The sounds of the tide and a variety of roosters woke us up early. Jules had been having trouble idling lately--something to do with a door on the carburetor being stuck open--so Ben decided to do a little tinkering on her to see if he could figure out the problem. I checked out the beach and collected a little of the black sand for my aunt Sharon that I found in patches on the beach. Jiggling the wires seemed to do the trick again, and Jules roared to life. Maybe meowed to life. Well she ran.
It was time to cross back towards the east, and check out Ecuador's mountain region. We crossed through a bunch of little towns and had a good time looking at all the donkeys and chickens everywhere. We stopped for lunch and fed our leftover lettuce to a donkey and a chicken. The chicken turned up his nose at the humble lettuce, preferring instead corn. The owners of this little store chatted with us for a while and showed us their supply of Tagua nuts, which will eventually be made into buttons. We were also given some delicious oranges, peeled with a machete!
This is the donkey's view. Not bad.
Tagua nuts
Tagua trees
This chicken and her chicks were stealing the donkey's bananas.
Zoom in a look at the rings on this weird Seuss-type tree.
From my experience getting super sick from the altitude in Perú, I told Ben that I did not want to camp at altitude. We started our day at the beach, and camping at 3000 meters would probably cause some discomfort. Besides it was getting dark and Jules was acting funny. We stopped at a little pull off at a hairpin turn on the road. It was a beautiful spot right on the river with a view down the valley.
Old lady carrying a chair into the jungle. Hmm.
Jules and sunset light
The next morning, after our usual tinkering on Jules, we continued up the hill towards Lago Quilitoa, which is an emerald green lake in a the crater of an extinct volcano. The vegetation quickly changed from this lush wet environment to a high altitude dry one. The people in the mountain villages also dressed in a more traditional way, using blankets/ponchos for coats and all the women in skirts and little hats.
Hard to take photos from a moving vehicle. But I like it.
Simple houses
Harvesting grain
Cool huts
We arrived at Lago Quilitoa and were immediately greeted by this worker who politely gave us information in this relaxed and confident way. He reminded me of my late stepfather Caleb. Something about his way. He just went about digging the weeds growing in the cobblestones and whistling.
We picked up this family who were hitchhiking back home after doing some trading.
We quickly descended from Quilitoa and were back in the fertile, moist jungle lands again. We thought that the famed Corpus Christi festival was going to happen the next day in nearby Pujili, and asked and asked around getting all sorts of answers. Corpus Christi takes place on a Thursday, ie tomorrow, but the festival was held on Saturday and Sunday. Too long to wait. Booh. Instead we headed up towards Quito.
I like these wandering houses on stilts.
Something about cops riding double on a motorcycle makes me giggle.
Here are some air plants and orchids growing on the power lines.
Funeral procession.
I hadn't seen many shrines in Ecuador, and was glad to find this one.
Outskirts of Quito
We've been living with only very sporadic internet and a loose schedule, so planning ahead and making reservations at a hostel has been kind-of out of the question. We arrived in Quito with no idear where to go, and an old guidebook. We decided to go to where the book said there was a concentration of hostels and decided on knocking on doors to see if there was a place with: 1. Off street, flat parking where we could sleep in our van; 2. 24 hour access to bathroom and a shower; 3. Internet. Our very first place said yes. Great! The lady asked for $20 to camp for the night. There we met once crazy dude from NY who, along with his wife from Perú, were convinced that Obama was the "Devil in Body" and that they had to leave the USA because Obama was going to blow it up with nuclear weapons. The guy kept showing us weird things about the end of times, including a little animated video on YouTube that used the rhyme of "T'was the Night Before Christmas" to make a poem about the end times and Jesus's followers ascending and the horrors of being left behind. He got a little choked up by it. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be rude, but I also didn't want to watch any more end times cartoons. He kept asking my kids if they had Jesus in their heart and then told them he was sad that they were going to burn in hell. Oy. Now, I come from a very religious family, but I'm not religious--I'm spiritual. This is a touchy subject in my family and we've all quietly come to agree to just let one another alone about our personal beliefs. We are able to talk about our own individual ideas about life, the universe, and everything, but no longer try to convince each other to believe one way or another. At least I think that's how it's going. Anyhoo, this guy was kinda freaky and pushy and I figured the only way to get him to stop talking to me or my family was to say that I loved Obama and thought it was great how he is all for Same-Sex Marriage. He never spoke to me again.
This book is our diary for our trip. Warmness is luxury.
Ecuador uses US money as their currency. In South America, coins are popular--especially the $1 coin. Look how used this one is!
This geo-fabric is used to prevent landslides...but it it makes it look like there is a weird, steep body of water on a hill.
Look at that fold in the roadcut! Ben will probably edit this and give it a more scientific name, but you catch my drift.
Strange Freight: Fruit Store
The equator lies not far north of Quito. In Cayambe, there is a little park, with a modest fee, exactly on the equator where they have a crazy big sundial that can indicate date and time. The park is run by a group, Quitsato, that is lobbying for the world map to be changed from a North/South orientation to an East/West orientation--which follows the path of the sun. Their argument is that the North/South map is arbitrary and fosters inequality among nations. It's an interesting idea. I didn't like the way they set up their map--Greenland was bizarre looking, among other thing--but it was fun to try to change my perspective on how the world looks. I'd seen the Australian "upside-down" map, but I'd never seen a sideways map.
Besides the equator, Cayambe has an incredible playground. We were lame and didn't stop to play on it. Why? Why? Why? We stopped to have some weird hot chocolate with a cheese stick, why not the playground?
Yummy sorbet
Freaky hot chocolate with cheese stick
Wells no likey
Here's half of an advertisement for the hot chocolate/cheese thing. The towns are plastered with them. Bizcochos are actually little hard breadsticks.
Just north of Cayambe are a ton of greenhouses growing cut flowers.
Signs like this, but sporting a variety of themes like, "With your honesty..." or "With your smile..." are all over Ecuador. It's a beautiful country going through development right now, and worth a visit.
At major, and minor, stoplights all over South America, folks do juggling or whatever they can to earn tips. We have our ashtray on the dash filled with sencillo, or change, to give out... and for the neverending tolls.
I saw this large statue in more than one community. I'm not sure what it is for besides a nursing mother.
There is a difference between a motel and a hotel. A motel is a place to hook-up and is usually walled with covered, private parking, usually situated on the outskirts of town. I got excited to take a photo of this motel with these fireworks lights, and this stupid truck got in the way!
We finally got to the northern border of Ecuador late at night. I was infected with my nightly grump and threw a hissy-fit over something silly. We found a little turn-off on the side of the highway outside of the border town and camped there. I noticed a pattern: we drive too late and struggle to find a good place to camp and I throw a tantrum. There was an easy solution to this problem...I told Ben that we were to have no more late nights. I wanted to start looking for a place to camp at around 5pm so we could chill at camp and enjoy ourselves. He agreed.
In the morning we left Ecuador for Colombia! We were on the final stretch of our mad dash north to catch the barge and we were on schedule. Yay!
