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 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.

Chapter 8: The Road to Ingapirca

  Half-awake, we bumped and roiled in our small van. Five rows of seats, a driver and a tour guide were all we had. The road zig-zagged up along the moutainside. We passed a pickup truck who's only cargo was 3 energetic golden retrievers. Some of us worked on homework despite the state of the road, some listened to music, and still more improbably others were able to sleep. As we rose higher and higher our surroundings and the road itself became cloaked in the gray clouds.

   We emerged from the clouds to find ourselves on a steep incline in the middle of a small town. Our tour guide said we'd be getting out for a short tour of the market. They had everything from giant gourds to tree tomatoes(good for juice) to a man peddling ladles. At one point there was a full pig roasting on a spit. Our tour guide pointed out all the most interesting aspects of the market, then it was back to the van.

Hillside town's market

  We took another bumpy, pot-hole filled road for ten minutes 'til we reached the Incan ruins of Ingapirca. The site of Ingapirca isn't as immense as the royal refuge of Machu Picchu, but it is still a breathaking sight to behold especially since its high up in the mountains overlooking everything. There's a pack of 10-12 llamas that graze in the overgrown grass of the ruins. The guide said the llamas essentially function as the lawnmowers of the ruins. Ingapirca has about 8 different important sites to stop and gaze at. There's a recreated habitation, an ampitheater, rocks with holes drilled in to fulfill astronomical purposes, and a large circular structure toward the end of the cliff with stones that looked green from their ancient copper coating.

Our ever knowledgeable tour guide filling our mind with facts

The Lawnmowers at work

Green copper stones and agave plants on the hillside

   We saw the entirety of the premises then commenced a hike down and up a valley with a river running through it. Before we got too far into the hike our guide stopped us to show us a cliff face that looks quite like an actual face. At another point during the hike Sarah and I were a bit behind the group since we had stopped to take silly pictures with the scenery(one of which is now my banner). We were walking briskly to catch up with the group and accidentally startled a cow. The cow began to charge us, my life flashed before my eyes in that instant, but the cow was on a rope and we were far enough out of its range to be okay. We waited for a few moments for our hearts to start beating at regular paces again then inched passed the cow bit by bit. As soon as we were past the cow we giddily laughed at the situation and also at the ridiculous amount of distance we still had to cover to catch up.

Face in the rock

Sarah and the river

Me and the river

Sarah and the cow that charged

   Up and up we climbed, stopping every once in awhile to catch our breath and take in the amazing environment. Up on an enourmous boulder we found our companions cheerfully eating lunch so we joined them. Man-oh-man, food has rarely tasted so good as after that hike and charge from the cow. The food was cold, but I didn't mind one iota, mmm those papas fritas: yum, that cut of steak, and om-nom those stir-fried rice and vegetables.

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  Our guide said there would be one more stop before our return home. The stop was a beautiful church. The only problem with the beautiful church was that whatever jerk had planned the construction decided a wonderful place for a church would be the side of a cliff. The stairs seemed to have been designed by a drunken MC Escher, winding up and up, and coming to odd junctures. I'm mostly so jaded because I was very tired at this point and not ready for scaling more buildings and such. Jaded and tired I still made it up to the church's entrance and even further. It was a sight to see for sure and instant vertigo to beholden. It was another adventure filled day.

The Church on the cliff

The awesome yet vertigo inducing vista from the cliff-church