Advertisement
Published: February 21st 2007
Hosteria La Cienega
Traveling buds.
Norris, Cristie, Deb, Brian We have decided to travel with our friends Brian and Deb on a ten day trip from Cuenca to Quito to Misahualli to Banos and back to Cuenca. Brian is at the wheel, I am doing the navigating. They have a very comfortable Ford Explorer we will be driving the heck out of for the next 10 days or so. We will be traveling the first half or the trip on the Avenue of Volcanoes. We head early out of Cuenca on a typically hazy day that the Andean foothills are likely to have. Not a great day for photos. We do snap a few though. The farmland we pass through is green and lush. The indigenous of Ecuador are terrific farmers, using every available inch of land to grow the huge variety of fruits and vegetables. The steep sided fields look like only a mountain goat could tread there. And I’m sure that the dairy cows that graze on the slopes have two legs longer than the others just to keep from toppling over. It is amazing to see a very old woman with a baby strapped to her back, wielding a hoe, and weeding the furrows of the
Central Highlands
Farming at 12,000 ft flourishing crops. Occasionally we see a tractor plowing a somewhat flat field (there are few flat fields in this country). Often seen are one or two people working a field by hand and every once in a while we see an entire village working together in a cooperative effort. Many of these communities pool their resources for a more effective return. It is common for a village to purchase a truck to move produce and goods into town or pack 20 standing people in the back to go to town on market days.
Our first stop of the day is about four hours out of Cuenca, in the colorful town of Alausi, with a tree lined central avenue and large statue of San Pedro looking down on the people. The town is small, but vibrant, with the uniformed students out at mid-day for lunch. Alausi is a hub for the area with buses loaded down with people, produce, and roof riding sheep. We grab a typical three course lunch of chicken soup, grilled beef with rice, cake, and tree tomato juice. All for only $1.25. The tree tomato is not really a tomato, but it does resemble a roma
tomato in shape. It has a slightly purple skin and meat like a sour plum. It is never eaten like a fruit, but made into juice, sauce, or jam. It is quite delicious. Just a quick note on currency, in 1999-2000, there was hyper-inflation in Ecuador and it was decided to adopt the US dollar as a means to help stabilize the situation. Since that time the dollar is the official form of currency here. If you are from the states, you may remember the Sacajawea one dollar coin, in the US we rarely use them , but here they are everywhere. The image on the front of the coin of Sacajawea with her baby on her back, is an image that we see daily throughout the entire length of the Andean highlands.
Our next stop will be the national landmark of Hosteria La Cienega, a huge stone mansion that was built in the 1600’s, and is now a great hotel and restaurant. The grounds abound with fountains and flowers. We arrived just before dusk and with enough time to unload the Explorer and have a drink in front of the wood stove before dinner. Service is great here
Chapel
Hosteria La Cienega with several of the staff being second and third generation. Rooms are $30 per person which includes breakfast and a fireplace that is lit for you after dinner. The next morning I got up early to take some pics of the grounds and I met a guy from Oklahoma who was climbing all the major volcanic peaks and using the hacienda as his recoup spot between climbs. Ecuador has numerous world class peaks and trekking for the adventurous.
Day two we decided to drive half of the 10 hour Latacunga loop. This highly recommended drive takes us through highland scenery, where llamas become more frequent and roads become much worse. Our goal for today is the half way mark and the Black Sheep Inn. Note: when driving in Ecuador, a road map is essential, but becomes useless because of the lack of signage on the roads. Be prepared to stop frequently when entering and exiting towns to ask for directions. I recommend only asking directions from those people with cars and not by someone leading a llama. The drive goes through some amazing countryside and some extremely high altitude areas well above the tree line. Up high some of
House Made of Straw
Located on the Latacunga Loop the houses look like hay stacks and living looks very stark. We gave a package of cookies to a couple of young kids who were ecstatic and ran back to their house/haystack with arms waving their prize furiously. Finally to the Black Sheep Inn, run by a couple from the states, they have rooms and cottages available for $25 per person including both breakfast and dinner. All the food is organic and much of it is grown on the property. They have a common building where everyone gathers for meals, a library and book exchange, and internet. They can also help you with any excursions you desire. Cristie of course wanted to use the 500 ft zip line and I was there to take a photo, but she went by so fast, all I captured was the stupid wire.
The next morning we were off to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, but first the other half of the loop. Again, outstanding scenery, more volcanoes, bad roads, scenic trout laden rivers, and cobble stoned villages. Quito is a large colonial city with spring like weather all year and frequent rain. It rests almost on the equator at an altitude of
9252 ft, at the base of the Volcano Pichincha. The city has an old area that has preserved its architecture and charm, and a new area where there is great shopping and dining. We stayed in the new area of La Mariscal, at a hotel named Casa del Sol for the first night, but left because Brian and Deb’s camera was stolen out of their room. We found a cute little hotel around the corner called Hostal Alcala. Rooms were $16 a night including a pancake breakfast and internet. The nightlife in the area and quality of restaurants is probably the best in Ecuador. The next morning we went to El Ejido Park where there is and art show every weekend. We didn’t buy anything, although the prices seemed great, but we did go to the arts and crap area and buy some gifts for friends and family. Every Sunday the main avenue is closed to traffic and the bicycles rule. People from two to eighty two ride their bikes and stroll along the street or stop to eat at the few sidewalk cafes. Since we haven’t had decent Tex Mex in over a year, we strolled into Red Hot
Chili Peppers, an authentic flavored and relaxing place to eat and have a margarita and nachos. Just down the street from there is the Magic Bean, with one of the best breakfast I have eaten in Ecuador. We had dinner at Siam, a Thai place, that also serves fresh sushi. The old town has some beautiful buildings of colonial architecture and fabulous churches. We climbed to the top of the steeple at La Basilica church, which is perched above the city and is illuminated at night. To get to the top, a wooden bridge of suspect design traverses the rafters from the towers to the center of the church, then we have to climb three very steep metal ladders to arrive at the top of the steeple. None of which would be approved by OSHA. From here we have a great view of the Virgin of Quito and the entire capital.
Next stop, the Amazon basin. We leave early out of Quito on the road to Misahualli, a gateway jungle town and the last stop before the roads end and all travel is by dugout canoes. About two hours out of Quito the road goes over the Papallacta Pass,
this is where the Amazon basin begins. The road drops sharply and passes through stunning scenery and numerous waterfalls. It was a hazy day and at these altitudes, the cloud forest was thick. Our destination is the Napo river and a quick trip down this main tributary that eventually flows into the mighty Amazon. The girls find (after Brian & I failed several times) a gem of a place to stay in Misahualli, the Inn of France Amazonia. This little inn is run by an engaging French expat couple (that speak English) named Bernardo and Francisca. The grounds are full of fruit trees and flowers with a nice cool pool to fight the humidity, which is fairly low this time of the year. The price of the rooms were $16 per night including breakfast with three kinds of marmalade made from the exotic fruits trees found on the property. We had wine by the pool, overlooking the Rio Napo and dinner in the village. Not many choices for food but we chose a Tex Mex restaurant where the owner was more interesting than the food and he sat and talked with us most of the night. Cristie fed a hungry
Carrots
Wsahing and bagging carrots in the stream. dog leftovers while our host wasn’t looking. We watched monkeys in the square but were warned they would pick your pocket, steal your hat and wear your glassed if you were not careful.
Bernardo set us up with a river guide that night who took us down the Napo the next morning to a small village with a museum to display traditional types of hunting traps that they use for their daily needs. We then learned to use a blow gun and test our skill at hitting a wooden toucan at 100 ft. Brian hit the toucan both times (what do you expect, he’s Australian), Cristie hit the tree twice Deborah hit the jungle and they are still looking for my darts. Back on the river to an animal sanctuary developed to rehabilitate and release animals of all kinds, birds and reptiles. The habitat accepts volunteers who are willing to work hard and pay $100 a month for their meals. A lot of nice looking young people from all over the world were doing just that. Back on the river, life was interesting. Fishermen throwing nets, women washing clothes, children playing at the waters edge and dugout canoes filled
with produce and the occasional tourist. An exotic land and people. While we were eating lunch on the bank a huge tree came crashing down not to far from us. I thought it was an elephant coming through the jungle. But alas, there are no elephants here. Two more hours in the boat, getting back to have a dip in the pool and a nap before going out for Cristie’s B-Day dinner. About 20 minutes away is the largest town in the area called Tena. Not a lot to see and do but we were surprised to find one of the best restaurants we’ve been to yet. The food was terrific at $6 for a fantastic 12 oz. Filet mignon (this area is known for their beef) and Cristie had a seafood grill with a lobster, sea bass, four huge shrimp and a whole red snapper that could have truly fed the whole table for $15. It was a good B-Day for Cristie and we all had a great time! The next morning we went to a butterfly habitat on the way out of town. We saw the entire process of the egg-larvae-worm- chrysalis-butterfly-egg. Very interesting! We also saw some
Alausi
San Pedro overlooking the city very large beetles, spiders, poison dart frogs, and deadly snakes.
The road to Banos goes through sugar cane fields and is interspersed with waterfalls and gorgeous valleys. Just outside of Banos we saw bridge bungee jumpers and a cable car that was run by an old car engine with a man working the clutch, accelerator and gears manually. The cable car goes over the rivers ravine and over a 140 ft. waterfall. We did this for a cost of $1 and a couple of prayers. The town of Banos is located close to the base of Volcano Tungurahua where it has been emitting some ash. The day after we left it had a major ash and rock eruption. Some neighboring villages were evacuated. Good timing for us. Banos is a colorful and vibrant town. Very picturesque. We shopped and ate and watched one of the many parades we see all over Ecuador. Ecuadorians love their parades and here we found a youth soccer league having their evening parade led by each teams King & Queen. Very cute. We stayed at a great little hotel run by a couple from the states called Hostal Posada del Arte. Rooms were $16
Volcano Chimborazo
An impressive 20,571 ft a night including a fantastic breakfast. They have a couple of nice patios to sit on and view one of the waterfalls that comes off of the volcano. At the base of the waterfall, the water is diverted to a hot swimming pool on one side, and a public clothes washing area on the other. People flock to this area to relax in the hot mineral baths, hike the volcano, or raft down the river. Cristie & I will be back for some rafting maybe when Gabe is here.
The next morning we got up and drove up the adjacent mountain to get a better look at Tungurahua, but the clouds were too heavy. We did get great views of Banos and the valley below. This is some of the steepest farming I have ever seen. Its hard for me to believe people, live work, play, and worship in such high altitudes with such extreme slopes. You have to be in great physical shape to walk around this part of the country.
The following day we had a nice relaxing drive back to Cuenca and past a very cool scene. In a small village we drove through the
entire community was involved in the picking, washing, and bagging of carrots. Everyone is standing in the stream full of carrots. People trimming them, others are washing them and finally, others are bagging them and handing them up to be loaded on a truck to go to market. One of my favorite pictures!
Until next time.
Love,
Norris & Cristie
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0352s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
