things to do in riobamba - part II

i set off to find tickets for the train ride
to the nariz de la diablo
(the devil´s nose)
after a brief search within the old ramshackle train station
i found the office in one of the rooms
amidst piles of crumbling brick
and fallen rafters
paying for a ticket
i went on to look for a place for breakfast the next morning
as it would be an early morning
wandering around the city
i retraced my steps
found galo´s tour agency
but it was closed
also found the bakery with the pan de crema
there were no fresh ones
but with 2 left over from the day before
t'was good enough for me
so i bought one
and it tasted just as good!
i bought some more fresh bread at another bakery
learned that the montecarlo cafe opened at 5:30am
from this lady working at the exchange booth
in the hotel by the same name
(she had the most remarkably vibrant green eyes
that made me wonder
if such a colour could exist naturally
or if she was wearing coloured contacts)
visited a church or two
sitting down within one
that had wooden carvings every where
to admire the beauty
and take a few discrete photos
whilst the few locals within
prayed and offered devoutions to god
i then walked to the iberica supermercado
to get some more ham
(the very same jamon especiales from the day before
"special ham" for those un-spanishized)
for the next day
during this little walk
i got somewhat lost
tho i was within 2 blocks the entire time
i simply could not find
the darn store
and stopped to ask for directions many times
then i head off to a restaurant
suggested in the lonely planet
as having good pizza...
marcelo´s was open
tho one would never have been able to tell
as they didn´t have anything on their menu
except for pizza
and the lights were almost all off
i ordered a medium marcelo's special
and the pizza turned out to be surprisingly good
all things considered
and i wolfed down the entire thing
trotting the 5 blocks back to los shyris afterwards
(i still have yet to figure out what that means)
i hit the internet cafe again
to kill some time
and use up some more hours again
(i´d bought 10 hours for 5 bucks
and by god,
i intended to use it all up!)
the next morning
i left the hotel at 5:15am
waited at the montecarlo till 5:30am
and when it didn´t open
made a quick trip over to the train station
and checked to see if there was any other food available
(there wasn't)
headed back to the montecarlo
to give them one last chance
and as i walked up this second time
i was hailed by the owner-waiter
who was driving up in his truck
apparently there were people inside already
getting ready for the day
and i sat down at 5:42am
the first patron
i was pleasantly surprised
(almost shocked!)
when they had my food
prepped and out in less than 5 minutes
including the bacon
(amazing!)
meanwhile
dozens of other people streamed in
obviously also going on the train ride
i made the train station a few minutes after 6am
and discovered that the roofs of the boxcars
were already packed
tho most of the people were at the back
near the front
i found quite a few vacant "seats"
(or empty areas along the rails)
and i hunkered down
after renting a couple of pillows to sit on
the train left fairly on time at 7am
but the air was cold
and would remain breath-showing cold
until past 9am that morning
as heavy clouds obscured the sun
and stole its warmth
thank god for gortex
tho i was sorely missing
my thermal leggings
(which i had decided not to wear
because it was so warm the day before)
as the wind managed to cut through
my pants with fair ease
it didn´t help
that i only had ankle length socks on
(the were the only clean ones i had left)
at the first stop
a number of people retreated to the caboose
unable to take the cold
and as we passed through the town
it was surreal to see
busloads of european and american tourists
taking photos and videos
of US!
then again
i suppose it´s quite a sight
to see a rickety train pulling boxcars
loaded with tourists on the roof
chugging away through some village in the andes
:)
along the way
we passed children
in singletons
and en masse
(once where there was this school
that just happened to be having
an outdoor ed or phys ed class)
and when people threw candies down to the kids
they ran and scrambled for the treats
it was lively
it was energetic
and i´m sure the kids were happy to have the candy
but i had no desire to participate
because it was somehow demeaning
tho i cannot quite say why...
maybe it was the stern look of concentration
on the little faces
the seriousness there
and the fact they responded
with pavlovian emotion
anyways,
when the train reached alausi
a number of other tourists climbed aboard
local and foreigner alike
for the ride down to the devil´s nose
by this time
the sky had cleared
and the air had warmed up
and while the scenery was breathtaking
i found it less quaint and less idyllic
than the views i had seen going up to chimborazo
nevertheless
it was a fun ride
with steep gorges and valleys
and the odd branch here and there
that would whack you in the side of the head
(only got me twice
and i was dozing both times)
if you strayed too close to the edge
(not hard when your back is against the rail)
and weren´t paying attention
=)
returning to alausi
most people disembarked from the train
(myself included)
and i caught a fast bus back to riobamba
taking less than 2 hours
to cover what took the train 4
i made it to the terminal terrestre
in very good time
and found a seafood restaurant close by
the first i´d seen in a while
and stopped there for a late afternoon meal
the shrimp were very good =)
afterwards
i walked off to the church on the hill
as the lighting was quite beautiful
and the sky fairly clear
and i could see much farther
than the first day
tho the summit of chimborazo
was shrouded in dark grey.
i wandered through the town
revisiting the odd church or square
here and there
and eventually made it back to the hotel
where i spent some time chatting online
with friends new and old
technology is a beautiful thing =)

the morning next
i had planned to go to guamote
to see the thursday morning market there
but at 6am
it was raining heavily
so i waited another hour
(read, i went back to sleep for another hour)
and at 7am it was still pouring
so i decided to sleep in
and just head back to quito at a leisurely pace.
some time around 9 or 10am
the sun had come out
and being quite well rested by then
i had a late breakfast at montecarlo´s
headed back to check out
snuck in an hour of internet
and off to quito i went
catching a bus that left 5 minutes after i arrived at the terminal
(again, good bus karma)
and fairly flew down the pan american highway
arriving in quito in 3.5 hours
i must say
this was the first stretch of road i'd seen
that actually felt like a REAL road
rather than a poor excuse for a blasted lunar landscape
=)

things to do in riobamba - part I

from baños to riobamba
it´s only a 2 hour ride by bus
i left after breaking fast at casa hood
and had only a few minutes to wait
before the bus left
lucky bus schedule karma this time or something was with me
i arrived on the outskirts or riobamba
and hopped into a taxi
hotel los shyris would be home for the next couple of days
i then headed off to the tour company altamontaña
which had been recommended to me by an irish girl
who was staying at plantos y blancos in baños
(one of those chats one has in the internet room)
a short walk later
(about 600m)
i found the company
booked a day trek to chimborazo for the next day
saw a church in the distance
walked up a small hill to said church
and discovered in the handy guide book
that it was a church with a beautiful view of the city
and chimborazo (largest mountain and volcano in the country)
(tho i couldn´t verify the last as the surrounding mountains
were all shrouded in cloud)
walked down the small hill back in the direction of the hotel
found a super busy lil restaurant
that was serving almuerzos for 1 dollar
and then went back to the hotel
(which by then was less than a block away)
as i hunkered down
over a terminal in the internet cafe
on the 2nd floor
i found the hours pass by quickly
as i plunked away blogging and emailing
afterwards, i went for a walk around the city
looking for churches
(the famous round church)
and found a few of them
including the round church
although none of them were open
stared throught the bars of one
and the glass door windows of another
and eventually wound my way back towards our hotel
along the way
i passed a bakery
where i tried some chocolate bread at a bakery
which was "ok"
at a different bakery
(gotta love bakeries!)
found a pan de crema
which was amazing
ate ice cream at the place mentioned in the lonely planet
(hand made ice cream which was again "ok"
and not really worth mentioning)
and as the sky darkened
while stopping to look at some photos
posted outside of a travel shop
the tour guy inside came out to talk
and i figured
seeing as i would attempt to walk part way up
chimborazo the next day
i may as well get some info on the local conditions
like what the temperatures are like on the mountain?
what else is there to look at?
what do people do on the mountain?
galo brito,
the name of the tour guy
got really into it
and was so enthusiastic and helpful
that i wish i had found him first
(the guy at the other place barely spoke english
wasn´t very friendly or personable
and wouldn´t give me the same deal
as the irish girl had gotten a week before
-i decided to stay with that one at the time
because i didn´t know any others
and at least i knew the company was reputable
to some degree
as it was also mentioned in the lonely planet)
sadly,
i informed him that i had already booked on
with another tour company
and i could see he really wished to take me
he had offered me a cheaper price
than the other company
and included a guide and some special extras
but circumstances were set
and as the other company had been paid in traveller´s cheques
there was no way to change companies
i thanked him for his efforts
(he had a good working relationship with the other company
and tried to see if they would transer the client - me - to him
but it was a no go)
as well as all the information
and had a light supper
(soup!)
which was enough after an afternoon of snacking
i headed back to the internet cafe
to use up a few more of my hours
the next morning
after breaking fast at the cafe by the montecarlo hotel
i headed back to our hotel
to find our guide janette
waiting in a 4x4
off i went to chimborazo
about an hour and a half away
the day was gloriously clear
the clearest i´ve seen in my entire time here in ecuador
chimborazo was starkly visible from riobamba
and as i got closer and closer
the looming mountain
grew only more and more impressive
i passed through puruha villages
small farming communities in the hills
that gave way to heavily terraced landscapes
on the steep slopes of chimborazo
cows and goats spotted the impossibly sheer fields
rising above this was a blasted landscape
where only the toughest of shrubs grew
among lichen covered rocks
hardy orange flowers
pointed their blossoms at the sky
and the road carved through layers upon layers
of sedimentary formations
of ages past
we reached the first refuge at 4800m (by car)
experiencing mild headaches on the way up
had some hot coca tea
brewed fresh in the refuge
that complimented the gatorade
and the half a bag of crispers
that disappeared shortly thereafter
whether it was the tea
(made from the same plant cocaine is derived from
without any of the narcotic effects
but supposedly has some sort of beneficial effect at altitude)
or the gatorade
or the crispers
or simply the rest
i felt much better after 1/2 an hour
and i started the ascent to the 2nd refuge
the trail was about 700m long
with a difference in elevation of 200m
i carried a pack
with some food and clothes
and up the mountain i went
chimborazo´s summit is at 6310m
and is considered the furthest point away from the earth´s centre
due to the equatorial bulge
it is also crowned with glaciers
and has claimed the lives of many a mountaineer
i had no plans to go any where near the summit =)
i trudged on
going slower and slower
as the pack on my back
became heavier and heavier
it was a heady experience
walking in such minute steps
heel to toe
footstep after footstep
i taichi´d my way up the slope
feeling the balance of my body
in every step
(except for 2 out of the hundreds,
maybe thousands
which caused me to stumble)
and counting the steps in sets of 100
taking breaks every 200 steps
and pausing to admire the scenery
and remarking how the roof of the 2nd refuge
still seemed REALLY far away
=)
upon reaching the 2nd refuge
i had another hot cup of coca tea
to wash down the ham sandwiches i made
flavoured with plaintain chips
(i´d found the bakery
and the supermercado that galo had recommended the night before
and stocked up)
but before taking a number of photos
of the plaque saying the altitude of 5000m had been reached
and the lone icicle that had formed on the eaves trough
close to the sign
by then
a wave of cloud had appeared
and begun to climb over chimborazo´s back
before i started the trek
i remembered galo´s words
"no matter what happens
go to the mountain with respect"
i had offered a moment of silence
that was tinged with awe
at the immense mountain
and the rarified air
burning through my lungs
at the first refuge
and now as i watched
this animal of vapour
claw it´s through chimborazo´s 5 peaks
i could only gaze in revered enlightenment
as i finally understood my cousin´s words
of years gone by
after his attempt to summit everest
"you do not climb the mountain...
it is simply a matter of whether
the mountain lets you climb her
...or not"
(chimborazo, by the way
is a "him"
as he is considered the father of all mountains
in this land)
i had no desire all those years
to climb any mountains
me being afraid of heights and all
but i was happy to have
this safe and awesome opportunity
to at least have a tiny taste
of this alien world that had seduced
so many a soul
i scampered up the mountain a little ways further
leaving the pack behind at the 2nd refuge
and relieved of the burden of the pack
i felt light as air
what a difference 10lbs can make there!
i went up a bit to take photos
of the 2nd refuge from above
as well as to take a "snow shot"
with my hand as the only evidence of me
before i slalomed down the mountain side
the grade was steep enough
that it was difficult to walk down
having to catch all of one´s weight and momentum
with every step
and thus
i ran down
crisscrossing back and forth
sometimes turning to run up the slope
in order to bleed off some of the momentum
it was fun
it filled my shoes with rocks
but it was easy
and exhilirating!
i found my guide
staying warm in her jeep
and headed down the mountain
taking photos all the way back
making frequent stops
to admire the idyllic landscape
and the geology of the area

returning that afternoon
to riobamba
back to a paltry 2750m in altitude
and breathing the thick air there
compared to that of the refuges
i felt totally psyched
and went to look for something else to do
for the next day

tzerem´s story

here is a little story
told by tzerem (juan) kunchikuy
one night after supper
in the jungle at yachana lodge
it was inspired by my questions of jaguars...

I have been lost in the jungle two times in my life. I was 14 years old and I was hunting with my father and brothers. We walked many days into the jungle to look for wild pigs and made a camp on the bank of the river. From there we would go out every day and hunt for pigs. One morning I decided to go around the main hunting area and try to come from behind, deep in the jungle to chase the pigs towards our camp. I woke up very early when it was still dark and walked into the jungle. I was walking very very fast through the jungle thinking to make a big circle and come around behind the area where I thought the pigs would be. I carried my blowgun, my quiver of darts, the pirahna teeth and my poison. And I was walking very fast. I did not realize how fast and how far I was walking and when i changed direction to come back towards the camp, I did not realize that I had walked in the wrong direction. I walked for many hours even faster and I knew something was wrong. I know I should have reached the river long ago, but still there was no river, only jungle. When the sun sets in the jungle, it sets very fast because we are on the equator. As the afternoon came, I knew I was lost and I knew the sun would set soon. This is dangerous to be alone in the deep jungle walking at night. I remembered my father had taught me through his stories, that if a person gets lost in the jungle, he must find a tree with the large roots for protection - a big tree, but not the biggest trees. It is the belief of my people that the ancient trees can have spirits within them because they are so old and so big. These spirits can be very dangerous to humans and do wicked things to us. I found a tree big enough to protect me, but not one of the ancient trees. The roots formed a wall to my back and I made a circle of many stakes pointing outwards for protection. I did this as the stories told me to do. I found a large leaf of a palm, larger than me and with a very thick stem that I had to use two hands to hold. This I put down as a wall in front of the stakes and sat down to wait the night through. When the darkness came, it was very fast and the mosquitos were so terrible I keep waving my hands and slapping at them but it was no good. They were all around me covering my body and my face. And then I heard this sound. It was far away and sounded like a giant horse crashing through the jungle - WHOMP! WHOMP! WHOMP! I could hear it coming straight for me getting louder and louder and all the other sounds of the jungle were quiet or drowned out by this sound. Finally, it came to my tree and stopped. I could hear this deep breathing sound and a SNFFF SNFFF as it moved slowly around. Jaguar. A big one. I was very scared and even with the tree behind me and the palm leaf hiding me, I knew I had to do something. Jaguars never attack from the front. They like to circle around and around until they come up behind their prey. Then they attack very fast and bite down on the neck with enough power to break the neck. That is how they hunt. That is how they kill. I know this from the stories. I also knew that I had to do something very soon or the jaguar would soon find me and attack and then it would be too late. But I was very scared. Jaguars are very good at climbing trees. I could hear the SNFFF! SNFFF! right in front of me, very close now so I grabbed the stalk of the plam in both of my hands and jumped up screaming AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYY! and waved the giant palm leaf back and forward madly with my eyes big and wide. I kept screaming and waving the palm for many minutes before I realized the jaguar was gone. Very probably it was gone as soon as I jumped up and screamed and waved. I do not know because I did not see anything - only the black dark of the jungle. But I was very scared and it took some time for me to calm down. After, I sat down again with my back to the tree, but the jaguar did not return. The stories of my father were right and I did not get eaten by the jaguar that night. How I know it was a jaguar? Because when the sun rose in the morning I saw the prints in the mud. They were bigger than my entire hand and they were jaguar. When the sun came up, I started to walk and eventually I found a little river. This river I followed back to the main river and soon I could hear my fathers and brothers calling my name and searching for me. That was my first time I was lost in the jungle and my first time I encounter jaguar.

-tzerem's story as told by ko

to baños, in baños

as douglas mcmeekin told me
(funedesin and yachana lodge dude)
to go from from yachana lodge to baños
there´s no really good way to get there
either backtrack to quito via canoe and bus or plane
or take a super crappy road...
i decided to take the super crappy road
skitting across the river
i caught the 7am bus from agua santa
(a rough collection of buildings
framing a dirt road
like something out of an old western flick
only with jungle in the background
instead of tumbleweed and desert)
and took the scenic but bumpy route to tena
there,
i took a break for lunch
and called ahead to baños to reserve a room
at a neat lil place recommended by the goldies
i caught the bus from tena to baños
and arrived in that quaint little mountain village
my plans changed quite a bit
due to certain travel conditions
(kirby found chilling better than travelling
and found a lil town he wanted to chill in)
but it was all good
as i ended up staying in baños for 3 days
...chilling out
:)
and recovering from the jungle
it was nice to be in a place
where i didn´t have to wring the sweat out of my shirt
every half hour or so
(i´m not joking...
some people might find it disgusting
not that my sweat smells
or anything like that...
really!)

still on malarone
and still to be on malarone for another week
i realized that
i'd used or given awayevery single type of medication that i'd brought
all of the antibiotics were gone
and i even had to dig into the first aid kit
when i gouged my leg
(bandages and rubbing alcohol)
it´s good to be prepared eh?
:P
i have this distant thought
that maybe i´m not as tuff as i used to be
as there was a time when i was like
first aid kit?
hunh?
and drugs?
no thanks, i´ll just heal naturally
=)
anyways,
baños!
i got in early evening
the sun had set
and i had witnessed an amazing vista
of a blazing orange sunset
between the pass we took through the andes
on our way to baños
while some cheesy spanish/european rip off
of the fast and the dangerous
(rapido y peligrosa 4)
played on the bus dvd/tv system
very cool
(the sound effects from the movie
gave the whole trip ... character
or something like that)
and if only the window had been able to open
i may have had one of those cool
half blurred
taken from the bus-type photos
=)

baños is a quaint lil village
surrounded by mountains
one of which is an active volcano
but unfortunately not active enough
to see anything cool
(like tourists getting set on fire by lava
or other cool stuff that ALWAYS happens in the movies)
i settled in at the plantos y blancos
i splurged and paid 7USD for a room with a private bathroom
(a whole 2 USD more!
like i said, big time spenders i am, eh!)
had a really nice meal at the casa hood
not to be confused with the cafe hood
or the casa good
(or was that cafe good?!)
walked around a tiny bit
and realized that even at 9 or 10 at night
the tourist offices were still open
trying to get more business
crazy!
i later realized it was a friday night
and baños really explodes in population
on the weekends
when the town is flooded with touristas
foreign gringos and ecuadorian alike
turned in after a hot shower
(god i love the mountain air!
if only due to the lack of jungle humidity and insects)
there was free internet to be had
in half hour increments
so life was good indeed!
(t'was way better than paying 2USD an hour)
the next day
i decided to go for a walk
after breakfast at the rico pan
i headed up a trail
to bellavista
(not the same one as in santa cruz!)
the walk was 800m in elevation
...i thought it was like 800m in length
foolish kirby!
at about 150m or so elevation
(by my best guestimate)
i stopped at an unfinished lookout
the wooden frame was there
as was the floor
and i seriously contemplated
heading back down
and looking for a flat trail
because i did not want to relive
the sweat-drenched feeling
of the walks in the amazon
anyways
having decided that i would turn back
this apparition came striding and puffing up the mountain
wearing a cap
that i recognized
with a face beneath that cap
that i also recognized
it was pete...
the english guy that had hung out with
aiden and sometimes my bro
in puerto ayora
and it was those guys
whom i had accompanied through
the midnight streets of puerto ayora
in search of food at 1am
after being woken up to aiden´s calls of
¨kirby is gay! kirby is gaaaaaaaaay!¨
outside my 2nd floor window
=)
(i had gone to sleep hours before
apparently the bars had closed
and they were hungry that night)
small world , eh?
anyways,
after talking to pete
we decided to hike up the mountain
of course
the next 600m up or so
the wind decided not to blow
and i was standing there
on the trail
dripping in sweat
and wringing out my shirt again
deja vu!!
man!
how ironic
add to that the fact
that the mountain flies
(some tiny version of a canadian horsefly)
bite you open
rather than suck your blood delicately
like the amazonian mosquitos
and one could almost weep
pete soon marched ahead
myself,
i kept stopping
at various turns and outcroppings
to lean out -
my fear of heights be damned!
just to catch a wisp of wind
to cool me down
when i finally arrived at the top
i was greeted by the sounds
of the wind howling hollowly
through the far mountains
a deep bass-like resonance
that spoke of immense distances
and a freedom and power
unlike anything human
or mortal
it echoed
it whispered
it sang with a life
unlike anything i have heard before
it was as if
these mountains
had a voice of their own
a unique and beautiful voice
bordering on the edge of haunting
but low and powerful enough
to add a sense of majesty rather than misery
i sat there for a timeless moment
and then went to join pete
at the cafeteria (little cafe)
a short distanceaway
from there
pete went on
to complete a loop that would take him a good 3 or 4 hours
while i slid back down the path i had come
that evening
i took a truck up the mountain (antanas?)
with fernando
whom i had met the first night in baños
(one of those dudes working late)
and about 10 other people
a group of americans with the odd dutch girl
and an irish lass thrown in for good measure
the moon was almost full
and we hit about 3000m
to watch lava flow from tungurahua
sadly
only 2 or 3 of the girls
saw the lava
(or so they said)
i just saw a big black mountain
with a bunch of clouds hovering around
reflecting the blue moonlight beautifully
fernando and his little helper
(never did get his name)
lit a fire
and served a spicy cinnamon-ish tea
and passed around a bottle of ¨water¨
that must have been at least 100 proof
if people wanted to top up their tea
for added ¨warmth¨
i enjoyed standing on the edge
(there was a guardrail)
and watched as the clouds moved in
covering the lights from baños
and then blocking out the moon
hermosa :)
after the mountain disappeared
in an eerie blue-white haze
(tungurahua reaches over 5000m in height
so it was a lot of cloud
to cover a lot of volcano)
we headed back down the hairpin turns
of the gravel road
and arrived back in town
right on schedule
at 11pm
to the sounds of
massive festivities
that apparently accompany any saturday night in baños
luckily
i was tired enough
that i fell asleep around 12:30am
apparently, the loudspeaker announcements
(and music)
kept going past 2am
what a wild town!
=P
the next morning
i decided to stay in baños another day
rather than spending a full day of travel to make it to cuenca
(which would require even more travel time to get back later)
and on the advice from linda
(the one that hopped into the back of the truck-taxi in puerto ayora)
i rented a bike
and went downhill from baños towards puyo
taking my time
it only took about an hour and a half
to make the 22km to the pialón de la diablo
stopping often for photos
or to just take in the sights
the scariest part of that ride
was passing through the first tunnel
for which there was no path to go around
i had my sunglasses on
and part way through
with the roar of cars behind and in front of me
i realized i couldn´t see a thing
what i thought was the side of the tunnel
though it could have been an abyss
was so black and dark
and merged with the ground
i felt like i was riding in deep space
the acoustic effect of the tunnel
made every car seem like a freight train
and half way through
i managed to rip the sunglasses off my face
and could finally see
the faintest shimmer
of ground ahead of me
(and no ditch)
after i survived that tunnel
(and there were only two cars that passed through with me
not the 10 million that i thought i heard all around me)
i decided i would have to take my sunglasses off
the next time i encountered such an obstacle
luckily
every tunnel afterwards
had a dirt side path
for touristas
and life was good :)
i must say
biking downhill is pretty easy
but if you get this hard bike seat
it can still be painful
in a different way
it reminded me of the steel lacquered saddles
of the mongolian ponies
that i had the unpleasure of testing
while in inner mongolia
many moons ago
(obviously it made quite an impression
in my mind-memory way back then
as well as in my posterior
and still vividly survives unto this day)
=P
i met some of the american-irish lava watchers
from the night before
which is always fun
(meeting new acquaintances)
i walked through a new park-garden that was just opening
and at the little restaurant
i met a canadian by the name of antonio
who had just gotten married
and bought this park
and was developing it into a future flower garden
above the pialón de la diablo
it had a nice view from above
i learned about the waterfall trick
which was really cool
and then i biked down to the actual viewpoint
for the pialón.
there was a suspension bridge
that only allowed 5 people across at a time
and for which there was a huge lineup
it was about a 1000 metres down
which only seemed daunting
when one thought of the return trip
=P
and needless to say
i found myself drenched in sweat
again!
must be the malarone =P
either that or some perverse sense of deja vu
hehehe
when i ascended from the canyon depths
and the really neat view
(which i only looked at for a half a minute or so
because the pushy crowds were beyond annoying)
i found a cab to take me home
it was more like a volkswagon van
and i waited for other people to come
and fill it up
so it would be cheaper
during this time
i struck up a conversation with william
the 38 year old driver from rio verde
(where the pialón is located)
and it was fun practicing my spanish
(or lack there of)
i eventually made it back to baños
picking up two locals
and 2 english girls along the way
(which was good because it made the ride cheaper
for all of us)
after a shower i wandered off in search of food
earlier,
i had gone out for cuy
(aka guinea pig)
i had actually tried some the day before
(after my hike up to bellavista)
and found two restaurants
side by side
the one to the right, a hole in the wall
compared to the size of the one on the left
but i chose the one on the right
because the guinea pigs roasting there
looked SO much better!
and it was SO good
that i had to go and have another taste
the skin was golden brown and crispy
with enough tender fat and chewiness
on the underside
so as to put the best of bacon to shame
the meat was basted and spiced
in such a way
that it was succulent and tender
without a hint of gaminess
i ate everything to the bone
even the little rib bones
tasty!
=)
anyways
when i returned to this marvelous restaurant
it was closed
!!! =( !!!
and so i went into the other one
the meat roasting on the grill
simply didn´t look tasty
but i thought i´d give it a try anyways
and do an impromptu taste test
unfortunately this time, my instinct was bang on
the skin was rubbery and hard
and the meat was gamey and tough
*sadness*
afterwards
i went off to the bus station
to confirm the schedule
and on the way back
started to look for a restaurant
i found a place with schwarmas
that was REALLY good
i had a SUPER schwarma
accompanied by fresh mango juice
it was so good
i decided to have another round
and skip supper altogether
the salsas they had were quite nice
all homemade
and one version of a garlic yoghurt sauce
that was yummy!
the mother made the first round of schwarmas
the daughter served us
and the father came in later
and welcomed us to his restaurant and baños
all the time
there was arabic music playing
(when questioned,
the daughter replied that she didn´t speak arabic
but could do the dances *twinkle*
she had a very exotic and beautiful look
that could be arabic or ecuadorian
and after meeting the parents
i believe she may be a mix)
it´s always fun to see
a family run business
where everyone seems to work well together
very cool
and it had the best juice i´ve tasted yet on this trip
oh yeah,
i almost forgot to mention the lemonade stand
on the way up from the pialón de la diablo
freshly made
perfectly sweetened
at 25 cents a glass
(a large glass too)
it was the 2nd best juice i´ve had on this trip =)
anyways
i wandered back to the hotel
stopping at the church along the way
(i had stopped there myself earlier that day
and listened to part of the mass
having been attracted by the music
they were singing in spanish
the sound of silence
and it was beautiful)
there was another mass going on
and i guess as much as baños is a party town on saturdays
on sunday
it´s definitely a religious one
our stay in baños was tranquil
peaceful
and by this last night
the bug bites had finally stopped bothering me
(for the most part)
so i slept quite soundly
and awoke with the morning sun
ready to head off to riobamba
i must say though
i was sad to leave baños
if only for the cuy and the schwarmas with mango juice
*wink*
=)

into the ecuadorian amazon

as it turned out
the bus ride from quito to coca
only took 9 and a half hours
(11 was the estimate i'd heard...
must have been a very fast driver in my bus there)
i passed through some amazing landscape
which i thoroughly enjoyed
it was a landscape i had never seen before
and breathing the somewhat rarified air
of an almost 4000 metre crossing
the green-ness of it all
rang out in stark constrast
to the clouds that floated in and out
of the softly rolling mountain tops
they almost looked like hills
but an edge here
a boulder or an angle there
and one instinctively knew
one was amongst - mountains!
if i were sitting at the window
i would have taken photos
but alas,
that was not to be
so i only have the memories in my mind
=)
when i arrived in coca
i hopped into a taxi
and made it to la mision
where i had a late supper
i had an almuerzo and really chowed down
even though it was steak and eggs
(i hadn't eaten anything that day
except for a bag of plaintain chips)
the room was nice and big
3 beds
and most important of all
air con
lovely!
the next morning i went off in search of internet access
got ripped off by the taxi guy
(i need to learn some more argumentative words in spanish)
wrote an email that was lost
because the freaking connection crashed
(pet peeve - major!)
and managed to get a blog off
without it crashing
i was also on a computer
for which the E key did not work very often
which was beyond annoying
one does not realize how much that letter is used
in the english language
until it is broken
sucky!
anyways,
i made it back in time
for an early lunch
then
i had a little problem paying for the bill at la mision
when they would not accept 100 dollar bills
or travellers cheques
and when i finally went to the bank
(with a lady from yachana lodge
who did not speak english)
they too, did not accept travellers cheques
tho they did change 100 dollar bills
we were told that if we wanted to change the cheques
we should go to a hotel called la mision
(god i hate management types sometimes
especially in crappy hotels like la mision)
with that settled
we went off to yachana lodge
a 3 hour motorized canoe ride up the rio napo
which was a very fast moving river
arriving at yachana
i was met by a student guide
and settled in to my rooms
later i found out
that there were two other people at the lodge
(guests, not volunteers or workers)
and that was it
so that was super cool
like having the entire place to myself pretty much
james and kim were both from california
and are med students
they are also asian american
which was kind of funny
because all the guests were asian
and speaking english
i wonder what the staff thought
=)
that night at supper
we also met our guide juan
who i would later learn
was named by missionaries
and whose true name is
tzerem kunchikuy
way cooler name that is!
we watched a video that night on chocolate making
and tasted some pure chocolate
made by yachana gourmet
from cacao beans harvested directly by tribesmen
they had 4 flavours
and of course
we had to sample all of them
=)
i then turned in
to a night filled with
jungle sounds that were both exotic and soothing
very very cool
a cold shower also helped
because it was quite hot
even at night
tho not quite as hot as i had thought it would be
it was still hot enough to have me in a constant sweat
and with the generator being shut off at 10pm
(that first night it went off at 9:41pm)
i lost the power to the ceiling fan as well
sad sad.
breakfast was at 7am
and all meals were announced by a horn call
(very cool)
after which we went on a walk to see some birds
now i must admit
if not for tzerem
i would not have seen any birds
what he could see through the naked eye
i could only see with the tripod mounted massive telescope
that he carried with him
i have always said that vision is overrated
this obviously does not apply when it comes to bird watching
*grin*
it was super fun
trekking through the jungle
with tzerem explaining things about the birds, the plant life
and the insects that were endless and everywhere
we went back to the lodge after
(juice and snacks available to us right after the trek)
and after a brief rest
we set off to visit the medicine man
there we had a cleansing performed
(kim opted out due to religious reasons)
and got to try using a blowgun
which was really quite neat
especially when tzerem showed us how and why
he used pirahna teeth to notch the dart
so that after it hit the prey
the shaft would easily break off
leaving the poisoned tip inside
of course we didn't get to use poison darts
but trying to hit the targets was fun!
next we got to do something really REALLY fun!
...spear throwing
or as i like to call it
spear chucking
tzerem hit the post with his first throw
and the spear
made completely of wood
(from the iron palm tree)
cut through it so easily
it was not even funny
if that was a wild pig
we would have had good eating that night
as it was
it was only a post
tho there were tons of chickens running around
and i joked that maybe we would have a better chance of hitting a pollo
(chicken)
now
the cool thing about spear chucking is
these were REAL spears
and they balanced beautifully
like a javelin
and applying a bit of that old technique
i had a jolly good time chucking away
even tho it had been a good 14 years since the last time
i actually chucked a javelin
it still flew pretty fast
and pretty hard
and landed point first
i must admit
i would have loved to keep chucking away
as we went further (from the post)
and threw harder
(i hit an orange tree by accident
the first time i threw from a far distance
but only because i didn't realize how droopy the high branches were)
i could feel my old love returning
becoming one with the spear
and feeling it fly through the air
very cool
and very fun!
i did try throwing the way tzerem threw
and the javelin slid rather than stuck
and almost hit a chicken
which was actually quite funny
for me and tzerem at least
and maybe the medicine man too
but prolly not for the the chicken
we returned to the lodge for lunch
had a shower and changed into non-trekking clothes
and then after a siesta
(during which the ran the generator just so i could have a fan)
we went to a hut area
which tzerem had built
and a lady was making pottery
and we learned some basic basket weaving
it was quite fun
and without tzerem there to help us tie knots and smooth things out
i am sure all of our baskets would have looked much more pathetic
but it was a neat experience to build everything from natural materials
nevertheless
=)
it was neat to see the process where they fired the clay
and how they painted and glazed it
it was pretty basic stuff
and quite fragile because they were firing over an open flame
but still quite neat to see
then we walked back to the lodge
baskets in hand
and a little dog following us for part of the way

we returned in time for a shower and supper
and the soup was amazing
man
i love soup!
and these vegetarian soups were to die for
we had them at lunch and for two of the three suppers
and i had at least 3 bowls each time
sometimes more =)
amazing!
i retired again to a night filled with jungle sounds
and unfortunately with jungle bitey thingies too
i was getting eaten alive
with or without deet
and i think mostly at night
when i was too hot to cover up
and obviously too asleep to slap or move
=P
the next morning
kim and james left
and after bidding them farewell
we set off on a 4 hour trek through the jungle
through endless questioning
i discovered along the way
that tzerem was the one who had laid out the trails
and there were quite a few of them
he caught poisonous dart frogs for us to look at and photograph
spiders and skinks and salamanders
and found birds, monkeys and insects beyond counting
very cool
and what an amazing wealth of knowledge he possessed
he is 28 years old
(which i had guessed spot on the night before)
tho most people think he is 35 or so
(ok, it was partially luck and partially intuition, that guess was =P)
and walks through the jungle as if he is part of it
whistling away with bird calls and jungle noises of his own
sometimes to which the birds and insects reply to
very very VERY cool =)
he has a beautiful resonance to his voice
and the musical quality of his jungle noises is amazing
and we had a little talk about corks
*wink*
anyways,
after the trek
we had drinks and snacks waiting for us again
lunch (with a shower before)
and a siesta
after which we went to check out some of the projects
that the foundation was sponsoring
that's where we saw the capybara's
as well as the school, medical clinic (both of them)
and various other future school stuffs
very cool and very neat
nice to know that one's money is going to a positive and constructive cause
after we returned from that
and kirby had another cold shower
and changed into his third shirt of the day
we had supper and then prepared to go out on a night walk
now that was the coolest tihng
seeing the jungle at night
with a 3/4 full moon in the sky
and thunder in the distance
it was a bit spooky
seeing as we had just normal piddly little flashlights
to combat the alien darkness of the night jungle
i was really missing my dive light at that moment
which went home with my lil bro
tzerem found so much on the grounds of the lodge itself
(like the caymans, the frogs, the boa constrictor and spiders galore)
i wondered if we were even going into the jungle
or even needed to :P
but enter the jungle we did
and i found that this relatively new fear of spiders that i had acquired
in the middle part of my life
was gone...
very cool!
there were so many cool spiders to see
venomous, and non, and extremely so
and tzerem handle them or introduced them so gently and carefully
that those two incidents in the past
that made me come to fear spiders
(you know, like the ones where you wake up with a huge spider
dangling over your face
and it falls onto you
and you can't find it
and you can feel it running somewhere in your blankets and clothes next to your skin
so you start screaming and flailing
and somehow the trauma of that event
imprints itself on your psyche...
that kind of incident)
faded so easily away!
as i said before
very cool!
i saw a spider catch a beetle
and cocoon it and then try to pierce it's shell
and tzerem found a very weird scorpion spider-like spider
the list goes on
and i have many photos... of which i hope some turn out well enough to post
part way thru the trek at night,
the rain started coming down hard
we heard it approach through the jungle
tzerem motioned for quiet
as a rattling tapping sound
echoed in the distance
it slowly got closer and closer
then it hit us
and i didn't really mind
because even at night,
i was sweating so much
that it made no real difference to me
as i was always dripping wet in the jungle
(sweat or rain, what's the diff eh?)
by the time we got out of the jungle
the moon had come out again
and the clouds had cleared
it was magical
and beautiful
and i had a guide that made me
completely unafraid of an environment
that could easily have been
terror filled and annoying
:)
the next morning i had an early breakfast
and headed off to the andes
my time in the jungle had come to an end
i must say
i have truly discovered and realized
that i am not a jungle person
i am not a hot weather humid tropical person
and bugs really like to feast on my flesh
if not for those two things alone
i think i could live in the jungle and love it
as it was
i really REALLY enjoyed my introduction into the jungle
(i especially loved the spear chucking)
but i think i will look for dryer
and perhaps somewhat cooler climes for my next journey
if have a choice that is :)