The first days...Jess & Jared

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It has taken me just over three weeks to get this thing started...so where to begin?
In Ecuador each city is the same, yet very distinct.
Picture walking along noisy, cobble-stone streets inhaling the delicious scents of meats roasting over the open flames while trying to ignore the air of car exuast. You get onto a bus and the journey itself becomes an adventure. At every stop people get on to sell you bags of fruit, empanadas out of baskets, ice cream out of coolers, jewelery...and well then if the bus driver decides he wants to stop you may very well stay while he enjoys a cup of coffee.
Jared and I spent a few nights having cold cervezas in Quito and then meandered on down to the jungle, which we entered from Tena. Our native guide, Daniel, was as informative as he was adventurous. Our canyonning trip (rappeling down slick rock faces and jumping from waterfalls) would not have been complete without the help of two native boys who had never been...and they were our safety. We went to sleep that night to the sound of a rain that did not stop until well into the morning. We were then joined by 3 Ecuadorian/American boys for a day of white water rafting. The flip happened early on in the trip and had everyone chanting :otra flip: By the end of the afternoon everyone was devising ways to throw another overboard. Our day did not end there...the three of us hiked up for an hour to a house lit only by candlelight. There Daniel wisked up a dinner in the kitchen´s fireplace and completed it with a box of Chilean wine. No wonder the hike up made Jared and I feel like a couple of fat kids..we were hauling everything but an actual kitchen sink! Falling aleep to the sounds of frogs, bats flapping and the elusive tucans was only interruted by the ocassional beat from a far off discoteca. Our final day in the jungle was a day of learning. We learned about the medicinal, practical and playful uses of the plants and animals in the jungle before our hike back down.
With almost no time to spare we were back on a bus...in shorts (a rarity) and covered in dirt to get to Quito.
Northbound...
Almost as soon as we arrived in Otavalo, the indigenous market capital of the country, Jared fell ill. I was left to explore the town alone and get a taste of what the next few months of travels would be like. As we arrived there had been what I thought was a large market, it filled an entire plaza. However, when I awoke on Saturday morning the market had filled all the streets around us. There were hammocks and shaws made of the most vivid fabrics I have ever seen, jewelery, trinkets, glistening vegetables, ripe meats...and all sold by the people from the surrounding villages, who are a sight themselves. The women all posses a look of year-year, regardless of ther age, in their felt hats, brightly embroidered skirts, tall dark socks, glowing shaws and sparkling necklaces.
Jared started feeling better with one day left in the area, so we took a taxi cab to Parque Condor to see the elusive beastly birds. A splendid air show was put on by the birds and then we left to the waiting taxi of Manolo and his grandson. The four of us drove out to the nearby lake, which was actually located in the crater of an extinct volcano. Seeing as Jared had lost his tennis shoes in the previous days, we only embarked on a short hike around the ridge...and both felt the power of the altitude difference. Manolo brought us to a lovely resturant and the two of them joined us for a small meal. It was interrupted by his wife´s phone calls...he did not realize there were cuy, or guinea pigs, being roasted at the house for lunch.
Our trip back to Quito was uneventful and Jared got back home without a hitch...leaving me to the wind.

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Comments

[momma]

first days...
this is exciting. can't wait to read and read love you most

[Catherine Snell]

Pictures
Love this picture. Handsome and beautiful. Loved all the pictures. Your grandma gave me the website and I enjoyed looking at all your adventures. Love, Catherine