Cuenca

I have spent the past week in Cuenca, which is in the Southern highlands of Ecuador. The city is beautiful.  Narrow cobblestone streets run between moldering brick and stucco buildings and you are never far from a plaza surrounded by colonial architecture. It is safe to walk alone, there is very little trash in the streets, and the food is plentiful and cheap.

I have been taking two hours of spanish tutoring with another girl staying in same hostal. I have noticed a leap in comprehension, but still struggle to compose my own sentences, mostly due to lack of practice on my part. In the afternoons I´ve been taking little trips around town. I´ve visited a museum with some interesting modern Ecuadorian art and beautiful batik prints, made an urban hike to a church overlooking the city with a group of five people from the hostal, and went bouldering in a rock gym. The gym was closed, but we were able to climb over the chainlink fence (did they really think that would stop climbers?).

The flower market

A shrine with hair and bones tied to the gate.  Didn't know why, so we asked. Turns out people bring in bits of livestock in hopes that the offering will bring a good year with lots of healthy stock.

A man holding scissors and biting his foot... dunno why.

There is some construction going on around a park there, and they have placed a plywood wall around it. People have covered it with street art, and I took pictures of some of the most interesting examples. Around the corner, it appeared that they were reusing plywood from a older site, because all the art was rearranged, like a jigsaw puzzle put together wrong.

My most interesting night there happened in front of one of the colonial churches. There was a celebration of the virgin of that church and it began with several performances of local dances and the launching of paper lanterns, which were reflected in the stained glass windows of the gothic cathederal as they flew away. Then they cleared the plaza of all the chairs and sound equipment and the figures of a bull and a matador, rigged with fireworks, terrorized the crowd. People were screaming and running away (myself among them), but were blocked by the people behind, so they stomped out the fireworks whirling at their feet, and brushed the embers out of their hair. As if that wasn´t enough excitment, there was a tower 20 feet high, an elaborate system of pinwheels and shooting lights that dramatically unfurled a banner of the virgin as the finale of fireworks exploded around her. It was delightful to witness something that would certainly not happen in a city in the United States. I didn't have my camera with me, and all of the pictures following are from a wonderful friend I made on the trip who is a very talented photographer. If you would like to view his other photos, visit andyradin.com.

Dance lessons by the river

My last day in Baños I was standing by a bridge to see if people were going to go ´´puenting.`` Two young locals asked me if I wanted to, and though I declined we started talking, if you could call our mixture of spanish, english, and gestures talking. Turns out that one of them was a salsa teacher, and he gave me a lesson, then I gave him a tango lesson. While I was teaching him tango his friend stood nearby with a wiffleball bat and hit him every time he messed up. Then there was a little dance off, and two of them performed a choreographed routine. They loved it when I did the moon walk, shouting ´´Michael Jackson!`` and making me break it down so that they could learn it. We did this for over an hour, and it was great to have a spontaneous interaction that was so enjoyable for everyone.

Baños

I have traveled south to the city of Baños, about a 4 hour bus ride from Quito. There was a little bit of stress about taking the right bus, and getting off at the right time, and if there would ever be a bathroom break. There never was, but I did make it to my destination without incident, though with a very full bladder.

Baños is fairly small, and has the feel of a vacation town. There are numerous places offering spa services, massage, and adventures like rafting, puenting (Jumping off bridges, though not a bungee. It´s more like you end up swinging beneath the bridge), horseback riding, etc... It feels much safer than Quito, where in some places you had to take a taxi at night even if you were only going 2 blocks and you were in a group.


I took a lengthy bike ride up the valley and hiked to several waterfalls along the way. The trip took up about 8 hours, and we were pretty spent by the time it was over. I nearly feel asleep over dinner. Two of the waterfalls were particularly nice, El Pailon del Diablo, and Malcay.

From a platform midway up Diablo, there is a crevase in the rock that slopes upward to the top. It has been fenced in, and you have to crawl/crouch along to get to the top. Once there you are an arm`s breadth away from the vast volume of water that cascades off the cliff. You get quite wet. Turns out my rain shell is actually not waterproof.

Bridal Veil Falls. It was one stream of water until the latest volcanic eruption.

All from Pailon del Diablo. I started the hike with a girl from my hostel,
and picked up a German guy along the way. One of the locals wanted
 a picture with the two blondes in the group.
So far this is the only time that has happened.

Malcay was made great by the pools that have been put into the rocks along the river below, where you could wade without fighting the strong current. At this point the valley was feeling even more tropical, with bromilliades everywhere in the canopy.

Puppy at a cafe before Malcay

 We had to deal with some barbed wire to get to these pools, but it was worth it.

I was going to go puenting, but it is windy today and I heard of an incident where the wind caught a couple of German guys and pushed them enough that they hit the bottom of the bridge. One man died and the other was in the hospital for several months. I think I´ll pass.

Yesterday I went on a hike on the hills above town. There is a statue there of the Virgin and Child carved in marble, and weather was beautiful and sunny. For the first time the clouds that normally cover the volcano that looms nearby were gone, and the sight of the white marble backed by the volcano was simply stunning.

The food here in Baños is great, there are a number of expats here, and they all seemed to open a restaurant that serves the foods from their home country. One of the guests at the hostel here is Swiss, so in honor of Swiss national day we went to the Swiss bistro here. We shared a pot of fondue and I found out two things: the crusty cheese at the bottom of the pot is called ´´grandmother´´ and when it´s gone you can scramble an egg in the pot and it makes it amazingly delicious!

That´s all I have to report, I hope you all are well, I am having a blast, but miss home at the same time!