Stepping over the Ecuador

Three weeks of Ecuador, here we go:

Without a guide; wishing for a map that first morning with breakfast and being sold one five minutes later by a street guy who came walking in, the first advise came fast and many would follow. It was super fun to travel with a map, asking everyone what their favorite place was. You still get to all the good spots, even to some that guidebooks have no idea about, but it's also less practical and makes your travel slower with the chance of missing things cause many locals have no ideas about their own country.

But the first place I had to visit was the cemetery of Tulcan. See below why. Many of those cypresses were carved and cut in great shapes and figures for more then 200 years. The garden man were extremely proud of their work and wanted me to see everything.

One of my most saying photo's, so lets not say anything (besides that after several times trying she still had no succes so she gave up).
Next advise was a visit to Chical, a four hour bus ride along the boarder to the end of the road. Arriving in the evening, I was given huge eyes to be here, a few yards from the boarder, at night, with no real purpose. But within half an hour drinking tea and talking, a lady offered me to sleep on her porch. Below were some guys drinking rum. One of them, Chris, was from the USA and worked for the Peace Corps, he as well was astonished. It became a fun night with FINALLY some easy english.

Back to Tulcan and the hotel where I had stayed the first night to ask if he maybe had found my small bag, my skirt and my headlamp ...... we all knew the cleaning lady (or he himself) had been in my bag while I had stored it in a room for several hour the day before.

The cleaning lady would not arrive untill 9am, I wanted to get going at 6am, so lets hope she can really use those things.

Otavalo, they told me, had a huge Saturday market with lots of souvenirs and indigenous people. I arrived, looked for a place to dump my bag and found this in 'Pata de Perro', a store with lots of artesanias made by the owners Paul and Doris (brother and sister) and cool clothes.

My jaw dropped upon arrivel to the market........ So many tourists, unreal! I guess this was the end of feeling like your the only one, from now one there would be many more backpackers and the attitude of people is definably shaped with this. Besides that you can find nice places to eat and cozy places to drink coffee, the internet cafes will be more expensive and the hotels will have shared kitchens. It all has it pro's and con's.

The market itself was amazing, lots of color, traditionally dressed people, fresh produce, new things to eat and whatever the people here need.

Peeling beans:

Souvenirs from tradition. Or: tradition forms souvenirs.
So many different beans and corn.

Came along a traditional wedding:

Ate Papas Fritas con Sangre, Fried potatos with blood. It's very tasty because of the fried potato's, the blood does not have much taste. The mamasita who sold it all day at different markets around the area, together with her neighbor for the day, kept me talking for an hour and made me feel a little different then many.

Back at 'Pata de Perro' I asked if Doris knew a place for me to sleep, she told about her brother Paul and that many travelers couch-surfed at his place. Tonight it would be my turn. Turned out he had driven tourists around Ecuador and Peru for seven year for 2 to 6 week tours. Lots of advise and ideas came to me.

The next morning, on my way to the first hike here, I saw this stand with lots of brews and slimy drap. Mmm, I had to try this out: Aguas medicinales.

It's a cacti that seems good for the stomach and is mixed with all kinds of other things herbal. You have no idea what you slibber in, but you feel stronger and better prepared for all streetfood afterwards.

Laguna Cuicocha. A vulcanic crater with an island in the middle. Beautiful to hike around in a few hours.

Another hike to a sacred tree 'Lechucho' with beautiful views of Lago San Pedro, vulcan Imbabura and Catacochi.

With Paul I took a bus to Quito, the capital with 2 million people. First we stopped at 'Mitad del Mundo', a world famous place to step from the Northern to the Southern hamosphere.

I'm in the North, Paul is in the South.

It was just a few blocks down from the Mitad where we both got new piercings, for me just a spur-of-the-moment thing, for Paul something he wanted for a long time, his oldest 12 year daughter has a tongue piercing too.

Quito, just another big city.
With lots of pretty churches and buildings and squars.

Everybody wants to have shiny shoes.

On to Machachi, nobody really told me to go here, they even didn't get it why I wanted to go there, but it seemed to be a town in the middle of all the vulcanoes looking at my map, and so a good place to go hiking.

I found my place to sleep in the garden of the govenor. He came into Anita's coffee shop where I was drinking tea and knitting a scarf. But later on Anita invited me to stay in her house where there were beds available.

Dolores, Anita and Paul, three generations.

The first day I made a long hike by myself, asking the way along and just keeping to the direction of the top of Vulcan Ruminahui. It was good to hike, but very cloudy and drizzely.

The next day was pure blue and even Anita, who has lived here all her 28 years but has never hiked anywhere, came along to hike to the top of Vulcan Carazon.

This photo showes beautiful Vulcan Cotopaxi in the distance.

It was high and far, the altitude makes the pase go slow, she didn't get all the way up and by the time I came to the last climb it was all surrounded by clouds, so we both didn't see what we were hoping for when the blue morning welcomed us. But other things were just as lovely.

As a final I visited the full, traditional, drowned (it had just rained madly) market that afternoon.

A long bus ride through dryer but very open and massive country brough me to Laguna Quilotoa. The first thing I saw from my bus window was this couple killing a sheep. I walked over and watched the whole process of taking off the skin, taking out the things not used (very little) and cleaning the intestines by pooring water in the anus for the big ones and into the little ones as well but by taking a mouth full of water and blowing/pressing this inside.

I put my tent beside their house for the next night.

A three months baby had died of the harsh winds that afternoon and the house of the parents was beside my tent, I heard the mother cry the whole night, trying to work away the pain, other ladies came sit with her in the cold night and her feelings were all around us.

I was happy when grey light appeared and I could get dressed and warm myself with sunlight and other throughts.

6:30 am

Absolutely a fantastic, magnificent, hugely cool hike. In four and a half hours a walked the whole rim of this volcano with its salty turquoise waters down below. Up and down and back up and down again. Really wowy.

Came along some kids who were walking their alpaka's for grazing.

And the night before and that afternoon after the hike I was warmed by Mechita who cooked a wonderfull soup of the intestines of the sheep I had seen being killed and made tea without stopping for me. I hope my scarf will keep her warm at this altitude of 4300, originally she is from the warmer coastal area.

Locals had told me that Chocha was in a 15 day feast to celebrate the harvest. Every day there were bull rides and drinking. Ok, lets go.

I walked down there in one-and-a-half hour and was greeted by a little dusty, cold peublo where the campesinos knew how to make puro (a clear alcoholic drink) but not how to take it easy. Especially many woman were absolutely drunk and needed support from their friends to keep dancing. All had a liter pack of wine and the band played the same tune for at least 15 minutes before changing just a little for the next 15.

The arena was made out of ram-shack poles and planks that you could mound only with little ladders. The different bulls were let into the ring and just about everyone could go hastle it. Many young guys were just standing there and would run when the bull made a move. It was not all that exciting, but o so traditional.

I forgot what those pipes were called.

The wine and Puro were served to every neighbor closeby. I was amazed by how little interest they gave to me being there. I wonder what they were thinking.

The band on top of the very shaky stallation, the crazy dancing people drunk and hilarious.
Next stop: Baños; because many locals told me all tourist go there, so there must be something to see. The environment was indeed very picturesque.

Dump the bag and start walking around with the question if someone knows a free place to put the tent. Within an hour I knew this little town and had found Karina who baby-sitted a huge house with some garden. I would come back later and her husband Marcelo would bring me to the house. Eventually, after their work (she in a restaurant, he with one of the many tour operators) we went to their house and I got an invitation to sleep in her mothers bed. Mum told me that she slept with the kids in the other room anyway and she would leave the next day for five days. I could have this room with key untill Wednesday. Wow, how much of a luxury.

Marcelo, 24, Karina, 19 and me. They also have a little boy of two.

I stayed four nights in this relaxed touristy town. Enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere of the gringo coffee houses, read what I wanted with tea, made bracelets and scarfs, drank more tea, watched way to many people in the swimmingpool hotspring, made a huge hike of a full day through mud and cow-shit, met new friends, danced one night really well with one of them, was dragged along to the night tour to see the vulcanoTungurahua on request that I would spin my fire, but the first night it rained super bad and the second night there was a huge confusion, drank some beer, had good company playing the guitar and enjoyed the fresh air and warm sun.

Damian posing on my request.

The last night I had all those new people, six in total, in the closed restaurant of Damian to drink beer, wine and play music.

Out of Baños, on the way to Puyo, there is a whole highway with gorgeous waterfalls. When I had packed all my things, we had eaten my lasagna of the day before and everybody was kissed goodbye I had the luck of being introduced to George who just happened to be there at the house with his motor. He would bring me to the first waterfall, but stayed untill the last one. It was absolutely the best way to see this part. Easy skipping the cars in line, taking cable cars to the other side for walks, and talking a lot about his experiences in the Ejercito in the jungle of Colombia, his homeland.

This waterfall, Pailon del Diablo, is absolutely one of the coolest ones I've seen in my life, you can hike to the base and behind it. Crawl in caves and stand on the edge to get soaking wet of the spray. It's really a fun place.

In Baños I came acros some guys who lived on a Hare Krishna farm. It all sounded very pretty and jummy, so lets go see. Turned out that the evening I arrived it was Hare Krishna's birthday at midnight.

Everybody had to cook three things (whatever, but vegetarian) to offer, so 9 people made 27 dishes, and after the ceremony at midnight with singing, praying and more music making and singing we had to eat it all...... Absolutely delicious. What a night to arrive.

Happy birthday (5ooo and some more years) Hare Krishna.

I stayed two more nights, working in the kitchen and made beds in this simple, ecological, relaxed lodge. Working as a volonteer you pay a minimum as help for the meals. Every meal would have been enough for a full day normally, without exaggerating. We ate so much. And every morning we would get up for the 6am morning class of two hours and in the evening there was another one at 7:30pm. There were rules I did not understand, but many philosophies to share and use in future understandings.

It would be a lovely place to stay for a long time, to work for the farm (ak Hare Krishna) and have a warm bed and good food every day, but for people that want to see more it's a dead end.

It was wednesday, within four days my friend Truus would arrive in Lima, more then 2000km to the South. It was time to start the ride cause I wanted to do most hitch hiking to save money.

Well, I arrived Saturday morning with only 15 dollars spend on one 17 hour bus and the food for those three days.

I sat in rickety cars, in the back of a pick-up in the blasting sun for three hours, flying hair in the dust, so after half an hour it didn't fly anymore but knitted up. I sat in an old truck for 10 hours, shaking heavily on a beautiful road into a deep valley with a new massive dam in progress and slept on the tight floor (I managed maybe three hours) with the stick (of the truck) in my back. I wandered around Cuenca, a nice coloniala city before heading further in a truck with two youngsters who parked the truck in a parquadero where I could occupy a wooden floor in an empty room for some hours untill daylight made me move again. Another truck for five hours squashed with three in two seats. All those guys were super friendly and often bought my lunch or dinner.

Dropped at the boarder where crossing was done super fast and without questions. It's a small crossing.

Welcome to PERU.

Not knowing it all I hitched further and stopped a white station wagon, turns out those are the colectivos here. there were already three people in the back and two in the passenger seat, but if I wanted I could sit in the back with the luggage. For free? Yes, I won't ask money. Ok. So I sat in the splitting heat in the back for three hours. At one stage another guy crawled in with me for a 15 minute ride! He asked where it was nice to go in Ecuador, so he skribbled some advice down (how was it possible in the non-existing space) and when he could move to the front because someone else got out he said: 'Or shall I stay here so we can talk.' .......Whaaaahaha, idiot.

In Puira I got help from a policeman who drove me around town on his bike, making the sirine go whow whow, my god, people were making photo's whahaha, to get Nuevo Soles (the money here) and to the bus station.

The last streach was from Puira to Lima, probably doable in 12 hours, the bus should take 14, but we made it in 17 hours. Ah well, it was only 8 dollars.

And now, now I've sat in this internet cafe for several hours more, it's time to get a good clean-up of clothes that smell bad, a body that's ready to rest and a mind that is spinning with ideas about where to take my best friend Truus in the next two weeks. She will arrive tomorrow at four in the afternoon, the first time to see a familiar face in four months, and to speak smome OWN language.

Let me go and I promise that next time I will be full with absolutely stunning photo's, mystic temples, deep canyons, strange lines and most blue lakes.