Cuenca

We arrived in Cuenca from Riobamba on Saturday and took a taxi from the bus station to Hotel Milan, near downtown. We got a great room overlooking a square and opposite a pretty church, and we even had a small balcony. The room was large and clean. It was a good place to hang out while we were still feeling ill from the malarone and/or the jungle food.

The first few days in the city we didn't do a whole lot as Aaron's stomach didn't allow for much travel. Hilary did find the only place in town that sold unsweetened yogurt after an hour of searching. After a couple of days eating yogurt, fruit, and bread, we both felt well enough to start wandering around town. Cuenca is great!

The city seems more affluent than others we have visited. There are bona fide suburbs with big houses, although in true Ecuadorian fashion these are walled and many have electric fences above the walls instead of the typical broken bottles. Downtown is full of people, with tons of restaurants and shopping. Some of the shops are quite high-end. The streets are on the whole cleaner than other cities, and the bank guards more armed. [Our favorite was the shotgun-toting guy outside Western Union. We didn't think it wise to take a picture.] There are an inordinate number of bakeries and ice cream shops; the travel guides say that Cuenca has a collective sweet tooth and that seems to be true. The quality of the baked goods is higher here (at least in the American sense) and the ice cream is richer too. Cuenca seems to be Ecuador's land of yummy food (which is nice since we're a little bummed to be missing the coast).

We got pretty good fried rice (which seems ubiquitous in Cuenca even outside the "Chifa" restaurants) the first night from the hotel restaurant, but after that ventured out more. Our first try was a place on one of the larger squares where we got sub-par lasagna but also a really good tamale and an awesome shrimp-stuffed avocado thing. The next day we walked around the river and found several "Arabic" restaurants; here Arabic mostly means Indian food and shawarma [kind of like a gyro] paired with flavored tobacco hookahs. We picked Taj Mahal since it was the largest, airiest, and least smoky and the internet told us it was the best one in town. It was a total downer, we feel terribly sorry for the people of Cuenca if that is the best Indian curry they can get.  To cheer ourselves up we picked up an apple strudel to go from Cafe Austria a few blocks away. Excellent! (Cuenca has been redeemed).

The next day we had to move hotels. It's a holiday week: All Saint's Day (Nov 1), Day of the Dead (Nov 2), and to top it all off Cuenca Independence Day (Nov 3). We didn't realize early enough and Hotel Milan was booked starting the 2nd. We called around but didn't find anything, then started walking around and asking. We finally got a hit at Gran Hotel, which was finishing a remodel and didn't seem to have anything booked in advance. Lucky us! Too bad they required a longer stay over the holiday (3 nights) and the holiday prices are higher. We moved our stuff on the 1st.

After a little break, we headed down to the big museum by the Banco Central. The info we had said it would be $3 but it was free (maybe for the holiday?). The main exhibits were excavated pottery and metalwork from Tomebamba (the Inca city; it was destroyed shortly before the Spanish founded Cuenca); local artwork and dress from all the regions of Ecuador, arranged geographically; and the tsantsas. A tsantsa is a shrunken head. There was a big section all about the Shuar indigenous group and the culture surrounding the taking and shrinking of heads. There was one sloth head (used for practice in coming-of-age ceremonies) and five human ones. Pretty neat.

After the museum we walked through the craft fair set up for the holiday. We picked up a couple blankets which are supposedly made of alpaca. We have our doubts, but they are still pretty. We also got a gorgeous hand-woven table cloth (which Hilary says we are going to hang on the wall, as it is too pretty for food to fall on it).  We'll use the two brightly colored and beautifully patterned runners on tables, though. For dinner we went to a place on Calle Larga that advertised 30-cm burritos for $5. The food was really good; we even had a couple cocktails (living on the edge).

The 2nd was the big parade day. We, of course, didn't really know this but we started wandering around in the morning and followed the giant mob to the main square. Everyone was lining up along the street, which was closed to traffic. We figured it must be a parade. We were right, but it didn't start for an hour and a half after we got there (and the place was packed at 10:30). We did do a lot of great people watching, popcorn eating, and we even got some frozen yogurt. The parade did eventually start and it was mostly Cuenca-themed with floats from the various neighborhoods and schools. It was a lot like the 4th of July parades in Wisconsin, complete with floats handing out food and spraying milk at the crowds. We stayed for awhile until we got a little too scorched by the sun.

On our way back to the hotel we did pick up a traditional guagua de pan: bread shaped like a little baby. Apparently it's a Day of the Dead thing? We didn't get any colada morada (a warm fruit drink) since we had tried that a few days earlier and weren't all that excited, though it is a traditional accompaniment to the kid-bread since it looks like a cup of blood. After hiding from the sun for the afternoon we went back for more burritos. After that we stopped at Cafe Austria and confused the staff by ordering warm milk and liqueur along with more strudel. They asked how our experimental drinks were; we told them it's totally normal in the US. Maybe they'll add it to the menu?

Today we walked over to the second half of the craft fair: paint and jewelry. The other day it was barely set up so we figured we'd just walk through briefly today. Oops. Hilary found things she liked in the local metalwork style including a bracelet and three necklaces. She had to be pushed out of the fair after that (much to the amusement of the craftsmen at the last table). We walked back along Calle Larga to Coffee Tree, where we had stopped one morning for tea/coffee and cake. Today we got more tea and some really good kabobs. Coffee Tree turns out to be the Gringo Black Hole of Cuenca. People walked by on the street and all the gringos got sucked in. There are also some expats that seem to hang out there a lot, and the music selection is mostly contemporary US stuff (in English). They even have live music nightly...in English. The food is good and they do make the tea correctly (hot enough water) and they have espresso! Their cappuccino is more like a latte, but hey we're ok with that. After our lunch we crossed the street to another museum set in a really cool old house. There were paintings from the 17th-19th centuries, and they were just hanging there on the walls. Only one had a glass pane in front. Crazy! Upstairs was a traveling black and white photo exhibit by Ecuadorian artists.

Tonight is our last in Cuenca, which is probably good. The hotel we have seems to be populated by a motley crew of folks who didn't book far enough ahead (like us): drunk party-goers, families with small children, and an entire Chilean girl's high school basketball team. They take up the whole breakfast space. It's a bit louder than advertised here, so we're ready to visit the (supposedly) quiet town of Vilcabamba for a few days tomorrow.

Malarone Sucks

We started taking our anti-malarial pills before we got to Puyo, as it was below the "safe" elevation of ~1500 m and we were planning on going into the jungle. The locals said there isn't any malaria around Puyo, but the CDC sure thinks there is and we didn't feel like messing with it. By the morning of our second day in the jungle, we were feeling pretty awful. It didn't get much better when we got back to Puyo, or when we stopped in Riobamba the next day. After consulting our paperwork and the list of "side effects", we've decided that it is in fact the Malarone that is making us horribly, horribly ill. Aaron's got most of the list: cough, stomach cramps, loss of appetite, diarrhea. Our entire experience in Riobamba was our hotel room, which unfortunately was the China of Ecuador: dirty, dirty, and sans toilet seat.

We've moved on to Cuenca, after taking some Immodium to survive the 5-hour bus ride from Riobamba. The Malarone is making Aaron so miserable we've decided to entirely skip the coast of Ecuador as it would necessitate us to take the pills for just that much longer. Our Cuenca hotel is very nice and that's good as we're basically stuck inside it until our course is through. We did get bit by 2 (Aaron) and 1 (Hilary) mosquitoes, so again we don't really want to mess with the whole malaria thing. But damn, the decision is a close one.

We'll visit the coast when we get south of Lima: out of the tropics and out of malaria territory.

In the Jungle

The locals call it "la selva". We got a hotel in Puyo, which sits at 950 m and right at the edge of the jungle proper. We didn't feel like spending $2k on a trip deep into the jungle (plane trip, long canoe ride, lodge in the middle of nowhere) so we asked at the desk for a recommendation on local operators. We got Pascual, a member of a local tribe and the operator of Bugyu Tours. (Bugyu is the name for the pink river dolphin in Kitchwa.) He spoke some English, and we hammered out a plan for a two-day trip to the jungle to visit a local community and do some forest things.

We left the next day with Roberto, our indigenous guide, and took a taxi an hour down the river. We stopped at a local fish hatchery/pond to check out the giant fish they have in the rivers: Paiche. They're some kind of lung fish, as they periodically came up for air. While we were there we got a net full of tilapia for lunch. The next stop was a waterfall a few km into the jungle. We stopped often to check out the plants, bugs, and birds. At the waterfall we changed into swim suits and got into the cold water; it's apparently traditional to go swimming in these falls.

We walked back toward the village, which happened to be on an island. It had rained all night and the river was high; the banks were 10 ft wider than normal in places and the water was at least a foot above its normal spot. With more than a little difficulty, a dugout canoe was poled upriver and then across to pick us up. It was not the most calming ride.

We had very yummy fish for lunch, but then didn't have a lot to do. The river was too high to accommodate our scheduled slate of activities. Ah well. We hung out a bit, kicked a ball around with the kids, shot a wooden parrot with a blowgun, etc. A little later in the afternoon, we did go for a walk up the river. Eventually we arrived at a boat: we were going whitewater canoeing. Yikes! It was quite the adventure, and we only ran aground twice. The boat managed to not tip over though Hilary got quite wet from the waves crashing over the sides.

It was crazy to see how differently the family lived (compared to us).  While our guide used his cell phone to contact people from the middle of nowhere jungle-land, they had no running water, no electricity, and the kids generally watched over themselves while playing in the dirt yard all day (seriously... 3-year olds walking around playing with machetes, stripping off to jump in the fast-moving creek/river on the other side of the island, and generally self-policing).  It was truly a world apart in many ways.

That night there was some traditional dancing. We wrote down some helpful English phrases (the family spoke only Spanish and Kitchwa). We went to bed inside our mosquito net; the bed was rather hard as it was basically a wooden platform covered with a thin 20-year old mat. Didn't sleep a whole lot, especially since Hilary is afraid of all the bumps in the night. The jungle has lots of night noises, including the rooster who thought the sun came up at 3:30. Also the dogs tried to eat her during a midnight bathroom break. (bathroom here equals anywhere that is not your hut.) The next morning we weren't feeling all that great, and decided to skip the 3-hour hike to another waterfall and head back to Puyo.

Latacunga and Baños

We took a 2-hour taxi ride down the bumpy roads from Cotopaxi and, after some confusion about the streets, eventually got dropped off at Hostal Tiana in Latacunga. This was a recommendation from the guy who owns Secret Garden. It should be no surprise that we checked out after only one night; the room was oddly freezing (no a/c and it was warm outside) and there was a noisy gym through our wall. At the recommendation of the front staff, we went to a "Mexican" restaurant for dinner to get nachos and tacos, but were underwhelmed.

We moved down the street to Hotel Central. Best decision ever! Thursday morning we took the bus to Saquisili to check out the weekly market. It was almost entirely food, which made us think of cooking and how much we don't do that here (i.e. not at all). Lots of bags of pasta, rice, and various flours. We're not sure what the purple flour was. Taro? Do they have taro here? Back in Latacunga we got pizza for lunch (Hilary was feeling homesick), and it was surprisingly good. They even tossed the dough and had a deli slicer for the meat. The pizza was giant and we saved half for dinner.

Friday we didn't do much...practiced a little Spanish and chilled out. Had pasta & lasagna for dinner (there is a lot of Italian food here) and saw a guy from Cotopaxi. He went to climb the mountain but his buddy got sick 150 m from the top and they had to turn around. Bummer. Latacunga was a nice town, and it was really great to be able to walk around at night.

Saturday we hopped on a bus to Ambato, then in Ambato switched to a bus going to Baños. We walked the 1.5 km to our hostel: Hostal Casa Real. Got a nice room with a hammock looking at the waterfall.

We walked around Baños for a bit, got some lunch, hung out in one of the parks, etc. While we walked around we noticed a sign that said "La Cascada Cerveceria"...Brew Pub! For dinner we went back and it was open; sure enough, it's a brew pub. We tried three beers, one made with local rock sugar and oranges, one with local berries (mora), and the IPA. Pretty good! The sandwiches were good too, including the AF&C: almond butter, fig jam, and cheese. Apparently it's the Belgian idea of a sandwich. At the bar we met a couple from San Francisco (who used to live by Lake Merritt). They took us to a local bar after we were done at the pub and we grabbed another beer. While we were there, four British tourists we met in Cotopaxi walked in. Small world! On our way back to the hostel, we saw another couple from Cotopaxi. Baños starting to get creepy at that point?

Sunday we decided to hike to Bellavista, the hill above Baños on which there is a big cross. At night they light it up and, due to the lack of other lights, it looks like it's just floating in the sky. The track was really steep, but you could see all of Baños. We kept going toward Runtun but turned toward Mirador de la Virgen when we got to this fancy cafe, Cafe del Cielo. Mirador de la Virgen is on the ridge opposite Bellavista and it has a giant marble statue of Mary on it. On our way, we passed a little old lady hiking up this crazy path with two puppies.  Emphasis on little and old... she was pulling on the weeds on the side of the path to get up it.  Crazy.

Today we went into town and perused the bike rental places. We found one with the least crappy looking bikes and started down la Ruta de las Cascadas, which is the road from Baños to Puyo that follows the river and passes tons of waterfalls. The road is mostly downhill, and mostly paved except for one spot where the road slid down the hill (they're fixing it) and the numerous tunnels which require you to take the cobbled and/or gravel path around (no bikes in the tunnels). We stopped first at Manto de la Novia (Bridal Veil) falls and took a surprisingly fast cable car down to a suspension bridge and crossed the river.

Further down the road we stopped at Pailon del Diablo (Devil’s Cauldron) and took the ~1 km hike down into the valley. After paying the entrance fee, we hiked up to the viewpoint. Next to the lookout was a sign for the path to Grieta del Cielo (Crack in the Sky, or maybe Heaven's Crack?); the path however required a bit of crawling and climbing up vertical pipe cut into the rock. (You can see Aaron in the picture.) At the top was the falls. You could walk under them through a sketchy-looking tarp and then to a path on the edge of the cliff guarded by a single strand of green string, but I stayed on the near side of the falls.  We were more than happy to stop back up on the road for a chicken and cheese empanada at some random woman's house.  Oddly enough, we met a dude from Cornell who was also enjoying the empanadas in her kitchen.  Seriously, it's amazing how small the world feels sometimes.  It makes me feel thankful that we live in a place that allows us to travel... and so many of our compatriots as well.

Further down the road were lots more falls; we occasionally stopped but didn't do any more of the cable cars or hikes. We did pass through the town of San Francisco. :) At the town of Rio Negro we stopped and waited for a bus to take us back to Baños. Tonight we'll return to the brewpub to try the remaining two beers and tomorrow Hilary has a massage scheduled (Baños is the place to go for massages). Then we'll hop a bus to Puyo and see about a jungle adventure.

Some thoughts on the highly-European-ized hostel

You can walk around with your laptop, and even leave it around charging in a common area. Everyone's got one!

If you are looking for some movies or music to add to your collection, you can find them.

Never have we met so many people from Switzerland.

Everyone speaks English (except the cooking/cleaning staff). This is sort of nice since you don't really have to try to communicate, but really bad for your Spanish skills and highly frustrating considering we're in Ecuador. Many travelers don't speak any Spanish at all. At Cotopaxi, the couple in charge of the place (a 2-ish month stint) didn't speak Spanish and seemed to willfully reject the idea of learning. Not cool.

The attitude is highly Eurocentric (they are ok with Americans too), down to even the food. They won't serve local dishes and instead come up with sub-par versions of Western dishes. In Quito we could get food elsewhere, but at Cotopaxi there wasn't anything within about an hour. We don't want banana crepes with chocolate sauce for breakfast!

It becomes almost too easy to have other people organize your adventures for you.