Parque Nacional Cajas

We just finished our 2 weeks of Spanish classes, 4 hours each morning. We learned quite a bit and that foundation will serve us well for our remaining 2 1/2 months in South America, but I must say that we are happy to be finished. The whole family has been up at 7 AM each morning for the last 12 days (including last Saturday and Sunday for trips to Cajas and Gualaceo) and we have been studying hard each evening. Learning a new language is not easy, especially for adults! So, today is really the first day since we arrived in Cuenca that we didn’t have homework or need to get everyone up and out of the house early. It feels good!

Last Saturday we went to Parque Nacional Cajas, one of the most beautiful natural sites in Ecuador. It is a mere 30 km from Cuenca and made a great day trip. The altitude ranges from 3,200 to 4,450 m and the temperature averages only 10 degrees Celsius. The park also is blessed with a significant amount of water. It has 230 lakes, many streams and lots of rainfall each year. In fact, the global warming experts theorize that it will receive more rainfall as time goes on.

We traveled to Cajas via minivan early Saturday morning with our guide “Kuko” who is a childhood friend of JM’s friend Andres in Quito. He was a tremendously knowledgeable, friendly and great guide. Our day ended up being a very cold and wet one and you will see that we were in and out of clouds much of the day. That limited our visibility somewhat, but it was still an incredibly beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Thankfully, we were fairly well prepared, although tall waterproof boots would have been better than our short “hiking” shoes. (You will see some warming up and drying of socks/pants going on in the lunch pictures below.)

As a brief side note, a number of people have commented about the weather in Cuenca from our clothing in the earlier pictures. It has been unseasonably cool during our stay and we have been bundled up in layers most days. Very few if any buildings have heat here, as it is very near the equator. But, the altitude brings some fairly cool temperatures and we have had only a day or two of truly sunny weather.

Cajas is comprised mostly of Sub-Alpine Pluvial Forest and Alpine Forest, which is more commonly known in the Andes as Paramo. The scenery is very different than the Rockies in Colorado and extremely beautiful in its own special way. Much of the ground is covered by highland straw and other smaller plants that form a cushion that becomes its own water reservoir. The kids really enjoyed jumping on the sections of ground that reverberated under their feet as the water shifted around. We all enjoyed taking in the beautiful scenery, interesting flowers, strange “paper” trees that in forest form are reminiscent of a Grimm’s fairy tale and walking out in the wilderness after spending our early days on the trip in cities with buses, taxis, and lots of people. We would love to go back to Cajas, but probably won’t before we leave Cuenca.

Tomorrow we go horseback riding at a hacienda outside of Cuenca and are hoping for a nice sunny day. Regardless of the weather and studying we are truly enjoying our stay in Cuenca and will be sad to move on.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Food in Ecuador

Per Rob’s request for an article about food!

First off, Michelle (JM’s daughter) was right. The food in Cuenca is very good, although we have yet to really dive into the street food. That said, the food at her grandmother’s house in Gualaceo is Excellent. We visited JM’s mother “in the country” on Sunday where she and her sister played the most gracious hosts to we North Carolinians. They served lasagna, with pollo y jamon, that was out of this world and then to top it off we had a fruit salad for desert with the most amazing flavors courtesy, of many fruits that we have never seen in the states. That, along with the company, made for our best meal in Ecuador by far. Too bad that our camera, which was still partially working after a drop on day 3, decided to stop working all together during our visit. So, we have no pictures of that amazing lunch with Julia, her sister and JM’s cousin’s family.

When we were discussing Cuenca with JM he said that we wouldn’t need to cook because it is so inexpensive to eat at restaurants. He could not have been more right. There is no need to spend more than $2.00 per person on any lunch here. They have Almuerzos (same word as lunch) that means a set lunch. For anywhere between $1.25 and $2.25 one is served a bowl of soup, a plate with rice, beans and meat, a glass of fresh exotic juice and often a small desert. So, that means for less than $10 our family of 5 has a very substantial meal in the middle of the day.

We have sampled quite a few almuerzos in our week and a half and have a few to share below. Our favorite place, Govinda’s, serves vegetarian almuerzos with a bit of an Indian twist. We also really liked Grecia’s Restaurant that served an amazing sopa de polla y papas. The last time they served us mango ice cream for dessert, yum!

Moving on from the more interesting fare, we arrive at Eliot’s favorite – salchipapas and papas fritas. Salchipapas are simply French fries with a hot dog placed on top. They are served with ketchup and mayonnaise. (Finally, I understand why JM always had mayonnaise on his French fries when he lived with us in PA!) There is a picture below from the small tienda next door to our Spanish school. All that for about $0.70. You will also see Ainsley below enjoying a salchicha from around the corner from the house. A fully loaded hot dog (although Ainsley didn’t take the crushed potato chips on top?!) that included a drink for $1.00. Sounds like the Durham Bulls on Thursday night.

Some of the pictures below are from our lunch during a hike at Parque Nacional Cajas. (More on the fantastic hike later) We ate at a small restaurant just outside of the park. Cajas is well known for its 230 lakes and countless rivers and streams that result in quite the trout offering. They deep fry the trout whole, bones and all. It is then eaten skin and all. One of the most favored parts is actually the tail fin, which is crispy like a potato chip. Ainsley gave the tail fin a thumbs up and quickly claimed my trout plate as her own. Jack and I managed to pry out the cheek, which was always the delicacy when I was younger.

We have yet to eat cuy, guinea pig, but it is a must before we leave Cuenca. Look for more about that soon.

Cuenca House

First of all, thanks to everyone who has sent e-mails and/or made comments on our various blog postings. Regardless of our response rate (e-mail access is not nearly as convenient for us in Cuenca as it was at the hostal in Quito), we do enjoy hearing from all of you. The kids especially enjoy hearing from their friends.  Eliot asks “can we check H.E.R.B” every time we have internet access.

Here is the house in Cuenca where we settled last Sunday, the 17th, and where we plan to spend about 2 1/2 weeks. The white door on the lower right is the entrance to the house, and the  door to the left is our very own neighborhood bakery!  Above, the balcony is part of the front bedroom (one of four bedrooms in the house) and this is where Eliot sleeps ( in his own double bed!).

This may be our longest stay in one place on this trip.  After our short stay in Quito, it felt good to unpack and have a place to call home. (Just how did those Johnson’s survive two years with no more than 3 or 4 nights in one place?) Perhaps we’ll get a bit more used to the transitory life as the trip goes on.

The house is owned by JM’s mother Julia.   Cuenca, a city in the Andes in the southern part of Ecuador, recently celebrated it’s 450th anniversary.  Its history goes back further if you consider its Inca and Cañari past.  JM’s mother now lives at her house in Gualaceo (in the country not far from Cuenca) caring for her sister, who’s health is not great. (More later about our visit with them this past Sunday the 24th)

JM and his many friends and family have really made our stay in Ecuador enjoyable and easy so far, especially Andres in Quito, Wilson y Lourdes in Cuenca, and JM in Miami. We feel very special and well cared for, thanks!!!!

The house itself is more than 100 years old and the kids find it fascinating. There are three stories, lots of stairs, and many balconies within. We each even have our own bedroom, which is really spoiling us at this point. Funny, but the kids’ favorite thing has to be the multiple doors, keys and locks involved with entering/leaving the house each time. Being the operator of the various locks and keys hasn’t worn off quite yet.

The location of the house is fantastic, right in the middle of the old, colonial downtown section of Cuenca and only 2 blocks from our Spanish language school. It also is a short bus or taxi ride to Parque Paraiso (Paradise Park), where there are many rock formations to climb, playground apparatuses (that would never pass inspection in the US) and soccer fields. The kids joined in on a local family’s soccer game the other day and had a great time. We learned some new words like “Cubre Jack”, or “Cover Jack!”

All in all, Cuenca and the house are charming and a wonderful spot to start our time in Ecuador and on our trip in earnest. Thanks again!

Sunday August 17th, Quito vs. Barcelona

PART I

I woke up, stretched for a long time and then put my head back down, because I had a long day ahead of me. Breakfast as always at the hostal was really good. The marmalade was its usual, amazing. As we were getting ready to leave we packed up everything, no games, it was just packing, packing and more packing (except for a soccer ball, more on that later). It wasn’t straight out the front door, mom and Ainsley took a little bit longer to get ready and then it was straight out the door. We had a little stop in the courtyard to look at the humongous fig.

We buzzed ourselves out and to the cab, it was to the cab. “Estadio Olimpico” we said to the cab driver. “Quanto Cuesta?” Vrrrooommm!….and we were off to Estadio Olimpico (the soccer game of my lifetime).

In the cab, I thought it was going to be one of those movies where you came into the stadium and it was the coolest preparation ever for a game. And you know that music, right? Now, we just got out of the cab and there were so many different fans of each team and we went to this guy and bought two tickets. Two tickets, OK. Two tickets, we bought two tickets! Then there were three parts of the ticket. One for the gate. Two to get inside the stadium and one for you to keep (and this ticket mostly goes in our journals). Then we past and gave out our second part of our ticket and I was ready for the awesome music. Then there was……a soccer game already going on (the preliminary game). L But, one of the teams was from where we were staying next (Cuenca). J

PART II

Tweet!! And the game was on! My brain went so many different ways. It was so exciting, but the only problem was that it wasn’t going to be as exciting if either team scored a goal. A little bit into the game Quito – 0, Barcelona – 0.

Have you ever been to Loco Pops before? Well, if you think I am going to tell you how much I miss Loco Pops, you are wrong. Because, we got LOCO POPS, helados actually, at the soccer game and popcorn. There was this one goal attempt which almost untied the game to put Barcelona in front. There was a quick from about mid way to an open Barcelona player, then from the Barcelona player’s perspective you could see three things. The goalie, a Quito player and a Barcelona player running up behind them. He kicked the ball right in between the goalie and the Quito player. It had it right there, setup for the Barcelona player to do a sliding kick right for the first goal of the game. Ground ball was going, going, going, into……the goal! OK, maybe I was stretching the truth a little bit. Yeah, he went a little bit too late and the ball went right past the goal. Tweet, Tweet! Halftime.

INTERMISSION
Hey, we’re back with more. Quito – 0, Barcelona – 0 If you could have seen this ballgame there were so many attempts (mostly by Barcelona), but sadly we had to leave early because we had to go on a plane flight and you know I would have rather stayed and not gone to Cuenca in the first place because I could have watched the rest of the soccer game as well as not have to go on our plane flight (editors note: Jack doesn’t like plane flights!) Maybe I was a little bit more happy, the fans went crazy, loco. They were so loud you should……n’t have been there. But, all together the soccer game was an experience of a lifetime and Cuenca here I come!

p.s. We accidentally left the soccer ball at the hostal.

p.p.s. Thanks for reading and thanks for all of your comments. We enjoy reading them.

Jack

Otavalo Market

Day 3 (Saturday) in Ecuador had us head to the famous market in Otavalo, a 2 - 3 hour bus ride north of Quito. It is at its best on Saturdays so we decided to go right away. We debated renting a taxi vs riding a bus and in the end came down on the more adventurous bus route. (Against JM’s recommendations, but supported by Paul and Clark’s experience, sorry JM.)

We took a taxi from our hostel to the main bus station in Quito. Our taxi driver dropped us off very near the station, but not exactly inside it. He did so in front of a bus that he then directed us onto. The bus didn’t say Otavalo, but the bus driver did say Si when asked if it went to Otavalo. (Our very limited spanish is a handicap and we are working on that.) We proceeded onto the bus, which from the boys perspective was very attractive due to a very prominent TV that was in the front and on. From Kelli’s perspective she was not at all at ease, considering that Otavalo was not listed on the bus and the Lonely Planet guide specifically referenced one bus line. So, in the end we departed the bus and walked across the street, entered the bus station and proceeded to the information counter in search of the Otavalo/Lagos bus line. They were very helpful and a Security guard then escorted us down to the proper window to purchase our tickets. (We must have looked a bit helpless to get that level of service)

We were then escorted by a bus line employee through the turnstile, where the kids went under and Kelli and I each paid a mere $0.20 exit tax. The bus was nearly empty as we boarded and upon inventorying the seats a bit, Jack, Eliot and Ainsley all took single seats up front very near the driver. (See the pictures below) They really had catbird seats from which to view the scenery and Jack was next to an open window which provided a fresh breeze and a good view of things to ward of his typical motion sickness. Even though we are doing our best to use the bathroom at the Hostal or whenever we have the opportunity, Kelli and Ainsley needed a quick stop upon boarding the bus. They quickly exited and went to the bathroom. They paid the $0.05 each for using it, replete with what is probably typical, no toilet paper and no toilet seat. (GG would not survive down here!) They did their business quickly, but not fast enough to prevent the driver from starting to go backwards in preparation for leaving the station. I reiterated that they were coming, as best as I could, and Eliot then began to get a bit scared. Sure enough he waited and K & A hopped on the bus as he continued his rearward movement.

So with that bit of drama, we were off. I’d like to say we were off with some speed, but there was nothing fast about exiting Quito, which seemed to go on for miles and miles, and the traffic was thick and slow the entire way. After what must have been at least 45 minutes we left Quito and started traveling on the Pan-American highway where the scenery quickly changed for the better. The views of the mountains and deep canyons with rivers were excellent, punctuated at fairly regular intervals by the bus driver passing slower vehicles. Yes, as we read in many places, they pass on corners and anywhere they can, all on two lane roads. All in all though, it felt very safe. The kids were great on the 2+ hour ride, soaking in the scenery and probably helped by being separated from their parents by other riders.

We arrived in Otavalo at a bit past Noon and proceeded toward the market. Walking down the streets of a foreign city, with anticipation about the markets building for Kelli and me, what was uttered but, “look it’s Indiana Jones!” Eliot had spotted a DVD in one of the numerous video stores right at his eye level. We were then required to stop and look at it for a moment. After continuing on a bit, it became clear that food was needed and we stopped to have our first pizza in South America. (This was where a sloppy hand off resulted in a dropped and subsequently damaged brand new camera. Our first major unplanned expense!)

The market itself was amazing in so many ways - size, scope, colors, noises, smells, etc. With all of the wares available we acted with great restraint, daunted by the thought of carrying things or shipping them all home. As attractive as things are we are holding back on accumulating anything else at the moment. Even thought the camera was damaged we managed to get it to work somewhat and took a number of pictures of the market.

The return bus home greeted us with a bus version that did not have the front seats, much to Jack’s dismay. So, we were relegated to the usual two across seats. This bus ended up carrying far more passengers, many of them prepared to stand for the entire 2+ hour trip. This included elderly women, women with small children, etc. Eliot and Ainsley were seated next to each other and somewhere along the way gained a seat mate in the form of a 2 or 3 year old girl who proceeded to fall asleep on Ainsley’s shoulder. Ainsley seemed quite happy to provide some comfort for her along the way.

The views on the way home were a little clearer and we had a fine view of the volcano co-located with Otavalo (I need to look it up and will add the name later). Seeing all of this natural beauty had us yearning to leave the city confines of Quito and get out in the Andes.

I’m catching up on this posting at a spanish language school in Cuenca. The kids started this afternoon and Kelli and I start tomorrow morning. We narrowly missed losing our 3rd hat after Ainsley left it on the Quito - Cuenca flight. The airline found it and we picked it up at the airport the following day.

More about our last day (Sunday) in Quito and arrival in Cuenca soon. Here are the Otavalo pictures.

Volcano Park

Well, after Eliot spotted the amusement park (see the previous post) and we had enjoyed the views at the top of the TeleferiQo we decided to venture forth into the theme park. After all, we are interested in exploring ALL of the local culture along the way. The park was filled with local families (although not crowded) out to enjoy the day. We were the only “gringos” anywhere to be found. The rides were fun, inexpensive and had no lines. Hey, they even had bathrooms! (Public bathrooms are rare in Ecuador).

We didn’t stay long, but the familiarity of a theme park was a welcome sight for the kids. Here are some snapshots of the fun.

Early Days in Ecuador - TeleferiQo

Catching up a bit on our first few days in Quito, focusing on Friday - Day 2. After a day of settling into the city and hostal and spending some time with JM’s local friend Andres, we decided to head to the teleferiQo. (Thank you for the tickets Andres!)

TeleferiQo is a sky tram, similar to ski resort gondolas, that takes passengers on a 2.5 km ride up the side of Volcan Pichincha on the western side of Quito. You travel from approximately 9,100 ft in elevation up to a little over 13,300 ft. We arrived a little before 10 AM to ensure a better view as the clouds in Quito roll in with predictability each afternoon. The ride up was smooth and the views were excellent. Somewhere along the way, can’t remember if it was upon arrival or after we headed up the mountain, Eliot spotted Volcano Park, a small amusement park co-located with the tram. He quickly asked if we could go because we were going to miss the NC State Fair this year. More on that later.

There is a 3 mile hike at the top of the tram that continues on to the peak of Volcan Pichincha which we decided not to take yet as this was only day 2 at altitude. The views were spectacular, although the weather was not quite clear. We could see the expanse that is Quito very well and only part of Cotopaxi off in the distance. Pichincha was alternately clear and shrouded in clouds. We look forward to going back up before we leave Ecuador to do the hike. The city of Quito is a bit overpowering with people, cars, buses and city air and we look forward to spending more time out in the less populated areas.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Lan Ecuador

If you were here when we flew to Quito, it would go like this.

So basically we woke up a little earlier then 5:30 and took a bus to MIA (Miami International Airport). We took LAN airways to Quito. But the flight went like this. We were in the plane to Quito and we took off. But you don’t think I am done do you? DOOO YOOOUUU?

Well, I was on the plane and dad had 2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2! things wrong. Number one, you could use your electronics on takeoff, including your own personal TV. Number two, you could play games for free. A bit into the plane ride, Eliot found out this really cool video game (which was the really great part of the flight) called Invasion and the plane you played as had solar powered wings (or looked like them). But, the electronic bullets were sucked into the wings and gave you energy. umm (why did I just type that?) If you got hit by the small guys you fought, you lost parts of your life and blew up. But, if you blew them up you got energy. Your energy, if you had enough, could give you power ups. The different kind of power ups are, 1-triple bullet, 2-quintuple bullet and last squid bullet.  There was a bar on the side of the screen which had triple bullet, quintuple bullet and squid bullet.  So, if you ever fly this airline make sure you get a long distance flight so that you can have the fun and exciting amusement that I had.

Jack

Hostal el Arupo Quito, Ecuador

This is where we are staying in Quito, quite a nice little place. Thanks to Paul and Susan for their recommendation, they were right. We have a small room on the third floor, complete with 5 twin (hard, yet comfortable) beds. It is a bit tight, but very well may be one of the larger hostel rooms during our travels. Ainsley took some of the pictures, including the toilet. Not quite sure why she did, but it flushes, the shower water is hot and the place is clean. What more can we ask for?

Ecuador day 1

We got up at 5:00 am Thursday morning to catch the 7:45 plane to Quito. We were flying on a 767 which is a plane with two aisles and personal TV’s. I watched the new Narnia movie Prince Caspian. If you ever fly into Quito be sure you get a window seat. It’s worth whatever trouble it takes to get. The view is breathtaking! You can see the green mountains and the city of Quito.

We are staying at Hostal el Arupo. We have a room with 5 beds and internet access, how much better could it get? Tomorrow we are going to go up the TeleferiQo which is a sky tram that takes you up the side of Volcan Pichincha.

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