ecuador: festivals, waterfalls, and mountain dwellers

“the first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling

and...we're back! the past few weeks we spent time volunteering at a great farm up in the mountains (more on that later). now, we're back in civilization and able to blog about it :)

so...here goes...

steps traveled this leg/total: 491,000/ 1.9 million

miles traveled this leg/total: 720/ 12,000

buses traveled this leg/total: 16/ 133

first stop after quito, the little city of latacunga, famous for its bi-annual "la mama negra" festival. several interesting things about this festival that we learned/experienced:

1. no one is sure of the exact origin of the festival. there are many explanations, including: a) the obvious religious aspect, as is with most latin american festivals, b) the celebration of the first time that a black person was seen in ecuador, and/or c) a reason to dress up in ridiculous outfits and force booze onto everyone, not forgetting the unsuspecting gringos such as us

2. if a gringo, you should avoid eye contact with la mama negra, pictured here. she (although definitely a man dressed in drag), will throw milk at you from a turkey baster

3. dozens of men must undergo some serious training to prepare for the festival. after a band or group of performers go by, you see a man like this, carrying dozens of bottles of alcohol, cigarettes, and chips, all attached to a pig carcass. since these can weigh over 100 kilos (over 200 lbs), they need to stop every 100 meters or so for a break. therefore, another guy follows the pig carcass guy carrying a stool for the heavy lifter to take a break, and usually a drink/smoke. insanity.

4. parents make their kids start young. pictured here, young carcass carriers in training, obviously with guinea pig carcasses instead of pig carcasses.

5. did we mention that this festival could really just be an excuse for heavy drinking? as well as every group having a carcass carrier, there is always an older man or woman carrying around some homemade booze concoction. drinks go to not only the members of the group but also to anyone and everyone in the crowd. our first night of the festival, we must have been given over 15 shots each. we learned (although not soon enough) that if you don’t want it, take the shot and then spit it out on the ground. bad manners to refuse a drink, but totally cool to spit it out afterwards :)

6. there are some creeeeeepy costumes within the parade. these guys would hit you with antler sticks if you got too close.

7. this parade goes on FOREVER! first, there are 4 days of parade-ing: Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday. within each day, there exists a parade at 9 am and 2 pm. the 2 pm parade, however, lasts until about 10 pm and then parties last throughout the night.

8. and lastly, do NOT bring your camera out to the parade if you plan on becoming part of the parade and dancing like fools. unfortunately, our camera was yanked during the parade. therefore, we shall mention that these pictures are from camera number 2: cheapo Kodak camera :)

out of the craziness, and into the cold. after latacunga we arrived at quilotota, a small town famous for it’s beautiful crater lake. it was incredible. we arrived late in the day to see the crater just before the mist took over.

we started our next day off with a freezing cold sunrise morning. worth every shiver

the route we took that day from quilotoa to chugchilan. instead of taking the bus, we decided to hike the 20-ish kilometers (about 12 miles) to chugchilan. furthermore, in lieu of paying a guide about $25 to take us there, we opted for some homemade directions. our directions consisted of “take the third sandy patch” and “take the middle route after the grassy clearing.” nevertheless, we made it, and it was incredible. a few highlights:

our view before leaving the third sandy patch down into the valley. we had a guide dog for a bit, but then, she got distracted :(

the view of the valley on the beginning of our descent

halfway point! the tiny tiny town of guayama. perfect for a rest…walking downhill for 600 consecutive meters is tough on those toes!

our destination is ahead, just beyond the ridge. now…just to descend another 500 meters…

…only to have to ascend it again! we’re nearly at chugchilan here. the view shows the canyon we climbed down, along a steep, tunnel like path, and then back up. wonderful hike and a great way to experience the Andean countryside on our own

next destination, banos, for a little pre-anniversary celebration at a great hotel, la casa de abuelo art hotel. this was our favorite graffiti in banos. cool astronaut family, ready for a swim

banos, is famous for its thermal baths (thus the name) and the numerous waterfalls that surround the valley. one of our days there we went waterfall-hopping. pictured here, manta de la novia (bridal veil)

lauren, soaking up the waterfall goodness at the bottom.

to get to one of the waterfalls, cascadas de las incas, you had to take this pink cable car like thing across. joe thoroughly enjoyed it. lauren, on the other hand, did not…at all.

joe, soaking up some waterfall goodness

the newest trail created at the falls requires crawling through a cave on hands and knees – it’s all worth it when you get to stand directly behind the top of the falls. here’s Joe beginning his wet journey…

the biggest waterfall along our crawl, pailon del Diablo (the devil’s cauldron). incredibly forceful waterfall, definitely no standing below or in this one

view from above the city of banos

the staple beer of Ecuador – pilsener. we like that it is usually around $1 and comes in a 24-ish ounce bottle. otherwise, eh.

our treat while in banos – 4 course dinner every night at our hotel at their sweet outdoor bar/kitchen

typical countryside view while bussing it in Ecuador. clothes hanging out to dry among the hills

welcome to Cuenca! charming city full of colonial architecture and…

Chicago pizza??!! what!!?? actually…although the pizza was quite good (we HAD to try it), it is NO Chicago pizza.

we’ve reached the point in our travels where we’ll be surrounded by incan and other pre-colombian ruins, constantly. the beginning…pumapungo, a structure right in the middle of Cuenca.

some of cuenca’s colonial architecture

joe sporting a fedora style Panama hat.

so…you might be thinking, Panama hat? in Ecuador? actually, although donned the “Panama” hat, the manufacturing of the hats started in Ecuador, to supply Panamanians with hats during the construction of the canal. so, the right place to buy a Panama hat is actually in Ecuador. learn something new everyday.

some more of the fancy style Panamanian hats

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory – Hot Dog Macaroni, what else is left to say?

right before we arrived in Cuenca, there was a little political craziness happening with president correa and the police. basically, the police went on strike because they were upset about the removal of some bonus/pension money from their salaries. the result was correa being held “hostage” in the military hospital while there was talk of a military coup. by the next day, the police were already back at “work” and correa was giving dramatic speeches to the public about the incident (he’s known for getting Ecuadorians to like him simply because he’s a great speaker). anyhoo…we stayed in banos a day later than planned because of the incident. as usual with most rioting/striking here in Ecuador, things like this tend to pass over within a day or two. however, in Cuenca about 3 days later, there were riot police around due to a political speaker in the square. this was our closest encounter to the whole “situation.”

good beer in cuenca! we walked by this brewery about 5 times during the day waiting for it to open. finally, at 5 pm, we were rewarded

back to small-town livin’. we arrived in vilcabamba after a few days in cuenca ready for relax before we headed up to the mountain. great little town surrounded by the beautiful andes. we stayed at a place that had quite a few trails along their surprisingly desert-like mountain ridge land.

totally in awe of the amount of large cacti in this area. we learned that due to tons of slash-and-burn deforestation practices (more on that later), the land dries out and begins to populate with desert-like foliage, although a lot of the dry-climate plants are actually native to vilcabamba.

dig this cool plant

joe chompin down on a mini mandarin

the beginning of our awesome sunsets in vilcabamba. little did we know what sunsets we would experience at the top of the mountain…

time to head up the mountain to sacred suenos! we left early in the a.m. to avoid the midday heat since the hike is steady uphill for about 2 hours. bonnie and nuki, our donkey pals, were kind enough to carry all our groceries and supplies up for the week. although they were totally NOT happy about it! we constantly had to push their butts and say “hup-hup” to get them to continue. they were troopers though. plus, our groceries are nothing compared to what they’ve had to bring up in the past: cement mix, sand, propane tanks, roofing tiles, etc etc.

the view from sacred suenos, our home for 3 weeks.

so…some info about this amazing mountain farm…

yves, pictured here in front of the main communal/kitchen area, started sacred suenos about 7 years ago. his requirements: land that is “a good hike from the nearest road with no electricity, with a small spring rather than a public water supply, and, most importantly, land that had suffered from degradation to the point that no Ecuadorian would want to live on it.”. his vision: “to regenerate a small piece of degraded mountainside into a self-sufficient farm using permaculture design principles.” about 3 years ago, he was joined by his partner, jen, and they’ve been making sacred suenos better and better each day with the help of volunteers that flow in and out of vilcabamba. we could go on and on about the amazing-ness of this place, but that would result in a incredibly lengthly blog. so…check out their website to find out more: http://sacredsuenos.wordpress.com/. a few interesting bits and bobs:

these guys are everywhere!! bracken fern (Ecuadorian name: hasheepa), are the first plants to emerge during regeneration, post slash and burn. for those unaware, slash and burn practices are BAD (although they happen everywhere!). in Ecuador, and all over the world, farmers that are in need of pasture land burn the land – full of brush and other grasses – to then allow for regeneration of grasses for grazing. however, due to the continuation of slash and burn practices on the same land and the ensuing erosion, the nutrients are eventually drained and the land is soon deemed useless to the farmers.

slash and burn practices were constantly occurring around the nearby mountains, obvious since, nearly every night, we saw some crazy fires off in the distance

how sacred suenos makes their income – goat cheese. each week jen brings about half a dozen goat cheeses down to town and makes their weekly income for groceries and other supplies.

one of the awesome sunsets on the mountain

the bathroom…for number 2 only :) this was one of the most interesting/useful fertilization methods for the farm. I’ll be frank: the poo was composted and then the bottom bits (along with sawdust) were rinsed out near a tomate de arbol tree (a fruit that tastes like sweet/tart tomatoes…great in juices). the tree that was fertilized was producing about 10 times more fruit than the same tree not fertilized by humanure. we will attest that although we did not get excited about being next in line for “emptying the shit bucket”, it was not as bad as it sounds (sawdust helps…a LOT).

other daily chores consisted of: -feeding the dogs, cats, and chickens, - checking the level of the water tank, - making lunch, - doing dishes / cleaning the kitchen (more work that you would think), and - watering plant beds

the view from the “bathroom”. probably the best view while doing your business…ever

delicious psychedelic sweet potatoes

early morning view of the valley

joe with one of the sacred suenos doggie pals: rumby, the adorable lover of avocado pits, tempter of half eaten food, dad of the 8-month year old pup…

bootsey, lover of chewing on shoes, howling with a braying donkey, hovering over rumby’s half eaten dinner, chasing his tail, and accidental touch-er of the goat’s electric fence (followed by a quick run home)

another awesome sunset. these were pretty standard, yet incredible every time

most days, joe walked the “hectic” 20-minute morning commute to the ‘panela house’, where Yves was doing a lot of work with the animals (goats, donkeys, horse), as well as plumbing. here’s the great view from this area. every once in a while, you would look up from your machete-ing and remember “oh yeah, it’s freaking gorgeous. why don’t we take a break and enjoy…”

another angle of this area – building the orange clay roof and the goat fence (and getting the goats adjusted to their new painful fence) were a couple of things that Joe helped out with

donkey love – awwwwww…

lauren, dressed in work attire, ready for dusk-time watering

joe in typical work attire, machete included

bootsey sat there wagging his tail while joe came at him with the machete… silly dog… silly machete-joe! (no dogs were harmed during the creation of this blog post)

“food? food? do you have food? I’ll peck at your shoes – are they food? give me food!” – the crazy chickens

view from the meditation/yoga/massage/relax platform, attached to our dorm bedroom

inside our communal kitchen area

last and best sunset at sacred suenos…although this picture just doesn’t do it justice.

we loved our time at sacred suenos. we experienced farm work we’d never thought we’d do before, including: carving up a mountainside for donkeys to walk safely along a trail, painting the inside of a water tank, machete'ing a goat fence path, cutting plastic for cob (cob is similar to adobe and plastic is used as a replacement for straw as a binding ingredient), torturing goats with an electric fence, weeding around banana trees, collecting donkey poo for fertilizer, conducting outside plumbing (WAY harder than indoor/American plumbing), making a gigantic compost lasagna, killing unwanted plants with a beretta, bringing donkeys up and down a mountain, sifting compost, and building a terra-cotta tile roof. a lot of work, but so rewarding and it felt great to contribute to such an awesome vision!

now, we’re in peru for a couple weeks…country number 8! getting in some beach time and then off to the cordilleras before ending in lima.

hope all is well stateside!

tallyho,

lauren and joe