Wet in Cuenca

Friday evening I arrived in Cuenca after a long 9 hour day on the train and bus. The views were amazing though as we made our way south along the andes. Hoping to meet people and have a fun night I decided to spend my first night at a hostel called Cafecito. It had dorm rooms attached to a bar and restaurant. When I checked in I didn't realize exactly how close and how candle lit and popular the resaurant would be. It was definately a bit odd but I immediately met a British girl my age travelling alone. We went out for dinner and a few drinks. Then we hung out in the restaurant until they closed and turned off the music around midnight.

Saturday morning I was ready for a change and headed out to check out a new hotel. The swedish couple I met in Puyo gave me a flyer and highly reccomended this somewhat small, family owned spot. The mother immediately roped me in, we had a nice conversation in spanish as she showed me around the 4th floor apartment style hostel. She was quite chatty so I mostly just had to listen and make the usual claro, que bueno comments. My room is closet size but there is a nice shared kitchen, living room, and porches with views over the city in two dirrections. Hard to beat for $5 a night.

Saturday morning I also recieved a text message from a couchsurfer, Jose, who I had contacted. I was kind of amazed because I've had no luck with couchsurfing so far here in South America. He invited me up to his house for lunch and after getting settled I walked up to the northern edge of the city center where he lived. It turned out he was rather rich and his family had a really nice single family home with a garden and house keeper/ cook. He was my age and also an artist and art teacher. We had a wonderful almuerzo including soup and a second course with tuna cassarole, rice, and salad. Lunch is traditionally the largest meal here.

After lunch two of his friends came over, a local guy and a girl who was in town from Quito, and we drove out of the city in a jeep with his quite lovable dog. We found a spot to hike where his friend had been before that was spose to have some waterfalls. It turned out to be an adeventure as the trail quickly peetered out and we were left to forge the river and cut our way through the forest and thorn filled brush. I was feeling more or less good until it suddenly started pouring. We were all soaked to the bone and I think I was cold for the rest of the day. Luckily we made it out, although we never found the waterfall. After the hike we all went back to Jose's house. He lent me some dry clothes and the four of us spent the night watching movies.

My last two days have been a little more normal and I have pretty much been spending all my time alone. I've been a little bored and lonely but its definately been pleasent and relaxing. Lots of time walking around the city, journaling, shopping at markets, and eating out. Last night I watch some break dancers informally preform in the park for an hour or so. I think I will leave Cuenca tomorrow morning and head to Vilcabamba, a small rural town in the mountains which is popular with tourists.

Banos a Puyo a Riobamba

I have been on the move and I am now sitting in an internet cafe in Riobamba, a city in the Andes south of Quito. Before leaving Banos, I managed to catch a few hours of sun and enjoy the natural hot baths. There were three different pools, all made of concrete but with water that is naturally heated. One was frigidly cold, another was warm, and the third was scaldingly hot, around 118 degrees. After jumping between all three I could hardly feel my legs but it was a neat experience. That same afternoon I went on a hike with Felix, a French guy with a guitar that I met at my hostel. We climbed to the top of one of the surrounding mountains, a steep hour walk, and had a view over the whole city.

I left Banos rather late and arrived in Puyo in the dark. It was a little intimidating but I got a taxi and found a very nice place to stay called Las Palmas. They assured me at the hotel it was safe to walk alone at night and I went out to eat and explore. The city, set in the region of Ecuador called the Orient and close to the jungle, had a different feeling in the air. It was humid and slightly less developed with paved sidewalks and dirt roads. The next morning I had a wonderful complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then met an older couple from Sweden. They had been to Puyo once before and advised me to visit this spot with native animals. Before going I took a walk with them along the Rio Puyo with lush vegetation. Then I managed to catch a local bus, after walking along the road for a while, to the zoocraidia. There I saw monkeys, turtles, an alligator, large rodent like things, and a strange friendly creature that is a distant relative of the elephant.

This morning I left Puyo and came to Riobamba. Its a good stopping point on my way to Cuenca tomorrow. There is also a famous train ride that leaves from here, where passengers are able to ride on the roof of the train. Unfortunately the most popular section of the track is closed due to all the rain, but I still plan to ride a section of the track tomorrow morning and then get a connecting bus.

Banos

Sunday Morning I left Quito, my home for more than a month. It was kind of sad because I had grown attached to my family, friends, and routines there. Things have picked up again quick though, and I´m have a really nice time thanks to the place where I´m staying. It is a hostel called Plantas y Blancos in Banos, a super cute town known for its hot springs and outdoorsy opertunities. At the hostel there is a room with two computers, and an awesome roof top terrace with a kitchen, drinks, and games. The terrace is somewhat inclosed but has windows all around with nice views. I´ve met a couple cool people and I have just been hanging out with them around here and relaxing for the most part. It has been kind of rainy the whole time but I also went for a nice hike near this river on the outskirts of town. There were two different bridges you could cross and views of the ravine and waterfalls.

Calderon. Figuras de Marzipan

This morning I went on an excursion to Calderon, a town about an hour north of Quito, with one of the spanish teachers and another woman from my school. I had requested this trip because it is home to the marzipan artisans. These figures are most popular during Christmas time. Only the larger figurines need to be baked, the rest are assembled with some sort of glue, left to harden, and then cover with a glossy non edible coating.

Viva

My Excuse

Hello my diligent followers. I owe you an apology because I have not been keeping up on the old blogging. I was out of town last weekend for carnival, basically a giant nationwide party, and stayed at the beach until Tuesday. Since my return to Quito my days have been pack with trips to the hospital and spanish classes. I have a two hour window in the afternoon to eat and internet but it has been so warm and sunny this week that I haven't felt like being trapped inside during my free time. Anyway, things are well and I plan to do a nice post on the beach trip shortly.

Puerto Lopez for Carnival

Everyone flees the city for carnival, so our beach trip began with a long search for any free rooms anywhere along the coast. After many calls we discovered a place in Puerto Lopez, which was originally a small fishing village. After a struggle just to plan the get away, the trip proved to be full of challenges. Thats what makes a good story though so no regrets!

We took the night bus on Friday and barely after clearing the city we came to a stand still. It turns out there was flooding all across Ecuador because of all the rain we had last week and there was a mud slide that had covered the road. We sat for about 2 hours and in all the trip took us about 14 hours, 7pm to 9am. Luckily I was able to sleep for a good portion and there were bathroom breaks, as well as a strange "dinner break" at 1:30am.

When we arrived we were thrilled to see the sun and spent the day on the beach. As the day passed we became aware that the entire city, as well as some other parts of the coast, was without power. Unfortunately in our case this also meant no running water in our hotel room, so it was bucket baths for all of us. Then we went for a candle lit Italian dinner at a really nice little place. We got a bottle of wine and toasted to light, and a few minutes later the power returned.

I went on the trip with Lilly and 3 other girls she works with, so in total we were 3 Americans, 1 Scott, and 1 German. Needless to say we attracted a little attention. One of the main traditions for carnival is to throw water at people on the streets (mostly boys and young men throwing it at girls). They were equipped with water guns, water balloons, and in some cases eggs or ¨bombas¨filled with red fruit. So for the next 3 days whenever we walked the streets we had a little fear.

Saturday was a little rainy and overcast so we decided to take a bus to Montanita, a surf village about an hour and a half north of Puerto Lopez that is very popular with tourists. It had a much different vibe, a little more chilled out and we didn´t stand out as much because there were many more international faces. I ate my first ceviche, fish that is cooked more or less in the acid of lemons. Very tasty. We had a fun night out there, with lots of good people watching, but I had one too many strawberry daquories and didn´t feel so hot the next day.