Christmas in Cuenca - Ecuador

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It was a grueling 37hrs to reach Quito, yikes and to think I need to do that trip twice more when I return to NZ in March. Although I was rather shattered on arrival I managed to book a trip the following day, and thank goodness I did because it was a real highlight. It was a trip to the Otavalo markets, very famous market of the region. My private tour guide was from Belgium had been living in Quito for many years and very widely traveled so we had much to chat about. We stop at various places; Calderon to see little hand made figures, the side of the road to try some local fruit called Chirimoya, and at Cayamge to try a local biscuit (Bizcochos) eaten with cheese, they were piping hot from the oven. The valley we drove up was very pretty; patch work fields surrounded by volcano’s, the road is called the Valley of the Volcano’s. The main market was full of handicrafts which were good to see, especially with all the Indian´s dressed in traditional clothing and since it was a regional market they were all very different. But I really enjoyed strolling through the local produce and meat market. Since the lady could speak Spanish she chatted away and I got to try; cheese, corns, juice and I also made a few purchases. After lunch we headed to the Cucocha Volcano crater lake, it was very pretty walk and shrouded in mist. We fought through a lot of traffic to get back into Quito, it became clear why later when I was walking up to the supermarket… people running with shirts over their faces. And then my eyes were burning along with the back of my throat, it was teargas! Some students had staged a protest that had been broken up by the police, needless to say I hightailed it back to the hotel.

The following day I wandered into the old town and strolled around, very Spanish obviously - churches, plazas, monasteries, etc. I met up with the group that evening and went to a Tex-Mex place for dinner, very Ecuadorian NOT. I went home early but the rest stay out boozing and then saw nothing of Quito; I suppose we are all traveling for different reasons. Once guy picked-up a local woman and took her back to the hotel, she proceeded to rob him of his camera and i-pod, school boy error. I got up super early and headed up the cable car and got an amazing view of Quito, 4100m high, the city is nestled in a valley between multiple volcano’s, so you could see all the surrounding peaks.

On this tour we are traveling by private bus, it is an absolute beast, it is actually a truck-bus, HUGE. But very comfortable with lots of stuff on board. We arrived in at Banos, just for one evening before heading into the jungle - Mishualli. The drive there was a little hair raising server drops to deep valleys and then through jungle areas. The road was pretty good in most places since oil companies are in there destroying the jungle. On arrival we headed to the river side, I didn’t swim as the current was too strong for me and to be honest the water didn’t look terribly clean. The boys played a game of football with the local boys, we held our own considering most of them played rugby. We were in Mishualli to start our trip into the Amazon jungle, although it was the Amazon jungle we were no where near the Amazon River. Our Amazon guide was called, Wilfred! Brilliant local jungle name. We all got provided with gumboots, when I tried them on for size, there was something tickling my toes, I quickly removed the gumboot to discover a massive spider, as big as my hand. CRIPES, Wilfred quickly assured me it was not poisonous, thank goodness. The walk through the jungle was pretty tough and very sweaty, humidity was very high, not many birds were around but lots of insects including the leaf cutter ants which are amazing little creatures. 20mins out from the lodge we stayed in it absolutely teamed down with rain, never seen so much rain in all my life. But you could really go for a walk in the rain forest without it raining. Soak through to the bone within seconds, made the decent into the lodge very interesting, I managed to stay on my feet. That evening after been shown a big hairy tarantula, we went for a night canoe trip. The noises from the jungle were so loud and it was airy floating down the river looking at the reflection of the canopy. When we got back to the lodge the local Sharman was there. They had lit a huge bonfire and he was drinking up and smoking, he picked a few people to cleanse their souls, I didn’t get chosen. I had a good nights sleep, with the help of some sleeping aids, most of the others didn’t, one poor girl discovered a large flying ant nest 30cms from her head! The following morning we went to visit a local school, which was great the little kids were gorgeous. We also played around with local paint made from berries, Wilfred drew a scorpion on my cheek, very tribal! After another walk we made a 3hr journey back in a motorized canoe, at one point we all had to jump out and drag the canoe up a small rapid… all good fun.

It was a full day travel back to Banos, we did a very quick walking tour of the town, it is very quant. I went out drinking with the group that evening, “joining” and all that. Had a dance around and all in all, an ok evening. Woke up feeling rather rubbish, but pulled it together for a volcano - bike trip that day, found out it was cancelled as the road was closed. I went back to bed. The following day we did a walk up to the volcano look out point, it was so cloudy there was nothing to see. Next stop was Cuenca, on the way we stopped at some Inca ruins, very interesting. The King in those times had 8-12 year old girls as his concubines, and once they came of age, they were sent back to their families! There were tones of beggars out on the roads, the kids hold up string or plastic bags tied together across the road to try and get cars to stop and give them money. They also run out in front of cars hoping for them to stop, very dangerous, especially given the size of our truck-bus. The drive itself was stunning greenness of the country side wide valleys, very pretty. Everyone was very over excited about Christmas Eve. While the girls went out and got their hair done, I went and bought myself a Christmas present, a 1 caret Emerald from Colombia, delightful … bling, bling. Christmas Eve dinner was at an Arabic place, the food was very average, rather a strange choice. I went home after that, the others stayed out. I was up early Christmas morning to have a look around Cuenca, it was a very pretty town, colonial buildings and churches with a babbling brook flanking it, the old town is a UNESCO world heritage site. I wandered the streets, visited a few markets and went into the main Cathedral, they had a mariachi type band playing in there which was good. Then just before noon they had a crazy parade through the middle of town, kids dressed up like nativity scene, wise men, clowns, senoritas on horses and floats, madness, great! For Christmas we had nibbles and sangria which I had put together, we also had secret Santa. It all got a bit boozy and we ended up in some bar dancing away. Needless to say the next day, a very long drive to Peru, was painful.

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So that was Ecuador, Kara and Jonson will soon be catching up with me, very much looking forward to that!

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