Ecuador Reflections

Some random thoughts as our time in Ecuador comes to a close...

• Much more of a cultural experience from indiginous women in traditional clothing walking leashed llamas to graze to kids in Quito wearing Vans Off the Wall hoodies with pierced lips and 80´s hairstyles talking on cell phones.
• 90% of the tourists we expected to be American were actually non-english speakers (mostly Germans).
• Interesting Regional Specialties: we passed through a small town with 40 ice cream shops in 3 blocks, Baños had row after row of identical sugarcane/taffy stalls (after watching a guy pulling the taffy wipe his nose with his bare hands and then go back to pulling the taffy, we opted not to try any), and another town had a dozen denim stores in one block.
• A much more personal relationship with food from market to table.
• The ability to live like a king, tours/nice hotels/great meals/shopping/etc. and still being able to stay on budget.
• In Ecuador you are not on yellow or orange alert, it is always red. For example you don´t carry your ATM card around. You go straight to the bank, then immediately back to your hotel. When you are out on the town it is locked in your room at a gated hotel with a guard.
• You know you are not in Boise anymore when you overhear another table´s conversation at dinner, "Would you rather be shot or stabbed when being mugged?"
• Waking up at a lodge in a tropical cloud forest with tucans in the trees and butterflies everywhere, then going to sleep in a 300 year old hacienda overlooking the paramo and a distant glacial covered active volcano in the same day.
• Being asked to hold the raft while our guide went to see if the nearby vultures had found a woman who had recently drowned.
• Continually asking ourselves, "Where are we?" in a figurative sense. For example, after returning from the hot baths in Baños full of local people experiencing one of the countries most sacred spots at the base of a waterfall fed by a spring coming off of the active Tungurahua, sitting down at the Posada del Artes restaurant and enjoying vegetarian paella while surrounded by works of art by some of Ecuador´s most famous artists.
• Obviously no liability insurance, but it sure makes for great and cheap rafing, rappeling, and biking adventures. You wouldn´t believe the rickety bamboo ladder we had to climb up after free rappeling down a 120 ft waterfall with a guide that couldn´t have been much older than 16.
• Revisiting the same restaurant your purse was stolen at, sitting at the same table, ordering the same meal, being a little wiser (remember the gate hotel where our stuff was left this time) and not letting the rampant crime in this economically challenged country get the better of us.
• Heading back to our hotel through the streets full of local weekend revelers, we once again noticed that we seem to be a magnet for bizarre looking 3 foot beggars (they really are 3 feet tall!). For some reason they only seem to ask tourists, AKA "white people", for money. Bill contemplated just starting to give each of them $1 to take their picture and then making a calendar or something. Would you like one of those for Christmas this year?
• A journal excerpt from our day of rafting (remember we said it was amazing?) - In Rio Negro we stopped at a restaurant that looked really nice with a big porch for the lunch that was included in our trip. The meal however turned out to be the scariest one yet. Much more in the typical local style than catering towards gringo travelers. The first course was soup with big chunks of chicken parts, mystery vegetables, and a weird sort of greasy slick on top. We sure hoped it had boiled for a long time. Bill later told me that he almost didn´t even eat because he was disgusted by the young waiters dirty fingernails that were partially submerged in our soup as he set it on the table. This was also the case with the small glass of warm orange soda that did little to quench our thirst after several hours of rafting under the Equitorial sun. We were so famished we uncharacteristically threw caution to the wind and dug in. When the main course of rice, lentils, and some horribly tough, nasty mystery meat arrived we decided we had pushed our luck far enough. We ate some rice, picked at the lentils, and prayed we wouldn´t be sick in the morning. Thankfully the meal was over quickly and we were back in the van heading for Baños.
• Another journal excerpt at the opposite end of the spectrum. - High above Quito at a pass overlooking the valley our guide Christian, the former Ecuadorian downhill mountain bike champion, set us up on our high quality mountain bikes. He began to lead us down the initial descent with our shuttle car following slowly behind. The road surface continually changed from old pavement, stone, gravel, and dirt while the vista at each turn seemed to get better and better. At nearly 12,000 ft. valley after valley that we would be descending spread out before us...8 hours later we pedaled into Mindo Gardens. Hummingbirds fluttered outside the beautiful main lodge, and our host Rodrigo was there to greet us with a pitcher of lemonade. We were then escorted through the gardens on a beautiful path to the riverfront lodge that we would call home for the next 3 nights.
• Overall, we have had an amazing time. From our first meal in Quito´s gringoland at the Magic Bean, to our taxi ride with Gonzalo back to the capital city for our departure, this has truly been one adventure after another.