Today is our last day in beautiful friendly Ecuador. There's not much more to see, its not that. It's just an overall longing to be in this environment more. We are constantly mistaken for British or Canadian, but we always use our broken Spanish to explain we are from the states. We had our picture taken at the restaurant in the ranger station yesterday with a couple on vacation from Guayaquil. I think maybe they had never met Americans before. :)
Cuenca is gorgeous. This town really takes care of itself. The other night I couldn't figure out what all the noise was outside at 9PM. It was 2 men with a pressure washer - get this - they were cleaning the tile sidewalks! One guy had a long pole to pull gunk out of the grout and the other cleaned it away with the pressure washer. The cab driver told us that the gente (the people of Cuenca) were very proud of their city and they take care of it.
On the afternoon we got here, we had a large late lunch. When it came time for dinner, noone was hungry, so we went out for dessert. We had huge ice cream sundaes and cheesecake and tiramisu. The kids couldn't believe their luck, I think we've broken every rule now. :) After we had dessert, we walked out into the park across the street. We were only there for a minute before the gigantic church next door let out from Mass. When the doors opened, a large crowd of people (I think there might have been around 800 or so, Catedral Nueva was built to hold 10,000 worshippers) came down the steps en masse, singing and holding hands and walking across the street into the park. They wrapped around the statue in the middle, on the inside were men with guitars, interspersed in the crowd were castenets, shakers, etc. The people faced the middle and wrapped their arms around each others' shoulders and did a little box step. The singing was beautiful but we couldnt' understand a word of it. Until they got to a song where the only word was Hallelujah. Meghan squeezed my hand and said "I know this one" and we stood watching and smiling for another song or two.
The trip to Ingapirca was l-o-n-g. It was supposed to take 2 hours as it was, but our bus kept stopping and picking up more people. There were people standing in the aisles. We got there and they only offered tours in 2 languages. Spanish and English! Can you believe the luck? I am not kidding when I say we were the only native-tongue English speakers in our group of 12. I think the rest of them came because they knew enough English to listen to the guide and the Spanish tour group was more than 25 people. The guide would speak for a little while, and they would turn to their friends and translate what they heard. We went to the Planetarium in Quito and listened in Spanish. I think I understood about 1 out of every 15 words. An English tour was such a blessing. The coolest history part we learned was that the Temple of the Sun here is the only Incan temple in existence that was built in an oval. The circle was a sacred shape to the Cañari people and in deference to them the Incas built their normally square Temple into a rounded shape.
Yesterday's hike was one of the loveliest places I have ever seen. We traversed a fairly easy trail around the lake. What we hadn't counted on was altitude sickness. By half-way around the late, Meghan's nose had started bleeding a little. We slowed down some but by 3/4 of the way around, Helen's had started too. We sat for a long break and enjoyed the fantastic views and took multiple photos. The last 1/4 of the trip took us at least an hour. We walked up a hill and stopped for a break. Every climb no matter how small, needed a rest. By the time we reached the bus stop, Meghan had a pounding headache. She was ill on the bus ride back into town (fortunately, down a good 1,000 feet from where we were hiking). It took her at least an hour back at the hotel before she was able to hold down some Motrin. Within 10 minutes, she was smiling again. The situation was terrifying to me. I knew there was no way for me to carry her up the hill or for me to carry all the backpacks up the hill. My heart was pounding as well and I felt the pressure in my ears. We will have to keep in mind that we're not all that acclimated to 9,500' hiking. Today she's all smiles - we will have to keep in mind the acclimitization when we're in Cuzco (11, 150 feet).
Today we knock around Cuenca. Check out their outdoor market (Thurs is the best day), a historical site, and pack up. We leave tonight for an overnight bus ride into Peru. We have to stop at 2AM and go through customs (we're hoping this is not too tough on the kids, but it seemed like a good idea to try to travel the 11 hours in the night instead of during the day). We'll see. By tomorrow night we should be in Chiclayo, Peru. I have no idea when we will have internet again.
Keep us in your thoughts. The journey gets a little crazier from here. :)
PS. No, I did not get to surf again at the coast, they said the surf was too dangerous that day. Oh well. Maybe some other time.
Cuenca is gorgeous. This town really takes care of itself. The other night I couldn't figure out what all the noise was outside at 9PM. It was 2 men with a pressure washer - get this - they were cleaning the tile sidewalks! One guy had a long pole to pull gunk out of the grout and the other cleaned it away with the pressure washer. The cab driver told us that the gente (the people of Cuenca) were very proud of their city and they take care of it.
On the afternoon we got here, we had a large late lunch. When it came time for dinner, noone was hungry, so we went out for dessert. We had huge ice cream sundaes and cheesecake and tiramisu. The kids couldn't believe their luck, I think we've broken every rule now. :) After we had dessert, we walked out into the park across the street. We were only there for a minute before the gigantic church next door let out from Mass. When the doors opened, a large crowd of people (I think there might have been around 800 or so, Catedral Nueva was built to hold 10,000 worshippers) came down the steps en masse, singing and holding hands and walking across the street into the park. They wrapped around the statue in the middle, on the inside were men with guitars, interspersed in the crowd were castenets, shakers, etc. The people faced the middle and wrapped their arms around each others' shoulders and did a little box step. The singing was beautiful but we couldnt' understand a word of it. Until they got to a song where the only word was Hallelujah. Meghan squeezed my hand and said "I know this one" and we stood watching and smiling for another song or two.
The trip to Ingapirca was l-o-n-g. It was supposed to take 2 hours as it was, but our bus kept stopping and picking up more people. There were people standing in the aisles. We got there and they only offered tours in 2 languages. Spanish and English! Can you believe the luck? I am not kidding when I say we were the only native-tongue English speakers in our group of 12. I think the rest of them came because they knew enough English to listen to the guide and the Spanish tour group was more than 25 people. The guide would speak for a little while, and they would turn to their friends and translate what they heard. We went to the Planetarium in Quito and listened in Spanish. I think I understood about 1 out of every 15 words. An English tour was such a blessing. The coolest history part we learned was that the Temple of the Sun here is the only Incan temple in existence that was built in an oval. The circle was a sacred shape to the Cañari people and in deference to them the Incas built their normally square Temple into a rounded shape.
Yesterday's hike was one of the loveliest places I have ever seen. We traversed a fairly easy trail around the lake. What we hadn't counted on was altitude sickness. By half-way around the late, Meghan's nose had started bleeding a little. We slowed down some but by 3/4 of the way around, Helen's had started too. We sat for a long break and enjoyed the fantastic views and took multiple photos. The last 1/4 of the trip took us at least an hour. We walked up a hill and stopped for a break. Every climb no matter how small, needed a rest. By the time we reached the bus stop, Meghan had a pounding headache. She was ill on the bus ride back into town (fortunately, down a good 1,000 feet from where we were hiking). It took her at least an hour back at the hotel before she was able to hold down some Motrin. Within 10 minutes, she was smiling again. The situation was terrifying to me. I knew there was no way for me to carry her up the hill or for me to carry all the backpacks up the hill. My heart was pounding as well and I felt the pressure in my ears. We will have to keep in mind that we're not all that acclimated to 9,500' hiking. Today she's all smiles - we will have to keep in mind the acclimitization when we're in Cuzco (11, 150 feet).
Today we knock around Cuenca. Check out their outdoor market (Thurs is the best day), a historical site, and pack up. We leave tonight for an overnight bus ride into Peru. We have to stop at 2AM and go through customs (we're hoping this is not too tough on the kids, but it seemed like a good idea to try to travel the 11 hours in the night instead of during the day). We'll see. By tomorrow night we should be in Chiclayo, Peru. I have no idea when we will have internet again.
Keep us in your thoughts. The journey gets a little crazier from here. :)
PS. No, I did not get to surf again at the coast, they said the surf was too dangerous that day. Oh well. Maybe some other time.
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