On our walk around the city yesterday, we found ourselves in the middle of a rather large demonstration of Indigenous folks in Parque Central in front of the Province of Azuay Administrative building. A pretty fiery speech and speaker condemned the Government for signing the oil drilling legislation, argued it was in part the fault of the USA and demanded the saving of Yasuni National Park. We understand that there were similar and larger demonstrations in other arts of the country as well. Here is the story in brief from Ecuador Times: Protests in defense of the Yasuni in several cities" (escrito el agosto 28, 2013 / 13:43 a las 13:43).* Hundreds of farmers and indi... read more

Canar is the homeland of the Canari people. They date back to before the Inca people and, obviously outlasted them. We suspect that Canar is 97+% Canari. and the rest are mestizo. Traditional dress, especially on market day is predominant as is the Canari language. Every Sunday, Canari farmers and village dwellers flock to the market to sell everything from grain to sheep to pigs and chickens to clothing, especially the signature cinturon (belt). Actually the belts are sold from the jail for the most part and, sadly it was closed when we went. Canar is only a few minutes away from the Ingapirca Inca ruins, the largest and most intact in Ecuador. It is also a place that was originally a Canari religious site. The day we went to Canar to visit the market had ... read more

In out blog about the Amazon and Yasuni National Park we said we thought it would not be long before the Sani lost the battle with big oil. Well it came a lot sooner than we expected. We are sending this link so you can read it for yourselves: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23722204. Please take a look at this. Just copy and paste into your browser. The USA was one of the nations that declined to help keep the oil in the ground and therefore will be complicit in the eventual loss of one of the most bio diverse places on earth. We can only be grateful that we got to see it before it disappears forever. Ciao....... read more

Today was a glorious day to walk and walk we did....all day! First we were off to the Pumapungo Archeological Park, a place where first the Canari people and later the Inca developed an absolutely wonderful hilltop setting (hopefully to become the Cuzco of the north) overlooking the entire Cuenca valley, the Tomebamba river and surrounding mountains that now define Cuenca(means bowl in Spanish). The entire hill is crossed with terracing where LLama feed, a beautiful flower and vegetable garden grows and a small lake sits. All of the plants grow here naturally and, combined with an almost permanent excess of water there were a stone irrigation system, warming pools for bathing and (still today) clean drinkable water. We started out from our place on Gran Columbia and walked down to the steps that reach the ... read more

Ever had one of those days when nothing really worked out like you planned it or thought it would? Well, today was one for us. We finally started feeling better a couple days ago after a long walk to the Museum of Culture (sorry no photos allowed) and spent a few hours. Had a nice lunch at a small place called El Maize (Corn). Wonderful roast pork and sweet potato pancakes. Delicious! Walking back we ended p in a place called the “Coffee Tree” and finished the day with cappuccinos…very good ones. We came home and decided we would get up early (before 9am) and catch a bus to two towns south of here, Gualaceo and Chordeleg. Gualaceo is noted for it’s outdoor Artisan Market and Chordeleg for its silver and gold jewelry making. So began ... read more