So I was lucky enough to stumble upon the town of Latacunga for a huge festival. It had a continuous parade, music, vendors, Dancers, and was really quite a sight to see. IT is called the mama negra festival (from what I understand) and has to do with celebrating unity while being tied to the mother Mary.
The coolest part of the parade were men, with giant pigs strapped to their backs, and with bottles of alcohol and food hanging on the pigs. Really a sight to see and must have been darn heavy. The biggest one I saw must have had 40 bottles of alcohol, full! that is a lot of weight.
It really was a huge party in the town and cool to be a part of.
The next day consisted of Quilotoa, a Volcanic crater lake. AMAZING. really great views and a nice little hike to the waters edge. The hike back up was more difficult being 4000 meters up and me having come right from sea level, but it was not so bad.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Random things
1- Death showers. Showers that have the heater built into the showehead. So the wires actually run into the shower. When you tun on the shower, the lights go dim in the room.
2- Most people who ask where I am from subsequently ask if I live "on the french side or the english side of Canada" heh, like the division is that solid.
3- Surfing is hard work (paddling) but rewarding, catching that first wave is exhilerating.
4- The pineapple here is the best ever.
5- Whales are Big. Turtles are Big. The fish are big. All the animals seem big here. And colurful, so much diversity in the species here. Blue footed boobies are my favorite bird so far. They dance to court. although tucans are friggin beautiful as well.
6- Example of friendliness. I got a reccomendation fo a restauant from a guy that woks at a hostel. I subsequently got ill from the food. He walked down to the restaurant to tell them I got sick and let them know and ask them if they knew why. Nice guy
2- Most people who ask where I am from subsequently ask if I live "on the french side or the english side of Canada" heh, like the division is that solid.
3- Surfing is hard work (paddling) but rewarding, catching that first wave is exhilerating.
4- The pineapple here is the best ever.
5- Whales are Big. Turtles are Big. The fish are big. All the animals seem big here. And colurful, so much diversity in the species here. Blue footed boobies are my favorite bird so far. They dance to court. although tucans are friggin beautiful as well.
6- Example of friendliness. I got a reccomendation fo a restauant from a guy that woks at a hostel. I subsequently got ill from the food. He walked down to the restaurant to tell them I got sick and let them know and ask them if they knew why. Nice guy
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The trek so far.
wow, so far, so awesome.
It has been a great trip one week in and uber busy, as eric only has until tomorrow, so we have been going non stop.
It all started in quito for a day, where we saw the mitad del mundo equator monument, and went to a crater called pulalahua. Very pretty indeed.
One thing I love so far are the busses. SO extremely cheap and vendors jump on them or hang outside the windows to sell all sorts of things like fruit, bread, meals, even rubiks cubes. In terms of cheap, for an extended bus ride, the cost is 1 dollar per hour of bussing. Amazing.
They also play bad spanish music at loud volumes the whole time, even on overnight busses. Luckily I have the Palmer gene of being able to sleep anywhere, anytime.
After our one day in Quito, we went to a jungle lodge named Yuturi. It was an adventure lodge where we had 3 activities a day, like treks, canoe trips, etc etc. Some of the highlights include seeing tons of spiders, like tarantulas, capaveras, caimans, Tapuirs, and other wildlife. Other highlights include the food, mmmmm and the ridiculously sweet pineapple. We also met some neat people who referred us to our rafting guide for later in Banos. All in all, a pretty successful jungle trek, oh and I learned to use a blowguun....so watch out!
Banos is a cool little town set in the mountains with waterfalls around and has hot springs. so we stopped there, used the hot springs and went rafting. Rafting was a highlight for sure, some people fell out but all were well and have a story to tell for the future.
Ecuadorian spa treatment. So everyone should tak ea traditional ecaudorian spa at some point. You sit down in this box with only your head sticking out, and the steam starts in the box. Your own personal sauna, but after ten minutes, you get out, and are patted down with a freezing cold towel *BRRRRRR and then put back in te steam box. after another 10 minutes youa re taken out again and this time cold water is poured over you with a jug, then back in the box. Another 10 minutes goes by and you are asked to sit in a freezing cold bath for 5 minutes. after that, back in the box for you, to be finished off with a hose down which is oddly massage like and relaxing. So great. It was followed up by my first massage ever, and lets just say, it mya be my last, so painful, not relazing at all. But the spa part was incredible.
After that, off to Puerto Lopez where I am writing now, which is a laid back beach town. Maybe too laid back as I got sick -food poisoning- but am recovering nicely and should be good to go tomorrow again. Today was a day of rest. note to self, the squid should be eaten with caution.
Cheers all , I miss you guys and if anyone has news, laisse moi savoir.
It has been a great trip one week in and uber busy, as eric only has until tomorrow, so we have been going non stop.
It all started in quito for a day, where we saw the mitad del mundo equator monument, and went to a crater called pulalahua. Very pretty indeed.
One thing I love so far are the busses. SO extremely cheap and vendors jump on them or hang outside the windows to sell all sorts of things like fruit, bread, meals, even rubiks cubes. In terms of cheap, for an extended bus ride, the cost is 1 dollar per hour of bussing. Amazing.
They also play bad spanish music at loud volumes the whole time, even on overnight busses. Luckily I have the Palmer gene of being able to sleep anywhere, anytime.
After our one day in Quito, we went to a jungle lodge named Yuturi. It was an adventure lodge where we had 3 activities a day, like treks, canoe trips, etc etc. Some of the highlights include seeing tons of spiders, like tarantulas, capaveras, caimans, Tapuirs, and other wildlife. Other highlights include the food, mmmmm and the ridiculously sweet pineapple. We also met some neat people who referred us to our rafting guide for later in Banos. All in all, a pretty successful jungle trek, oh and I learned to use a blowguun....so watch out!
Banos is a cool little town set in the mountains with waterfalls around and has hot springs. so we stopped there, used the hot springs and went rafting. Rafting was a highlight for sure, some people fell out but all were well and have a story to tell for the future.
Ecuadorian spa treatment. So everyone should tak ea traditional ecaudorian spa at some point. You sit down in this box with only your head sticking out, and the steam starts in the box. Your own personal sauna, but after ten minutes, you get out, and are patted down with a freezing cold towel *BRRRRRR and then put back in te steam box. after another 10 minutes youa re taken out again and this time cold water is poured over you with a jug, then back in the box. Another 10 minutes goes by and you are asked to sit in a freezing cold bath for 5 minutes. after that, back in the box for you, to be finished off with a hose down which is oddly massage like and relaxing. So great. It was followed up by my first massage ever, and lets just say, it mya be my last, so painful, not relazing at all. But the spa part was incredible.
After that, off to Puerto Lopez where I am writing now, which is a laid back beach town. Maybe too laid back as I got sick -food poisoning- but am recovering nicely and should be good to go tomorrow again. Today was a day of rest. note to self, the squid should be eaten with caution.
Cheers all , I miss you guys and if anyone has news, laisse moi savoir.
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