Saludos a todos! Moira and I are currently in Cusco, Peru after leaving Quito this morning. I am absolutely elated to be back here, if only for a week. I was pleased at how well I remembered all of the streets today when we were wandering around the city. I can't wait to go back to the orphanage and the Spanish school and see my friends from last year! It's going to be great.
Our airport experience today was a little bit hectic, given that we booked our Lima-Cusco flight approximately one hour before take-off. Teníamos mucha prisa in order to get to our gate on time, but luckily everything went off without a hitch (except for how expensive the flight was, but we don't need to talk about that here). We also decided to fly to Lima on the 17th from Arequipa instead of Cusco and save ourselves yet another ten hour bus ride, so that's nice. Plus, it will give us an extra day in Arequipa to have tea with Moira's friend Alonso's grandmother. Should be great.
Well, Moira and I have been discussing the past few days making a Best of Ecuador list, in order to commemorate our time there. Here goes!
Best moment of triumph: Climbing Cotopaxi in inappropriate gear, then celebrating with a Clif bar and lots of Oreos. Although, capturing the escaped monkey is also up there.
Best way to eat a banana: For me, a tie between steamed maqueños in the peel, maduros con queso, or the classic banana chip.
Best trago: Canelazo, a mixture of cane liquor, jugo de naranjilla, and cinnamon, served warm. really, really excellent.
Best jungle cat: The ocelot. Period.
Best children's t-shirt slogan: Found in tienda Rose: "Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water on Earth," on a little boy's shirt accompanied by a picture of a giant sailboat.
Best sweet treat: The best chocolate brownie covered in ice cream, chocolate syrup, bananas, and strawberries at Kallari Coffee in Quito (this place also had the best coffee).
Best bar: La Casa de Cerveza in Quito, for playing Bon Jovi, Blind Melon, and Maná all in one night, and Guapulo in Quito, for having an adorable resident cat and the best canelazo in Ecuador.
Best fruit not commercially available in the USA: The granadilla, which on the inside looks like a sac of alien larvae or eyeballs or something, but is extremely delicious. Don't let appearances fool you.
Best instance of rural/urban overlap: Downtown Cuenca, where we saw a man walking a herd of goats selling goat milk directly from the goat.
Maybe I will add more as I think of things, but that's all for now! I have to go on a quest to find lúcuma ice cream, because it is the best ice cream in the universe and I've got a craving.
Love to all!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Oriente and the Colonial South
So, on a whim yesterday, Moira and I decided to leave Puyo/Yana Cocha (don't worry, our time was up), and go to Riobamba. We got in around 7:30 that evening and stayed the night in this not-quite-finished hostel on the edge of town. It's a second branch of another hostel that we tried to go to, but there weren't any rooms available. Anyway, essentially it was like a big mansion with no furniture and would have been totally great to stay in had we not been exhausted. There was a really beautiful kitchen that I only got to use to make oatmeal at six o'clock this morning before Moira and I jumped on yet another bus to Alausí.
We got to Alausí around 9:30 this morning with the intention of taking the train through the Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose) loop. It's supposed to be one of the most spectacular sights in Ecuador, but we didn't make it in time for tickets. But, no matter, because we immediately hopped on a bus to Cuenca.
Initially, Moira and I thought we wouldn't have time to come here, but lo and behold, here we are! The bus ride from Alausí was about 4 or 5 hours, which means that we're in for a 10-hour ride on Wednesday night in order to get back to Quito. For those of you who don't know, Moira and I decided to spare ourselves even more hours of bus-riding in favor of flying to Peru. Flying out of Quito meant being able to leave some things at Toni and Rolf's which was incredibly nice of them (and convenient for us). So we fly into Lima on Friday morning. We still don't have tickets to Cuzco, but there are so many flights a day that we figure at worst we'll have to stay overnight in Lima. So that's that.
Anyway, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador (after Quito and Guayaquil) and it's close to the largest Inca ruins in the country. It's got a really nice old colonial flair, and there's a river that runs along the south edge of town that is supposed to be really beautiful. We're going to spend tomorrow wandering around and going to churches and things (also, maybe, a Panama hat museum!), then head to the ruins at Ingapirca on Tuesday.
In other news, this week involved wholesome family activities such as: wrestling a caiman, capturing an escaped monkey (this was by far the most painful experience at Yana Cocha--that little jerk bit me something fierce...but he's still really cute), having a boa constrictor photo session (boas are the smelliest animals ever--who knew?), eating breakfast while sitting immediately next to a rabid kinkajou in a sack, catching poisonous snakes (we let Manuel take care of that one) and caterpillars, building an epic mud/rock wall next to the kinkajou cage so the little devils can't escape again, and spraying the ocelot with a hose and convincing her that the water was some sort of prey, then laughing at her when we turned the water off and she tried to follow the scent of whatever strange "animal" was taunting her. Ah yes, the joys of the Amazon.
Well, Moira and I are going to go scope out Cuenca for a place to eat on a Sunday night (harder than one might think), so I'll end this post here. Hope all of you are doing well and taking care--we're one half of the way through this adventure! Back in three weeks.
We got to Alausí around 9:30 this morning with the intention of taking the train through the Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose) loop. It's supposed to be one of the most spectacular sights in Ecuador, but we didn't make it in time for tickets. But, no matter, because we immediately hopped on a bus to Cuenca.
Initially, Moira and I thought we wouldn't have time to come here, but lo and behold, here we are! The bus ride from Alausí was about 4 or 5 hours, which means that we're in for a 10-hour ride on Wednesday night in order to get back to Quito. For those of you who don't know, Moira and I decided to spare ourselves even more hours of bus-riding in favor of flying to Peru. Flying out of Quito meant being able to leave some things at Toni and Rolf's which was incredibly nice of them (and convenient for us). So we fly into Lima on Friday morning. We still don't have tickets to Cuzco, but there are so many flights a day that we figure at worst we'll have to stay overnight in Lima. So that's that.
Anyway, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador (after Quito and Guayaquil) and it's close to the largest Inca ruins in the country. It's got a really nice old colonial flair, and there's a river that runs along the south edge of town that is supposed to be really beautiful. We're going to spend tomorrow wandering around and going to churches and things (also, maybe, a Panama hat museum!), then head to the ruins at Ingapirca on Tuesday.
In other news, this week involved wholesome family activities such as: wrestling a caiman, capturing an escaped monkey (this was by far the most painful experience at Yana Cocha--that little jerk bit me something fierce...but he's still really cute), having a boa constrictor photo session (boas are the smelliest animals ever--who knew?), eating breakfast while sitting immediately next to a rabid kinkajou in a sack, catching poisonous snakes (we let Manuel take care of that one) and caterpillars, building an epic mud/rock wall next to the kinkajou cage so the little devils can't escape again, and spraying the ocelot with a hose and convincing her that the water was some sort of prey, then laughing at her when we turned the water off and she tried to follow the scent of whatever strange "animal" was taunting her. Ah yes, the joys of the Amazon.
Well, Moira and I are going to go scope out Cuenca for a place to eat on a Sunday night (harder than one might think), so I'll end this post here. Hope all of you are doing well and taking care--we're one half of the way through this adventure! Back in three weeks.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Here is a list of animals that Moira and I feed and play with while we're at the animal reserve in the Amazon:
Squirrel monkeys (these guys are crafty--they're not in cages, so when we're feeding the other animals out of buckets, sometimes we'll have two or three squirrel monkeys perched on our shoulders trying to steal bananas)
Capuchin monkeys (three different varieties)
Woolly monkeys (so cute, but they pull your hair pretty bad while trying to be affectionate)
Spider monkey (poor Manuel is all by himself)
Bearded tamarin (which is about a third the size of a house cat, but totally has a feline-like face, even though it's a primate)
Agoutis (smaller relative of the capybara)
Coatis (look these up--they are hilarious looking)
Tayras (relative of the mongoose--these guys have sharp claws but are generally pretty docile. I had one on my back yesterday while I was refilling their water pond)
Kinkajous (terribly vicious--Moira and I don't go in this cage)
Guantas (Also capybara-like)
Olingo (this is a noctural, lemur-like creature and he is so, so cute, if not difficult to see most of the time because he sleeps inside a log during the day)
Parrots and macaws
The largest pigeons I've ever seen
Tortoises! (so funny to feed because they often get disoriented and move so slowly, so usually I'll just pick them up and turn them around so that move toward the food)
Porcupine (I haven't actually seen it, but Moira says it looks like an evil sorceress)
Wild boar
And of course...a margay, a tigrillo, and an ocelot! No one can seem to tell us what the difference is between a tigrillo and an ocelot, so they might actually be the same thing? Anyway, we can't actually go in the cages with them (well we could...but probably won't), but the ocelot is an attention hog and comes right up to the cage and lets us pet her. The margay is terribly grumpy (probably because she's noctural but is often disturbed during the day), and the tigrillo is relatively underwhelming. Mostly we love the ocelot and spend our time doting on her. Also, yesterday there were in fact discussions among the folks who actually know what they're doing about capturing a jaguar that's loose somewhere near Puyo (which is the town that skirts the Amazon and is relatively close to the reserve). So maybe Moira and I will, in fact, get to see all three. Unlikely though.
Anyway, our daily activities range from capturing escaped baby chickens to holding giant boa constrictors (true story--we got delayed from leaving for town today because some people brought in a wounded boa, which lead to a big dog and pony show wherein the Eucadorian owner of the reserve had me, Moira, and two other volunteers take a photos with a full grown boa in our hands). Mostly we chop fruit and get covered head to toe in mud, so it's not particularly glamorous. Still, I'm having an absolutely wonderful time and I know Moira is too. The animals are just so dang cute.
Our commitment at Yana Cocha ends on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and we leave for Peru from Quito next Friday, so we're not entirely sure what we're going to do in the intermittent time. It looks like we won't be able to go to Cuenca, so we will probably end up spending those few days in Baños or Ambato, both of which are much closer to Quito than Cuenca is.
Maybe one of these days I'll try to figure out how to post photos. In the meantime, just imagine us in thick rubber boots covered in squirrel monkeys and I think you'll get the idea.
Squirrel monkeys (these guys are crafty--they're not in cages, so when we're feeding the other animals out of buckets, sometimes we'll have two or three squirrel monkeys perched on our shoulders trying to steal bananas)
Capuchin monkeys (three different varieties)
Woolly monkeys (so cute, but they pull your hair pretty bad while trying to be affectionate)
Spider monkey (poor Manuel is all by himself)
Bearded tamarin (which is about a third the size of a house cat, but totally has a feline-like face, even though it's a primate)
Agoutis (smaller relative of the capybara)
Coatis (look these up--they are hilarious looking)
Tayras (relative of the mongoose--these guys have sharp claws but are generally pretty docile. I had one on my back yesterday while I was refilling their water pond)
Kinkajous (terribly vicious--Moira and I don't go in this cage)
Guantas (Also capybara-like)
Olingo (this is a noctural, lemur-like creature and he is so, so cute, if not difficult to see most of the time because he sleeps inside a log during the day)
Parrots and macaws
The largest pigeons I've ever seen
Tortoises! (so funny to feed because they often get disoriented and move so slowly, so usually I'll just pick them up and turn them around so that move toward the food)
Porcupine (I haven't actually seen it, but Moira says it looks like an evil sorceress)
Wild boar
And of course...a margay, a tigrillo, and an ocelot! No one can seem to tell us what the difference is between a tigrillo and an ocelot, so they might actually be the same thing? Anyway, we can't actually go in the cages with them (well we could...but probably won't), but the ocelot is an attention hog and comes right up to the cage and lets us pet her. The margay is terribly grumpy (probably because she's noctural but is often disturbed during the day), and the tigrillo is relatively underwhelming. Mostly we love the ocelot and spend our time doting on her. Also, yesterday there were in fact discussions among the folks who actually know what they're doing about capturing a jaguar that's loose somewhere near Puyo (which is the town that skirts the Amazon and is relatively close to the reserve). So maybe Moira and I will, in fact, get to see all three. Unlikely though.
Anyway, our daily activities range from capturing escaped baby chickens to holding giant boa constrictors (true story--we got delayed from leaving for town today because some people brought in a wounded boa, which lead to a big dog and pony show wherein the Eucadorian owner of the reserve had me, Moira, and two other volunteers take a photos with a full grown boa in our hands). Mostly we chop fruit and get covered head to toe in mud, so it's not particularly glamorous. Still, I'm having an absolutely wonderful time and I know Moira is too. The animals are just so dang cute.
Our commitment at Yana Cocha ends on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and we leave for Peru from Quito next Friday, so we're not entirely sure what we're going to do in the intermittent time. It looks like we won't be able to go to Cuenca, so we will probably end up spending those few days in Baños or Ambato, both of which are much closer to Quito than Cuenca is.
Maybe one of these days I'll try to figure out how to post photos. In the meantime, just imagine us in thick rubber boots covered in squirrel monkeys and I think you'll get the idea.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
OH HI
I am blogging. CHECK IT OUT. I would just like to say that you should SIMPLEMENTE CHECK IT OUT.
But seriously, what I would really like to say is that I wish I had mosquito netting back in Chicago. It rules. There weren´t any sharks and I don´t think we got any sand parasites.
LA PLAYA
Greeting from Bahía! Moira and I are still on the coast of Ecuador, waiting for the night bus that will take us back to Quito.
Starting with Saturday, our excursion to Cotopaxi was great. We got to the base of the trail around 10:30 that morning (we left Quito at 7:00) and it took us about an hour to climb up to the little refuge just at the base of the snowline. The side of the mountain is red from all of the iron deposits and it looks incredible next to all of the greenery covering the surrounding mountains. Cotopaxi is an active volcano and supposedly erupts every 100 years (Last eruption? 1895. So looks like she´s due.) and apparently smokes and spurts from time to time. One of the problems visitors to Cotopaxi often face is dense fog, but it was completely clear during our entire hike. Anyway, once we arrived to the refuge, we rested for a moment then climbed for 45 more minutes up to the glaciers. I think the elevation there was something like 5000 meters, so Moira and I felt pretty tough. We showed up all of the other climbers in their North Face gear with our rugged Colorado dispositions, even though I forgot gloves and was wearing several pairs of socks on my hands instead. While I'm sure that does reflect somewhat on my poor planning skills, I would also like to think that it reveals what a tough lady I am.
When we got back to the parking lot, we were each assigned to different mountain bikes and had to bike down to a little laguna for sixteen kilometers. This was mostly terrible since all of the bikes were in an incredibly low gear, and were partially disassembled so as to be unable to shift. So it was really hard to maintain any stability on these things and we had to ride our brakes the whole way down, which is particularly unpleasant on an unpaved, bumpy incline on a mountain road. Oh well. The views were spectacular, so I can't complain too much.
Sunday, we left for Bahía around 1 in the afternoon and arrived at 9:30 that evening. We spent the night in some hotel that smelled kind of like drying paint and Clorox, took a sea taxi to San Vicente the next morning, and then a little commuter bus to Canoa. To be honest, not much to say about our time there. We spent the past three days taking naps on the beach for hours (no terrible sunburns to speak of on my end, although Moira is noticeably pinker in places), reading, and hanging out with some herpetologists who are working in refuges in northern and central Ecuador. One of said herpetologists, Paul, gave us a clue that there is a little shop in Canoa whose specialty is frozen bananas covered in chocolate, so we got a few of those before hopping on another bus back to Bahía.
Tonight, another 8-9 hour bus ride awaits us to get back to Quito. Our plans for my birthday include seeing Harry Potter 6 and eating cake, which is pretty much all it takes to please me. Hopefully we'll also figure out how we're getting to the Amazon, since we are presumably leaving for Yanacocha wildlife rescue on Saturday night. Fingers crossed for baby ocelots!
Take care all.
Starting with Saturday, our excursion to Cotopaxi was great. We got to the base of the trail around 10:30 that morning (we left Quito at 7:00) and it took us about an hour to climb up to the little refuge just at the base of the snowline. The side of the mountain is red from all of the iron deposits and it looks incredible next to all of the greenery covering the surrounding mountains. Cotopaxi is an active volcano and supposedly erupts every 100 years (Last eruption? 1895. So looks like she´s due.) and apparently smokes and spurts from time to time. One of the problems visitors to Cotopaxi often face is dense fog, but it was completely clear during our entire hike. Anyway, once we arrived to the refuge, we rested for a moment then climbed for 45 more minutes up to the glaciers. I think the elevation there was something like 5000 meters, so Moira and I felt pretty tough. We showed up all of the other climbers in their North Face gear with our rugged Colorado dispositions, even though I forgot gloves and was wearing several pairs of socks on my hands instead. While I'm sure that does reflect somewhat on my poor planning skills, I would also like to think that it reveals what a tough lady I am.
When we got back to the parking lot, we were each assigned to different mountain bikes and had to bike down to a little laguna for sixteen kilometers. This was mostly terrible since all of the bikes were in an incredibly low gear, and were partially disassembled so as to be unable to shift. So it was really hard to maintain any stability on these things and we had to ride our brakes the whole way down, which is particularly unpleasant on an unpaved, bumpy incline on a mountain road. Oh well. The views were spectacular, so I can't complain too much.
Sunday, we left for Bahía around 1 in the afternoon and arrived at 9:30 that evening. We spent the night in some hotel that smelled kind of like drying paint and Clorox, took a sea taxi to San Vicente the next morning, and then a little commuter bus to Canoa. To be honest, not much to say about our time there. We spent the past three days taking naps on the beach for hours (no terrible sunburns to speak of on my end, although Moira is noticeably pinker in places), reading, and hanging out with some herpetologists who are working in refuges in northern and central Ecuador. One of said herpetologists, Paul, gave us a clue that there is a little shop in Canoa whose specialty is frozen bananas covered in chocolate, so we got a few of those before hopping on another bus back to Bahía.
Tonight, another 8-9 hour bus ride awaits us to get back to Quito. Our plans for my birthday include seeing Harry Potter 6 and eating cake, which is pretty much all it takes to please me. Hopefully we'll also figure out how we're getting to the Amazon, since we are presumably leaving for Yanacocha wildlife rescue on Saturday night. Fingers crossed for baby ocelots!
Take care all.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Cotopaxi/Canoa
Today Moira and I climbed a volcano, then biked 16 km down it! Tomorrow we are going to Canoa, so I won't have any updates for you until we get back to Quito on Thursday (my 19th birthday!).
Also, we found out that we can spend a week in the Amazon working at a wildlife rehabilitation center, so baby ocelots here we come! More on that to come.
Chau. See you in a few days.
Also, we found out that we can spend a week in the Amazon working at a wildlife rehabilitation center, so baby ocelots here we come! More on that to come.
Chau. See you in a few days.
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