Cuenca, Ecuador

On April 11th, our fearless travelers took a short flight from rainy Quito down to Cuenca (southern Ecuador). The city was very bright, surrounded by green mountains, and the sun was beating down with a vengeance on the exposed gringo’s. We stayed at a small backpackers hostal a short walk from the busy downtown, which helped the zzz’s since the city was fairly alive at night. Our first day in the city, Ivan got his shoes shined, and Kristin was immediately enamored by the artesenias. We had a typical lunch of seco de pollo, which is basically a marinated baked chicken with loads of white rice. It turned out that the city was in the midst of a festival to celebrate its founding in 1557. It is the oldest colonial city in Ecuador, and was the hub for the Spanish Church until very recently (there were about 2 churches and/or cathedrals per city block throughout the city). We decided to check out the main Cathedral that’s in all the Cuenca travel brochures. It was impressive, and even had modern catholic pop music playing in the inside (probably why its called El Cathedral Nuevo…). Outside of the cathedral there were tons of flags and propaganda to commemorate the city’s 454 years of mestizo history.

The Front of Cathedral Nuevo

Our second day in the city was a intense shopping day (yay for Kristin!), which was actually pretty fun since we found some cool stuff. Ivan’s favorite was the panama hat museum and store, even though we didn’t buy one. Kristin sure looks good in them though!! Later in the day we decided to head to the nearby town of Banos known for his thermal baths (not the famous tourist city in the volcano lands). We relaxed by the thermal baths, saunas and soaked up the sun all afternoon. Eventually our pruned bodies were begging us to get out so we left the small town and headed back to Cuenca for some dinner. That evening we went out for a night festival, which of course had more artesanias, and a giant delicious dinner for a whopping 2 dollars (soup, chicken, rice, beans and drinks!).

Hat Press

The following day we went to Gualaceo, a 1 ½ hour busride from Cuenca. The town is known for every kind of shoe, as well as orchids, pork dishes, and ceramics. Small town, but lots of charm. The central market was impressive also.

After some time in Gualaceo we hitched a short ride down the road to the town of Chortaleg. The tiny town boasts about 55 jewlery shops (just in the main plaza area) that sell gold and silver, but a wide variety of all kinds of jewelry. It was a but of a Lonely Planet trap, but was still very fun because it was Chortaleg’s birthday today! We didn’t bring a gift, except spent our gringo money at some of the stores. Interestingly, the town has a disproportionate amount of women since most of the men are of in Spain or the U.S for work. Not everyone is cut out for jewelery… The town had lots of charm, and the people were incredibly friendly. Kristin, amazingly, didn’t buy any jewelry…. Still puzzled by this…(I think Ivan was hoping to score an easy birthday present for KK)

After Chortaleg we went to a orchid farm outside of Gualeceo. It was very impressive. It was fairly large scale, clean, clearly lucrative, and had a fantastic tour. We even got a few mandarins while walking around the property with the young guide. Not a flower business Ivan would consider, but really great to see the Ecuadorian grower making a killing on a beautiful product.

The tissue culture of the orchids

Wacky Anthurium

On our third day in Cuenca we decided to hop on a bus to an Inca ruin site called Ingapirca. The site was childs-play compared to what we saw at the heart of the Inca empire in Cuzco, but it was still beautiful none-the-less. The temple of the sun had seamless rock work and had astrological significance. Lucky for the enamored and totally obsessed Kristin, there were llamas munching there way through the ruin... mehhh! The site required a lot of imagination, but we got the basic layout of the old city. Unfortunately, the Spaniards used most of the stone to build their ubiquitous churches nearby, so the site was basically a floor-plan. Luckily the sun temple was almost able to be restored to its original state.

Llamas!

Sun Temple

The following day we took a tour into Cajas National Park. It is a very, very rare type of eco-system, and was perched at 4,400 meters, aka very high!! Most interesting about it was the old-growth forests, and the paja (the beautiful grass in all the pictures). It was sunny and nice for the first few hours, but we soon learned why the park earned its name. Cajas are boxes in Spanish, but the name didn’t originate from the unoriginal Spaniards, but rather from the Quichua who traversed across the harsh terrain to cross from the lush coast to high-altitude Cuenca. “Cajas” is a bastardized Spaniardism for the Quichua word for “hard” or “struggle.” Which halfway through our beautiful nature hike, we found to be a very apt name. The rain came down in sheets, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and the once beautiful golden-brown paja became a slippery 4-letter word. The cameras were tucked away and our full concentration was set on not slipping. It was phenomenal how the landscape transformed. Our guide joked that in Cajas you get a taste of all 4 seasons in less than a days time. After 4 hours of hiking and drenched in every pore and crevice, we were very grateful for the car heater and the promise of hot food because at this point Kristin could hardly move and claimed she had hypothermia! As an aside: Ivan was quite the gentleman giving Kristin his dry long underwear – an article of clothing she laughed at when he packed it. At least she didn’t get the awful cold…! What a great boyfriend. ;)

View from the road

llama crossing

One of 250 lakes

Our sloshy footpath

Bruja's forest

Harsh but beautiful landscape

The Holy Llama

After our fairly exhausting day, our frozen bodies craved the promise of a hot shower… which our hostel didn’t fulfill. The cold shower banished Ivan to layers of clothing and every alpaca blanket he could get his hands on. He didn’t emerge for quite a while…

That night we brought a wonderful bottle of wine that Ramiro and Salome generously gifted us and polished it off at a sushi restaurant. It was a really great evening with sushi rolls and tipsy-turvy icecream (no, the banana and ice cream did not fall onto the table. see photo)

Almost a fail..!

Our trip to Cuenca was pretty fast and furious, but we had a great time! Now back to the books for another 2 weeks in Spanish school in Quito!

Would you date her?? Yes!!

Quito, Ecuador

Kristin, Salome, Gabrielito, and Ivan

After a long-haul from Santiago, the comforts of the Peñaherrera home was a wonderful welcome. After an 8-fruit smoothie, Ramiro's home-roasted coffee (amazing!), and some oatmeal, we were ready to explore the city. We scheduled some Spanish classes for the following weeks and then headed into the Old Town (we are living in the newer, more metropolitan part of town).

The Fambly!

We decided to scale the massive Basilica, which afforded a pretty incredible view of Quito. Kristin had no problem climbing the steep stairs and sketchy ladders, but Ivan was veritably peeing his pants and swooning with vertigo. It was a bonding experience. The views of the city were phenomenal and the building was very impressive inside and out. We also went into the cathedral, which was massive, and had lots of technicolor stained glass, gold leafing, and lots of candles to set the holy mood.

Plaza Grande

La Basilica

A couple hundred stairs to work those thighs!

We then walked into Plaza Grande and Plaza San Francisco. Ivan couldn't believe how much it had changed in the short 4 years that he'd last been in the city. We basically just cruised around and appreciated the architecture, and also the whole-wheat empanadas. Ecuador is refreshingly healthy and has so many food options!! (not that a juicy rib-eye is a bad thing... just not everyday...). The equatorial air and the good food has made a remarkable recovery for Kristin's knee!!

Empanada Boy

Speaking of amazing food, a favorite outing for us is to go to the bustling local mercado that displays goods from all over the diverse country. The pictures should be able to paint a fairly accurate picture of the variety and abundance of their produce. The 8-fruit smoothie has many different combinations!!

Just a little bit to choose from...

Bartering

aji

We also have been taking 4 hours of Spanish classes 5 days a week. We are both really improving our conversation and understanding of the language. Also fortunate, Ecuadorians are fairly easy to understand (basically, the opposite of the rapid-fire slang-laden Chileans!!).

Another great outing was to the cacao finca towards the coast. We went with Ramiro's partner Fernando, who was relatively soft-spoken, but wonderful to chat with (which was good since we spent over 9 hours in the truck together that day). The finca is only an hour from the coast, which is where all our subsidized bananas come from. There were banana trees as far as the eye could see. Fascinating to see how one of America's favorite staple fruits was grown (as an aside, a fresh tree-ripened banana is in a totally different league than the yellow logs we've become accustomed to up north. A fresh banana is an amazing thing). It was obviously incredibly hot and humid, but the bugs weren't too hungry -- even the blaring sun seemed to much for them. The finca is around 22 hectares and borders an impressive river at the lower end. We walked the perimeter of the property with Fernando, Edgar (the foreman), and a GPS. The Garmin GPS was pretty nifty, and after our walk we could see the perimeter of the property, and measure its area. Lots of banana and cacao trees, as well as some corn and rice that had been left behind by the previous owners. The cacao trees looked very familiar -- kinda like a tropical avocado, but with a giant oblong star-shaped fruit that is filled with one of our favorite seeds -- chocolate!!!. We were very grateful for the opportunity to see the production of bananas, cacao, and some other tropical crops. On the drive home, we bought 15 pounds of fresh tropical fruit for $5.00 -- pineapples, mangos, coconuts, papaya, etc... A very productive, delicious, and beautiful part of the world.

Since chemicals are so expensive, farmers use these perforated blue plastic bags to protect their yellow gold.

Banana and cacao trees

Very dense vegetation

Rice at bottom, and corn on hillside

The cacao fruit

Lets eat one!!

Banana delivery

Another outing was to Cotocachi, where Kristin and Salome where on a mission to buy some of the town's renowned handmade leather goods. The leather products were remarkable, and of top quality. Kristin looks pretty sexy in her new black boots!!

Grabriel, Ramiro, and great great Grandpa

Kristin's new kicks

Salome gave us a taste of her business (pun totally intended), which is the botique-style honey business. The Ecuadorian Honey Company has many unique honey flavors from all over Ecuador, and displays them in a beautiful box too. The honey tasting was sensational - our senses were put to the test by the very exotic and unique honey's. There were radish, avocado, eucalyptus, tropical flowers, wildflower, and many many more. Salome works with many different bee keepers and puts their collective efforts into a beautiful box that she designed herself. Maybe we'll bring some home -- if we don't eat it all first!!

Salome's beautiful honey assortment (only some of the flavors)

Gourmet tasting

Every Sunday is exercise/bike day in Quito. The main street, Las Amazonas, crosses from one end of the long city to the other, and is used exclusively by walkers, joggers, and bikers. It was a great way to see the city and not have to worry about the crazed taxi drivers that rattle and belch at unreasonable speeds.

Safety first!!

As part of our fantastic immersion in the Peñaherrera household, we have been introduced to some great cuisines. We have had many traditional dishes and soups, as well as some favorites from the neighborhood. We have already indulged at the Indian restaurant 4 times. yummm! We have also been baking and cooking a lot, and it is so great to have a fully stocked kitchen to create in. Ramiro and Salome are also very grateful recipients of our creations. Pretty awesome!!

Hungry hippos!!

Harvesting coffee (don't worry, its Fair Trade with Gabriel's help)

After 3 weeks at school and around Quito, we decided to hop on a plane and spend a week in Cuenca for a little 'spring break!' Pura Vida