day 7: hiking in Cajas National Park!

es no broma!! Map, compass, navigation skills and acclimatization required!

While in Baño drinking cerveza and practicing my Spanish with Lucia, a german guy sat down next to us who had just biked 60 km into town!  He was a nice guy, and fluent in Spanish, so he quickly became part of our conversation.  We discussed all sorts of things, and how they differ among Germany, Ecuador, and the US.  And Lucia and I jealously heard about his travels all around the world over the next year. 

And fortunately for me, he was headed to Cuenca next as well.  I really wanted to hike in Cajas National Park, but knew it was unsafe for me to do so alone.  After hearing about his 60 km bike ride, I figured he’d be game for a good hike!  We met up Sat night in Cuenca for beer and decided to hike the Inca Trail-- a nice, long ~20 km hike.

In the morning, we jumped on the bus towards Guayaquil.  After both being solicited by Jehovah witnesses on the bus with a pamphlet that asked “¿Será possible que los muertos vuelvan a vivir?,” we jumped off the bus at the trailhead.  We loaded up on a high energy breakfast, Ecuador style:  carne con arroz y plantains.  And, of course, ají.

 

We set off on the Inca trail towards Laguna Luspa, the first of many beautiful lakes along our hike.  

 

We were relieved to see trail markers, as we’d both heard that route finding in the park can be difficult.  But we spoke too soon.  As we reached the first creek crossing with a gorgeous water fall, the markers ran out.

So we were probably on “trail” for no more than a kilometer of the hike.  The rest was bushwacking and route finding fun over rolling terrain covered with breath-taking lakes

Mountains

Flora

And alpacas y llamas!!

Literally breath taking!  Or maybe that was because we were at 12-13,000 feet, breathing cold, thin air….

Fortunately, we reconnected with the "trail" just in time for the cold rain

 

All in all, it was a fun adventure hiking in Cajas!!

Day 6: homestay in Cuenca

On Saturday, I made the ~6 hour journey by bus from Riobamba to Cuenca.  Besides some slight motion sickness from my attempts to do my Spanish homework as the bus drove quickly among curvy mountain roads, the ride went smoothly.  I enjoyed the scenery and a very dramatic action flick dubbed in Spanish.  But most importantly, all my stuff and I arrived safely in Cuenca!  And we even had a bathroom stop (a luxury in the Ecuadorian bus system)!! Very thankful for that after demasiado jugo y té en la mañana …

I arrived at my homestay and rang the doorbell.  A young boy’s voice came on the intercom “¿quien?”  When I told him my name, the gate clicked open.  I was greeted by a sweet young boy, who gave me a tour of my new home for the week and quickly jumped into conversation.  He asked me all sorts of questions, and told me all about Cuenca and Ecuador-- its history and its people.  Then suddenly we were on to superheroes and the movie Happy Gilmore.  The discussion of Happy Gilmore quickly became a game of charades as he acted out scenes from the movie while I tried to figure out what the heck he was doing.  Oooooh….he’s swinging a golf club! 

The boy spoke rapidly and jumped from subject to subject in the way that excited children often do.  He was clearly a smart kid and excited to host a new guest, but I was having trouble keeping up.  The kid was literally bouncing off the walls.  It was endearing, but I finally had to ask him to slow down.  "Más tranquila por favor."  To which he responded by a face-palm and an eye-roll.  And then he sarcastically started talking reeeeeaaaalllyyy  sloooowly.  Awww, kids…got to love them. 

While we waited for my host mom to come home, he showed me his Lego cannon. Super cool!  I hid behind a pillow and held up a target for him while he launched Legos at me.  It was super fun, and it gave me a chance to practice phrases like “mas alto” y “mas largo.”  And when the rubber band mechanism eventually broke, I got to play with Legos and help him fix it. :) I wish I had made things that cool with Legos when I was a kid!

When my host mom came home from work, she showed me all around town.  Like her son, you could tell how proud she was of her city.  And I don’t blame them.  Cuenca is a beautiful city full of history.  I already liked it far more than any of the other large cities I had been to in Ecuador.  So when asked how I liked Cuenca in comparison to Quito, it was easy to respond with “me gusta mucho, me gusta mas que Quito!”

She brought me to a local bakery that had an amazing assortment of pan…an assortment that would rival bakeries in France!  Then we went to the market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs.  There was an incredible variety of produce, including things I had never even seen before.  And of course, there were guinea pigs for sale.  Cuy, as they are known in Spanish because of the sound they make, are a delicacy in Ecuador.  Everyone here loves it and I am looking forward to trying it!  When in Rome, right?!

After stopping at a restaurant for hot chocolate and tamales, my host mom drove me around historical Cuenca, proudly pointing out all of the sights. As a highly Catholic city, there were countless beautiful churches, so many that I wonder if it can compete with Rome for number of churches per area.  If not, it certainly can for number of churches per capita!  Christmas decorations are already up and everything closes on Sundays!!   

Driving through the center of town, we spotted fireworks and stopped to admire the show.   While standing in the beautiful square, watching fireworks, I thought to myself: “Ahhh si, me gusta Cuenca.  Me gusta mucho…”

Day 5: mountain biking down volcán Chimborazo

A ~58 km ride down the Chimborazo volcano and along the former trans-American highway, passing by Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuñas and through remote indigenous communities!!

GoPro videos of the ride to follow...

Llama!

Exposure of the tephra from previous eruptions! :)

 Vicuñas (a close relative of Llamas and Alpacas)

The barren volcanic landscape is almost reminiscent of mars...

More Vicuñas...and a baby :)

Hiked up to the Whymper Hut @ 5,000 m, but were not fortunate enough to get clear weather. :/  The summit of Chimborazo is up ahead, I swear!

 Whymper Hut, named after the guy who was the first to summit the volcano.

The highest altitude for me yet: ~16500 feet!

We made it!  

A slight break in the clouds and a glimpse the summit.  

 

My Spanish teacher Lucia and I:

 Dedications to all of the people who have lost their life on the mountain

Hot soup, chocolate and sandwiches hit the spot after the cold hike!

  
Our bike ride started at the Carrel Refuge at 4850 m (15,912 ft)

 

and continued down a former section of the Pan-American Highway!

 

The end of our ride: the city of Ambato @ 2600 m (8530 ft)

And of course no Ecuadorian day would be complete without cerveza and Ají (which I discovered tonight even makes pizza better!)

Day 4: "bushwacking" Ecuador style

Less cactus, more trespassing!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  What the heck were we doing romping through fields outside Riobamba?!?

We left Baños at 7 am to head to Riobamba.  I was tired and sore (from climbing and not enough sleep), but excited for bike riding down the slopes of the Chimborazo volcano!  And the sun was finally peaking through the clouds, so the weather was looking like it was going to be perfect!

Thanks to the clear weather, I had beautiful views of the Tungurahua volcano.  Tungurahua is an active stratovolcano just outside of Baños that last erupted in July!  Fortunately, there was no major activity of the volcano while I was there...

 

And as we approached Riobabma, we had great views of Chimborazo (the highest peak in Ecuador @ ~20,500 feet):

Seeing the peak, I was getting super excited for my bike ride down it's slopes: 35 miles of riding from the refuge at ~16,000 feet to the city of Ambato at 8500 feet!!  A little climbing, but mostly downhill through beautiful landscapes!

However, when we arrived in Riobamba, we found out that the school never made the reservations with the agency. :/  So we had to change the plans around so that I could do the ride tomorrow, staying an extra night in Riobamba.  

Trying to make phone calls and discuss how to rearrange my plans in Spanish along the busy, noisy streets of Riobamba, I found myself for the first time extremely frustrated. Can we just speak in English for a minute?!?!? It was stressful to try to figure out all of the logistics, and between my comprehension and the noise, I was having trouble understanding what was going on.  Although I had only just arrived, I was already ready to get out of this city!  

So when my teacher asked me, "que quiere hacer" (what do you want to do), without hesitation, I answered "quiero caminar" (I want to hike!).  I bet she's starting to wonder if I ever want to do anything else!  She's a trouper though...

So we returned to the travel agency to get recommendations on hikes.  While I was discussing the ride tomorrow, I missed most of the conversation, but it sounded like my teacher received information on a great hike to a lookout over a lake outside of town.  I didn't realize that "hike" was clearly being used a bit loosely....

We arrived in the town of Colta and headed down a dirt road towards the hills.  My teacher told me that this town is where the historical Quito was located before the Spanish arrived.  There were many old, deserted buildings that made it feel like a ghost town. 

  

However, soon we were in the countryside, surrounded by farmland cultivated by indigenous Kichwans.

And soon my teacher was heading off through the farmland.  Apparently, the only way to the peak we were headed to was directly through the fields!  

 

The American in me felt bad the entire time...I kept asking her "Esta bien?!?"  The dogs, pigs, sheep, roosters, and donkeys (yes, donkeys!) announced our presence at every new residence, making me feel like a trespasser!  Although I couldn't help but be a bit amused inside over the sound of the donkeys....

And the views were well worth it!

When we made it to the top, we stopped to have lunch, and I ate by far the weirdest sandwich ever!  I had ordered an Italian sandwich, but instead I received a "vegetarian" sandwich.  Which consisted of 2 kinds of canned olives, canned mushrooms, canned corn, lettuce, tomato and cheese with enough mayo to make Jimmy John's sandwiches seem healthy!! I have to say it was pretty gross, but I was happy to have food and take in the views nonetheless...

 

Despite an admittedly frustrating day, we definitely made the most of it.  

Ice cream and some good laughs this evening over a "hola guapa" (incidentally the first word in Spanish I ever learned...turns out tall blond women turn heads in Ecuador) and seeing aerobics in the park also didn't hurt ;)

Excited for actually doing the bike ride tomorrow and hoping the weather holds up!