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 á 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.

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.  

Chapter 14: Saraguro

  7:00AM. Hiking pants. Hiking shoes. Hiking Shirt. Scarf. Water-proof jacket. 3 hours on the bus. Let's go climb something! 5 miles into the beginning of the trip, rest stop for gas and snacks. Loaf of chocolate bread, yogurt, chocolate amor wafers; back to the transportation vehicle. The staccato beats of the morning travel routine all around me, but smooth tranquil rhythms of Sufjan Steven's album "Feel the Illinoise" on my headphones. Stop for vista. Tour guide says on one side you can see the Andes Mountain range, the other side its possible to see the Pacific Ocean in the far distance on clear days. I'm calling bologna on that one, there was not a cloud in sight and no matter how far on the horizon I searched, I saw no horizon. So bologna. Bolgona I say! The Sufjan Stevens record ended. Album switch. This time to Seawolf's "White Water, White Bloom". Songs about Orion the hunter, lost love and glowing grass in the moonlight mixed with winding Andean mountain roads.

   We arrived in Saraguro, dropped a few of our things in the hotel then reloaded ourselves onto a different bus. This bus was especially different because it had wooden benches in open air aside from a tin roof to shelter the benches from rain. The benches were not very comfortable in the least and the road was bumpy. We stopped talk about an Indian dwelling. For the second leg of the open air bus ride we were allowed to climb onto the roof of the bus to sit up top for the duration of our travels. Surprisingly the roof made for a much smoother ride. The only obstacle was watching out for hanging branches that could hit faces or swipe cameras out from wayward hands. We disembarked from the tin roof and began a hike to end all hikes. Only our guide truly knew where we were going, the path was narrow, the scenery was beautiful and the clouds were scant in the sky. The whole hike reminded me of hiking through the Grand Canyon, complete with vertigo and the adrenaline. Since I know it was on the top of everyone's mind: yes I peed off the side of the mountain, you're welcome.

   Lunch was two hamburgers with papas fritas and mustard, either I was starving or I have rarely had hamburgers of similar caliber, so so good. After a break and lunch we set back the other way. The pressure had dropped during our break and those sneaky ecuadorian clouds had set in. We kept hearing thunder louder and louder as we hiked, it seemed to be approaching us, yet I did not see any lightning. We layered up with raincoats and scarfs and started hotelwards. It was a successful hike all around.

   We had a chance to rest for awhile, I took one of my best naps of this entire trip. I had some sort of dream revelation, but sadly I cannot recall what the revelation pertained to. By 7pm it was pitch-black outside and freezing. Before dinner we stopped at an indigenous textile workshop. They used large wooden looms to create intricate patterns and many shapes. They demonstrated the technique for us, showing how the pieces slide together to create a new line in the growing cloth, the worker's feet manouevering through the pedals to coordinate the next type of yarn to be used.

   Dinner was at a small family restaurant where we sat on long benches and at grey beans, rice, squeaky cheese, and chicken soup. After dinner we were treated to an Andean music demonstration. The players included a flautist, a percussionist, violin and guitar. They played and we danced about in a circle. Three songs later they asked us if we had anyone who could play music in our group. We elected Ross. Autumn, Isaac and I joined him in fumbling our way through a few songs. We started with Oxford Comma but couldn't remember one of the verses so we switched to first "Jolene" by Ray Lamontagne and then "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" by Belle and Sebastian. The Ecuadorains said although they couldn't understand the words, the music was beautiful and we put a lot of energy and feeling into the songs.

  The rest of the evening was spent sitting by our hotel's outdoor fire sipping Pilsener's. Pilsener is not a superb beer, but sometimes all you need is a crappy bottle of beer, a warm fire and good conversation.

                                                           ---

The next day the sun struck with a vengeance, it was hotter than hot. Any humidity in the air was instantly evaporated into the clouds miles above our heads. We took another hike, shorter this time, only 15 minutes or so to a small clearing where two women had set our blankets on the ground for a ritual. We spent the next hour or so participating in said ritual. It was interesting, to say the least. 

Ray Lamontagne
Jolene


Belle and Sebastian
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying

Chapter 13: Cuenca day festivities

   Here in Ecuador each city has a day celebrating its anniversary. For Cuenca, that day is April 12th. The entire week surrounding Cuenca day there are festivities throughout the city with the biggest, loudest things happening on the twelth. I didn't really get to experience much of the festivities except for Thursday the twelth, partly because we had a mountain of homework throughout the week, and partly because we were busy with other activities-they sure know how to keep us busy here.

  My host mom had been telling me all about the events that were happening each day, trying to psych me up. I think wednesday night I came home at 7pm, as soon as I crossed the threshold of the house Lupe berated me saying, "Why aren't you in Parque Calderon right now?!" I explained that I had way too much homework to celebrate. She sighed, but we both took solace in the fact that I'd be able to see everything happening the next evening.

   On my to my afternoon class Thursday there were already stages being set up in any open space in the city. After our class, our entire group went in search of food. I stopped our gringo procession when I saw a café sign advertising waffles! We went in to the café, it was a cozy french place right off of the main plaza. I ordered a nutella waffle with a chocolate-banana milk shake, because why not? The milkshake was delectable and frothy ( Spanish word for foam/froth is "espuma" for the curious), but the waffle was not as exciting as I hoped it would be. Yes it was smothered in a thick layer of hazelnut-goodness, and there were little strawberry shavings, but the waffle itself was reminiscient of a freezer waffle while I was expecting something on par with a Belgium waffle or one that my real mom makes ( she makes the best waffles you guys). In the end the toppings completley made up for the lackluster texture of the waffle.

   When we left the café it was starting to get dark, but still it wasn't quite time to start the festitivities so we wandered the streets for a bit. When we returned to the plaza a sizeable crowd had already started to form. Right away we found two bands, one from the military and one from the Cuenca police force. Oh man, those bands could play! They had horns, bass guitars, acoustic guitars, percussion and they put some soul into that music. I have never seen military bands cut loose so creatively, I mean in the US the police and military usually play solemn affairs or John Phillip Sousa. This was salsa, this was alive. You could dance to it. I think I was dancing to it.

   We ended up finding two of the girls from the Spring Semester group in the plaza. They said that no one else from their group had wanted to come out and play. They also informed us that at each of the corner tents of the plaza they were giving away small servings of Canelazo which is very similar to a hot tottie or a hot apple cider. We acted on this news quickly, wow it was warm and tasty!

  While waiting on the corner for some of Isaac's friends to meet us I decided to buy a scarf. Mary and Emilie helped me pick a cool purple and green one. I had a picture of myself in it, but I no longer have that picture in my possession. Why is that you ask? Well I ended up splitting off with Zoe and Teresa (the girls from Spring Semester) we went to get more Canelazo and see some of the street acts. We saw fire jugglers which made me think of my friends Hannah and Katie back home who can fire hula hoop. At one point we tried to forge our way through a thick crowd by the time we reach the other side I realized that I no longer had my camera in my jacket pocket. I called Zoe and Teresa and told them what happened. I followed the primary rule of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and didn't panic. It turned out that Teresa had also lost her cell phone. We retraced our steps to no avail, our electronics were gone with the crowd. We got some more Canelazo to recharge our spirits then went to see a mime act which Zoe voluteer me for. It was tremendously fun, three other men and I did a little choreographed kung-fu-clown routine complete with a pelvic thrust. I definitely received the biggest round of applause of the four of us, either for putting on such a good show or for my wonderful red hair.

  We rounded out the night by watching some dancing to a traditional Andean band complete with a charango player. Then we bought a few Pilsener's and sat on the steps of the Cathedral and relaxed and talked and sipped our cheap beers. It was a damn near perfect night. What about losing our things you ask? Well, yes that happened, but they didn't take my health, wallet, ipod nor journal. Sure I miss the pictures I did get a chance to rip onto my computer. And the camera, I miss the camera a bit, we went through a lot together, that camera and I, but in the end it was just a camera. There were still good spirits surrounding us and adventure to be had. Don't get me wrong, we were definitely a bit more cautious after that, but nothing else happened that night and we had a great time.

Chapter 12: How I got my hiking shoes

  I think this story is decently relevant to my travels, if you disagree, that´s alright. About a year and a half ago during my winter break we realized my hiking shoes were on their last legs. My mother and I drove off to the mall in search of new shoes. We ended up going to either Macy´s or Dillard´s to search for a suitable replacement pair. The first thing I noticed as we approached the shoe department was that the man working looked exactly like Santa Claus. Like Miracle on 34th Street lookalike. We started browsing while Santa-salesman helped someone else. As I looked at the different shoes on display, I heard him talking to the customer, not only did he look exactly like Santa, he also sounded exactly what I imagine Santa to sound like. No he didn´t go ¨Ho, ho, ho!¨ but he had a certain joviality to his voice. I started cracking up at the ridiculous situation. I tried to contain my laughter, but I could not, so I told my mom we needed to take a walk, she raised an eyebrow and asked, ¨Are you serious?¨ I answered yes, we walked away and rode the escalator up a floor.

   I giggled almost continuously for the next 15-20 minutes, trying my best to get myself under control. After the laughing fit subsisted gradually I said I was ready to return to the shoe department. Luckily upon returning, Santa-salesman had gone on his break. Instead I had a fairly plain, boring, but knowledgeable salesman to help me. In no time at all I found a pair of very comfortable, water-proof hiking shoes. Our non-santa-salesman said the last person to buy this pair had been a man planning an expedition to Machu Picchu. This gave me doubts, you see the most I was planning on using them for at that moment was to keep my feet dry in the winter through the snow and wet. Did I really need a pair of shoes that were equipped to handle such rugged adventures? Well, yes as you never know what might happen, and in fact now I have myself taken them to Ingapirca, so I think the score is settled.

Interlude 4: Los Gringos vs Las Panederias

There is something about cheap delicious bread that is just irresistible. There are so many varieties of bread: white bread, rye, wheat, fruit bread, cheese bread, sour dough; the list goes on. If you just audibly went "meh" instead of "mmm", you sir or madam, are a liar. Here in Cuenca we have found a deeper love and understanding of bread. Do we eat bread or pastries 3-6 times a day? Yes, and I am in no way ashamed of that fact. There is a panaderia on almost every corner and bread is fresh throughout the day for about 20 cents. In the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Scott affirms his love of bread saying "Bread is probably my favourite food, I'd eat it every day if I could!"

  His grilfriend Ramona replies, "You'd get fat."

                                   "What?"

                       "Bread makes you fat"

That may be so, but I'm pretty sure we walk enough that it all evens out in the end.

Chapter 11: The View from Turi

  I ventured out on a Saturday afternoon after sleeping in and having felt a bit under the weather the past two days. My plan was to just explore the path that ran alongside the river by our house and see what happened from there. The sun was beating down on me with only scant clouds in sight and my nose full of sniffles. The sun and the sniffles brought me back to a similar day, a day with a twin sun to this one: Lobsterfest '09. When I was part of the radio station, Lobsterfest was the outdoor concert we had every year at the end of spring quarter. The day of Lobsterfest I couldn't breathe very well due to a stuffy nose and also couldn't talk very well due to losing my voice a few days before. My brother had come down for the weekend to hang out and listen to music, all of my favorite people from the radio station were there. The sun was mercilessly beating down, but the bands were great. Russenorsk, Kaslo, She Bears, they were all there as well as a ton more. Jay Reatard headlined; he was kind of a jerk to the set up crew and sound technicians, but he put up on a good show nevertheless.

Lobsterfest '09, the band is either Kaslo or She Bears

  Back in the present tense I was walking alone, only accompanied by the music in my headphones and the supplies I had brought along. In a short while I ran into my host mom and my sobrinos who were also out for a stroll. We all laughed at meeting there on the path. Lupe asked me where I was going, I admitted I did not know. Her eyes lit up and she told me that if I was feeling energetic then I could walk to Turi, the hillside vantage point on the outskirts of town. I thought that sounded like a fine adventure. Lupe told me to follow the river to the third bridge, there I was to cross. Then I was to wind my way through the new part of town until I found a staircase that would take me up to Turi. It was a quest!

Incan ruins, kind of like Starbucks, but more historically important

  I walked until I found the third bridge, on my side of the river there was a small site of Incan Ruins, yes perhaps they are everywhere here, like Starbucks in the US, except more historically important. I crossed the bridge then crossed the following roundabout. Just as prescribed I wound my way through the city streets, keeping Turi in sight as I went. Each step closer meant the sun beating down more and more, though I put sunscreen on before I left, I neglected to bring a water bottle. As I climbed one of the ascending streets I lucked into finding a store that had   large water bottles for only 50 cents. Proud of my find and now less in danger of becoming dehydrated, I continued on.

One of the cows, less dangerous than at Ingapirca

Sheep on a hill

   I ended up crossing yet another river that I did not know existed in Cuenca, finding a flock of cows and sheep as I went. A little further down the way I had to cross a four lane high way, it really wasn't too bad. I still wasn't sure exactly where the staircase was located, so I ended up asking a few different people. It was a good way to practice my Spanish and they were all fairly friendly. The grandma with her grand-daughter I asked, said that Turi was very close and in fact they were going the way way as well. Wow those stairs were steep, and they seemed to just go on forever. Once I made it to the top, it made the whole trek worth it. Wow, just wow, the view was magnificent. You could see all of Cuenca, the mountains in the distance and Cajas the national park nestled between the mountains. I was still extremely hot from the sun and the hike so I walked around a bit in Turi in search of ice cream. Luck beyond luck I found a vendor selling cones, two flavors per cone for 50 cents. I got a Guayaba and Chocolate cone, it hit the spot.

the endless staircase

The view from Turi # 1

The View from Turi # 2

The View from Turi #3, I magically got myself in this one, imagine that!

   The way back was a bit quicker since I didn't have to wind my way quite as much. When I was almost home I found some guys playing volleyball in the park so I stopped to watch for a bit. I think it was then that I decided I want to play volley ball some Saturday or Sunday afternoon before I leave. When I got home I wolfed my lunch down, Lupe asked me if I enjoyed the food. I replied it wasn't bad. She laughed and told me that there is an Ecuadorian saying that goes " Cuando hay mucho hambre, no hay mal pan" or roughly translated, "When you're really hungry, nothing tastes bad". I laughed and agreed that was a good saying.

PS I snagged an awesome pic of the clouds on the way home