End of First Trip

It´s Sunday afternoon and my first trip comes to a close tomorrow when we head back to the little pueblo of Puerto Rico. I left off a week ago with a post on my bikeride through Banos so I´ll pick up there.

On Monday we went white water rafting with a local crew of guys. It had been recommended to us the day before by a couple of german girls in our hostal. When we arrived at the tour shop to get our wetsuits and helmets the head guy informed us that our trip would be different than the day before - we would be going on a level 4 advanced course. Apparently since we were the only tourists signed up for the day, the locals decided to take us along on a fun day of their own :) Of course in true Ecuadorian style we spent the first 45 minutes driving around to find a place to get the tires of the van pumped up and then had to wait for a taxi to bring out some forgotten equipment. It turned out to be a great day because the guys who took us were were a blast. It was rainy and a bit cold but we warmed up as soon as we hit the river and had to paddle for our lives. Unfortunately I don´t have any pictures from the actual rafting because we couldn´t get our cameras wet but the river was rocky and a lot of fun. We were in a large raft with the two of us and 4 guides. There were also two kayakers on the river with us in case we needed rescuing. It was exhausting and exhilarating and I was definitely glad that we did the more adventurous part of the river. They took us for lunch afterwards and we became buds and decided to meet out for a night on the town that night (our last night in Banos).

So later on Anna-Lee and I met up with our new Ecuadorian friend, Juank, played some pool and MNF was actually on at the bar - a miracle! A few other guys met us out and we went to a few bars, played pool and hung out - my spanish was flowing after a few beers :) At one point we met a bunch of Irishmen visiting Banos (drunk Irishmen of course). I talked to them in english for a bit as the only spanish they knew was, una cerveza por favor (a beer please) and one of them said to me, quote unquote ¨your english is really good¨...it was hilarious and made me feel quite good about my spanish - even if he was blind drunk :) After a while we all headed to the local discotech and danced and sweated the night away - a great way to end our time in Banos. We are hoping that Juank will come visit us in Puerto Lopez and he may even go to the jungle with us in October - he is a jungle guide so that would be very handy!

After a lovely time in Banos, we headed to Riambamba mostly to take a train to another city because the train ride along the mountains was supposed to be great and there was a part called the Devils Nose, the only functioning part of the Trans-Andean Railway completed in 1902. We were expecting a death defying descent but after 4 hours on the train we were a bit disappointed. The views of the mountains were spectacular and we rode literally on the edge of the mountain for the devil´s nose part - but 6 hours on the train was too much. And after the train we still had a 4 hour busride to Cuenca, our destination. When we finally arrived in Cuenca on Wednesday night we were pretty traveled out. Of course when we arrived to the hostal we had reserved, it was no longer at the same address so we had quite the adventure searching for it and finally the owner of the hostal came to pick us up...good use of the cellphone!

We were psyched to see as we walked around Cuenca on Thursday that the city was just as beautiful as everyone had said. It is a city of narrow cobblestone streets situated along a river. There is a beautiful old cathedral and the blue domes can be seen from everywhere in the city as a guide to get back to the center of town. There are no modern, ugly buildings - they have kept everything very colonial-looking and it looks great because of it. The city is also easy to walk and get around so we spent most of our first day checking out the main sites in the city, the cathedral, the markets, the river, and a great museum on Ecuadorian culture. They did an awesome job with the museum as it outlined the many different regions of Ecuador and the cultures, dress, daily lives of the people. There was a cool section on the people that live in the jungle in the southeastern part of Ecuador who seem to have a separate jungle culture all their own - complete with shrinking the heads of adversaries!

The next day we checked out the modern art musuem full of art from locals and bought some gifts in the markets for Naomi, the little girl in our Ecuadorian family who will be 3 October 8th. So lots of culture for us... but that wasn´t enough.

Yesterday we took a day trip 40 minutes out into the mountains to spend the day learning about Canari culture. The Canari were the Ecuadorian people in the south central part of Ecuador before the Incas and Spaniards came along. Of course day trips in Ecuador are always an adventure. We took off on time for once, but when we got there we were served a ´welcome tea´ which was really a mug full of jameison or some shot that I did not want to be drinking at 10am - but of course we had to drink it all. Then the guide played Canari instruments and sang for us while we had to ´dance´ with his children. And by dancing I mean skip around in circles holding hands at a running pace until I thought I was gonna throw up. Good times after a mug of alcohol.

After that lovely breakfast, we headed on a hike up the mountains. Our guide took us through the woods near his house and showed us all the plants they use for medicinal purposes - they don´t believe in modern medicine still. It was really beautiful and it was cool to spend the day outside a city with a family who lives in the mountains and has such a distinct culture. His 14 year old daughter came along with us and was fun to talk to - I got a kick out of the fact that she carried her cellphone the whole time - I guess they aren´t too far outside city culture :) We walked along the still dirt road through the mountains that the Incas and Spaniards used - where the Spaniards discovered gold. The dirt is gold, red, orange, all types of colors naturally. Eventually we stopped to have a picnic and we were hoping to experience our first taste of guinea pig, but no such luck. They did lay out a delicious meal on the green mountainside on a table cloth - no plates, which is what they do for special occasions. There were veggies, beef, potatoes, cheese and an interesting tea. Then we did some knitting and crushing of corn for soup stuff - they were showing us the types of things they do on a daily basis. I think I´ll stick to buying and ordering :)

Today we are back in Guayaquil on our way back home for a few weeks while we plan a trip to the jungle. I´m getting kicked out of the internet cafe in 5 minutes and I´m not sure when I´ll get pics on the blog again - may not be for a bit. Stay tuned!