc. At ratio of 8 to 10 people per residence Machu Picchu probably had between 800- 1000 residents.

Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate

Machu Picchu is a beautiful site and here we learned about Inca engineering and safety during earthquakes. All the Inca buildings were built with the walls erected with between 9 and 13 percent slope inwards from foundation to roof, this principle of using angles increases the strength of the structures. The walls were sunk below the ground surface a minimum of one meter and the area inside and outside the walls filled with compacted sand, thus absorbing any type of shock. Finally in every wall there was a series of triangular shaped inset niches, these were to allow flexibility in the walls and also absorb shock. All windows and entrances were wider at the bottom than at the top.

Earthquake Proof

One temple designed in a circle with two narrow windows was constructed so that the sun from the summer solstice entered one window and the wall ends where the sun eliminated the ground. The sun from the winter solstice entered through the second window and hit the exact spot of the summer solstice. These are amazing engineering feats completed in 1400 to 1450.

The sun temple for capturing the Solstice sun

Three of us hiked up the Inca trail to the Sun Gate, where there are amazing views of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains, although not quite the same as the four day Inca Trail hike there is still a feeling of accomplishment to stand at the Sun Gate and look down on Machu Picchu.

At the Sun Gate