Bienvenido a Ecuador
Rewind to Jan 8th,
our first taste of Ecuador!
We made our way like a couple of snails over the border, and ohhhh what a time we had.
We made our way like a couple of snails over the border, and ohhhh what a time we had.
We got to la fronterra
for noon, and expected a good long wait, especially after all the
festivals going on in the southern province, but boy were we wrong!
Long would be an understatement. Next time you get impatient at the
Peace Bridge, stop to consider the prospect of standing in a line
outside for 3.5 hours... just to get your passport stamped to leave a
country! We weren't even at the other side yet- and had we only had
another 3 hours there we would have been thankful.
With big smiles on
our faces we crossed the bridge and whooped under the Welcome to
Ecuador sign- but our optimism quickly faded as we saw the next line
that awaited us, that spilled out of the building, down street, and
around, back, oh yep, to the other side of the customs building. Well
at least it's not raining right? Oh no, nevermind that's later. It
was a total gong-show there, and apparently very unusual (obviously),
with people butting the line, rain, cold damp air after sundown, and
overall poor organization. Three hours into our wait Ecuador-side the
workers thought up a number system, and wrote out numbers 1-? and
handed out each of us our number on a tiny ripped piece of paper.
Genius. With #68-69 in hand at least we felt like we were at least
moving now and the butting was mostly curbed. We got up to the
windows inside at 9pm (there were only 4 windows open at that point),
and breathed a huge sigh of relief as we gunned it to the taxi stand
to grab our bus OUT OF THERE. 9 hours. NINE HOURS of waiting in line. We swear we will never complain at Canada-US customs again.
After the party time in
Pasto and our painful border crossing we promised ourselves we were
going to take some days to go slow and relax. We couldn't have found
a more perfect place than Tio's (Uncle's) farm in Ilumán, a tiny
Quetchua village outside of Otavalo. This was a gem we were so
grateful to find on Airbnb, and we felt right at home there! We were
dropped off on the side of the Pan-American highway around 1am, and
grabbed a taxi, who thankfully was able to call Tio Jose and help us
find the farm. We were greeting by 4 barking dogs, and 5 cows tied up
outside a tiny cluster of buildings. Tio, with his long hair braided
down his back, was friendly as ever and not at all fussed over our
ridiculously late arrival time.
Jose referred to
everyone by tio or tia (uncle or aunt), which made us feel just like
family. The farm has been in their family for over 150 years, and
while he lived in town with his wife and 6 kids (about 15 min walk),
his elderly mother, aunt, and sister lived there on the farm. So
while we were cooking a meal in the kitchen, we might be joined by
tia Ignacia roasting corn or making a quinoa soup over an open flame
on the old stove, with a kitty by her side taking in the warmth.
There at the farm they had over 30 guinea pigs (cuy) in their hutch,
5 cows who were brought out to pasture and then tied in the yard
outside the buildings at night. They grow 5 varieties of corn, quinoa, and various medicinal plants. Quetchua is still a first
language here, for tia and abuela (grandmother) they only spoke
Spanish as a second language. (Fun fact: Quetchua was not always an
Indigenous language in what we now know as Ecuador, but was brought
here by the Incas who took over about 80 years before the Spanish
invasion. It is the most widely spoken Indigenous language here in
South America).
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| A lovely vendor at the Plaza del Ponchos |
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| Double sun-bow! |
We enjoyed our down time here at the farm very
much! Some days spent in Otavalo we enjoyed coffees on a patio, and
the enormous Plaza del Ponchos market in the central square. This
place was trouble, we did some damage with alpaca sweaters and crazy
coloured pants and scarves. We trekked out to another small down of
San Pablo to see the lake, and then a tiny hike to Cascadas de
Peguche where we did a tour inside an Inca cave with a local man who
spoke rapidly about Inca history (mostly went over our heads in Spanish but
it was a neat little spiritual place with candles and historical
displays!). Our most active day was when we took a city bus to the
small town of Quiroga, and then out to the crater lake at Cuichoca.
This lake is named for the two islands in the middle that kind of
look like cuy- hence Guinea Pig Lake! It was a perfect day for a
hike, and we saw the coolest weather phenomea with a double rainbow
ring around the sun- we are sending this in to the weather channel!
Our last night there we stayed in Ilumán and the farm, and had a
perfect bonfire night with some of the other guests at the farm, a
group of 4 travelers from Turkey. We stayed up late, and were so
thrilled when Tia Ignacia (please note, this wise sweet soul is well into her
70's maybe older!!) joined us after 11 at the fire. It felt so
special to be in her company, such a sweet lady who's lived so much.
It didn't matter that we didn't always understand each other, with
both of us speaking Spanish as a second language, but she was so
sweet!
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| Tio Jose, his son, Danny (rocking Bri´s sunnies), and Tia Ignacia |
Saturday was time for Market day in Otavalo, which
meant that the already packed Plaza del Ponchos spilled out onto the
streets 3-6 blocks in every direction. If this was our last stop we
would have been in trouble! We made a stop there in the afternoon and then hit the road again, south-bound we go.
Next stop, Quito!! We took the bus into Quito and got our first taste of the big city was a sneaky cabbie (our first lady cabbie go figure) who would not be the last here to try to hustle us out of extra dollars while on route. We stayed at L'Auberge Inn, which was 15 min on foot from the historical centre, and therefore more friendly to our budget. It was a nice guesthouse with a courtyard and good breakfast too! Quito is the world's second highest capital, and sits at around 2850m (9350ft) above sea level. You sure feel it! We did another free walking tour here and were lucky to happen to be there on a Monday to see the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace, where the president (who is in a wheelchair) and all of his people (vice-president is a lady) were in attendance. Many old churches, colonial buildings, narrow streets galore! We learned the crazy story of the American dollarization program here that came in effect in the late 90´s after some rampant government corruption that ran the country dry, and how over 30 countries around the world use the US dollar, at least in part, in their currency. So screwed up!  |
| View from the top of the Basilica |
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| Cuy-love |
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| Centre of the world! (I´m north, Bri is south) |
Toronto is 4852 km from here! Before any European
scientists made their expeditions here to find the “true” centre
of the world back in the late 1700s, the Indigenous Quitu-Cara, had
already figured it out, by mapping the stars they already knew they
were in the “path of the sun”, and determined they were at the
middle of the world before the first Geodesic Mission. Another fun fact- since you are farther from the bulk of the Earth´s mass at the equator than the poles, the planet´s forces exert less pull on you and you therefore weigh 0.5% less here! There was a scale in the museum to prove it-- pass the empanadas please.
We spent our last days
laying in (poor Bri had the 24 flu bug!) and then planning our time
to the Galapagos (more on that later). We took the Téléferico on our last day there up the
mountain over town to Pichincha Volcano. This is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world (according to Google), starting at 3117m and rising to 3945m (12943 ft). Add to that a hike up to over 4200m and you feel pretty spent! It was a beautiful trail, although hard to see much on the way in for the clouds besides a few rabbits, grasses, and other scrubby alpine plants. The altitude got to me and we didn't quite make it to the summit (sigh), but coming down at least the clouds parted and we could see the view of Quito (crazy dense sprawling Quito) down below us. Pichincha remained hidden in cloud the entire time, but so it goes when you can nearly touch the sky.
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| On top of the world! (almost) |
...Next entry- sea lions, iguanas, and tortoises, oh my!
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