Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Chapter 15: Falling In

  I fell into a river in the Cajas national park in Ecuador. Prefacing my story with the only discernible climatic action doesn't leave us many surprises. Where then do I go from here as the storyteller? To the beginning, I think that would be a grand place to start.

   Where/when does it all begin? On a Saturday morning; always bright and early on a Saturday. Almost as if there are no other traveling options available other than "Bright", "Early", and "Saturday Morning". If a trip didn't fulfill at least two of the aforementioned criteria, then we probably weren't part of it. Clearly any trip planners involved had not and refused to take into account the fact that college students enjoy sleeping late on the weekends. But I digress: on this bright and sunny morning we were assembled outside of CEDEI waiting to embark upon the small bus. In numbers we counted: 9 students, 1 adviser, and 1 coordinator. Our nine students were myself, Isaac, Sarah, Autumn, Ross, Steve, Mary, Kaelyn, and Zoe from Spring Semester.

   We had backpacks full of things for just about any and all eventualities. I had a boxed lunch ( I came to realize in Ecuador that a boxed lunch is just about never "boxed"), Under Armour, I wore wool socks, umbrella on the side of my pack of course, and a few odds and ends like gloves. I was also wearing my weather resistant jacket and sunglasses. At our first stop of the day, our requisite stop at the last gas station on the way out of town I bough a large package of Nestle's Amor chocolate wafers to have for lunch and share with everyone. During our Saraguro trip or possibly before I got into the habit of buying these entirely addictive snacks to share with everyone. Its always good to share the love.

   On the drive to Cajas our guide had the bus driver stop multiple times to point out significant things in nature like the green healthy trees on the opposing hill were Eucalyptus trees. They surrounded a small water fall. Our guide informed us that Eucalyptus trees were actually an invasive species in Ecuador that the Ecuadorians were having a difficult time removing. Perhaps Koala bears could be brought in to tame the spread of the medicinal trees, but probably not as my Plant Bio class from two years ago taught me that when one invasive species is brought in to combat a second invasive species only more problems arise.

The Llamas of the parking lot


    We parked our small bus in a parking lot next to a visitor's center. It was a fairly ordinary parking lot except that it had five llamas hanging out nearby. We waved hello to the llamas then crossed the street to do a quick warm-up hike. While it was quick, but it was a little more strenuous than a warm-up. I'll explain. It was a climb straight up about 100-150 wooden stairs. By itself, that's not so bad, but we were at about 9000 ft of elevation so when we got to the top we couldn't breathe very well. Aside from the challenge of respirating, the view was amazing. Cajas is one of the most strange, awesome and indescribable places I've ever been. Take one part English boggy marshes, add sprawling hills and valleys, sprinkle in a dash of still rivers and lakes, shake well, but don't forget a garnish of spongy ground. That was what we gazed at while we stood atop the first vista. Again I felt like I was in the valley of the giants.

The Wooden Stairs of the Warm-up hike

A tasted of Cajas



    After the warm-up hike we started on the real one, first we had to don knee-high rubber wading boots. I had never realized how comfortable rubber boots could be. I tucked my hiking pants in and everything felt just right. We set off. The spongy ground squelched at times and it easily let a boot sink in an inch or two with each step, only to rise after the boot had gone. It was essentially like hiking through memory foam. It was so much fun. Regular hiking shoes could probably handle the spongy terrain. That leads to the question: okay, so why the waders? That's where the standing water and rivers I mentioned earlier come in. Most people can't levitate and most people aren't inclined to get their legs soaked for the sake of a good hike. So don the rubber boots and cross all the rivers!

Us taking a ridiculous picture, me and Steve are trying to do a freeze frame punch รก la Rocky


   The first stream crossing was odd. We stepped into the water without any feeling of wetness, only feeling fluid motion around our feet. It was surreal and fantastically different. We made good progress steadily climbing up and down small hills. There wasn't much vegetation aside from super tiny flowers that coiled up if you covered them from the sun, and then there were agave plants here and there with their long stalks flowing from the base straight up to the sky. Other than that it was mainly boulders. I saw a good sized boulder off to our right about 200 yards from the path. I jokingly asked our guide, Gustavo, if we  could go climb it. He looked and said sure, why not? He said they'd wait for us there on the path. I was amazed, I hadn't actually expected my wish to be granted.

Steve atop the boulder being pensive 


  Ross, Steve, Sarah and I headed over for the mossy rock. We corssed a small stream in our waders. One at a time we climbed the great big rock. As each person was at the top we took pictures. As each person descended we jumped a few feet before the bottom since the spongy ground could act as cushioning. Cheerfully we started to march back to the group. Elatedly I proclaimed, "I'll never get tired of crossing these little streams in these boots!" We laughed and I looked for the perfect place to enter the stream. I took a step only to instantaneously realize that I had picked the perfect wrong spot where the little stream became a pond. My boot never hit bottom. My other leg disobeyed me and followed its rubber clad brother. In a flash I was up to just past my waist in cold water. I sprang from the water like a man electrified. I was in a state of shcok. I thought as I shivered, "These hiking pants are nice but they sure ain't water proof." I stumbled back to the group midst shouts asking if I was okay. I must have nodded. My t-shirt was drenched, same with my pants and socks. Someone snapped into action, asking if I had a change of pants. I said, "No" Luckily Autumn had her baggy blue and purple jungle pants in her pack which she lent to me. Ike had an extra pair of socks, one white and one black. I changed right there on a small rock to put the dry socks on. They shook my boots out thoroughly, fortunately rubber doesn't retain water. I had my under-armour shirt and hoody and gloves in my knapsack, I put those and my scarf on and I felt a bit warmer. We continued on. Steve said to me, "But you should have seen your face! It was priceless!" I'm sure that it was.

Gustavo in red leading the group


   The rest of the hike was less eventful. We passed through a small forest full of thin trees that were smooth. They were slick and shiny like someone had taken varnish to them. It was magical. There was asmall cave after the forest. I went a little ways in with my friends until my leg fell into a crevice, scraping my knee. With that I wandered back to the other half of the group who were eating their boxed lunches on top of a cliff. I joined them and started in on one of my enormous hamburgers. It was fantastic as always. I passed my bag of chocolate wafers around to everyone. It was an altogether pleasant lunch.



   Though we were tired after lunch we still had to get back to the bus. that meant another two hours of windy hiking. They were an enjoyable two hours, but I found myself wary of any sort of standing water for the rest of that particular trip. Eventually we made it back to the bus. It had begun to rain. We were exhausted so it felt great. We had to wait to depart since Ike, Ross and Sarah were camping over night with Gustavo. We unloaded the equipment for them then off for Cuenca. I have rarely been so deliriously tired. I stumbled home, took a hot showere then went in and out of deep sleep for the next three hours. I ended waking at about 8pm to make plans to meet Steve and the Spring Semester girls for the night. That was a good time, but another story.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Interlude 5:Misconceptions and Revelations

   Sorry that its been a while since my last post, we were traveling for about 2 weeks straight. I'm home again now, not in Cuenca, but in Cleveland. It feels good and surreal to be back. And although I'm back, the story isn't over, I have probably another 3-5 tales to tell if not a few more than that. So if you'll allow me a bit of time to collect my thoughts I will try to tell the rest of our experiences and a few more cultural oddities/intricacies. In the meantime here are some little things that I noticed over my time in Ecuador.


  • I had always thought that roosters only crow at sunrise. It turns out that roosters crow out whenever they  please. And that means often and throughout the night. A memorable quote from me while we were staying in a small community in the rain forest: that's no rooster, its a boy pretending to be a rooster! In my defense it was 6:45am and I was mostly still asleep.

  • The Rain forest has frequent, unpredictable rain showers, who woulda thunk it?

  • Surfing is much more challenging than they make it look in most Hollywood movies. Also I found out from surfing that my balance sucks. 

  • The world without music while walking around is nowhere near as much fun. 

  • Fresh fruits, vegetables and bakery items are about as cheap in Ecuador as Fast food is in America. This really shows how affordable and accessible healthy food is in Ecuador and how much of a premium is put on being healthy in the United States. This has reinforced for me that we clearly have our priorities misplaced in the United States.

  • You can pack a whole lot of activities into a day especially if you wake up super early. Also exhaustion can know no limits if you pack enough activities into enough consecutive days. I think more than anything this made me value sleep all the more on the rare days when I did not have to wake up. 

  • This entire trip has let me realize how much of a pop culture encyclopedia I can be, for better or worse. No I most certainly don't know everything, but I know at least a little bit about a great many things in the realms of books, music, movies and what-have-you.

  • Big misconception-that Ecuador is only ever hot. Trust me when I tell you that there were a multitude of nights I was very glad to have a host of heavy blankets on my bed in Cuenca. And when the days started to get colder I needed to break out my flannel shirts to stay warm in the mornings and evenings, sadly it can't be warm all the time. 

  • Sometimes you just gotta go for it and break through your comfort zone. For me it was peeing on the sides of highways and on buildings. For Steve it was dancing. We all had something. 

  • Ecuador has taught me a new love for pocket change. Before I would always put lesser importance on anything that was smaller than a quarter. Now on the other hand I have seen how every nickle, dime, and penny count; especially when bread is 16 cents. Oh! Half-dollar coins are awesome and I think we should still have them in the states. 

  • While on the subject of money, I will never cease to be amazed by how hard it is to make change in almost any establishment in Ecuador. I'll explain: if your bill is $12.80 it will be an ordeal if you pay with a $20 bill. They will have a very had time finding you $7.20 in change. That sounds like a simple amount to find, but yet it is so scarce to come by. The cashier might even have to go to a nearby store to accommodate your extravagant needs. Best bet: pay with exact change whenever possible. 

  • Anywhere you find yourself you might encounter a flock of sheep or a herd of cows. Whether you are in the middle of the city, or the a steep hill in the countryside, or maybe you're exploring some ancient ruins; whatever the case, chances are you'll find some animals. 

  • Other countries don't frown upon public urination quite as much as we do, same goes for public displays of affection. Awkward at first, but definitely something you get used to. 

  • Living in Ecuador has made me very grateful for American drivers who follow some sort of discernible rules of the road. Turning signals! I have an undeniable love for any driver who uses his or her turn signal, please people use them.