Knotty Ewe On the Land

After my adventure filled time in Banos I headed further south to Cuenca for a couple of days of relaxation.  Cuenca is a town originating from the time of the Inca which was then recast as a colonial administrative centre under the Spanish.  Cuenca is a larger city of 400,000.  When I first arrived I didn’t like it because compared to Banos and Mindo it is so large and busy with traffic everywhere.  However, after a couple of days of wandering it has grown on me considerably.

It straddles a small river which has a lovely bath beside it.  The whole city is very pretty, clean, and well maintained.  Which is probably why it is overflowing with gringos.  There are an astounding number of Americans and Canadians, mostly retired, who either come here for the winter or have moved here permanently.  This morning at breakfast everyone in the cafe was gringo.

One of the big export products from Cuenca are “Panama” hats.  This is a misnomer as they are actually from Ecuador but were popular with the workers during the construction of the Panama canal in the 19th century and the label stuck.  Of course being the consumate tourist that I am, one of my goals in coming here was to get hats for Eric and me.  On the advice of some friends from my Galapagos cruise that I met on the street I headed to the hat museum.  This is actually a store in an old hat factory where they show you the process of making and finishing the hats and then sell you some!

Giant hat at the entrance of the museum

Old hat press and model made of hats

Lots of hats to chose from – most the classic design

Fashion hats with a bit more edge and colour

Hats come in differing levels of quality (and related price).  The higher quality hats are made with thinner strips so that the weaving is softer and more dense.  The top quality ones (superfino) you can hold up and not see any light shine through.  These are the ones in theory that you can roll up, though it’s not recommended.

The really nice one is on the left. It was stored in a special case to protect it since it takes months to make the top quality ones.

I opted for mid-range quality.  Because they didn’t have any finished versions of these in Eric’s size I had one customized.  I found one I liked for me.  They needed time to finish it so I went off to wander then came back to pick it up.  Luckily I was in time to see the process!

First the brim of the generic hat is flattened in a machine.

Then the hat is put in a press with an aluminum mold. Using steam the hat is formed to the classic shape.

Presto – classic shape.

Then the band is added.

Actually while I was away they sold my hat so they had to customize another one for me.

My hat :)

The specially shaped bag for carrying the hats.

Besides having fun at the hat shop, I did a lot of wandering in the city.  Also most of my time has been figuring out the rest of my trip.  At one point I concluded I would stay longer in Ecuador and skip Peru until Eric could join me which resulted in lots of research as to what to do and new reservations.  Then things flipped back to Peru so I finally figured out all the details for the next month.  I’m happy to have it settled and figured out so that when I fly to Lima this afternoon I can just relax and enjoy my time.

I have found that upon reflection I have not spent my time in Ecuador very efficiently.  With some better planning and research I could have done it better.  However, I’m very happy with what I have seen and done here.  I’ve loved being in Ecuador.  The people are very friendly and not aggressive at all in trying to sell you things (nothing like Morocco or Egypt).   The standard of living, at least in the cities, is quite high.  I have felt completely safe as a female walking around at night.  The people seem healthy and happy (the only people I’ve seen smoking are foreigners).  I can’t wait to come back again.  This has been the perfect introduction to travelling solo!

After my fun time in Mindo I headed to another centre for adventure sports, Banos, in the southern part of the Ecuador.  I spent three days there enjoying the outdoors as well as the natural hot springs.  Banos is a lovely town of about 15,000.  It sits in a valley surrounded by volcanoes and mountains.  Some of the volcanoes are still active including Tungurahua which erupted again on February 1 while I was in the Galapagos.  There was no sign of that though when I arrived.  The proximity of the volcanoes though is the source for the hot springs.

On my first day I wanted to get a better view of the town from one of the surrounding hills.  Following an hour long steep uphill climb I was rewarded with a lovely view.  It took a bit of waiting through as the clouds needed to clear.  I’ve decided it really is not fun doing hard physical exercise in the middle of a cloud – you get soaking wet and it is hard to breath.

The climb up to Bellavista view point

My view on the way up – path down to the left, Banos in front

Banos

Banos with the mountains

After my hard labours I checked myself into one of the many many spas for an afternoon of pampering.  I got scrubbed down with a mixture of volcanic ash and salt from head to foot which scraped off a few layers of dead, sunburned skin.  Following this rejuvenation I was detoxified using “longevity mud” which they called a magic hug.  Supposedly it adds years to your life.  Finished off with a facial and pedicure (I returned to my traditional bright blue polish), I was ready to melt away into a puddle of relaxed goo.

In wandering around town I found a bridge across the river gorge.  One of the activities you can do is jumping off the bridge.  It is like bungie jumping except without the bounce.  I stood and watched for a while and noticed that if you get up on the platform and hesitate too long they push you off!  Definitely not something I need to do in this lifetime!

The river gorge with the bridge

Crazy people jumping off!

The next day I got up bright and early to go canyoning.  This involved donning a wet suit and rappelling down a series of waterfalls on the Rio Blanco outside of town.  Before we went up to the waterfalls we had some training with our guides.  When he described that we would zip line down one waterfall I was really not happy given my experience in Mindo.  He told me later he actually thought I was going to be a problem I was so nervous at the start.  Turns out it was no problem and so much fun!!  Because you are rappelling you go down backwards and don’t actually see where you are going.  Taking it slow and steady I had no issues.  Also, I was with a group of 4 guys (not many women seem to do these things) and turns out that makes all the difference.  It is so much easier if you can see some else go down first and survive!

Here I go!

Watch out below!

Look ma no hands!

Sliding down a waterfall

We survived!

When I was returning from the Amazon, I met a group of American’s from another lodge who were on the same flight.  I became friendly with one of the guys, Vangelis.  He has been my companion for the past few days in Banos.  He joined me in the afternoon for a massage and then we hit the hot springs outside of town.  Such a lovely relaxing time.  Because it was the weekend the pools were very busy with local families enjoying the smelly heat!

Hot springs

The hot pool full of lovely healthy minerals.

To top off our hedonistic afternoon we had a lovely dinner at the local steak house (I had pasta!).  Because this past weekend was elections for the regional governments none of the restaurants and bars were allowed to sell alcohol from Friday through Sunday.  Luckily some of the restaurants ignored this in the case of foreigners as we are obviously not part of the election excitement.

Vangelis enjoying his steak on a stone

Next morning we signed up for more adrenaline to go rafting!  The agency we were going with was the gathering point in the morning.  On the large TV they had the Canada – Sweden hockey game playing which was very exciting.  Unfortunately as I was watching, I didn’t notice a woman snatch my phone from my pocket.  Luckily one of the guides did see and reacted quickly and tackled her before she could leave the store.  Though she kept saying it was her phone when he showed it to me it was obviously mine (the screen has a picture of Eric and I on it!).  Someone got the police to come and they took all the information about what happened.  They took the woman and a young man who was with her into custody and we headed off rafting.  I was very lucky that I got my phone back thanks to the quick response of the guide at the company.  I was so thankful to them.

After that dramatic start to the day, rafting had something to really live up to and it definitely did.  We did about 16 Class 3 and 4 rapids (which means they are pretty hard as the scale goes from 1-5) on the Rio Patate.  I went rafting about 15 years ago on the Ottawa River which was much smaller and we had a much larger group and boat of 12 people.  We were 5 intrepid adventurers the other day along with our fantastic, insane guide.  I got dumped from the boat but was quickly pulled back in by the others thankfully.

Adventurer hoy!

Off we go

Splish splash…

Oh off I start to go (left side)

And I’m in!

Safely back on board!

Oops now we go backwards for the last rapids.

After rafting it was time to just chill and wander the town a bit.  It is a very gringo town with lots of expats living there and lots of visitors.  The main street is full of both souvenir shops and adventure tour companies.  I did spot roasting guinea pigs at the market though!

Roasted guinea pigs

Banos was a lot of fun and there was much more I could have done there.  This will definitely be on my places to return to (topped of course by the Galapagos Islands).  Yesterday Vangelis and I hopped the bus for the long trek from Banos south to Cuenca which I will tell you more about when I’ve had a chance to explore a bit!

After my adventures in the jungle I headed a couple of hours north of Quito to Mindo.  This is a tiny town of 2000 people seated at 1250m of elevation.  It is situated in the middle of a cloud forest so the vegetation is very lush.  The area is particularly known for bird watching and nature pursuits.

While I was there I stayed at the Casa De Cecelia hostel.  It is actually a cluster of about 4 houses.  I noticed in Mindo that most of the houses are built piecemeal and so the internal layout and design is not always very consistent as rooms are added as the owner has resources.  My room was perched at the very top of one of the buildings.  I had windows on 4 sides and had to crawl through a half door to get into it.

My room is the upper gable.

The staircase and half door to my room

My room with windows on 4 sides for the world to see in!

On my first afternoon I wanted to witness some of the diversity of the wildlife in the area so I visited an orchid farm and a humming bird observation point.  The orchid garden was lovely and had about 200 different kinds of orchids.  Not all were in bloom yet though so the guided tour helped to point out the nice ones.

A carnivorous plant which traps insects and then digests them in liquid at the bottom of the bod!

Next door was the humming bird observation point which turned out to be the covered porch for a hotel.  I was thankful for the covered space as it poured rain while I was there as it did all the days I was in Mindo.  One of the draw backs of the rainforest is that it rains a lot!  They did have about 14 different types of humming birds that you could see.  They were beautiful ranging in colours for dull brown to bright green and blue.  They moved from feeder to feeder so fast they were so hard to see and even harder to photograph!

The humming bird garden

Next to my hotel, was a restaurant called El Quetzal.  The restaurant makes wonderful chocolate which features in much of their cooking.  The chocolate is made on site from organic, fair trade beans grown in the drier parts of Ecuador.  I took the tour in which they explained how they make chocolate from bean to bar.  They start with beans that are already fermented and dried.  Their process starts with roasting the beans, crushing them, adding flavours etc until they make bars.  It was very much like the process I saw at the Chocolate museum in Hamburg last fall.

Chicken drizzled in chocolate sauce with sweet potato fries

Amazing brownie with home made ginger ale

Chocolate pods on the left going all the way to the bar.

On my one full day I did one of the primary activities for tourists in Mindo which is taking the cable car across the gorge of the Mindo river to follow the trails to 5 lovely waterfalls.  As I’m trying to work on doing some training for the Camino, I started off with the 6 km walk up hill from the town to the cable car.  I keep forgetting that everything is uphill here and so something that in theory sounds like an easy walk turns into a royal workout for your butt!  The cable car is an open air affair that sprints you across the gorge.  On the other side you walk down to the river to see the waterfalls following along the river.

Mindo on the walk up to the cable car

The Mindo River in its mad rush

The cable car across the gorge.

The wet path above the river

Sometimes the bridges weren’t in the best shape

Sometimes the path was the river

The last waterfall I went too

If you look carefully you can see the path continues on the other side of the river. The bridge or stepping planks had been washed out!

Not the most attractive picture but this is what 3.5 hours of serious hiking on steep terrain in 99% humidity looks like!

My stats after the day of hiking:

Steps: 23,667, Distance: 16.4 km, Floors: 133 (it was a really deep gorge!).

The other big activity for us tourists in Mindo is zip lining which I did this morning before I sprinted out of town to my next stop.  The course was 10 zip lines that criss-cross  high above the Mindo River gorge.  Because I went so early this morning (they hadn’t even really opened yet!) I was the only person to go at that time.  So it was just me and two guides. I have to admit that I was totally terrified.  I did the first line on my own and felt like I was going to lose my breakfast!  Even though you are strapped in securely and attached to two separate lines, I had no way to control how fast I was going.  I was so petrified that I was ready to stop.  Thankfully they are prepared for this and I did the remaining lines attached to a guide who slowed our speed considerably.  I felt like a chicken but it meant I was able to do all 10 lines.  It was a very exhilarating experience but I think it will be a long while before I do this again.  I’m not sure why it scared me so much more than paragliding did.

The only helmet that fit me was a children’s bicycle helmet!

What my scared perspective looked at!

Yes I survived! Attached to a guide but it still counts!

On shaky legs I sprinted back into town to grab my bags and catch the bus to Quito so I could turn around and catch the bus south to Banos (another capital for extreme adventure sports!).  Quito has many many bus stations.  Some are regionally focussed – the one at the north end of town serving towns to the north and similar for the south.  This would be fine if many of the bus companies didn’t also have their own terminals and Quito wasn’t 40km long.  So to get from my bus from Mindo to the bus to Banos I took a cab through the length of the city.  An interesting ride as I haven’t spent any time in the southern end of the city.  Anyway, I made it safely to Banos where I will spend the next few days hopefully doing more hiking etc though in a less humid environment!

I returned yesterday from 4 days in the Ecuadorian portion of the Amazon rainforest known as Cuyabeno.  Like the Galapagos, this was an adventure filled with wonderful scenery and many interesting animals and birds.

The adventure started with my first overnight bus trip from Quito to Lago Agrio.  Lago Agrio is a dismal town in the middle of the jungle that was created in the 1960s by the American oil companies who have been exploiting the area since. The name roughly translated means Sour Lake.   The overnight bus was no problem as I got on at the first stop and got off at the last.  Par for the course though I didn’t get much sleep so I was very glad to arrive in Lago Agrio and have the guide take over shepherding us around.  After breakfast and stop by the airport to pickup those who flew from Quito, we were off into the wilds.

The Cuyabeno reserve

Our motorized canoe

Entering the reserve

To visit the national park you have to stay at one of the many licensed lodges and be accompanied by a guide at all times.  I stayed at the Siona Lodge which was very nice.  It was one of the first lodges built about 30 years ago and is located on the large Laguna Grande.  To get to the lodge we took a bus for 2 hours and then at a meeting point transferred to a motorized canoe which took us down the Cuyabeno river for 2.5 hours.  We were very lucky because they had recently had a lot of rain.  When there isn’t enough rain the laguna and river dry out.  Up to a few days before we arrived the boats couldn’t make it all the way to the lodge so visitors had to walk the last few kilometers through the mud carrying their suitcases.

The lodge was very comfortable.  We slept in twin share cabins with each room having its own bathroom (hot water was lovely when it worked).  This was a small lodge and only houses 22 people.  The food was good and the atmosphere comfortable.  I lucked out and got to share my room with a fantastic Australian lady named Sophie.  I don’t think we stopped talking for 4 days!

Sophie!

Landing at the lodge

Raised walkway between cabins

One of the cabins

Our beds with “mosquito netting”

Our porch with hammock

The majority of our time was spent either trekking through the jungle looking at the many plants and trying to find monkeys, birds, snakes and other animals.  It was rather hard to spot the birds and monkeys and they spent their time up in the canopy which was many many meters above our heads.  My new binoculars (purchased in Quito prior to the Galapagos) were helpful but underpowered for the distance and unfortunately my camera could not do the wildlife variety justice.

Spider monkey jumping between trees

Monk Saki Monkey

Monk Saki Monkey with baby

Spider monkey

Spider monkey

Three-toed sloth hanging out

Massive tree

Walking tree – it will grow new roots to move further into the sunlight

A vine that used to be wrapped around a tree that it strangled

Shuffling along the log bridges

My muddy boots on the trail in the forest

Flooded trees in the laguna

Vines trailing roots down to the water in the river – you can see where the water usually is by the darker area of the roots

Cruising down the river

Despite much hunting we didn’t manage to see any snakes (including boas and anacondas) that populate the area nor did a rare jaguar make an appearance.  We did do two night excursions to try and find nocturnal insects and caimans (small crocodiles).  Caiman hunting consisted of going out in the boat and shining flashlights along the coast line.  You could spot the caimans when the light made their eyes glow red.

We were lucky however and did spot some pink river dolphins.  Unfortunately they weren’t in a playful mood so our sightings consisted of them coming to the surface to breathe.  Not much to photograph.

On our second day we went further into the ecological reserve to visit one of the indigenous communities.  Each of the communities along the river bank usually consists of about 150 people and are made of primarily of one extended family. In this case the community was the family of the Shaman that we visited.  He explained a bit about his training starting when he was 15 by his father and grandfather.  His practice consists mostly of use of plants to heal obvious ailments.  With the aid of hallucinogenics he can use visions to help guide healing for more complex matters including psychological problems.  We had a girl in our group who had been stung or bitten by something (she wasn’t sure where it came from).  The bite area was very swollen and painful to walk on. He treated her by beating her leg with nettle branches which raised welts across the area.  It seemed to help after about a day – or it might have been the antihistamines and various anti-inflammatory creams and drugs she took!

The indigenous community

Shaman

Shaman demonstrating a healing ritual

House in the village

Shaman’s house with solar panel

Cooking hut where the demonstrated how they make bread from yucca

I have to admit that visiting the village was a bit hoaky but it was fun to learn about the shaman’s practices.

In all it was a fun trip though I think we got the short end of the stick with our guide.  The legal requirement is that there be one guide for every 10 people.  There was another group at our lodge who started a day before us.  Just listening to the information the other guide presented and how he interacted with them and by the number of critters they reported seeing, I believe the other guide was far more experienced and knowledgable.  Our was young and this showed at some points most prominently when he drank too much on our last night and failed to get up for bird watching the next morning.  So consequently we missed our last outing before we left.  It was unfortunate but I still had a good time.  I’d be interested to try accessing the jungle from different points – maybe a cruise up the actual Amazon river from Brazil at some point in the future!

I came back to Quito yesterday so that I would be here tonight to catch the bus into the Amazon.  Since I’ve already spent about 4 days in Quito, today I spent going to see the last few things I wanted to see in the northern part of the city.

One of Ecuador’s most famous artists of the 20th century was Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999).  At the end of his life he decided to bequeath all of his art, his collection of pre-Columbian and Colonial art, and his house to Ecuador.  Being a devout agnostic, he built the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man) which is really a gallery for his mammoth sized paintings.  His art focussed for the most part on the sufferings of the indigenous peoples in Latin America.  In general I’m not a huge fan of contemporary painting, but I really enjoyed his works.  They were very powerful and emotional using striking lines and bold colours.   Luckily I was able to take a guided tour of both the Capilla del Hombre and his house in English.

Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man)

Guayasamin’s house

Dining room of his house filled with many works from his collection

One of many unfinished canvases in his studio.  This was part of his series called “Faces of America”

Close to the museum is the Parque Carolina which is one of the biggest green spaces in the city.  In the park is the Botanical Garden which is pegged as one of the top things to see in the city.  I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed as I was hoping to get an understanding of the plants I’m likely to see in the Amazon and this wasn’t actually explained very well.  However,  it was a lovely green spot and they did have a wonderful green house full of orchids.

Later this evening I’m going to get on the night bus that will take me to Lago Agrio which is the meeting point for my trip into the Amazon.  As I’ll be in the middle of the jungle I won’t have internet access for the next few days.  I’ll post pictures and details when I return on Monday.

Fitbit Stats (so far):

Steps: 15,650, Distance: 10.85 km, Floors: 40

Yesterday, I hired a guide to take me to some of the surrounding villages around Otavalo.  The area has a very rich tradition of high-quality handicrafts produced in the various villages that are mostly available at the Saturday market in Otavalo.

Our first stop was a workshop in San Rafael where they create woven products including traditional mats for sleeping, furniture, and baskets.  The reeds come from the nearby lake of San Pablo.  Since we didn’t actually get to see anyone making anything, no pictures of the workshop!

San Pablo Lake – Reeds used for weaving sleeping mats and other producs

San Pablo Lake

Next stop was the small town north of Otavalo called Peguche.  Because I had been in the area for a few days and had been to a couple of the places on the itinerary, instead of going back there we added in a hike to the Peguche waterfalls.  It was a lovely walk through a steep green ravine accompanied by the sounds of rushing water below.  The falls are quite majestic and lovely.  I’m glad we were there during the week as I could see it would be a lovely spot to come for families on weekends.

Walking to the waterfall

Peguche waterfall – I’m ont the bridge

The village of Peguche is know for weaving.  We stopped at two workshops .  The first does weaving on the Spanish loom which is a free standing loom introduced by the Spanish.  The yarn used is now mostly synthetic dyed with synthetic dyes.  All of the wall hangings are created from memory without the use of patterns.  None of the patterns have any traditional meanings.  They are simply made up from things the weavers see around them.

Spanish loom

Woven wall hanging depicting Quito with its many churches

The second workshop demonstrated more traditional techniques including the backstrap loom which predates the Inca.  She also showed us their spindle spinning technique which was interesting because she was holding it horizontally.  At home most spindles are drop spindles where gravity does a lot of the twisting of the yarn.

Backstrap loom – use of this loom predates the arrival on the Inca

Winding spindles of yarn from skeins. Makes me miss my swift (the thing in the foreground holding the yarn)

Spinning with a spindle

We were also shown the traditional dye sources which included seeds from a pod to make brown, plants to make greens.  As well they use a small worm that lives on a cactus plant.  When squished the worm makes rich red, add lemon juice (acid) and it produces orange, then add baking soda (base) and it turns purple.

Peguche is also known for the manufacture of traditional instruments.  The workshop we visited they make a wide variety of mostly pan flutes, recorders, and other flutes.  All are made from bamboo grown in Ecuador.  There are 200 types of bamboo that grow here and 38 are used for making instruments.

Demonstration of a bamboo flute

Pan flutes from Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Columbia

Next stop was the small village of Iluman.  The village is known for its concentration of traditional shaman.  However, we weren’t there for a cleansing ritual, but rather to visit one of the many hat makers.  The hats vary in style from little hats for traditional dolls, to the traditional fedoras sported by the indigenous peoples, as well as elaborate headdresses for celebrations and dancing.  The workshop we visited makes about 200 hats a week and they are mostly for export to Europe.

Little hats for dolls drying in the sun

Traditional felted fedoras

Shaping the brim of a cowboy hat

Finished products

Hat worn during celebrations

Fancy feather beaded hat worn by men for dancing

Our final stop was in San Antonio which is known as a centre for wood working.  Most of the wood comes from the rainforest so no guarantees on sustainable harvesting or whether any of the wood is endangered types.

Creating wine rack in the shape of a guitar

As you can tell most of the stops were mostly for shopping.  I found the variety of skill crafts being produced very incredible.  However, not being a big shopper (no way could I fit it in my backpack) we finished fairly early in the afternoon.  It was a fun day, but I think it would have been more interesting to share the experience with a companion.  As I mentioned before one of the downfalls of travelling solo is that you sometimes have to do this type of thing on your own.

After returning to the hotel in Otavalo, I picked up my bag and caught the bus back to Quito.  I really enjoyed my time in Otavalo in the end and I’m glad I spent a few extra days there to explore the area a bit.

Fitbit stats:

Steps: 9228, Distance: 6.4 km, Floors: 32

On Friday, I headed north from Quito to a small town of about 10,000 people called Otavalo.  The town is known for it’s massive Saturday regional market that has many fine locally made handicrafts.  Being a fiber lover, this was top of my list to see in Ecuador.  As well, the area has some good hiking, so I decided I would stay for about 5 days to relax and enjoy the area.  The town sits at about 2550m. I was glad that Florian, one of the fun folks from the Galapagos cruise, decided to join me for a day in Otavalo.  This was my first encounter with the Ecuador bus system so I was a bit intimidated.  However, it is easy – you just show up at the bus station and look for a bus displaying the name of the town you want to go to.  The bus network is extensive and you can get anywhere.  Since it is only $0.25 everyone uses them. On Friday when we got here we visited the Parque Condor which is run by a foundation dedicated to preserving birds of prey in the Andes and promoting awareness.  The main draw is to see the flight demonstrations where the release the birds and tempt them back with various treats (including entire dead chicks for the large ones).  It was remarkable to watch the elegant birds enjoy their few moments of freedom.  It also helped that it was set against a lovely backdrop of the huge volcanoes and mountains around Otavalo.

View from Parque Condor looking down at Otavalo

Andean Condor (over a meter tall!)

Releasing the Bald-Headed Eagle

Bird returning for treats

Getting up close and personal with a fearsome bird (note the Galapagos t-shirt – it was laundry day)

After the flight demonstration we walked back to town (took about 1.5 hrs) to enjoy the scenery.  On the way we found El Lechero which has a reputation as a magical healing tree.  There was no indication of how you activate the healing powers however apparently it is a very important place for locals as it was surrounded by flowers and two rows of barbed wire fencing.

Volcano covered in clouds

The road back to town

El Lechero – the magical healing tree

For the first couple of days I experimented with eating at the food stalls at the market.  For $1.50 you get soup, a plate of rice, veggies, and meat as well as a cup of lemonade.  Seemed too good to be true.  Which it was as the result has been a bought of travellers diarrhea that has been conquered thanks to some wicked antibiotics I had on hand.

Hearty soup with meat and potatoes

Veggies, meat and rice

Florian tucked up at the market food stall

Saturday morning bright and early (6.30 am) we headed off to start our visit to the local market.  First stop was the animal market.  It seemed like every type of animal was available from cows, pigs, chicks ($1 each), guinea pigs, and rabbits.  No alpacas or llamas though.  In listening into the negotiations apparently a fully grown pig goes for about $75.

Animal market

Piglets on a leash

Chicks – I liked the blue ones

Guinea pigs and rabbits

Live chickens – amazing how calm they were being upside down

Suckling pig at one of the food stands – at least you know exactly what you are getting

Bargaining for cows and bulls

Next stop was the handicrafts market.  There is a daily market held in Plaza Los Ponchos (fitting name!) but on Saturdays vendors from the surrounding communities come and the market spills over into all the surrounding streets.  It is massive, colourful, and chaotic.  Lots of fun! There were so many beautiful handicrafts including alpaca blankets, woven shawls and table clothes, bags, hats and everything else.  It was so hard no to go on a shopping spree.  But limited space in my backpack helped keep me in check so I only bought a cotton blouse and a colourful bag.

Plaza Los Ponchos

Woven wall hangings

Embroidered hangings

Alpaca scarves

Yummy yummy yarn

Imitation shrunken heads

My new bag

I had originally planned to book day excursions for my remaining 4 days here through a local travel agent.  However, that proved difficult as I’m a solo traveller and they require two people to run an excursion.  I wasn’t very lucky as there aren’t that many other tourists around at this time of year booking right now.  I did manage to book a hiking trip for yesterday tagging along with a French couple and I’ve booked a jaunt to the small weaving villages for Wednesday (I may have to pay for two spots if no one else has joined).  So to fill my time I’ve been trying to explore on my own. On Sunday I went to the neighbouring town of Cotacachi.  Sunday is their market day so it was fairly lively and fun to walk around.  As well, the town is known for producing high quality leather goods.  As I have more bags than I need from my trips to Italy, I managed to restrain myself.

Cotacachi town square

Fuzzy leather chaps are a specialty

Straw llamas on sale at the market

Yesterday (Monday) I joined a French couple on the first of a couple of hikes I wanted to do.  There are many lovely lakes in the area, mostly filling collapsed volcanic craters.  This excursion was to visit one of these lakes, Laguna Mojanda and to climb the neighbouring volcano called Fuya Fuya.  We drove from Otavalo (2550 m) up to the lake at about 3700m.  We then walked up the volcano which reaches 4300m.  Unfortunately the steep, rapid climb caused me to have problems with the altitude and at about 4100m I had to turn back.  I couldn’t take more than about 40 steps without gasping for air and at the time I stopped I was getting dizzy.  I was disappointed to not get to the top, but I’m glad I stopped. It was a lovely view from where I stood and I was able to watch the clouds move in across the lake.  Unfortunately this also made it a very cold decent and wait at the bottom for the others in the group.  Some rest in the afternoon along with Advil for headache and plenty of water helped take care of the altitude sickness.

Mojanda Lake

Climbing to the top

Mojanda Lake on the way up

The steep part at the point I turned around

Enjoying the view on the way down

Today I decided to do another hike.  This time around Lake Cuicocha.  The lake fills a collapsed volcanic crater and is 200m deep.  There are two islands in the centre that look like guinea pigs (cuicocha is Kichwa for guinea pig).  The hike is about 15 km around the rim of the crater.  It is a spectacular setting for what I found to be a very difficult hike as you spend about half your time going up steep inclines. It took about 4.5 hours to go around the crater.  You start the trail at the park entrance and immediately start to climb progressively up to the highest point on the rim. The lake lies at about 3250m and you climb up to about 3600m.  About three quarters of the way around you start descending through switch backs on the back side of the rim as the cliff down to the lake is too steep.  Confusingly the trail ends abruptly at the main road and you have to hike back along the road to the beginning.  I missed the turn off to the entrance so had a lot of back tracking to do on my already tired legs.

Standing on the rim of the crater with the lake to the right and the countryside to the left.

The initial ascent from the visitors centre (the grey building) heading to the top of the rim

The lake from the top of the rim

See I was there!

In the morning I took a taxi from the small town where the bus drops you.  On arriving I was assured at the entrance that there were always taxis at the entrance ready to take you back.  Not the case at all during the week.  On finally finishing my hike I found no means of returning to town.  Luckily a German couple with the number for a taxi arrived shortly and we were able to share a ride back.  So no harm in the end. So tonight my legs and butt are very tired from two days of very hard walking. I’m hoping I am mobile tomorrow.  My reward tonight for all my work was a little mini bottle of wine.  It even came with a mini glass.  The bottle was 1/4 of a litre and the class held 1/3 of that.

Mini rewards

Here is my info from my fitbit for today – I thought it was rather funny how extreme it is! Steps: 30,174, Distance: 20.91 km, Floors: 297 (the CN Tower is 147 floors!). Sorry for the long post but the wifi has been down at my hotel for the past few days so it’s been building up!

My time in the Galapagos was awe inspiring, amazing, fantastic – pick an adjective and it applies so long as it is a positive one.  It was totally surreal the pristine landscapes and the variety of wildlife.  Every so often I would feel how unreal it was – more like being in a staged zoo than in the wild enjoying close encounters with animals in their wild habitat.  I got to share the experience with a wonderful group of people which made it that much more exciting and fun.

Arriving in the Galapagos on Baltra Island

I had so many pictures and things I wanted to say that I have tried to categorize it a bit below instead of doing day by day.  I know I have left out a lot of things so I will have to tell you in person when I get back or we can compare notes when you go to the Galapagos Islands!

Our Boat

Our boat was the Yate Darwin (Darwin Yacht).  There were 16 passengers, plus our naturalist guide and the crew.  We shared cabins of two people.  The boat was considered an upgraded backpackers boat as it had hot showers!  Though it was basic, the facilities were clean and comfortable.  The mix of people was fantastic – mid-twenties to mid-forties.  All adventurous budget travellers.  We had a great time together!

Yate Darwin

Our guide, Sara and the eating area behind (and our mountain of backpacks on the first day)

My cabin on the first deck

It actually worked out that 5 people left the boat on Day 5 (including my cabin mate) and 4 new people joined for the last 4 days (you count day 5 twice).  The guy who was supposed to come and share my cabin never showed up, so for the last few days I got the cabin (and hence the lower berth) to myself!

The boat would usually anchor out in the bay and we would take the dingy into shore either for a dry landing (usually on rocks) or hop off into the water and wade to shore.  We always had to wear our life jackets.

Ready for exploration in the hot sun

Birds

Every island we visited had slightly different birds and animals. It was easiest to see the variations in the colour and size of the iguanas.  But also some birds were limited to certain islands because the landscapes provided for particular needs for breeding.  Many of the birds were in their breeding season and it was incredible how close we could get to them and their young.

Gulls flying along with our boat

Galapagos dove – note the red feet and turquoise around the eyes

Falcons

Masked booby feeding its baby

Male masked booby

The last waved albatross on the island – all the adults had already moved to other islands

Not sure what these are

Pelican riding the front of the boat

Heron hanging out with a mountain of iguanas

Adolescent frigate bird

Baby frigate bird

Male frigate bird showing off for the females

Another male show off

This time with a wing man

On our very last morning we managed to finally see a pair of Blue footed booby birds with the male doing his mating dance

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We even managed to see some flamingoes in the distance.

Snorkelling

Everyday we had at least one snorkelling excursion – usually two.  We would do one swim from shore exploring the shallow waters from the beach and another one in deep waters where we would jump off the dingy to usually explore around cliffs.

We saw so many animals – many varieties of fish and see life.

Fish eating off the side of the boat

The most dramatic though was getting to swim with sea lions, penguins, and even sharks.  The sea lions would swim close and dart away doing flips and spirals in the water.  We would try to imitate them and they would swim around us.  The penguins were so fast – like speeding torpedoes in the water.  You usually didn’t realize they were there until they swam away.  The sharks were small – only 4-6 feet long, and just ignored us.  The sea turtles were so graceful in the water.

The penguins were initially found above water

Our group tended to swim as a pod so we had lots of eyes to spot interesting animals, fish, sharks, or rays.

To give proper credit all the underwater pictures were taken by one of my cruise-mates, a fellow Canadian, Aviva with her waterproof camera.  As I didn’t originally plan to go to the Galapagos I wasn’t very prepared.

Devil’s Crown – our most challenging snorkelling location as we had to swim through strong currents

Our first snorkelling location

Giant Tortoises

On the day when some of our group left and new people joined we spent an entire day on Santa Cruz island.  In the morning we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station where they do some breeding as well as raising baby tortoises.  When eggs are laid in the wild, researchers go to the beaches where the tortoises lay their eggs and pick them up.  The eggs are incubated and raised at the research station for the first 7 years of their lives.  This enables them to grow up in a protected environment until they are no longer easy prey.  They are then released back to their native islands.  So all the giant tortoises now living in the wild on the islands were actually raised at the research station.  Most of the tortoises can live to be 150-200 years old.

Baby tortoises just born

After visiting the research station we visited a farm where there are many tortoises wandering around wild.  It is illegal to move or in any way interfere with a tortoise in the wild.  This is a problem for some farmers as they love to eat the crops!

A giant tortoise blocking the road

Getting up close with a massive male – he was about 1.5 meters across.

A male checking us out

He decided he didn’t like us to retreated into his shell

They bury themselves in mud to get away from mosquitoes and other insects

At the farm we had some fun playing with a shell of a deceased animal.  The shells weigh about 25kg and it is hard to walk on all fours in them!

When Darwin was in the Galapagos on his famous trip on the Beagle, there are tales of him riding the tortoises.  Of course this is now banned, but I did manage to find a lovely specimen to ride in the main port town, Puerto Ayora.

Riding a very giant tortoise in Puerto Ayora

Dolphins

On a couple of occasions we had dolphins who came and swam along side our boat, playing in the bow spray.  They were so much fun to watch.

Dolphin jumping

I have a video but unfortunately it is too big to upload.

Iguanas & Crabs

On every island there are different kinds of iguanas.  They vary a lot in colour and size and they are everywhere.  Walking down the path we had to be very careful not to step on the iguanas.

On all the beaches were colourful Sally Lightfoot Crabs.  They are very agile and can move vertically up rocks going backwards.  They were fascinating to watch and weren’t afraid of any of the other animals.

Sea Lions

By far the prize for the cutest animal that we saw goes to the sea lions and their babies.  It is their breeding season so there were sea lion babies everywhere.  The sea lion colonies are on almost every island and beach so they started in many photo shoots.  We were able to get very close.  We weren’t allowed to touch any of the babies though.  The mothers recognize the baby by its scent mostly.  If humans touch it that changes the scent and the mother will refuse to feed the baby.

We also got to see some fur seals playing in a small cove and sunning themselves on the beach.

Fur seals playing in the water if you look closely

Landscapes and Beaches

The animals were the overall stars of my time in the Galapagos but the stunning landscapes of the islands with their interesting geology and wonderful beaches came a close second.

Sea turtle tracks as it made its way up the beach to the dunes to lay eggs

Dunes where sea turtles laboured all night to dig the hole to lay their eggs

Cooled lava from an eruption 100 years ago

The cooled lava flow from 100 years ago

Trying to get off the dingy was challenging trying not to disturb the sea lions at their morning snooze

Puerto Ayora

We did get a break from the boat for an evening in Puerto Ayora which is the most populous town in the islands at 15,000 people.

They have a small fish market where not only humans shop for fish and sea food.  The humans are joined by sea lions and pelicans who are asking, noisily, for their share.

The fish market from the human side

The animals side

Puerto Ayora

A homeless sea lion on the municipal docks

 Further Explorations

This was a very active trip.  Besides all the hiking and snorkelling we did some other types of exploration.

All of the islands have been created in the last 9 million years from volcanic eruptions.   Many of the islands are still considered to be active.  In some the hot lava formed tunnels.  We were able to go into one of these and to walk through it.  Going deeper into the tunnel it filled with sea water and we were able to swim though it was very very cold.

Climbing over a boulder into the cold water in the dark lava tunnel

Exploring deeper into the lava tunnel by the light of many head lamps and camera flashes

One of the places we visited is called Post Office Bay.  When the islands were mostly used by pirates and other explorer types, they had an informal postal system.  They would leave messages in the post box and people passing by going to that part of the world would pick up the message and pass it along.  No postage needed though no guarantees on when you message would arrive.  This informal system is still in use by tourists.  If you leave a post card, you can pick up ones from where you live.  You either deliver them in person or by post when you return to your country.  I left a couple and have a few to deliver when I get home.

Overall the Galapagos was an extraordinary experience.  I was only able to see a small portion of the wondrous variety of wild life and scenery.  I will definitely be going back again.

Quito has proven to be a much more interesting city than I thought it would be.  In general I’m at the point in all the travelling I’ve done that big cities have little appeal (exceptions for biggies or ones with good history) and churches even less appeal.  So far I’ve really enjoyed wandering around the old part of Quito.

This morning for a change of pace I took the Teleferico (cable car) to a high point on the local volcano (Quito is at 2800m and the cable car goes up to 4000m).  The idea is to get a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy so the cable car went up through the clouds and the top of the volcano was covered.  It was surprisingly chilly at the top.

Teleferico going up the volcano

The side of the volcano covered in clouds

The hills around Quito (not the llamas – my first siting!)

Quito view blocked by the clouds

From the viewpoint you can do a 3km hike to the top of the volcano that also takes you to an elevation of 4680m.  I really wanted to try the hike but the path was covered in clouds not to mention being alone at that elevation doing heavy exercise is probably not a good idea.

The path to the top of the volcano.

One of my major goals in travelling totally solo this time was to get over my mild fear of strangers (yes I can be shy/reserved).  Today has been a great leap forward in breaking through that.  I met a very nice Australian gent in the cable car down and we ended up wandering around most of the day together.  We went to the Museo Nacional (National Museum) to see the great collection of pre-Columbian artifacts.  Very fascinating but unfortunately just too much stuff to really soak it all in and process it all.  It was nice though that the signs were all in English.  There was an entire series of rooms dedicated to all the gold artifacts.  Very impressive.

Sculptures at the National Museum

Gold mask

As we walked to the old town we were joined by a couple of young women who were trying to find there way there.  As a group we wandered the old town a bit and grabbed some lunch.

Comparing notes for our guidebooks (they were all the same Lonely Planet)

Apple juice that had the consistency of apple sauce

Ecuatorial version of tobogganing – ride a skate board down an incline on the street

After parting ways with the young women we went to another museum of pre-Columbian artifacts which was very good.  I’ve been trying to visit it for the past two days but it was closed (wrong info in the guidebook!).  Fascinating to learn about the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous peoples.

I think I’m getting addicted to this talking to strangers thing as I’ve also found a couple in my hostel who are on the same boat for the Galapagos and I’m going to the Equator line with another guy tomorrow.  Who knew strangers weren’t so scary!?

Steps: 18,106, Distance: 12.55 km, Floors: 71

After all the socializing and wandering I’m now exhausted and sun burned.