December 11, 2009
Friday, 9:22am
Cuenca
Sunny, 60
This blog is sort of a grab bag of things that happened in the last month. There is no overriding theme nor is there any real flow from one topic to the next. With that in mind we wish you all Happy Holidays and hope you enjoy the random collection of pictures and words below!
(Also, I apologize in advance for all the typos you will surely find. I typed the blog in Cuenca and the version of Word I was using kept making bizarre autocorrections as the default language was Spanish and I was writing in English. So put the red pens away and enjoy the omition of many words and creative spellings of others.)
Baby Matias, Construction, and another Niño
Doña Rita´s daughter Melida gave birth to Matias a few weeks ago. Her sister Maribel asked us to take some pictures of him,the work they had done on their house, and the Niño (it´s a big tradition here to have a Niño that travels from house to house leading up to Christmas. The same weekend Matias was born the Niño arrived at Doña Rita´s house) so she could send photos to her brother who lives in Canada.
Cubanos, Semifinals, Finals, and a Fire
We had a couple of fundraisers for one of the soccer teams I am on to raise money for uniforms. The fundraiser, which took place on several occasions, consisted of making sandwhiches (in our house) then selling them with a vaso of cola for a dollar at the nearby estadio. Unfortunately, on the first day the cubanos (Ham and cheese on white) were locked in a tienda (store) at lunch time and we couldn´t get them out again until dark . This meant we had to sell everything at half price which severely cut into our already narrow profit margin. The second time, however, everything went according to plan and all sandwhiches were sold at $1.
Another campeonato (small, soccer tournament) came to a close this month. My team came in second place after a loss in penalty kicks in the finals where three people (including myself) hit the post. That´s right, tres palazos! Unbelievable. We still had a big cookout later that night at Zoila´s house and ate lots of fried rice and watched Michael Jackson videos.
It is also worth mentioning, as we have pictures of a fire off in the distance, that Ecuador has been without rain for far too long. Up until a few weeks ago the rivers were empty and there were fires on every hillside. Since then we have gotten a little bit of rain so most of the fires are out and you can no longer walk across the rivers. However, they are still rationing electricity (over 90% of Ecuador´s electricity is hydroelectric which doesn´t work very well if there is no wáter) which means for several hours every day we are without electricity.
Makin´cubanos
Fake Bill
We got our first counterfeit bill two weeks ago from an ATM of one of the biggest most respected Banks in all of Ecuador. The bank won´t reimburse us and we had to return the bill anyway but it was neat to see it even if it means we lost $20. See if you can tell which is the fake.
Zukes and Eggs
My garden is chock full of zukes this month which means zucchini crust pizza, zucchini muffins, zucchini fritta, zucchini salad, minestrone soup made with zucchini, and so on. As a novice gardener I have to say zukes are a most gratifying crop.
Also there´s a picture of an egg from a farm raised chicken and one from a factory raised chicken. Can you tell which is which?
Christmas is coming!!
Enjoy some pics of our apartment all dressed up for Christmas (and some of Chuspi enjoying all the holiday decorations).
Envios
It´s super common in Sayausi (and all of the province of Azuay) to send all sorts of food, stuff, and more stuff to the States where most people here have family. The most common item is, of course, the ever so delicious cuy i.e. guinea pig. We are not quite sure how it works but it looks like you drop of your cuy here in Sayausi and it ends up in some similar looking storefront somewhere in the U.S. Pretty remarkable considering a shipment goes every Thursday and Tuesday and arrives two days later in the U.S.
Work Photos
A fellow volunteer is putting together a website with a profile about what volunteers in Ecuador are doing. So these are the pictures we sent him for the website. We will post a link to the site once we have it. Enjoy!
Chuspi, Chuspi, Chuspi
This blog was originally going to be an Adopt-a-Chuspi post as Mike has an allergy to her. However instead we are going to leave Cuspi with our lovely, landlady Doña Carmen, proabably in January. So here´s a bon voyage to Chuspi tribute with a special guest...a deer leg!
A fun tail
Yum, deer leg
Brush-tastic
Brush-a-me, mama
Flight instead of fight
The beetle gets it
Relaxed Attack
Pathetic
Peticure
Whatta good Chuspi cat
Yum, sardines
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
National Lampoon’s Venezuelan Vacation
November 2, 2009
Monday
5:46am
Cloudy, 60
For the last ten days we have had the pleasure of being in Venezuela with my dad. During this trip we explored the breathtaking islands of Los Roques National Park, the zoos and hot springs of Valencia, and the culinary delights of Caracas. We also discovered that my dad and Chevy Chase have much in common when it comes to planning and enjoying a vacation i.e. simple events always have the potential to become a comedy of errors.
Below is a brief itinerary (for those of you pressed for time) followed by a detailed account (for those who can spare an hour or so) of what we have dubbed National Lampoon’s Venezuelan Vacation.
Day 1: Arrive in Caracas and Flight to Los Roques
Day 2: Nordesky, Krasky, and Aquaman’s Debut
Day 3: Franciskys
Day 4: Boca de Medio, Madrizqui, Scuba, and some British Commentary
Day 5: Cayo de Agua, Biological Station, Espenky, Multi-purpose Tevas, and Bravo!
Day 6: Boca de Cote, Lobster Shack, Estrellas Marinas (Esparky), Pelona de Rabusky and Umbrella Trouble
Day 7: Cayo (Isla) Muerto and The Hitchhiker, to Valencia and Hot Springs
Day 8: Arepas, Zoo, Arepa Mansion, Meetings, and To Caracas
Day 9: Meetings, Teleferico, Gualipan, and Jeep to Macuto
Day 10: To the Airport, Duty Free Extravaganza, Bogota Layover, Van to Sayausi
Day 1: Arrive in Caracas and Flight to Los Roques
We arrived in Caracas just before 11:00am on Thursday morning. After going through customs and skipping baggage claim since we had none, we met my dad who had arrived about a half an hour earlier. It turns out he had spent a majority of this half hour trying to shake a black-market money changer who spoke broken English.
In Venezuelan currency there is what is called a parallel market. In 2008 the Bolivar Fuerte was introduced to replace the Bolivar and remove three zeroes from all currency and prices (for example a 1000 bolivar coin would now be 1 bolivar fuerte). The parallel market exists because there is a fixed official rate for the Bolivar Fuerte. The fixed rate which is 2.15 bolivar fuertes to the dollar is supposed to help with inflation. However, it also means that everything would be too expensive for people buy things. So, there is a parallel market (not legal but not really illegal in terms of enforcement) where you can get around 5 boliver fuertes to the dollar. This system, while making Venezuela a potentially very affordable place to visit, makes changing money a little bit more complicated and a little bit risky for tourists and Venezuelans alike.
So my dad, a rather obvious tourist which is associated with dollars or euros, was quite a target for the dozens of parallel or black market money changers who also serve as porters (why not earn a little extra money while carrying bags). Luckily, my dad wasn’t persuaded to change his money with these porters at the rate of 3.5 Bf to the dollar and so our first order of business upon our arrival (after many hugs and hellos) was to find Roquemar, a “tourism” storefront recommended to us by the owner of the hotel we would be staying at in Los Roques (we ended up changing our dollars at the rate of 4.7 Bf to the dollar).
After a rather bizarre, semi private money exchange we had our first taste of delicious Venezuelan food during lunch at the workers cafeteria in the basement of the airport (TGI Friday should be avoided in all countries) then headed over to the Auxiliar Airport to catch our flight to Los Roques.
I need to take a minute here and explain that is was virtually impossible to find a flight to Los Roques as there is no website you can go to and no number you can call to make a reservation (trust me, we tried). All flights to Los Roques, it seems to me, are booked through the posada where you are staying. So first you have to find and decide on a posada before you have any idea what the flight options are. Then, to make things a little more complicated, no one accepts credit cards. We were beyond fortunate that Ana, the Italian owner of Ranchito Power (the posada where we stayed) paid for our tickets in advance out of her own pocket. After paying for the tickets she forwarded us a copy of the electronic tickets that had been sent to her. We printed these out and crossed our fingers as we arrived at the Auxiliar Airport.
The Auxiliar Airport shares the same runway space as the international airport, it’s just located about a half a mile closer to the end of the runway and instead of normal sized planes there are tiny, tiny planes. Also unlike many international and domestic flights, if our plane was delayed past sunset the flight would have been cancelled as there are no runway lights in Los Roques and therefore no flights landing or taking off after dark.
Our plane was the aeronautical equivalent of Mike’s 87 Nissan. The “Sundance” as it was un-aptly named sat 15 and the pilots were in arm’s length of the first row and while there were seat belts the likelihood of the seats staying attached to the plane in any emergency situation were so low as to make the presence of seat belts negligible. The emergency life jackets however were easily accessible.
After a slight delay of almost an hour, the “Sundance” took off into the sunset with nary a shutter and the 35 minute flight saw only slight turbulence and a few unnerving dips. And, it seemed, that the landing was smooth and uneventful until a loud boom, followed by the smell of burning rubber, unusually abrupt braking, and the repeated “thwap, thawp, thwap” of rubber on asphalt filled the cabin that was now sloped down to the left.
So, we disembarked mid-runway while the crew unloaded the luggage and walked it over to the receiving “gate” i.e. the other side of the rope. It was sunset, and we left the “Sundance” at a slight tilt and with its busted tire behind us.
Chicho, one of the three employees of the posada we were staying at, met us at the other side of the rope with a “baggage cart” i.e. a handcart and escorted us down the sand street to Ranchito Power.
At Ranchito Power we were greeted by Ana, the posada owner, and shown to our room (one of five in the posada). After putting our bags in the room we went out in search of dinner. This it turns out would be harder than expected.
We first went to the string of restaurants on the beach only to discover that no one had any food. Yup, no food. Apparently, the supply boat didn’t come in.
Los Roques is an archipelago located 100 miles off the north coast of Venezuela. It is made up of over 200 small islands only 42 of which have names. Gran Roque, the only inhabited island in Los Roques National Park, has 1,500 fulltime residents, 60 posadas, 2 vehicles (one for garbage and the other a tractor), 1 school, and two sources of food: the ocean and the boat. So, you can imagine that getting food and other supplies for all the residents plus the 400 or so tourists on the island is slightly more difficult and more dependent upon outside sources than most other places.
After being turned down at every restaurant we could find along the beach we found our way to the plaza where there was a small restaurant serving hamburgers, pasta, and a few other dishes to desperate tourists with no other food options.
And so ended Day 1 of our Venezuelan vacation: tire blow out upon landing in Los Roques where there was “no food” because the boat hadn’t come in.
Left prop
Up, up, and away
Coral reef sighted
First sight of Gran Roque
Bumpy landing
Day 2: Nordesky, Krasky, and Aquaman’s Debut
First I should give a basic overview of what a typical day in Los Roques was like. They each followed the same basic pattern with the major differences being the islands visited during the day.
Breakfast was served at 8:00am in the small common area of Ranchito Power. Ana made the breakfast each day which included the Venezuelan staple of corn arepas plus pancakes, bread, several jams, fresh fruit juice, cookies, cereal, eggs, a fruit plate, and coffee (coffee in Venezuela was delicious, on every street corner there was someone with a thermos of steaming hot coffee and a stack of small plastic cups selling for 10 cents a piece).
After breakfast everyone gets changed and ready for the beach and puts in lunch orders (most of the islands have no services and so the posadas pack a cooler full of sodas, snacks, and in our case, delicious salads and pastas for lunch each day). At 9:30am every morning about a dozen small motor boats leave from the dock of Gran Roque carrying 4-10 tourists to one of the over 200 islands within the Los Roques archipelago. During the day we would normally visit 2 to 4 different beaches with the day ending back in Gran Roque around 5:00pm. Once back on Gran Roque you make a dinner reservation (the posadas need to know by 5:30pm how many dinners they need to make) and then dinner is served around 7:00pm. After dinner there would usually be some planning for the next day (more planning in our case as we were also juggling meeting times back in Caracas, calling different people, sending emails, etc..) and then off to bed where sleep came quickly until the rising sun peeked in through the window the next morning.
But it was our second day in Los Roques and our first day going to the beaches that we got our first glimpse of what we would later call “Aquaman.”
Planning our trip to Los Roques required a lot of time and email exchanges with various people on Gran Roque and we did a lot of internet searches on Los Roques and read the Lonely Planet (our guidebook on Venezuela) section of Los Roques a minimum of ten times. Below are a few snippets from said section:
1. “Gorgeous white-sand beaches, clear turquoise waters, amazing snorkeling and diving…”
2. “This idyllic collection of small coral islands harbors rich coral reefs comes virtually unspoiled.”
3. “…scorching sun and dazzlingly blue skies…”
4. “…250 unnamed islets, sandbars and cays scattered around a crystal-clear, glittering lagoon brimming with marine life.”
5. “…these attractions all await hedonistic sunseekers in the stunningly beautiful tropical archipelago known as Los Roques.”
So, with all this in mind, guess which phrase stuck out to my dad in terms of planning his beach attire which would be worn at all times in and out of the water?....”scorching sun”. Fearing any contact with the sun (reminder, he lives in Arizona) his “swimming suit” consisted of the following:
1. Wide brimmed hat pulled down and tied off under his chin
2. Extra dark and wide sunglasses
3. Long sleeved shirt buttoned up and tucked into and tied to his pants
4. Long pants tucked into his adventure socks
5. Socks with Tevas (or snorkel fins when appropriate)
Now picture everyone else in the boat: bikini clad, speedo sporting Italians, bikini clad, speedo sporting Venezuelans, and bikini clad, speedo sporting travelers from around the world. Granted Mike and I were somewhere in between Aquaman and the magazine models but we did draw the line at socks.
So dressed for a safari in the savannas of Africa we set out for our first day of beaches and snorkeling in the Caribbean.
We boarded the small motor boat on the shores of Gran Roque and set out for Nordesky amid a sea of aquamarine, crystalline waters and beneath of sky of pure blue: it was in all honesty beyond words.
Nordesky was our first snorkeling stop and our first time stepping foot into the warm, clear waters of Los Roques. We saw a dozen sea turtles, some coral heads, angel fish, and untold numbers of other sea creatures. Aquaman proved that socks and snorkeling are not completely incompatible but did not have as much luck with the wide brimmed hat which proved to be a significant visual impediment not to mention choking hazard (that did not stop him from wearing it though). After an hour or so of snorkeling in Nordesky we got back on the boat and headed off to Krasky where we would spend the rest of the day.
When we first pulled up to Krasky it was one of those rare moments where you really think you must be dreaming. It was gorgeous: an empty white sand beach, blue waters, and a warm breeze.
The captain’s helper set up our umbrellas and chairs then left saying they would be back at 4:30pm. Full disclosure: Aquaman originally described this idyllic set-up as being part of Dante’s inferno. Fortunately, he eventually became a convert and geared up for a second round of snorkeling before lunch.
Krasky is one of the few islands that has a restaurant so we ate fish that was caught that morning in the shade of the covered patio then set out for some afternoon snorkeling before some serious floating a.k.a. lounging. Then at 4:30pm our boat reappeared, we packed up, and were magically whisked back to Gran Roque where we heard the supply boat had finally arrived and so made reservations at Bora la Mar, a restaurant right on the beach where we would end up eating most of our dinners.
Dinners on Los Roques always included fresh fish and some delicious side dish prepared by the posada owner. Marta, the owner of Bora la Mar, is from Spain but has lived on Gran Roque for 16 years. Apparently, she was the ninth posada to open on the island and as a result has one of the best locations, which is why we ended up eating there so often.
Tired and sunburnt I slept like a gran roque that night. Mike tired but not so sun burnt also slept well, though relatively cramped as he didn’t fit on the bed, and Aquaman pale as the day he was made slept soundly having outwitted the sun with his amazing Aquaman powers.
Day 3: Franciskys
Early the next morning Mike and I walked up to the lighthouse to take in our surroundings on what was one of the highest points on Gran Roque while Aquaman slept on out of reach of the sun’s first rays.
Breakfast was served at eight and by nine thirty we were back on the boat headed to Franciskys, one of the closest islands to Gran Roque with some of the best snorkeling in Los Roques. The open water was a little rough that day so all of the boats were staying close to the main island, but luckily Franciskys has a protected harbor with a fantastic reef inside of it. Ideal snorkeling for a windy day.
With umbrellas and chairs set up we set off for some more snorkeling. Full disclosure: Mike and I were both wearing pants this day after getting the backs of our legs relatively scorched from all of the snorkeling the day before. Aquaman was of course fully clad in his superhuman attire.
The rest of the day went as follows: snorkel, lunch, float, snorkel, float, float. Vacation’s tough but somebody has to do it.
Day 4: Boca de Medio, Madrizqui, Scuba, and some British Commentary
Our fourth day started with a hike up to the lighthouse on Gran Roque. From the lighthouse we could see several of the islands we had gone to already and a few that we would go to in the following days.
After breakfast Aquaman and I walked Mike down to the dock where his scuba-diving boat was waiting. Mike started fiddling with the gear immediately as the Colombian dive master double checked Mike’s scuba knowledge. Apparently, passing the scuba knowledge test Mike and a honeymooning couple from Switzerland set out for a day of scuba-ing i.e. two, hour long dives in what was later described as “absolutely amazing” diving conditions.
Aquaman and I set out for a slightly less adventurous adventure with an older English couple that happened to be the only two other people on the boat with us that day. Our day trip included four stops: Estrellas marinas, boca del medio, snorkel time, and finally Madrizqui. We didn’t bring the camera with us because of an earlier sand scare but you can by this time imagine the blue water and white sand without visual assistance.
The snorkeling on this trip was slightly different than our previous snorkeling engagements as we jumped off the boat into open water as opposed to arriving at a beach and snorkeling from there. While the getting off the boat posed no significant problems for myself nor Aquaman (thank you gravity) getting back on the boat was a slightly different story (thanks to gravity).
I had the advantage of being relatively slight and therefore was pulled back on board by the English man and the captain’s helper. My dad however was left to his own devices and was further hindered by a lot of drag from his superhero outfit. To his credit he was back onboard relatively quickly at which point the English woman commented, “what you lacked in elegance you made up for in efficiency.” At this point I assume you can also imagine what Aquaman’s embarkation looked like without visual assistance, although video footage would have been quite comical.
We met Mike (who was sleeping in the hammock when we arrived back in Gran Roque) exchanged stories (Mikes included a fifteen minute dance with a gang of social squid) and headed off for dinner and mojitos. Again, vacation is really tough.
Bocce in the street
Day 5: Cayo de Agua, Biological Station, Espenky, Multi-purpose Tevas, and Bravo!
Back together again we headed off for another full day of snorkeling and general Caribbean enjoyment, this time under the tutelage of Friedman, a Jamaican-Polish resident of Los Roques.
First stop Cayo de Agua, a gorgeous string of white sand connected by a sand spit to another gorgeous string of white sand. We started off with another new type of snorkeling: the drift snorkel. A drift snorkel means, in this case, you walk up the beach past some mangroves to an entry point. Then you let the current take you back to your umbrella and chairs while admiring the beautiful coral reef beneath you, all without the need to kick even a little. Unfortunately, we were advised of the drift nature of the snorkel a little late in the walk and so Mike and I left a few things in the trail that we would come back for after the snorkel. My dad realized even later the nature of the snorkel and so ended up at the entry point with his Tevas.
Never fear for Aquaman has an aquatic solution for everything. And so that is how my dad became the first person ever to snorkel with socks on under the fins, long pants, a long sleeved shirt tied to the pants and buttoned up to the neck, a wide brimmed hat with chin string, goggles, a snorkel, and Tevas attached to his hands as paddles. Needless to say Friedman decided not to take us snorkeling near the sharks on the other side of the island as had been earlier planned; apparently the sight of Aquaman strikes fear (or perhaps signals easy prey) to sharks.
Next stop: Biological Station! At the Biological Station we got to see dozens of sea turtles that are being raised for later release into the wild. Since only 1 in a 1000 sea turtles makes it to adulthood and humans think turtle eggs are aphrodisiacs, sea turtles are in a tight spot. So, this station gathers up baby sea turtles, cares for them for a year, and then releases them back into the wild hopefully with a higher chance of survival. We tried to buy a shirt for Mike while we were there but Mike is still quite tall for Venezuela and so we left with nothing but our memories and some fresh coconut to remind us of the sea turtles of Los Roques.
Our last stop for the day was Espenky where Aquaman and Mike set off for another snorkel while I floated happily in the oh-so-warm waters of the Caribe.
I would like to say that nothing else noteworthy happened that day and that your last image for our fifth day would be that of me dozing in the gentle waves of the sea. However, Aquaman had one last surprise in store for us…and everyone else on the boat…and for that matter everyone back on the dock at Gran Roque as well.
The boat ride from Espenky back to Gran Roque probably took about 20 minutes. Mike and I were seated on one side of the boat toward the back and several bikini clad, speedo sporting Italian tourists further up the boat was my dad.
About ten minutes into the ride my dad stood up and did what can best be described as a little dance: several quick steps in place. He then sat down without looking back at any of the other passengers. Everyone on the boat, including Mike and myself, was a little confused but not too surprised by Aquaman’s display due to his recent history of erratic and unpredictable behaviors. Five minutes later he gets up again and does the same thing. Again, no real surprise coming from Aquaman but still a little perplexing.
Then it seems that all would end well. The dock was in view, the boat had slowed down and in less than a minute we would be safely docked back on Gran Roque. Little did we know Aquaman had a gran finale in store.
About twenty feet from the dock, with the boat still motoring at a decent velocity, my dad stood up, stepped onto the ledge of the boat, and launched himself into the blue waters of the Caribbean.
This did in fact surprise everyone on the boat…for about two full seconds (Friedman almost successfully caught him mid leap). Then, the entire boat (mostly Italian) broke into simultaneous applause and shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!”
When we reached the dock the comments ranged from “Tu suegro esta loco” (Your father-in-law is crazy) from the Venezuelan tour organizer to “Your father is fantastic” in English from the Chilean biking model.
I wish I could share with you the visual of my dad jumping overboard that I will have imprinted in my brain forever as well as the tears of laughter that didn’t stop for a good fifteen minutes but alas the camera was stowed safely away and so your imagination will have to suffice to piece together Aquaman’s grand disembarkation. We did however manage to capture a few shots of him swimming back to shore afterwards.
Any guesses to the motives behind Aquaman’s jump? Perhaps he wanted to live carelessly? Perhaps he saw a sunken treasure? Maybe, he just wanted to know what it felt like to jump off a moving vehicle with a crowd of onlookers? Or, maybe it was just nature calling a little too strongly at the most convenient moment that would present itself within very narrow time restrictions.
So, that was how day five ended: my dad jumping overboard. Well, at least I wasn’t in middle school otherwise the trauma inflicted from such a public display of bizarre dad behavior would have been incurable.
Stay seated
Gotta go...but the boat´s still moving too fast
Day 6: Boca de Cote, Lobster Shack, Estrellas Marinas (Esparky), Pelona de Rabusky and Umbrella Trouble
Our sixth day in paradise took us on our biggest snorkel adventure. We set out for Boca de Cote, an area where Los Roques opens up into the sea. This was both a drift snorkel and an open water snorkel. For over an hour we floated along with the current above a virtual garden of coral and aquarium of sea life that started at about 5 feet below the surface and then quickly dropped down into the deep, deep blue.
After boarding the boat (this time slightly more gracefully than the last time) we made a stop at the Lobster Shack. The Lobster Shack is barely a building, constructed in the middle of the water (shallow though it may be) where six months out of the year fishermen live and fish. What do they fish you ask, well lobster of course! However, the lobster season doesn’t begin until mid-November so we just got to hang around and take a dip in the surrounding waters.
The third stop of the day was Esparky where thousands of giant starfish hang out in the shallows. The captain’s helper found a live conch and then made it into a snack for everyone floating around i.e. us. For the seafood to be any fresher you would literally have to eat it underwater as we were up to our shoulders in the water where the conch was caught, killed, prepared, and served. Yummy!
Our last stop brought us to Pelona de Rabusky the smallest island we had yet to step foot on. The island had been recommended to us as great snorkeling spot because the it is actually surrounded by a continuous coral ring, and as it turns out was also inhabited by a group of flamencos. Due to its tiny size (your driveway is probably bigger than this island) the three of us circumnavigated the Pelona de Rabusky almost without incident.
This time however it was Mike not Aquaman who was the perpetrator. Mike, being the ever inquisitive individual that he is, noticed a small pile of cartilaginous skeletons about ten feet down resting next to a bed of coral. And Mike, being the apt swimmer and diver that he is, decided to dive down and get a closer look. Upon arrival at the pile of carcasses, I mean cartilaginous skeletons; Mike thought to himself, “Hmmm, I wonder what did this?” He then turned his gaze away from the coral and out to the deep blue sea trying to imagine what carnivorous beast, I mean predator, could have done this. It was at that moment when he turned his head full of inquisitive thoughts that he saw a giant baracuda grinning directly at him while he was holding the remains of its former meals!
Mike of course ditched the carcasses and began to swim away only to see that the baracuda was chasing him! Luckily Mike was close to shallow water and the baracuda wasn’t actually interested in attacking, I mean persuing, Mike as he was only defending his territory. Note for the non-snorkeler/diver: Baracudas are big and have an ominous dentition to put it lightly. They usually linger near divers and are known to startle, but not to pursue. I guess this time was an exception.
Needless to say we didn’t snorkel any more that day.
However, back on shore Aquaman was up to his own mischief. Having arrived back at the beach before Mike and I, he noticed that the sun had shifted and decided to shift the umbrella accordingly without taking into consideration the prevailing wind. After considerable fidgeting with the umbrella the top half snapped off. Under normal circumstances not a big deal. However, we have to remember that on a National Lampoon Venezuelan Vacation with Aquaman, circumstances are never normal. On this particular day there was quite a bit of wind and so the umbrella went flying off at considerable speed stopping only after crashing into the bikini clad, speedo sporting couple that was set up twenty yards from us. Luckily, no harm was done and the speedo sporting Brazilian kindly returned the stray umbrella to Aquaman.
The boat ride home saw no men, or Aquamen overboard, and we ended the day at Bora la Mar with another mojito, plenty of good cheer, and swordfish that was caught that morning.
Off to snorkel
Don´t look back
Flamencos
Day 7: Cayo (Isla) Muerto and The Hitchhiker, to Valencia and Hot Springs
Our last day in Los Roques we went to Cayo Muerto, a little sand bar surrounded by crystalline waters in what was really an idyllic setting.
Though I haven’t yet mentioned it, another comment in the Los Roques section of the Lonely Planet guidebook mentions the presence of sand flies on the islands. My dad had been taking special care to avoid being victim to these menacing foes, and to his credit left Los Roques without one sand fly bite. Whether that was due to over-use of Deet, or a diminished and/or less active sand fly population is still up for debate. However, on our last day walking to the boat that would take us to Cayo Muerto, our last island, Aquaman starting complaining about a light stinging sensation on his leg. He didn’t seem particularly alarmed and not in that much discomfort so we continued to the dock.
We arrived on Cayo Muerto about ten minutes later, had or umbrellas and chairs set up, took lots of pictures, admired the waves breaking out on the distant reef, and were settling in for some big time floating when my dad complained again of stinging on his leg. At this point he un-tucked his pants from his socks (yes, the outfit was virtually impenetrable by bugs and sun alike), gave his leg a little shake, and out fell a scorpion! A scorpion had been in his pant leg for just over an hour at this point biting and stinging my dad’s leg. Fortunately, it was a large scorpion (less venomous and less prone to sting) and Aquaman was fine, if not a little stung up…but hey, at least it wasn’t those pesky sand flies
Several hours of snorkeling and floating later our boat came to pick us up and take us back to Gran Roque for the last time.
Our flight left at 5:00pm (the Sundance was back in commission by that time) so we spent the last few hours in a frenzy trying to get more money on a tiny island in the middle of the Caribbean. Luckily, we were not the first to run into this predicament and a nice lady showed up with a credit card swiping machine and a boxful of cash to help us out. Her name was Carolina, but we like to think of her as a walking ATM.
Our flight was late in arriving, and we were rushed onto the plane by 5:30 (lucky thing because had the flight been delayed more it would have been cancelled as, mentioned earlier, there are no lights on the runway and so no flights arrive or depart after sunset).
In Caracas we were met by our driver who whisked us off to Valencia where upon arrival we went straight to the thermal pools outside our hotel room door to de-stress after six days of relaxation. The theme of National Lampoons Venezuelan Vacation continued even on the mainland as instead of going into the geothermal hot springs we instead immersed ourselves in a pool that was undergoing a chemical maintenance causing the night staff to come out and help protect us from ourselves by ushering us out of the chlorine dip and into the hot springs. WalleyWorld here we come!
Yin and yang
Into the deep
Grace and Elegance
Day 8: Arepas, Zoo, Arepa Mansion, Meetings, and To Caracas
Breakfast in Valencia was perhaps the most delicious breakfast we had on our trip (see pictures) partly because it was authentic Venezuelan fare rather than a delicious breakfast that we would be likely to serve ourselves at home. Arepas, corn flour patties, are served at almost every meal and are absolutely tasty. Breakfast consisted of two arepas, scrambled eggs, spicy shredded beef, black beans, cheese, fresh fruit juice, and good coffee. Yum and yum!
That morning we went to the zoo where we were given a personal tour of all sorts of neat Venezuelan critters, all of whom had been rescued and as such could not return to the wild. The river dolphin show however was closed since one of the stars had just recently given birth. Also the snake exhibit was closed because you have to pass the dolphins to reach the serpents. That was all fine with us though since introducing Chevy Chase to venomous snakes seemed like it would be testing our luck a little bit too much. Luckily the Orinoco crocodile cage and the piranha tank were also well out of our reach.
Lunch was…you guessed it, more arepas at the Mansion de Arepas where the arepas come stuffed with whatever your heart desired served with fresh fruit juice. Then it was off to some meetings and then back to Caracas.
Day 9: Meetings, Teleferico, Gualipan, and Jeep to Macuto
Caracas was filled with lots of delicious food (including freshly made donuts on every corner and mango served with salt, vinager, and curry), extremely nice people, and lots and lots of traffic.
In the afternoon we took the teleferico (an elevated cable car) over a giant hill that separates Caracas from the coast. We then took a short jeep ride to Gualipan where we snacked on fruit served with cream and bollitos (kind of like a tamale) until another jeep came to drive us down to Macuto.
Macuto is the nearest nice town to the airport and lucky for us out hotel was located right next door to a delicious tasca. I know it sounds like we already had a lot to eat today but that was nothing compared to dinner: garlic bread, lobster bisque, prosciutto with cheese and olives, wine, and to top it off enough asopada de mariscos to feed at least a dozen people (though the menu said it served only two). In fact, it was so much asopada that Mike couldn’t finish it. So, we took it home. Yep, I carried it through customs in Venezuela, Colombia (where we had a seven hour layover), and Ecuador. Boy, was it tasty!
Day 10: To the Airport, Duty Free Extravaganza, Bogota Layover, Van to Sayausi
Our last day started almost as early as it could have with a wakeup call at 2:30am and a cab waiting for us at 3:00am.
Our flight left at 6:15am for Bogota and my dad’s flight left at 6:25am for the EEUU (although, not surprisingly, American Airlines was boarding passengers well before Avianca was). However, after all the money changing madness we still had Bolivars to spare and no where to change them….at a decent rate at least. So, we had a last minute shopping spree in the duty free store at the airport that opened up just in time. I am pleased to say that several pounds of Venezuelan chocolate and coffee were acquired as a result.
Then of course it was time to bid farewell to Aquaman. It was a wonderful trip, certainly unforgettable, and loads of fun! Thanks to Aquaman and the resulting National Lampoon’s Venezuelan Vacation!
The Yapa
Mike and I ended up with seven hours to kill in Bogota so instead of waiting in the airport we changed some Bolivar fuertes to Colombian pesos, got a cab to the center of town, and hit the streets and the market. We spent the morning walking around the Centro Historico, admiring balconies and doorways, picking up a few souvenirs in the nearby market, watching a military parade, and getting a great lunch to complement the other Colombian snacks we were enjoying. Not a bad little extra.
After lunch it was back to the airport for the return flight to Guayaquil and then a four hour van ride up and over the 14,000 foot continental divide to get us back to Sayausi. A vacation well spent!
Monday
5:46am
Cloudy, 60
For the last ten days we have had the pleasure of being in Venezuela with my dad. During this trip we explored the breathtaking islands of Los Roques National Park, the zoos and hot springs of Valencia, and the culinary delights of Caracas. We also discovered that my dad and Chevy Chase have much in common when it comes to planning and enjoying a vacation i.e. simple events always have the potential to become a comedy of errors.
Below is a brief itinerary (for those of you pressed for time) followed by a detailed account (for those who can spare an hour or so) of what we have dubbed National Lampoon’s Venezuelan Vacation.
Day 1: Arrive in Caracas and Flight to Los Roques
Day 2: Nordesky, Krasky, and Aquaman’s Debut
Day 3: Franciskys
Day 4: Boca de Medio, Madrizqui, Scuba, and some British Commentary
Day 5: Cayo de Agua, Biological Station, Espenky, Multi-purpose Tevas, and Bravo!
Day 6: Boca de Cote, Lobster Shack, Estrellas Marinas (Esparky), Pelona de Rabusky and Umbrella Trouble
Day 7: Cayo (Isla) Muerto and The Hitchhiker, to Valencia and Hot Springs
Day 8: Arepas, Zoo, Arepa Mansion, Meetings, and To Caracas
Day 9: Meetings, Teleferico, Gualipan, and Jeep to Macuto
Day 10: To the Airport, Duty Free Extravaganza, Bogota Layover, Van to Sayausi
Day 1: Arrive in Caracas and Flight to Los Roques
We arrived in Caracas just before 11:00am on Thursday morning. After going through customs and skipping baggage claim since we had none, we met my dad who had arrived about a half an hour earlier. It turns out he had spent a majority of this half hour trying to shake a black-market money changer who spoke broken English.
In Venezuelan currency there is what is called a parallel market. In 2008 the Bolivar Fuerte was introduced to replace the Bolivar and remove three zeroes from all currency and prices (for example a 1000 bolivar coin would now be 1 bolivar fuerte). The parallel market exists because there is a fixed official rate for the Bolivar Fuerte. The fixed rate which is 2.15 bolivar fuertes to the dollar is supposed to help with inflation. However, it also means that everything would be too expensive for people buy things. So, there is a parallel market (not legal but not really illegal in terms of enforcement) where you can get around 5 boliver fuertes to the dollar. This system, while making Venezuela a potentially very affordable place to visit, makes changing money a little bit more complicated and a little bit risky for tourists and Venezuelans alike.
So my dad, a rather obvious tourist which is associated with dollars or euros, was quite a target for the dozens of parallel or black market money changers who also serve as porters (why not earn a little extra money while carrying bags). Luckily, my dad wasn’t persuaded to change his money with these porters at the rate of 3.5 Bf to the dollar and so our first order of business upon our arrival (after many hugs and hellos) was to find Roquemar, a “tourism” storefront recommended to us by the owner of the hotel we would be staying at in Los Roques (we ended up changing our dollars at the rate of 4.7 Bf to the dollar).
After a rather bizarre, semi private money exchange we had our first taste of delicious Venezuelan food during lunch at the workers cafeteria in the basement of the airport (TGI Friday should be avoided in all countries) then headed over to the Auxiliar Airport to catch our flight to Los Roques.
I need to take a minute here and explain that is was virtually impossible to find a flight to Los Roques as there is no website you can go to and no number you can call to make a reservation (trust me, we tried). All flights to Los Roques, it seems to me, are booked through the posada where you are staying. So first you have to find and decide on a posada before you have any idea what the flight options are. Then, to make things a little more complicated, no one accepts credit cards. We were beyond fortunate that Ana, the Italian owner of Ranchito Power (the posada where we stayed) paid for our tickets in advance out of her own pocket. After paying for the tickets she forwarded us a copy of the electronic tickets that had been sent to her. We printed these out and crossed our fingers as we arrived at the Auxiliar Airport.
The Auxiliar Airport shares the same runway space as the international airport, it’s just located about a half a mile closer to the end of the runway and instead of normal sized planes there are tiny, tiny planes. Also unlike many international and domestic flights, if our plane was delayed past sunset the flight would have been cancelled as there are no runway lights in Los Roques and therefore no flights landing or taking off after dark.
Our plane was the aeronautical equivalent of Mike’s 87 Nissan. The “Sundance” as it was un-aptly named sat 15 and the pilots were in arm’s length of the first row and while there were seat belts the likelihood of the seats staying attached to the plane in any emergency situation were so low as to make the presence of seat belts negligible. The emergency life jackets however were easily accessible.
After a slight delay of almost an hour, the “Sundance” took off into the sunset with nary a shutter and the 35 minute flight saw only slight turbulence and a few unnerving dips. And, it seemed, that the landing was smooth and uneventful until a loud boom, followed by the smell of burning rubber, unusually abrupt braking, and the repeated “thwap, thawp, thwap” of rubber on asphalt filled the cabin that was now sloped down to the left.
So, we disembarked mid-runway while the crew unloaded the luggage and walked it over to the receiving “gate” i.e. the other side of the rope. It was sunset, and we left the “Sundance” at a slight tilt and with its busted tire behind us.
Chicho, one of the three employees of the posada we were staying at, met us at the other side of the rope with a “baggage cart” i.e. a handcart and escorted us down the sand street to Ranchito Power.
At Ranchito Power we were greeted by Ana, the posada owner, and shown to our room (one of five in the posada). After putting our bags in the room we went out in search of dinner. This it turns out would be harder than expected.
We first went to the string of restaurants on the beach only to discover that no one had any food. Yup, no food. Apparently, the supply boat didn’t come in.
Los Roques is an archipelago located 100 miles off the north coast of Venezuela. It is made up of over 200 small islands only 42 of which have names. Gran Roque, the only inhabited island in Los Roques National Park, has 1,500 fulltime residents, 60 posadas, 2 vehicles (one for garbage and the other a tractor), 1 school, and two sources of food: the ocean and the boat. So, you can imagine that getting food and other supplies for all the residents plus the 400 or so tourists on the island is slightly more difficult and more dependent upon outside sources than most other places.
After being turned down at every restaurant we could find along the beach we found our way to the plaza where there was a small restaurant serving hamburgers, pasta, and a few other dishes to desperate tourists with no other food options.
And so ended Day 1 of our Venezuelan vacation: tire blow out upon landing in Los Roques where there was “no food” because the boat hadn’t come in.
Left prop
Up, up, and away
Coral reef sighted
First sight of Gran Roque
Bumpy landing
Day 2: Nordesky, Krasky, and Aquaman’s Debut
First I should give a basic overview of what a typical day in Los Roques was like. They each followed the same basic pattern with the major differences being the islands visited during the day.
Breakfast was served at 8:00am in the small common area of Ranchito Power. Ana made the breakfast each day which included the Venezuelan staple of corn arepas plus pancakes, bread, several jams, fresh fruit juice, cookies, cereal, eggs, a fruit plate, and coffee (coffee in Venezuela was delicious, on every street corner there was someone with a thermos of steaming hot coffee and a stack of small plastic cups selling for 10 cents a piece).
After breakfast everyone gets changed and ready for the beach and puts in lunch orders (most of the islands have no services and so the posadas pack a cooler full of sodas, snacks, and in our case, delicious salads and pastas for lunch each day). At 9:30am every morning about a dozen small motor boats leave from the dock of Gran Roque carrying 4-10 tourists to one of the over 200 islands within the Los Roques archipelago. During the day we would normally visit 2 to 4 different beaches with the day ending back in Gran Roque around 5:00pm. Once back on Gran Roque you make a dinner reservation (the posadas need to know by 5:30pm how many dinners they need to make) and then dinner is served around 7:00pm. After dinner there would usually be some planning for the next day (more planning in our case as we were also juggling meeting times back in Caracas, calling different people, sending emails, etc..) and then off to bed where sleep came quickly until the rising sun peeked in through the window the next morning.
But it was our second day in Los Roques and our first day going to the beaches that we got our first glimpse of what we would later call “Aquaman.”
Planning our trip to Los Roques required a lot of time and email exchanges with various people on Gran Roque and we did a lot of internet searches on Los Roques and read the Lonely Planet (our guidebook on Venezuela) section of Los Roques a minimum of ten times. Below are a few snippets from said section:
1. “Gorgeous white-sand beaches, clear turquoise waters, amazing snorkeling and diving…”
2. “This idyllic collection of small coral islands harbors rich coral reefs comes virtually unspoiled.”
3. “…scorching sun and dazzlingly blue skies…”
4. “…250 unnamed islets, sandbars and cays scattered around a crystal-clear, glittering lagoon brimming with marine life.”
5. “…these attractions all await hedonistic sunseekers in the stunningly beautiful tropical archipelago known as Los Roques.”
So, with all this in mind, guess which phrase stuck out to my dad in terms of planning his beach attire which would be worn at all times in and out of the water?....”scorching sun”. Fearing any contact with the sun (reminder, he lives in Arizona) his “swimming suit” consisted of the following:
1. Wide brimmed hat pulled down and tied off under his chin
2. Extra dark and wide sunglasses
3. Long sleeved shirt buttoned up and tucked into and tied to his pants
4. Long pants tucked into his adventure socks
5. Socks with Tevas (or snorkel fins when appropriate)
Now picture everyone else in the boat: bikini clad, speedo sporting Italians, bikini clad, speedo sporting Venezuelans, and bikini clad, speedo sporting travelers from around the world. Granted Mike and I were somewhere in between Aquaman and the magazine models but we did draw the line at socks.
So dressed for a safari in the savannas of Africa we set out for our first day of beaches and snorkeling in the Caribbean.
We boarded the small motor boat on the shores of Gran Roque and set out for Nordesky amid a sea of aquamarine, crystalline waters and beneath of sky of pure blue: it was in all honesty beyond words.
Nordesky was our first snorkeling stop and our first time stepping foot into the warm, clear waters of Los Roques. We saw a dozen sea turtles, some coral heads, angel fish, and untold numbers of other sea creatures. Aquaman proved that socks and snorkeling are not completely incompatible but did not have as much luck with the wide brimmed hat which proved to be a significant visual impediment not to mention choking hazard (that did not stop him from wearing it though). After an hour or so of snorkeling in Nordesky we got back on the boat and headed off to Krasky where we would spend the rest of the day.
When we first pulled up to Krasky it was one of those rare moments where you really think you must be dreaming. It was gorgeous: an empty white sand beach, blue waters, and a warm breeze.
The captain’s helper set up our umbrellas and chairs then left saying they would be back at 4:30pm. Full disclosure: Aquaman originally described this idyllic set-up as being part of Dante’s inferno. Fortunately, he eventually became a convert and geared up for a second round of snorkeling before lunch.
Krasky is one of the few islands that has a restaurant so we ate fish that was caught that morning in the shade of the covered patio then set out for some afternoon snorkeling before some serious floating a.k.a. lounging. Then at 4:30pm our boat reappeared, we packed up, and were magically whisked back to Gran Roque where we heard the supply boat had finally arrived and so made reservations at Bora la Mar, a restaurant right on the beach where we would end up eating most of our dinners.
Dinners on Los Roques always included fresh fish and some delicious side dish prepared by the posada owner. Marta, the owner of Bora la Mar, is from Spain but has lived on Gran Roque for 16 years. Apparently, she was the ninth posada to open on the island and as a result has one of the best locations, which is why we ended up eating there so often.
Tired and sunburnt I slept like a gran roque that night. Mike tired but not so sun burnt also slept well, though relatively cramped as he didn’t fit on the bed, and Aquaman pale as the day he was made slept soundly having outwitted the sun with his amazing Aquaman powers.
Day 3: Franciskys
Early the next morning Mike and I walked up to the lighthouse to take in our surroundings on what was one of the highest points on Gran Roque while Aquaman slept on out of reach of the sun’s first rays.
Breakfast was served at eight and by nine thirty we were back on the boat headed to Franciskys, one of the closest islands to Gran Roque with some of the best snorkeling in Los Roques. The open water was a little rough that day so all of the boats were staying close to the main island, but luckily Franciskys has a protected harbor with a fantastic reef inside of it. Ideal snorkeling for a windy day.
With umbrellas and chairs set up we set off for some more snorkeling. Full disclosure: Mike and I were both wearing pants this day after getting the backs of our legs relatively scorched from all of the snorkeling the day before. Aquaman was of course fully clad in his superhuman attire.
The rest of the day went as follows: snorkel, lunch, float, snorkel, float, float. Vacation’s tough but somebody has to do it.
Day 4: Boca de Medio, Madrizqui, Scuba, and some British Commentary
Our fourth day started with a hike up to the lighthouse on Gran Roque. From the lighthouse we could see several of the islands we had gone to already and a few that we would go to in the following days.
After breakfast Aquaman and I walked Mike down to the dock where his scuba-diving boat was waiting. Mike started fiddling with the gear immediately as the Colombian dive master double checked Mike’s scuba knowledge. Apparently, passing the scuba knowledge test Mike and a honeymooning couple from Switzerland set out for a day of scuba-ing i.e. two, hour long dives in what was later described as “absolutely amazing” diving conditions.
Aquaman and I set out for a slightly less adventurous adventure with an older English couple that happened to be the only two other people on the boat with us that day. Our day trip included four stops: Estrellas marinas, boca del medio, snorkel time, and finally Madrizqui. We didn’t bring the camera with us because of an earlier sand scare but you can by this time imagine the blue water and white sand without visual assistance.
The snorkeling on this trip was slightly different than our previous snorkeling engagements as we jumped off the boat into open water as opposed to arriving at a beach and snorkeling from there. While the getting off the boat posed no significant problems for myself nor Aquaman (thank you gravity) getting back on the boat was a slightly different story (thanks to gravity).
I had the advantage of being relatively slight and therefore was pulled back on board by the English man and the captain’s helper. My dad however was left to his own devices and was further hindered by a lot of drag from his superhero outfit. To his credit he was back onboard relatively quickly at which point the English woman commented, “what you lacked in elegance you made up for in efficiency.” At this point I assume you can also imagine what Aquaman’s embarkation looked like without visual assistance, although video footage would have been quite comical.
We met Mike (who was sleeping in the hammock when we arrived back in Gran Roque) exchanged stories (Mikes included a fifteen minute dance with a gang of social squid) and headed off for dinner and mojitos. Again, vacation is really tough.
Bocce in the street
Day 5: Cayo de Agua, Biological Station, Espenky, Multi-purpose Tevas, and Bravo!
Back together again we headed off for another full day of snorkeling and general Caribbean enjoyment, this time under the tutelage of Friedman, a Jamaican-Polish resident of Los Roques.
First stop Cayo de Agua, a gorgeous string of white sand connected by a sand spit to another gorgeous string of white sand. We started off with another new type of snorkeling: the drift snorkel. A drift snorkel means, in this case, you walk up the beach past some mangroves to an entry point. Then you let the current take you back to your umbrella and chairs while admiring the beautiful coral reef beneath you, all without the need to kick even a little. Unfortunately, we were advised of the drift nature of the snorkel a little late in the walk and so Mike and I left a few things in the trail that we would come back for after the snorkel. My dad realized even later the nature of the snorkel and so ended up at the entry point with his Tevas.
Never fear for Aquaman has an aquatic solution for everything. And so that is how my dad became the first person ever to snorkel with socks on under the fins, long pants, a long sleeved shirt tied to the pants and buttoned up to the neck, a wide brimmed hat with chin string, goggles, a snorkel, and Tevas attached to his hands as paddles. Needless to say Friedman decided not to take us snorkeling near the sharks on the other side of the island as had been earlier planned; apparently the sight of Aquaman strikes fear (or perhaps signals easy prey) to sharks.
Next stop: Biological Station! At the Biological Station we got to see dozens of sea turtles that are being raised for later release into the wild. Since only 1 in a 1000 sea turtles makes it to adulthood and humans think turtle eggs are aphrodisiacs, sea turtles are in a tight spot. So, this station gathers up baby sea turtles, cares for them for a year, and then releases them back into the wild hopefully with a higher chance of survival. We tried to buy a shirt for Mike while we were there but Mike is still quite tall for Venezuela and so we left with nothing but our memories and some fresh coconut to remind us of the sea turtles of Los Roques.
Our last stop for the day was Espenky where Aquaman and Mike set off for another snorkel while I floated happily in the oh-so-warm waters of the Caribe.
I would like to say that nothing else noteworthy happened that day and that your last image for our fifth day would be that of me dozing in the gentle waves of the sea. However, Aquaman had one last surprise in store for us…and everyone else on the boat…and for that matter everyone back on the dock at Gran Roque as well.
The boat ride from Espenky back to Gran Roque probably took about 20 minutes. Mike and I were seated on one side of the boat toward the back and several bikini clad, speedo sporting Italian tourists further up the boat was my dad.
About ten minutes into the ride my dad stood up and did what can best be described as a little dance: several quick steps in place. He then sat down without looking back at any of the other passengers. Everyone on the boat, including Mike and myself, was a little confused but not too surprised by Aquaman’s display due to his recent history of erratic and unpredictable behaviors. Five minutes later he gets up again and does the same thing. Again, no real surprise coming from Aquaman but still a little perplexing.
Then it seems that all would end well. The dock was in view, the boat had slowed down and in less than a minute we would be safely docked back on Gran Roque. Little did we know Aquaman had a gran finale in store.
About twenty feet from the dock, with the boat still motoring at a decent velocity, my dad stood up, stepped onto the ledge of the boat, and launched himself into the blue waters of the Caribbean.
This did in fact surprise everyone on the boat…for about two full seconds (Friedman almost successfully caught him mid leap). Then, the entire boat (mostly Italian) broke into simultaneous applause and shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!”
When we reached the dock the comments ranged from “Tu suegro esta loco” (Your father-in-law is crazy) from the Venezuelan tour organizer to “Your father is fantastic” in English from the Chilean biking model.
I wish I could share with you the visual of my dad jumping overboard that I will have imprinted in my brain forever as well as the tears of laughter that didn’t stop for a good fifteen minutes but alas the camera was stowed safely away and so your imagination will have to suffice to piece together Aquaman’s grand disembarkation. We did however manage to capture a few shots of him swimming back to shore afterwards.
Any guesses to the motives behind Aquaman’s jump? Perhaps he wanted to live carelessly? Perhaps he saw a sunken treasure? Maybe, he just wanted to know what it felt like to jump off a moving vehicle with a crowd of onlookers? Or, maybe it was just nature calling a little too strongly at the most convenient moment that would present itself within very narrow time restrictions.
So, that was how day five ended: my dad jumping overboard. Well, at least I wasn’t in middle school otherwise the trauma inflicted from such a public display of bizarre dad behavior would have been incurable.
Stay seated
Gotta go...but the boat´s still moving too fast
Day 6: Boca de Cote, Lobster Shack, Estrellas Marinas (Esparky), Pelona de Rabusky and Umbrella Trouble
Our sixth day in paradise took us on our biggest snorkel adventure. We set out for Boca de Cote, an area where Los Roques opens up into the sea. This was both a drift snorkel and an open water snorkel. For over an hour we floated along with the current above a virtual garden of coral and aquarium of sea life that started at about 5 feet below the surface and then quickly dropped down into the deep, deep blue.
After boarding the boat (this time slightly more gracefully than the last time) we made a stop at the Lobster Shack. The Lobster Shack is barely a building, constructed in the middle of the water (shallow though it may be) where six months out of the year fishermen live and fish. What do they fish you ask, well lobster of course! However, the lobster season doesn’t begin until mid-November so we just got to hang around and take a dip in the surrounding waters.
The third stop of the day was Esparky where thousands of giant starfish hang out in the shallows. The captain’s helper found a live conch and then made it into a snack for everyone floating around i.e. us. For the seafood to be any fresher you would literally have to eat it underwater as we were up to our shoulders in the water where the conch was caught, killed, prepared, and served. Yummy!
Our last stop brought us to Pelona de Rabusky the smallest island we had yet to step foot on. The island had been recommended to us as great snorkeling spot because the it is actually surrounded by a continuous coral ring, and as it turns out was also inhabited by a group of flamencos. Due to its tiny size (your driveway is probably bigger than this island) the three of us circumnavigated the Pelona de Rabusky almost without incident.
This time however it was Mike not Aquaman who was the perpetrator. Mike, being the ever inquisitive individual that he is, noticed a small pile of cartilaginous skeletons about ten feet down resting next to a bed of coral. And Mike, being the apt swimmer and diver that he is, decided to dive down and get a closer look. Upon arrival at the pile of carcasses, I mean cartilaginous skeletons; Mike thought to himself, “Hmmm, I wonder what did this?” He then turned his gaze away from the coral and out to the deep blue sea trying to imagine what carnivorous beast, I mean predator, could have done this. It was at that moment when he turned his head full of inquisitive thoughts that he saw a giant baracuda grinning directly at him while he was holding the remains of its former meals!
Mike of course ditched the carcasses and began to swim away only to see that the baracuda was chasing him! Luckily Mike was close to shallow water and the baracuda wasn’t actually interested in attacking, I mean persuing, Mike as he was only defending his territory. Note for the non-snorkeler/diver: Baracudas are big and have an ominous dentition to put it lightly. They usually linger near divers and are known to startle, but not to pursue. I guess this time was an exception.
Needless to say we didn’t snorkel any more that day.
However, back on shore Aquaman was up to his own mischief. Having arrived back at the beach before Mike and I, he noticed that the sun had shifted and decided to shift the umbrella accordingly without taking into consideration the prevailing wind. After considerable fidgeting with the umbrella the top half snapped off. Under normal circumstances not a big deal. However, we have to remember that on a National Lampoon Venezuelan Vacation with Aquaman, circumstances are never normal. On this particular day there was quite a bit of wind and so the umbrella went flying off at considerable speed stopping only after crashing into the bikini clad, speedo sporting couple that was set up twenty yards from us. Luckily, no harm was done and the speedo sporting Brazilian kindly returned the stray umbrella to Aquaman.
The boat ride home saw no men, or Aquamen overboard, and we ended the day at Bora la Mar with another mojito, plenty of good cheer, and swordfish that was caught that morning.
Off to snorkel
Don´t look back
Flamencos
Day 7: Cayo (Isla) Muerto and The Hitchhiker, to Valencia and Hot Springs
Our last day in Los Roques we went to Cayo Muerto, a little sand bar surrounded by crystalline waters in what was really an idyllic setting.
Though I haven’t yet mentioned it, another comment in the Los Roques section of the Lonely Planet guidebook mentions the presence of sand flies on the islands. My dad had been taking special care to avoid being victim to these menacing foes, and to his credit left Los Roques without one sand fly bite. Whether that was due to over-use of Deet, or a diminished and/or less active sand fly population is still up for debate. However, on our last day walking to the boat that would take us to Cayo Muerto, our last island, Aquaman starting complaining about a light stinging sensation on his leg. He didn’t seem particularly alarmed and not in that much discomfort so we continued to the dock.
We arrived on Cayo Muerto about ten minutes later, had or umbrellas and chairs set up, took lots of pictures, admired the waves breaking out on the distant reef, and were settling in for some big time floating when my dad complained again of stinging on his leg. At this point he un-tucked his pants from his socks (yes, the outfit was virtually impenetrable by bugs and sun alike), gave his leg a little shake, and out fell a scorpion! A scorpion had been in his pant leg for just over an hour at this point biting and stinging my dad’s leg. Fortunately, it was a large scorpion (less venomous and less prone to sting) and Aquaman was fine, if not a little stung up…but hey, at least it wasn’t those pesky sand flies
Several hours of snorkeling and floating later our boat came to pick us up and take us back to Gran Roque for the last time.
Our flight left at 5:00pm (the Sundance was back in commission by that time) so we spent the last few hours in a frenzy trying to get more money on a tiny island in the middle of the Caribbean. Luckily, we were not the first to run into this predicament and a nice lady showed up with a credit card swiping machine and a boxful of cash to help us out. Her name was Carolina, but we like to think of her as a walking ATM.
Our flight was late in arriving, and we were rushed onto the plane by 5:30 (lucky thing because had the flight been delayed more it would have been cancelled as, mentioned earlier, there are no lights on the runway and so no flights arrive or depart after sunset).
In Caracas we were met by our driver who whisked us off to Valencia where upon arrival we went straight to the thermal pools outside our hotel room door to de-stress after six days of relaxation. The theme of National Lampoons Venezuelan Vacation continued even on the mainland as instead of going into the geothermal hot springs we instead immersed ourselves in a pool that was undergoing a chemical maintenance causing the night staff to come out and help protect us from ourselves by ushering us out of the chlorine dip and into the hot springs. WalleyWorld here we come!
Yin and yang
Into the deep
Grace and Elegance
Day 8: Arepas, Zoo, Arepa Mansion, Meetings, and To Caracas
Breakfast in Valencia was perhaps the most delicious breakfast we had on our trip (see pictures) partly because it was authentic Venezuelan fare rather than a delicious breakfast that we would be likely to serve ourselves at home. Arepas, corn flour patties, are served at almost every meal and are absolutely tasty. Breakfast consisted of two arepas, scrambled eggs, spicy shredded beef, black beans, cheese, fresh fruit juice, and good coffee. Yum and yum!
That morning we went to the zoo where we were given a personal tour of all sorts of neat Venezuelan critters, all of whom had been rescued and as such could not return to the wild. The river dolphin show however was closed since one of the stars had just recently given birth. Also the snake exhibit was closed because you have to pass the dolphins to reach the serpents. That was all fine with us though since introducing Chevy Chase to venomous snakes seemed like it would be testing our luck a little bit too much. Luckily the Orinoco crocodile cage and the piranha tank were also well out of our reach.
Lunch was…you guessed it, more arepas at the Mansion de Arepas where the arepas come stuffed with whatever your heart desired served with fresh fruit juice. Then it was off to some meetings and then back to Caracas.
Day 9: Meetings, Teleferico, Gualipan, and Jeep to Macuto
Caracas was filled with lots of delicious food (including freshly made donuts on every corner and mango served with salt, vinager, and curry), extremely nice people, and lots and lots of traffic.
In the afternoon we took the teleferico (an elevated cable car) over a giant hill that separates Caracas from the coast. We then took a short jeep ride to Gualipan where we snacked on fruit served with cream and bollitos (kind of like a tamale) until another jeep came to drive us down to Macuto.
Macuto is the nearest nice town to the airport and lucky for us out hotel was located right next door to a delicious tasca. I know it sounds like we already had a lot to eat today but that was nothing compared to dinner: garlic bread, lobster bisque, prosciutto with cheese and olives, wine, and to top it off enough asopada de mariscos to feed at least a dozen people (though the menu said it served only two). In fact, it was so much asopada that Mike couldn’t finish it. So, we took it home. Yep, I carried it through customs in Venezuela, Colombia (where we had a seven hour layover), and Ecuador. Boy, was it tasty!
Day 10: To the Airport, Duty Free Extravaganza, Bogota Layover, Van to Sayausi
Our last day started almost as early as it could have with a wakeup call at 2:30am and a cab waiting for us at 3:00am.
Our flight left at 6:15am for Bogota and my dad’s flight left at 6:25am for the EEUU (although, not surprisingly, American Airlines was boarding passengers well before Avianca was). However, after all the money changing madness we still had Bolivars to spare and no where to change them….at a decent rate at least. So, we had a last minute shopping spree in the duty free store at the airport that opened up just in time. I am pleased to say that several pounds of Venezuelan chocolate and coffee were acquired as a result.
Then of course it was time to bid farewell to Aquaman. It was a wonderful trip, certainly unforgettable, and loads of fun! Thanks to Aquaman and the resulting National Lampoon’s Venezuelan Vacation!
The Yapa
Mike and I ended up with seven hours to kill in Bogota so instead of waiting in the airport we changed some Bolivar fuertes to Colombian pesos, got a cab to the center of town, and hit the streets and the market. We spent the morning walking around the Centro Historico, admiring balconies and doorways, picking up a few souvenirs in the nearby market, watching a military parade, and getting a great lunch to complement the other Colombian snacks we were enjoying. Not a bad little extra.
After lunch it was back to the airport for the return flight to Guayaquil and then a four hour van ride up and over the 14,000 foot continental divide to get us back to Sayausi. A vacation well spent!
Monday, October 19, 2009
“El Deporte es para Unir”
October 18, 2009
Sunday, 8:00am
Mostly cloudy, 62
Campeones y Campeonas
The past month has been one filled with sports-reel worthy highlights starring, of course, me, Mike, and I guess our teammates. Below is a play-by-play of how Mike got a giant trophy and how I got a second, though slightly smaller, trophy as well. Not that trophies matter because as Doña Delia (captain of my indor team) said during the trophy presentation "el deporte es para unir".
Basket
As you already know Mike has been playing in the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi basketball league with Darwin (the husband of Maira my futbol captain), David (the owner of the local asador where we buy delicious roasted chicken and Mike gets lunch with his coworkers), and Enrique (David’s cousin), Juan Pablo and Miguel (Enrique’s brothers and therefore also David’s cousins), Lucho (who used to be a ref in Sayausi), and Dani (their tall friend who has a three old son named Koby…yes, he is named after Koby Bryant).
This dynamic octet make up the Sayausi Huracanes; almost undefeated in league play except for two losses for just not showing up and a third against their nemesis (ok, they’re not really a nemesis but another really good team in the league…but it’s so much more dramatic if they are referred to as “nemesis”) where they had to play a man short for half the game. The second time the Huracanes faced off against their age-old nemesis Ciudadela Alvarez the Huracanes one by two points made by none other than the one, the only, Miguelito Carbone. Yes, it was quite the showing: fouled in the last second on a lay-up in a tied the game, sent to the foul line Miguelito sank both shots to win the game!
So, the Huracanes were off to the semifinals where they would face off against Anthrax. Anthrax had invited Mike to play with them before the season started (they are all from the family we spent Carnaval with and the same family of Gladys whose wedding we went to where her sixty-plus father Don Manuel dragged me out of the bathroom line to dance to “Moscow” a fifteen minute dance mix that is what you think Russian Disco music would sound like…yes, there was lots of kicking legs and crossed arms). The only member of Team Anthrax that is not related to Don Manuel and company is a man referred to as Rambo. Rambo is 5 foot 3 inches tall with giant muscled arms and legs (yes, he looks like a mini-Rambo) and is rumored to have killed a man in Brazil using a headlock. Whether or not there is any truth to this or not, he definitely has anger management issues.
However, not even Rambo could stop the Huracanes. The defeat of Anthrax was absolute with a point differential higher than their total score. And so it was that the Huracanes made it to the finals where they would tip-off against none other than their age old rival, their arch-nemesis Ciudadela Alavarez!
The Huracanes took an early lead in the first quarter only to give it away completely in the second. In the third quarter the Huracanes made a slow recovery that left them within several points of Alvarez going into the fourth and final quarter. In the fourth the score vacillated between tied and one team or the other with a one point advantage. Then, it was as if father time had turned back the date to the Huracanes previous meeting with Alvarez. Time was out, the score was tied, Miguelito went for a lay-up, was fouled, and sent to the line. At this point, however, I think father time lost interest. There he was at the line the game in his hands; all he had to do was make one of the two foul shots. Bounce, bounce, shot…brick!! The crowd groans. Bounce, bounce, shot…nothing but rim!! The ref blows the whistle and regular time is out. The score is tied and overtime looms.
I don’t remember all of the details of overtime (I was rather worked up and closed my eyes for a large portion of it). However, I do remember that Miguelito partially redeemed himself with two blocked shots and seven points. And when the five minutes were over the Huracanes were the champions of Sayausi! And truth be told, Miguelito may have more than partially redeemed himself as he was given the team trophy at the prize ceremony and encouraged to take it back to the US with us when we leave.
So, all ended well in Sayausi for the Huracanes and they spent the night toasting their victory and eating tasty roasted chicken at (where else?) David’s Restaurant where Miguelito insisted the trophy stay so that all could bask in its plastic-gold light.
Nice Rebound, Migi
Nice Layup, Migi
El Himno Nacional
And the trophy goes to...
Indor
The campeonato in Ingapirca, a tiny barrio about 30 minutes up the hill from our apartment, came to an end this past weekend. What started in April, had a two month break in July and August due to fallen trees on the field, concluded with the finals this Saturday. And who you may ask won? Well, Buenos Aires Jr. of course in a stunning 2-1 victory against Galaxia during which I scored no goals but did get a yellow card and then less than a minute later an awesome strawberry on my belly…the result of a foul against me that resulted in a yellow card for the other team (though it should have been a red as I was tripped from behind on a breakaway).
And what may you ask, are the prizes given to the champions of such a prestigious tournament: a trophy, medals, and $300 in cash! And what does a team do with that much cash….buy new uniforms and pay the registration fees for the next tournament! In fact, today (the day after winning) I am marching in the inauguration for the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi wearing the new uniforms for the next tournament which is the same tournament that we came in first two years ago and third last year. The trophy (my second in as many years), which I was given for acompanando the team, is not as big as Mike’s but it does have lots of ribbons.
The Finals
Ra, Ra, Ra, Buenos Aires!
El Deporte es para unir
Show me the money
Goodnight, Chickens
The Trophy Shelf
The Inaugauracion
Procession not related to the Inaugauracion
Judging the Madrinas
La Seleccion
The World Cup qualifiers have come to end and so has Ecuador’s chance to participate in it. Ecuador qualified for the last two World Cups but these were also then only times they had ever qualified for it.
For the last few months they have been in a tight race to finish fourth or fifth in South America and for each game they played in pursuit of a spot in the 2010 World Cup everyone (and many pets) in Ecuador donned yellow jerseys and hung flags from their windows in support of their team.
Dressed to Impress...
However, their journey to South Africa was significantly hindered when they lost to Uruguay last Saturday in Quito. When they then lost in Chile on Wednesday their chance officially ended.
Maybe next time
On a related note, Miguelito is pretty excited about Honduras qualifying for the second time ever in their history! (although he can’t find a Honduras jersey anywhere in Cuenca)
Entrenando
A few months ago I was invited to join a soccer team that would practice, something unheard of in women’s soccer in Sayausi. So, we have been practicing Saturday mornings on a small, mostly grass field down by the river for a tournament that starts in November. The team is made up of girls from Sayausi, most of who are from the team that beat us in the semifinals this past year…go figure.
Mudville
I also had two games this weekend on what was the first official day of the rainy season. All things considered I got off easy...
Flowers
The hydrangeas in our window boxes are starting to bloom. They all but died when we went to Peru for 10 days back in July and so it is quite exciting to have them doing well, so well in fact that they are flowering!
Don Jimmy
My dad is coming to visit! For a sneak preview of where we will be heading try doing a Google Image search for “Los Roques, Venezuela”
Sunday, 8:00am
Mostly cloudy, 62
Campeones y Campeonas
The past month has been one filled with sports-reel worthy highlights starring, of course, me, Mike, and I guess our teammates. Below is a play-by-play of how Mike got a giant trophy and how I got a second, though slightly smaller, trophy as well. Not that trophies matter because as Doña Delia (captain of my indor team) said during the trophy presentation "el deporte es para unir".
Basket
As you already know Mike has been playing in the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi basketball league with Darwin (the husband of Maira my futbol captain), David (the owner of the local asador where we buy delicious roasted chicken and Mike gets lunch with his coworkers), and Enrique (David’s cousin), Juan Pablo and Miguel (Enrique’s brothers and therefore also David’s cousins), Lucho (who used to be a ref in Sayausi), and Dani (their tall friend who has a three old son named Koby…yes, he is named after Koby Bryant).
This dynamic octet make up the Sayausi Huracanes; almost undefeated in league play except for two losses for just not showing up and a third against their nemesis (ok, they’re not really a nemesis but another really good team in the league…but it’s so much more dramatic if they are referred to as “nemesis”) where they had to play a man short for half the game. The second time the Huracanes faced off against their age-old nemesis Ciudadela Alvarez the Huracanes one by two points made by none other than the one, the only, Miguelito Carbone. Yes, it was quite the showing: fouled in the last second on a lay-up in a tied the game, sent to the foul line Miguelito sank both shots to win the game!
So, the Huracanes were off to the semifinals where they would face off against Anthrax. Anthrax had invited Mike to play with them before the season started (they are all from the family we spent Carnaval with and the same family of Gladys whose wedding we went to where her sixty-plus father Don Manuel dragged me out of the bathroom line to dance to “Moscow” a fifteen minute dance mix that is what you think Russian Disco music would sound like…yes, there was lots of kicking legs and crossed arms). The only member of Team Anthrax that is not related to Don Manuel and company is a man referred to as Rambo. Rambo is 5 foot 3 inches tall with giant muscled arms and legs (yes, he looks like a mini-Rambo) and is rumored to have killed a man in Brazil using a headlock. Whether or not there is any truth to this or not, he definitely has anger management issues.
However, not even Rambo could stop the Huracanes. The defeat of Anthrax was absolute with a point differential higher than their total score. And so it was that the Huracanes made it to the finals where they would tip-off against none other than their age old rival, their arch-nemesis Ciudadela Alavarez!
The Huracanes took an early lead in the first quarter only to give it away completely in the second. In the third quarter the Huracanes made a slow recovery that left them within several points of Alvarez going into the fourth and final quarter. In the fourth the score vacillated between tied and one team or the other with a one point advantage. Then, it was as if father time had turned back the date to the Huracanes previous meeting with Alvarez. Time was out, the score was tied, Miguelito went for a lay-up, was fouled, and sent to the line. At this point, however, I think father time lost interest. There he was at the line the game in his hands; all he had to do was make one of the two foul shots. Bounce, bounce, shot…brick!! The crowd groans. Bounce, bounce, shot…nothing but rim!! The ref blows the whistle and regular time is out. The score is tied and overtime looms.
I don’t remember all of the details of overtime (I was rather worked up and closed my eyes for a large portion of it). However, I do remember that Miguelito partially redeemed himself with two blocked shots and seven points. And when the five minutes were over the Huracanes were the champions of Sayausi! And truth be told, Miguelito may have more than partially redeemed himself as he was given the team trophy at the prize ceremony and encouraged to take it back to the US with us when we leave.
So, all ended well in Sayausi for the Huracanes and they spent the night toasting their victory and eating tasty roasted chicken at (where else?) David’s Restaurant where Miguelito insisted the trophy stay so that all could bask in its plastic-gold light.
Nice Rebound, Migi
Nice Layup, Migi
El Himno Nacional
And the trophy goes to...
Indor
The campeonato in Ingapirca, a tiny barrio about 30 minutes up the hill from our apartment, came to an end this past weekend. What started in April, had a two month break in July and August due to fallen trees on the field, concluded with the finals this Saturday. And who you may ask won? Well, Buenos Aires Jr. of course in a stunning 2-1 victory against Galaxia during which I scored no goals but did get a yellow card and then less than a minute later an awesome strawberry on my belly…the result of a foul against me that resulted in a yellow card for the other team (though it should have been a red as I was tripped from behind on a breakaway).
And what may you ask, are the prizes given to the champions of such a prestigious tournament: a trophy, medals, and $300 in cash! And what does a team do with that much cash….buy new uniforms and pay the registration fees for the next tournament! In fact, today (the day after winning) I am marching in the inauguration for the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi wearing the new uniforms for the next tournament which is the same tournament that we came in first two years ago and third last year. The trophy (my second in as many years), which I was given for acompanando the team, is not as big as Mike’s but it does have lots of ribbons.
The Finals
Ra, Ra, Ra, Buenos Aires!
El Deporte es para unir
Show me the money
Goodnight, Chickens
The Trophy Shelf
The Inaugauracion
Procession not related to the Inaugauracion
Judging the Madrinas
La Seleccion
The World Cup qualifiers have come to end and so has Ecuador’s chance to participate in it. Ecuador qualified for the last two World Cups but these were also then only times they had ever qualified for it.
For the last few months they have been in a tight race to finish fourth or fifth in South America and for each game they played in pursuit of a spot in the 2010 World Cup everyone (and many pets) in Ecuador donned yellow jerseys and hung flags from their windows in support of their team.
Dressed to Impress...
However, their journey to South Africa was significantly hindered when they lost to Uruguay last Saturday in Quito. When they then lost in Chile on Wednesday their chance officially ended.
Maybe next time
On a related note, Miguelito is pretty excited about Honduras qualifying for the second time ever in their history! (although he can’t find a Honduras jersey anywhere in Cuenca)
Entrenando
A few months ago I was invited to join a soccer team that would practice, something unheard of in women’s soccer in Sayausi. So, we have been practicing Saturday mornings on a small, mostly grass field down by the river for a tournament that starts in November. The team is made up of girls from Sayausi, most of who are from the team that beat us in the semifinals this past year…go figure.
Mudville
I also had two games this weekend on what was the first official day of the rainy season. All things considered I got off easy...
Flowers
The hydrangeas in our window boxes are starting to bloom. They all but died when we went to Peru for 10 days back in July and so it is quite exciting to have them doing well, so well in fact that they are flowering!
Don Jimmy
My dad is coming to visit! For a sneak preview of where we will be heading try doing a Google Image search for “Los Roques, Venezuela”
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Zamora, Yungpamba, y Trabajo
September 21, 2009
Monday
8:41am, Cloudy 60
Sayausi
Project Update
Our last two posts have focused on travel (Peru and Conejo), but believe it or not sometimes we actually get some work done as well. Here is a little taste of some of the projects (at least the ones with pictures) we’ve been working on for the last few months:
Me
World Map
Over summer vacation I led a group of six or so students (age 5-12) in a World Map Project. Making a World Map is a sort of rite of passage in Peace Corps as many volunteers end up making one at some point in their service. They are usually made on giant surfaces and show all of the countries in the world. However, due to limited wall space (we were given the area above the bathroom sinks to work with) at the school, the world map we ended up making was a slightly modified version. Below is a brief overview of the three week endeavor that was the World Map of Bella Vista de Sayausi.
1.) Attempt to make a square (our first square turned out to be not quite a square).
2.) Paint the entire surface blue (thereby covering up the not-so-square square).
3.) Make another square that was actually square (a level turned out to be key).
4.) Make a grid (56 little squares by 24 little squares, it was nice to just be supervising for all of this).
5.) Number squares and divide big grid into 18 smaller grids.
6.) Practice drawing by grid with several worksheets (to figure out who could draw by grid and who would have more of an assisting role).
7.) Start drawing the continents on the grid (we ended up doing continents plus Ecuador instead of all the countries as our space was limited).
8.) Keep drawing the continents on the grid.
9.) Finish drawing continents on the grid.
10.) Mix paint for each of the continents.
11.) Paint the continents.
12.) Let paint dry.
13.) Touch up paint and let dry again.
14.) Outline continents with permanent marker.
15.) Touch up paint on continents, again.
16.) Decide what to do with the area surrounding the map.
17.) Divide area surrounding the map into seven sections and paint each section according to the color of each of the seven continents.
18.) Draw endangered animals from each continent in the color coded sections surrounding the map.
19.) Mix the paint for the 20+ animals.
20.) Paint the 20+ animals.
21.) Outline the 20+ animals with permanent marker.
22.) Touch up paint for the 20+ animals.
23.) Put labels on continents and animals.
24.) Re-paint the oceans on the map.
25.) Take lots of pictures of the finished product.
So, that was basically what happened in the course of the three weeks of the World Map. During this time there were countless cookie breaks and singing of Michael Jackson songs. Oh, I also left out that before any of this happened, Jairo (a seven year old who was an eager participant every single day of the project) offered to clean out the sink so that the kids could stand in it to reach the wall that we would be working on. There must have been some sort of pampamesa party a couple of weeks beforehand as there was all sorts of soggy, rotting food in the sink. I would also like to point out that Jairo volunteered to help and not once made any complaint about the smell (which was bad) or the texture (which was gross, as you can imagine). So with two tops from cut up coke bottles we scooped up all the filth; me holding my breath and Jairo attempting to sing “Beat It.” Throughout the making of the World Map Jairo liked to mention just how dirty the sink was before we started and what a good job we did cleaning it up.
Lastly, I would love to take credit for how great the map looks, but I was merely the supervisor and my tangible contributions to the map only included a second coat of paint on Antarctica and a second coat of paint on the orange section surrounding the map. Lady, Bryan, Marcelo, Justin, Jairo, and Anita did the grand majority of the work with help from half a dozen other students who showed up for a couple of days during the project. I barely touched it!
The Director of the school has asked me and my crew to do another mural once the school year starts (this one of Ecuador and its provinces) and CEDI (the preschool nearby) also asked if we could do a mural for them sometime this year. Who knew murals would be such a hit?
The Making of a Mapa Mundial
PL-480
Another rite of passage for the Peace Corps Volunteers seems to be the writing of a PL-480 grant. I have started working with a group in Bellavista de Sayausi called the Sistema de Riego de Minas, a group that is trying to encourage people with livestock in the nearby watershed to adopt other forms of agriculturally related income thereby protecting the town’s water source and providing a more sustainable source of income. In June we started working on a PL-480 grant to solicit funding to build a community greenhouse that would serve as a working model for the residents of Bellavista, provide additional fruits and vegetables to the local school for the kiddies lunches, and a small income to the Padres de Familia that would maintain the greenhouse in collaboration with the Sistema de Riego. Needless to say the process is long and trying to schedule meetings with members of the Sistema de Riego is more challenging than you might think. However, we are almost done with the first draft and hopefully in the next week or so we will be able to submit the proposal for initial review.
Garden
I have also started a garden at our neighbors house (apartment living has its drawbacks) and have successfully grown turnip greens, romaine lettuce, and arugula. Our neighbors were of course very interested in these strange looking vegetables as the turnip greens didn’t look like the turnip greens that they grow (and so they called it nabo extranno i.e. foreign or strange turnip greens), the lettuce they decided was the fifth type of lettuce (apparently there are six though there used to be only two), and the arugula was likened to spinach just much more bitter and therefore deemed to be good for the liver. While this garden has some selfish motives behind it (Mike and I love fresh greens), our neighbors have taken interest in what we are up to, they are trying new vegetables, and they even took some of the harvest to the market to sell!
I just cleaned out the remains of the first cosecha (harvest) and replanted with more arugula (yum!), more strange lettuce (a mesculin mix), sugar snap peas, greens beans, squash, chives, and kohlrabi. We’ll see how the neighbors react to those (assuming they grow)!
The Fruits(or Veggies) of My Labor
Mike
Busy as always at Parque Nacional Cajas, these past few months have been more critter filled than previous ones.
Baby Deer
A month or so ago a dead baby deer was found in a well. Recently dead, dead by drowning, and preserved in the icy waters of Cajas, Mike and the other Biologist Pancho decided to try out their taxidermy and butchering skills (Mike observed how to stuff a fox at the local university a few months ago).
Mike and Pancho skinned, cleaned, and upon Mike’s suggestion grilled a baby deer (Mike also brought home two bags of baby deer meat and has since made venison stew, roasted ribs, and has plans to roast the baby deer leg that is still in our freezer). An amusing side note: the park staff reacted to eating deer the same way most gringos react to eating cuy for the first time, “Gross! I can’t believe people actually eat this. I really can’t believe that I’m eating this.”
The stuffed deer will eventually be displayed in the museo that Mike and Pancho are working on.
Dead Condor
A nearby resident of Cajas called in to say he had spotted a recently dead Andean condor and so Mike and Pancho made plans to hike out into the middle of the park to find out which of the six individuals that inhabit the park it might be, and to get this lovely specimen for display in the up and coming museo.
However, the caller was vague about the location (we think he may have wanted a condor specimen of his own) and so the trek to find the dead condor was eventually abandoned…I guess that means no condor stew, too bad.
Sapos
The Park recently approved the construction of a frog hatchery to counter the rapid decline of the park’s amphibian population. So, Mike went out along with the park guards to learn how to capture the frogs and what happens to them in the nursery once they are captured.
Aves
In June there was a group of ornithologists from the University of Stonybrook working on a dissertation project in Cajas. They were setting up mistnets to catch and tag birds for four full days as part of a four year study (coming down once a year for four years). Mike, being the skilled biologist that he is, was invited to help out with the study which meant for four days Mike and this group of ornithologists (two Ecuadorians, one Colombian, and one gringa) sat around tagging cute little humming birds, a mochuelo (an Andean pygmy owl), and all sorts of other pretty little birds that fell into their nets while enjoying the beautiful (and exclusive) area of Mazan, an area that is off limits to tourists as it is a place for scientific studies and, I guess, Peace Corps Volunteers (I have been luck enough to visit Mazan and it really is quite beautiful).
Some Sort of Survey and a Map
Mike’s major project for the past few months and in all likelihood for next several months is the making of a reporting system for the parkguards to fill out while they are patrolling the the park. The information gathered from this system will serve as a tool to monitor park flora and fauna as well as aide in park management and direct future studies to be done in Cajas. Part of this project involves meeting with a bunch of computer programmers in Cuenca, so it’s a pretty fancy.
Additionally, Mike is working to redesign the park map to make it more tourist friendly i.e. to make the map useful as its current state is rather pathetic and doesn’t do any good for any tourist. This also involves some sort of fancy computer program and a really nice printer that died last week.
Let’s Go for a Walk
Just so everyone knows, on a nice day (i.e. small to no chance of hail storms) it is not unusual for Mike and Pancho (the other biologist) to decide to go for a hike: yup, just a hike. It’s a work day, but it’s nice out, so let’s go for a walk. Last time this happened, the two of them ended up finding a dozen horses in the park and had to heard them out of the park, on foot, for 3 miles of mountainous terrain. So, don’t worry it’s not all work and no play (if you count grilling deer and playing with birds work).
Life in Ecuador Update
And of course, there are still a lot of other little things going on that don’t fall specifically under the “work” category but more in the “general goings-on” category. Enjoy…we certainly did!
Zamora
Last week we and three other volunteers took a trip south and east to check out Parque Nacional Podocarpus. The park entrance is located 8km up a washed out dirt road, outside of Zamora (the first automobile reached this “city” in 1962), a city two hours southeast of Loja which is 5 hours south of Cuenca. So, if you followed that at all, we traveled the farthest South we have yet to be in Ecuador i.e. seven hours south of Cuenca, and dropped down into the Amazon basin.
We left early Monday morning, and after descending more than 6,000 vertical feet, were in the park by four o’clock in the afternoon. Upon our arrival in the park (which required a half hour hike uphill in the warm, humid climate) we immediately changed into swimsuits and headed to the nearby swimming hole i.e. a beautiful, yet cold, river surrounded by jungle on all sides. The lower part of Podocarpus (where we were) is made up of the last few hills that the icy Andean water has to wind through before reaching the Amazon.
Since Mike and I didn’t have a tent we stayed in the “main” office in the room where the park guard on duty usually sleeps. Remember, to get here you have to walk a half hour into the jungle after taking the landslide covered dirt road for an hour from a city that is still waiting for a paved road to connect it to the outside. Luckily, the parkguard wasn’t staying that night, or the next one, so we would have the office to ourselves….kind of. The park office, or more aptly put small rickety cabin in the middle of a tropical forest, was literally crawling with all sorts of critters as soon as the sun went down. We were very appreciative that the parkguard left us his mosquito net and we made sure to tuck it in really tight!
The next day we went for a hike in the morning up to the Mirador (and when I say we hiked up, I mean we hiked up, and up, and up). Being sufficiently soaked with sweat, we headed back to the river after the hike. Then, being sufficiently cooled down we went for another hike that followed the river farther into the surround forest.
Zamora is known as “The City of Birds and Waterfalls.” This second hike we went on certainly proved the aforementioned slogan. We saw tons and tons of birds and almost as many waterfalls. Needless to say it was a gorgeous hike.
Not surprisingly we were again soaking wet from the hike and headed off to a different swimming hole with notably warmer water. This swimming hole was small but included a waterfall that you could dunk your head into to get pounded clean. After basking in the waterfall and drip drying in a patch of sun, we snacked, ate dinner, made smores, and then went to bed, trying not to think about (or listen to) all the critters that were scavenging for our fallen crumbs.
Our last morning in the park Mike and I hiked back up to the Mirador, returned soaking wet, and headed straight for the river.
When we got back to the cabin a couple of Ecuadorians from the Ministerio de Turismo had arrived and were thrilled to see a group of gringos lounging about. As such we were invited to star in their government sponsored video promoting tourism in Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru. The project (Peace Tourism) is in collaboration with the government of Peru to make up for the fact that the two countries, until quite recently, were at war over a small piece of forest not too far from where we were camped. It took a little over an hour for them to get all the shots they wanted of us posing with orchids, taking pictures, and hiking with our big gringo backpacks. They promised to mail us a copy of the finished product, and even better, they gave us a free lift back into Zamora.
Back in Zamora we grabbed lunch with another volunteer who lives there (we were going to get the local specialty: frog legs, but upon seeing the cost opted for hamburgers instead) and then hopped on a bus heading back to the cool mountain breezes of the sierra.
Waterfalls, Birds, and Mucho Màs
Leafcutter Ants I
Leafcutter Ants II
Leafcutter Ants III
Leafcutter Ants IV
Yungapamba
This past weekend I was invited to play in a soccer tournament in Yungapamba. The captain of the pink team that I play on in San Miguel de Sayausi knows the son of a guy who wanted to sponsor a women’s team in this tournament and so that’s how Mike and I ended up in Yungapamba i.e. a hillside in the middle of nowhere.
So my teammates, their cute little kids, myself and Mike left early Saturday morning in a pickup truck taxi that took us to a market in Cuenca where this sponsor bought us shoes and where we got on a private school bus to take us the rest of the way.
When we arrived in Yungapamba we were given our uniforms (pants, jersey with our name printed on the back, warm up jacket, hat, and socks) which we were told to immediately change into (on the bus of course) before we headed to the actual site of the fiestas of Yungapamba.
An hour or so after our arrival there was a procession, followed by dancing, followed by the Sport Inauguration. The Inauguration, as we have seen before, involved each of the teams marching accompanied by their madrina (cute girl all dressed up) and then standing in rows while the judges picked best uniform (which we won and were therefore given twelve beers as a prize) and the best madrina (our madrina did not win). Shortly thereafter the games started.
We won our first and only game on Saturday 2-1. Then we sat around and watched the men’s soccer team that was also sponsored by the same man who sponsored our team (a supposed multimillionaire of Yungapamba origin but who now lives in Guayaquil). By then it was close to four in the afternoon so we piled into a pickup truck for the two hour sunset ride back to Sayausi.
Sunday morning we were back in Yungapamba by nine o’clock in the morning for the first of what would be two games. We won the first game 5-0 and the second game 1-0 to come in first place and win $70. We then piled back into the pickup truck to make it back to Sayausi to play in yet another game (the red team in Ingapirca de Buenos Aires de Sayausi). Then, after scoring three goals in my third game of the day, I pretty much collapsed from exhaustion.
Soccer-mania...In the Middle of Nowhere
Chuspi
Chsupi has also been working on a few things over these past months and we thought we would share her accomplishments with all of you. Behold, the amazing Chuspi!
Catch
Catch II
Intercept
Intercept II
Kick
Kick II
Kick III
Attack
Hunt, Catch, and Eat
Dàme la mano
Dàme la mano II
Read
Read, Chuspi, Read
Write
It`s Hard to Train a Cat
Monday
8:41am, Cloudy 60
Sayausi
Project Update
Our last two posts have focused on travel (Peru and Conejo), but believe it or not sometimes we actually get some work done as well. Here is a little taste of some of the projects (at least the ones with pictures) we’ve been working on for the last few months:
Me
World Map
Over summer vacation I led a group of six or so students (age 5-12) in a World Map Project. Making a World Map is a sort of rite of passage in Peace Corps as many volunteers end up making one at some point in their service. They are usually made on giant surfaces and show all of the countries in the world. However, due to limited wall space (we were given the area above the bathroom sinks to work with) at the school, the world map we ended up making was a slightly modified version. Below is a brief overview of the three week endeavor that was the World Map of Bella Vista de Sayausi.
1.) Attempt to make a square (our first square turned out to be not quite a square).
2.) Paint the entire surface blue (thereby covering up the not-so-square square).
3.) Make another square that was actually square (a level turned out to be key).
4.) Make a grid (56 little squares by 24 little squares, it was nice to just be supervising for all of this).
5.) Number squares and divide big grid into 18 smaller grids.
6.) Practice drawing by grid with several worksheets (to figure out who could draw by grid and who would have more of an assisting role).
7.) Start drawing the continents on the grid (we ended up doing continents plus Ecuador instead of all the countries as our space was limited).
8.) Keep drawing the continents on the grid.
9.) Finish drawing continents on the grid.
10.) Mix paint for each of the continents.
11.) Paint the continents.
12.) Let paint dry.
13.) Touch up paint and let dry again.
14.) Outline continents with permanent marker.
15.) Touch up paint on continents, again.
16.) Decide what to do with the area surrounding the map.
17.) Divide area surrounding the map into seven sections and paint each section according to the color of each of the seven continents.
18.) Draw endangered animals from each continent in the color coded sections surrounding the map.
19.) Mix the paint for the 20+ animals.
20.) Paint the 20+ animals.
21.) Outline the 20+ animals with permanent marker.
22.) Touch up paint for the 20+ animals.
23.) Put labels on continents and animals.
24.) Re-paint the oceans on the map.
25.) Take lots of pictures of the finished product.
So, that was basically what happened in the course of the three weeks of the World Map. During this time there were countless cookie breaks and singing of Michael Jackson songs. Oh, I also left out that before any of this happened, Jairo (a seven year old who was an eager participant every single day of the project) offered to clean out the sink so that the kids could stand in it to reach the wall that we would be working on. There must have been some sort of pampamesa party a couple of weeks beforehand as there was all sorts of soggy, rotting food in the sink. I would also like to point out that Jairo volunteered to help and not once made any complaint about the smell (which was bad) or the texture (which was gross, as you can imagine). So with two tops from cut up coke bottles we scooped up all the filth; me holding my breath and Jairo attempting to sing “Beat It.” Throughout the making of the World Map Jairo liked to mention just how dirty the sink was before we started and what a good job we did cleaning it up.
Lastly, I would love to take credit for how great the map looks, but I was merely the supervisor and my tangible contributions to the map only included a second coat of paint on Antarctica and a second coat of paint on the orange section surrounding the map. Lady, Bryan, Marcelo, Justin, Jairo, and Anita did the grand majority of the work with help from half a dozen other students who showed up for a couple of days during the project. I barely touched it!
The Director of the school has asked me and my crew to do another mural once the school year starts (this one of Ecuador and its provinces) and CEDI (the preschool nearby) also asked if we could do a mural for them sometime this year. Who knew murals would be such a hit?
The Making of a Mapa Mundial
PL-480
Another rite of passage for the Peace Corps Volunteers seems to be the writing of a PL-480 grant. I have started working with a group in Bellavista de Sayausi called the Sistema de Riego de Minas, a group that is trying to encourage people with livestock in the nearby watershed to adopt other forms of agriculturally related income thereby protecting the town’s water source and providing a more sustainable source of income. In June we started working on a PL-480 grant to solicit funding to build a community greenhouse that would serve as a working model for the residents of Bellavista, provide additional fruits and vegetables to the local school for the kiddies lunches, and a small income to the Padres de Familia that would maintain the greenhouse in collaboration with the Sistema de Riego. Needless to say the process is long and trying to schedule meetings with members of the Sistema de Riego is more challenging than you might think. However, we are almost done with the first draft and hopefully in the next week or so we will be able to submit the proposal for initial review.
Garden
I have also started a garden at our neighbors house (apartment living has its drawbacks) and have successfully grown turnip greens, romaine lettuce, and arugula. Our neighbors were of course very interested in these strange looking vegetables as the turnip greens didn’t look like the turnip greens that they grow (and so they called it nabo extranno i.e. foreign or strange turnip greens), the lettuce they decided was the fifth type of lettuce (apparently there are six though there used to be only two), and the arugula was likened to spinach just much more bitter and therefore deemed to be good for the liver. While this garden has some selfish motives behind it (Mike and I love fresh greens), our neighbors have taken interest in what we are up to, they are trying new vegetables, and they even took some of the harvest to the market to sell!
I just cleaned out the remains of the first cosecha (harvest) and replanted with more arugula (yum!), more strange lettuce (a mesculin mix), sugar snap peas, greens beans, squash, chives, and kohlrabi. We’ll see how the neighbors react to those (assuming they grow)!
The Fruits(or Veggies) of My Labor
Mike
Busy as always at Parque Nacional Cajas, these past few months have been more critter filled than previous ones.
Baby Deer
A month or so ago a dead baby deer was found in a well. Recently dead, dead by drowning, and preserved in the icy waters of Cajas, Mike and the other Biologist Pancho decided to try out their taxidermy and butchering skills (Mike observed how to stuff a fox at the local university a few months ago).
Mike and Pancho skinned, cleaned, and upon Mike’s suggestion grilled a baby deer (Mike also brought home two bags of baby deer meat and has since made venison stew, roasted ribs, and has plans to roast the baby deer leg that is still in our freezer). An amusing side note: the park staff reacted to eating deer the same way most gringos react to eating cuy for the first time, “Gross! I can’t believe people actually eat this. I really can’t believe that I’m eating this.”
The stuffed deer will eventually be displayed in the museo that Mike and Pancho are working on.
Dead Condor
A nearby resident of Cajas called in to say he had spotted a recently dead Andean condor and so Mike and Pancho made plans to hike out into the middle of the park to find out which of the six individuals that inhabit the park it might be, and to get this lovely specimen for display in the up and coming museo.
However, the caller was vague about the location (we think he may have wanted a condor specimen of his own) and so the trek to find the dead condor was eventually abandoned…I guess that means no condor stew, too bad.
Sapos
The Park recently approved the construction of a frog hatchery to counter the rapid decline of the park’s amphibian population. So, Mike went out along with the park guards to learn how to capture the frogs and what happens to them in the nursery once they are captured.
Aves
In June there was a group of ornithologists from the University of Stonybrook working on a dissertation project in Cajas. They were setting up mistnets to catch and tag birds for four full days as part of a four year study (coming down once a year for four years). Mike, being the skilled biologist that he is, was invited to help out with the study which meant for four days Mike and this group of ornithologists (two Ecuadorians, one Colombian, and one gringa) sat around tagging cute little humming birds, a mochuelo (an Andean pygmy owl), and all sorts of other pretty little birds that fell into their nets while enjoying the beautiful (and exclusive) area of Mazan, an area that is off limits to tourists as it is a place for scientific studies and, I guess, Peace Corps Volunteers (I have been luck enough to visit Mazan and it really is quite beautiful).
Some Sort of Survey and a Map
Mike’s major project for the past few months and in all likelihood for next several months is the making of a reporting system for the parkguards to fill out while they are patrolling the the park. The information gathered from this system will serve as a tool to monitor park flora and fauna as well as aide in park management and direct future studies to be done in Cajas. Part of this project involves meeting with a bunch of computer programmers in Cuenca, so it’s a pretty fancy.
Additionally, Mike is working to redesign the park map to make it more tourist friendly i.e. to make the map useful as its current state is rather pathetic and doesn’t do any good for any tourist. This also involves some sort of fancy computer program and a really nice printer that died last week.
Let’s Go for a Walk
Just so everyone knows, on a nice day (i.e. small to no chance of hail storms) it is not unusual for Mike and Pancho (the other biologist) to decide to go for a hike: yup, just a hike. It’s a work day, but it’s nice out, so let’s go for a walk. Last time this happened, the two of them ended up finding a dozen horses in the park and had to heard them out of the park, on foot, for 3 miles of mountainous terrain. So, don’t worry it’s not all work and no play (if you count grilling deer and playing with birds work).
Life in Ecuador Update
And of course, there are still a lot of other little things going on that don’t fall specifically under the “work” category but more in the “general goings-on” category. Enjoy…we certainly did!
Zamora
Last week we and three other volunteers took a trip south and east to check out Parque Nacional Podocarpus. The park entrance is located 8km up a washed out dirt road, outside of Zamora (the first automobile reached this “city” in 1962), a city two hours southeast of Loja which is 5 hours south of Cuenca. So, if you followed that at all, we traveled the farthest South we have yet to be in Ecuador i.e. seven hours south of Cuenca, and dropped down into the Amazon basin.
We left early Monday morning, and after descending more than 6,000 vertical feet, were in the park by four o’clock in the afternoon. Upon our arrival in the park (which required a half hour hike uphill in the warm, humid climate) we immediately changed into swimsuits and headed to the nearby swimming hole i.e. a beautiful, yet cold, river surrounded by jungle on all sides. The lower part of Podocarpus (where we were) is made up of the last few hills that the icy Andean water has to wind through before reaching the Amazon.
Since Mike and I didn’t have a tent we stayed in the “main” office in the room where the park guard on duty usually sleeps. Remember, to get here you have to walk a half hour into the jungle after taking the landslide covered dirt road for an hour from a city that is still waiting for a paved road to connect it to the outside. Luckily, the parkguard wasn’t staying that night, or the next one, so we would have the office to ourselves….kind of. The park office, or more aptly put small rickety cabin in the middle of a tropical forest, was literally crawling with all sorts of critters as soon as the sun went down. We were very appreciative that the parkguard left us his mosquito net and we made sure to tuck it in really tight!
The next day we went for a hike in the morning up to the Mirador (and when I say we hiked up, I mean we hiked up, and up, and up). Being sufficiently soaked with sweat, we headed back to the river after the hike. Then, being sufficiently cooled down we went for another hike that followed the river farther into the surround forest.
Zamora is known as “The City of Birds and Waterfalls.” This second hike we went on certainly proved the aforementioned slogan. We saw tons and tons of birds and almost as many waterfalls. Needless to say it was a gorgeous hike.
Not surprisingly we were again soaking wet from the hike and headed off to a different swimming hole with notably warmer water. This swimming hole was small but included a waterfall that you could dunk your head into to get pounded clean. After basking in the waterfall and drip drying in a patch of sun, we snacked, ate dinner, made smores, and then went to bed, trying not to think about (or listen to) all the critters that were scavenging for our fallen crumbs.
Our last morning in the park Mike and I hiked back up to the Mirador, returned soaking wet, and headed straight for the river.
When we got back to the cabin a couple of Ecuadorians from the Ministerio de Turismo had arrived and were thrilled to see a group of gringos lounging about. As such we were invited to star in their government sponsored video promoting tourism in Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru. The project (Peace Tourism) is in collaboration with the government of Peru to make up for the fact that the two countries, until quite recently, were at war over a small piece of forest not too far from where we were camped. It took a little over an hour for them to get all the shots they wanted of us posing with orchids, taking pictures, and hiking with our big gringo backpacks. They promised to mail us a copy of the finished product, and even better, they gave us a free lift back into Zamora.
Back in Zamora we grabbed lunch with another volunteer who lives there (we were going to get the local specialty: frog legs, but upon seeing the cost opted for hamburgers instead) and then hopped on a bus heading back to the cool mountain breezes of the sierra.
Waterfalls, Birds, and Mucho Màs
Leafcutter Ants I
Leafcutter Ants II
Leafcutter Ants III
Leafcutter Ants IV
Yungapamba
This past weekend I was invited to play in a soccer tournament in Yungapamba. The captain of the pink team that I play on in San Miguel de Sayausi knows the son of a guy who wanted to sponsor a women’s team in this tournament and so that’s how Mike and I ended up in Yungapamba i.e. a hillside in the middle of nowhere.
So my teammates, their cute little kids, myself and Mike left early Saturday morning in a pickup truck taxi that took us to a market in Cuenca where this sponsor bought us shoes and where we got on a private school bus to take us the rest of the way.
When we arrived in Yungapamba we were given our uniforms (pants, jersey with our name printed on the back, warm up jacket, hat, and socks) which we were told to immediately change into (on the bus of course) before we headed to the actual site of the fiestas of Yungapamba.
An hour or so after our arrival there was a procession, followed by dancing, followed by the Sport Inauguration. The Inauguration, as we have seen before, involved each of the teams marching accompanied by their madrina (cute girl all dressed up) and then standing in rows while the judges picked best uniform (which we won and were therefore given twelve beers as a prize) and the best madrina (our madrina did not win). Shortly thereafter the games started.
We won our first and only game on Saturday 2-1. Then we sat around and watched the men’s soccer team that was also sponsored by the same man who sponsored our team (a supposed multimillionaire of Yungapamba origin but who now lives in Guayaquil). By then it was close to four in the afternoon so we piled into a pickup truck for the two hour sunset ride back to Sayausi.
Sunday morning we were back in Yungapamba by nine o’clock in the morning for the first of what would be two games. We won the first game 5-0 and the second game 1-0 to come in first place and win $70. We then piled back into the pickup truck to make it back to Sayausi to play in yet another game (the red team in Ingapirca de Buenos Aires de Sayausi). Then, after scoring three goals in my third game of the day, I pretty much collapsed from exhaustion.
Soccer-mania...In the Middle of Nowhere
Chuspi
Chsupi has also been working on a few things over these past months and we thought we would share her accomplishments with all of you. Behold, the amazing Chuspi!
Catch
Catch II
Intercept
Intercept II
Kick
Kick II
Kick III
Attack
Hunt, Catch, and Eat
Dàme la mano
Dàme la mano II
Read
Read, Chuspi, Read
Write
It`s Hard to Train a Cat
Monday, August 31, 2009
El Conejo en Ecuador (Jim in Ecuador)
August 29, 2009
Saturday
8:34am
Sayausi
Cloudy, 60
(Note to our loyal followers: For some unknown reason the email alert for our blog is not behaving in as reliable of a manner as it should. Please spread the word amongst yourselves that a new post is up. Thanks.)
Jim in Ecuador
My brother came to visit last week, during which time he was awarded the nickname “Conejo” or “Rabbit” (explanation to follow). Of course we did many things, met many people, and had an absolutely fantastic time. Below is a day-by-day account of the Conejo’s visit in Ecuador!
The Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Guayaquil and bus to Sayausi
Day 2: Cuenca
Day 3: Cajas
Day 4: Cuenca again
Day 5: The art of paseando and futbol
Day 6: Cuy lunch and more futbol
Day 7: Ingapirca and Cuenca
Day 8: To the coast!
Day 9: Isla de la Plata and bus to Guayaquil
Day 10: Depart Guayaquil and back to Michigan
Arrival: 18-August 2009
Jim’s plane was scheduled to arrive at 8:30pm on Tuesday night. Mike and I left Sayausi around two o’clock in the afternoon on a bus that for trip entertainment featured several Jackie Chan movies. Many flying kicks and poorly translated one-liners later we arrived in the Guayaquil bus terminal where we took a taxi to the Guayaquil airport (in the daytime it is safe to walk the one block from the bus terminal to the airport but once the sunsets all moving about is done in taxi).
The airport was packed! Granted this isn’t anything unusual as entire families go to the airport to meet arriving family members or see off departing family. No joke, for every arriving passenger in Ecuador there are at least five to twenty people waiting for them in the airport, which makes for a very festive atmosphere. Even though we were only two strong we did our best to make a contribution…and we had a lot of time to do so as Jim’s flight was delayed two hours.
At 10:00pm we, at least a hundred other people, and a surprising number of live chickens tucked away in what appeared to be luggage gathered around the arrival area for the Miami-Guayaquil flight. Necks craned and everyone on tip-toes trying to peer through the sliding glass doors to see who the next passenger out would be we waited for the Conejo to make his appearance.
Of course, the rest of the story is pretty much how you would imagine it. Jim arrived, I jumped up and down, Mike waved, and then was that, literally as we had to run and catch the last bus for Cuenca that was leaving twenty or so minutes later.
So we climbed into another taxi and headed back to the terminal to catch a bus back up to Cuenca with the Conejo in tow.
In the terminal we bought our bus tickets, waited for about ten minutes and then got on the bus where the entertainment for the evening was The Mechanik II starring the Russian superstar Dolf, most famous for his role as The Russian in Rocky vs The Russian. After four hours on a winding road, which included several hours of masterful cinematography we got off the bus in Sayausi at 3:30am.
Upon arrival in our humble abode Jim met the acquaintance of Chuspi who took an immediate liking to the Conejo (whether that was because of the many cat toys he had brought with him or his rabbit-like aura we will never know). Needless to say, we went to bed en seguido.
Cuenca-19 August 2009
I would like to say we all slept in but let’s be honest we are not good at sleeping in. At seven o’clock we were all up. We spent a good part of the morning chatting (my brother was here!!) before heading into Cuenca for the day.
We walked around Cuenca for the better part of the morning, visiting artisan shops, the market, and eventually buying Jim an Ecuadorian hat (wide brimmed, probably something that will never be worn outside of Ecuador). We ate lunch at El Paraiso in Parque San Blas. San Blas is one of the 52 churches in Cuenca, Parque San Blas is one of the hundreds of little parks in Cuenca, and El Paraiso is one of at least twenty vegatarian restaurants in Cuenca.
After lunch we continued the walking tour of Cuenca, heading down to the Banco Central to see if there were any concerts or theatre performances going on but as it is August and everyone in all of Latin America is on vacation for some part, if not all, of August there were no scheduled events in the near future. So we continued our walk past some Incan Ruins that run along the river, continued on the river path that led back into the Centro Historico of Cuenca, and then checked out some DVD/CD/MP3 stores.
By mid-afternoon we were all beat and decided to buy some food then head back to Sayausi to make dinner and generally relax after about 3 hours of sleep from the night before.
Back at home in Sayausi we made a quick stop at my garden to pick some fresh salad greens for dinner that night then home to make some pizza and watch a movie. As I write this I am certainly aware of how wonderful it was to have Jim here with us, just being able to spend time with him and hang out together was fantastic, especially with pizza and candy!
Pics of Cuenca I
Cajas: 20-August 2009
Early Thursday morning we hitchhiked up to Cajas for what would turn out to be a really great hike. We crammed into the bed of a small pickup truck and started the hour drive up to and through Cajas.
At Cucheros we got dropped off and started the hike: a steep, prolonged uphill. This hike always leaves me gasping for air and with a heart rate that exceeds normal ranges of comfort, and I live at altitude. As such we were a little concerned about how Jim would do. Turns out there was no cause for concern as Jim did great even though he had come up from sea level only the day before. With the hardest part of the hike behind us we continued on…for another seven hours!!
During the hike we saw a pair of foxes (rare to see, I have been hiking pretty regularly in Cajas for over a year and had only seen glimpse of one fox once), a pair of endangered Andean condors (super, super rare), and of course traipsed through super muddy trails leaving us with what is known as “Cajas Foot” i.e. a foot, ankle, and lower calf that is covered in wet, cold, sloppy mud. Fortunately, it is the dry season here so as muddy as the trails were it could’ve been much, much muddier. We passed lakes, quinoa forest, made our way through paramo, passed waterfalls, crossed log bridges, saw more Incan ruins, and chased alpacas. Yes, you read correctly, we chased some alpacas (though if you watch the video you won’t feel bad for the alpacas…our threat to them was minimal to non-existent).
A daring display
Not-so-daring Return
The Amazing Alpaca Chase
By the end of the hike, the Conejo was beat (eight hours of heavy hiking at altitude will tucker anyone) and the better part of my energy reserves were also spent. Fortunately, we were able to catch a ride with some fishermen at the guard station in Llaviuco which saved us another two miles of walking before we would have gotten to the highway where we would have had to hitchhike on a downhill curve (not an ideal set up for getting cars to stop for you).
All in all a pretty great day that left us all tired and ready for some good food and some great sleep!
Hiking in Cajas
Cuenca: 21-August 2009
Friday morning we walked in to Cuenca from Sayausi along the Rio Tomebamba, arriving in Cuenca just before lunchtime. Still quite tired from the hike the day before, we stopped in at Café Lojana to get some freshly roasted and brewed coffee along with a few humitas (corn tamales). Sufficiently caffeinated we spent some time planning our coastal trip i.e. finding hotels, tour agencies, bus schedules, and loads of incorrect phone numbers. Before hitting the artesania markets we grabbed a light lunch at Govindas, another vegatarian restaurante.
After lunch we scouted the stalls in the Mercado San Francisco and then the indoor market located on the San Francisco Plaza. About an hour or two into the shopping Mike had to go to a meeting at the Cajas office so Jim and I were left to finish souvenir shopping on our own. We also managed to squeeze in an ice cream cone and do some people watching in Parque Calderon (the central park where the giant cathedrals are) and do some t-shirt surveillance before Mike caught up with us again (don’t worry Mike gets plenty of ice cream). From there we walked down through Parque de la Madre to check out the infamous statue of speedwalking superstar Jefferson Perez. We also walked over to the soccer stadium and then back along the river before going to Moliendo Café (the best food in Cuenca is Colombian) where we were planning on having dinner with Chris and Kelly (two other volunteers).
We had gotten to the restaurant a little early and so ordered a few drinks and some delicious empandas to enjoy as we waited. Several minutes later Bridget walked in (another volunteer) who we did not know was coming who was shortly followed by Kelly and Sarah, who were followed shortly by Katie and her sister Megan (who was visiting from the States) who were followed by an unknown male wearing a PeaceCorps Peru shirt who upon questioning turned out to be a PCV from Paraguay and was meeting Gloria (another Ecuador volunteer) for dinner. Shortly thereafter Gloria arrived who was followed several minutes later by Andy and Jason (two more volunteers). Chris, ironically, was last person to show up that evening as his bus had to take an eight hour detour due to a landslide. So, the dinner expanded substantially from four to many within an hour, a very PeaceCorps-Ecua-experience and a great time all in all.
Pics of Cuenca II
Sayausi: 22-August 2009
Saturday morning we planned to do the grand walking tour of Sayausi heading up through Bellavista, down through Buenos Aires, and then eventually ending up back in Sayausi-Centro. We had warned Jim that this loop could take anywhere from one hour, if we did the walk straight through, or four hours depending on how many people we ran into. Any guesses on how long the proposed loop took??
Trick question! We didn’t get past Bellavista. At Dona Rita’s house we stopped to talk to Sandra, Melida, Elvis, Juan Diego, and Tatiana. They were trying to plan a cuy dinner for Jim but upon hearing that he was a vegetarian and after some explanation as to what that meant they decided they would have to do something else for him…today. So, we talked about making pizza among many other things before deciding to make him banana empanadas. It was during this time that Jim got his apodo, or nickname, “Conejo”. Part of the explanation of Jim being a vegetarian involved a lot of comparisons to rabbits. Subsequently Jim was named “Conejo”.
After naming the Conejo, Sandra left to go get the ingredients and we stayed at the house with Melida to make the dough. Four hours later we were eating banana empanadas with café con leche that one hour earlier was still in the cow.
Upon downing at least four banana empanadas each and planning to come back the next day to go see the cows with Maribel, we made our farewells and headed back to Sayausi…to go see Dona Melchora (our host mom for our first few months in Sayausi).
At Dona Melchora’s house the Conejo met Dona Melchora, Norma, Norma’s daughters Jenny and Diana, and Don Nestor. We were invited upstairs for tea and pineapple while Norma’s daughters gave us a detailed account of their recent trip to the beach and gave each of us a seashell. Before leaving we stopped at my garden again and gathered some nabo (turnip greens) for dinner.
Then we were off to my soccer game in San Miguel (another barrio of Sayausi). We arrived at the field a little early and watched the game before us. Then Jim and Mike hacer-ed the barra (made the fan section) for my team as we played and won our game! We won 5-0. I scored one goal and had one assist while the other superstar made a whopping three goals, did I mention she’s awesome?
The three of us then got a ride back from the game with Maira (the captain), her husband (Darwin), and their three children (Jessica, Churros, and Daku) in a two door, very small Suzuki.
Paseando in Sayausi
Sayausi: 23-August 2009
Early Sunday morning we walked up to Dona Rita’s house to “go see the cows” (ver las vacas) with Maribel. We were told they were really close so not to worry about the Conejo (Jim) and altitude problems. However, when we got there at 7:00am Maribel was concerned to find out we had to be back by 11:00am to go to a lunch at our land lady’s house.
“Bueno. Vamos rapido pues.”
The three of us went tearing up the road for about ten minutes before making a sharp uphill turn. We proceeded to walk uphill (45 degree upward slant) for no less then forty five minutes (with very occasional breaks to catch what little breath we had) before arriving at the cow pasture. Once at the pasture we took a short snack and rest break before Maribel started digging a hole for the cows to drink from (we continued resting while she dug). Then it was time to sacar leche i.e. milk the cows.
Maribel started, and of course made it look easy. Jim after a minute of carefully studying Maribel’s masterful milking hand took a go at it. As it turns out milking cows is not quite as easy as it looks. Somehow moving your hand in what looks like the exact same way as Maribel is somehow not exactly how she does it. I, having tried once in the past to milk cows with Maribel’s sister Norma, passed on a second opportunity to try milking cows. Instead we laughed as Jim tried and watched admirably as Maribel milked several cows within twenty minutes.
Milkin´
Still Milkin´
La Maestra
After the cows were milked, each one had to be walked over to the little hole that Maribel had dug while we were still resting from the climb up and listening to the parrots flying around just above us on the hillside. This took a little under an hour and then we started the walk down. Maribel asked me to “cargar” the milk bucket so she could run ahead and give water to the two remaining cows that were further downhill. The twenty pound bucket tied to my back with a blanket definitely made the slick, steep downhill path a little more exhilarating than it should have been. Fortunately, no milk was spilled and Maribel took the bucket from me after she had seen to the other cows.
The downhill certainly went much quicker than the uphill climb but also required much more mental exertion as very quick small, but still carefully planned, steps were needed to prevent slipping and sliding down the trail. We were back at Maribel’s house by 10:30am where we were served morocho (a milk and corn flour drink that is normally served hot but as we were in a rush it was served cold – not as tasty) and a cheese sandwich. We then bid our farewells and headed back to Sayausi to shower before going to the cuy roast at our land lady’s house.
Unfortunately, weekends in Sayausi generally come with a 2-12 hour stretch of no water. When we got back to our apartment we were without water and so had to set off for lunch without showering and probably smelling faintly of cow and grass.
Our land lady, Dona Carmen, lives in Gulag, another barrio of Sayausi. Usually there are busses that go the one and half mile stretch of road but as there is major construction on said road, we had to walk.
We arrived at Dona Carmen’s house a half hour after we said we would be there but in Ecuador a half hour late is at least a half hour early, so we hadn’t missed much. Dona Carmen was still roasting the cuyes in the living room fireplace (yes, in the living room) when we got there.
About an hour later we were eating a lunch for which all of the ingredients had been harvested that same morning from the garden behind the house.
Lunch Menu for Non-Vegetarians: Half a cuy, five potatoes, rice, lettuce, a boiled broccoli-carrot-pea-cilantro salad with coke.
Lunch Menu for Vegetarians: Lettuce and a boiled broccoli-carrot-pea-cilantro salad with coke.
Dinner Later that Night for Chuspi: Cuy
Cuy Dinner
Cuy Dinner Take II
I’m not sure why rice and potatoes weren’t included on the vegetarian plate (further evidence of the utter confusion the term vegetarian caused in Sayausi) but Jim a.k.a El Conejo was served a gigantic plate of lettuce leaves and boiled vegetables. As for the non-vegetartian plate the cuy was delicious, definitely the best cuy in Sayausi, and the rice and potatoes were exactly how you would imagine them.
After eating, a tour of the cuy hut (not sure Jim liked that), and some chatting we headed back to Sayausi for Mike’s basketball game.
Turns out the game was cancelled because the opposing team withdrew from the league so we stopped by Carmita’s (she owns a tienda next to the soccer field). She served us berry ice cream and candy as we watched one of the vacation league games and introduced Jim to all the regular soccer fans that frequent Carmita’s i.e. sit on the benches she has outside of her house.
When the game ended it was pretty late in the afternoon so we stopped by the Sunday market to get some fresh veggies and fruit and headed back home for some much needed rest and some serious hangout time.
Paseando in Sayausi Continued
Ingapirca: 24-August 2009
Monday morning we got an early start to catch a bus to Ingapirca. Ingapirca is a site two hours north of Cuenca with the largest Incan ruins in all of Ecuador. The two hours turned into two and half hours on the way there due to more serious road construction but the drive is beautiful and the weather was lovely so it passed quickly.
The ruins are in the province of Canar (we live in the province of Azuay) which has a large indigenous population. Ingapirca, the ruins, are most known for the mortar-less stone work and the fact that the majority of what remain is not only from the Incas but from the Canari who were there before the Incans arrived.
The site is gorgeous and located in a beautiful valley with views of the nearby towns and, on the day we were there, views of many mountain ranges off in the distance. We spent the better part of two hours walking around the ruins and generally enjoying the pleasant weather, lovely surroundings, and of course the impressive mortar-less stone work.
After touring the ruins we had lunch (the quinoa-cheese soup was particularly delicious) at a nearby restaurant that overlooked the ruins of Ingapirca, browsed for souvenirs, and then got back on the bus for the ride back to Cuenca.
Back in Cuenca we did some last minute errands for our trip the next day and had dinner at El Paraiso to watch the sunset over the San Blas church.
The rest of the night was spent packing and getting ready for the coastal leg of the trip that would start at 5:30am the next morning.
The Ruins
To Puerto Lopez: 25-August 2009
This day passed in a blur as we were on a bus for most of the day. We left Sayausi at 6:30am and arrived in Guayaquil at just before 11:00am. Incredibly lucky with the timing, we then got on an 11:15am bus for Puerto Lopez. We were on this bus for three hours before it stopped in the wonderful, truck/bus stop town of Jipijapa where we waited for an hour before continuing on to Puerto Lopez. Fortunately, aside from the coastal landscape and agriculture out he window, throughout the ride there were high quality movies to entertain us: Chuck Norris and Mark Walhberg at their best. We arrived in Puerto Lopez just before five o’clock ready to put our bags down, walk around, and eat some fresh seafood (expect for Conejo, of course).
We stayed a really cute hostel called Itapoa. It’s run by a Brazilian women whose Spanish can, without warning, turn to Portuguese and then just as quickly back to Spanish. Our room was actually a two story cabin with a small balcony overlooking the courtyard gardens, and each bed was outfitted with its own mosquito net (I wonder why?).
After dropping our bags at the hostel we walked around town stretching out our mildly cramped legs (even my legs were sore as the bus seats were kind of small). We walked up and down the malecon (beachfront walkway) and along the beach checking out the local fishing boats and other beach activity i.e. ecuaboley.
We hung out on the malecon for the rest of the evening, had a great dinner, then retired to our humble abode after finalizing the details for our whale watching and island tour the next day.
To the Coast!
Whales and Isla de la Plata: 26- August 2009
To say this day was totally and completely awesome would be an understatement! After a complimentary breakfast overlooking the beach we boarded a small motorboat with our guide Cherry and a group of about ten other random tourists. We then headed out into the ocean in search of humpback whales, which come here every year to mate and give birth during the months of July, August, and September.
It takes about an hour and half to cover the 25 miles of Pacific Ocean and get out to where the whales are but the ride is great. The wind whips at your hair and the sea spray at your face, not to mention the many sea birds flying along side the boat making occasional dives into the ocean below. And then, as if all that weren’t enough, the captain cuts the motor and suddenly you are in the center of a group of nine humpback whales!
Whales
The whales are indescribable, larger than our boat, and they are everywhere. I don’t know how much time we spent following them around as everyone is sort of in a trance like state watching them swim, dive, spin, and listening to them making their whale noises. Eventually however we had to continue on to the island.
On the island we went on a 6km hike through colonies of blue footed boobies, masked boobies, frigates, and red footed boobies. The sheer quantities of birds is astounding, and then add the baby birds, the nests in the middle of footpaths, and the birds’ general apathy toward the group of humans walking through their nesting grounds and you’ve got yourself one incredible experience.
Take his phone!
Boobie Talk
After the hike we got back on the boat and headed to a cove for some snorkeling!! You could see the fish just by looking over the side of the boat but that was nothing compared to what you saw once in the water. There were lots of fish in all different colors and tons of coral as well. The water was also really nice which made it hard to get out. But all good things must come to an end so eventually we got back on the boat and started the return trip back to land.
Once back in Puerto Lopez (around 5:30pm) we changed into dry clothes and then with some great timing, immediately got on a bus for that wonderful truck/ bus stop town of Jipijapa. In Jipijapa, again with perfect timing, we switched busses to get a bus for Guayaquil at which point I fell asleep and didn’t wake up again until we were in Guayaquil. I’ve been told I missed some killer Jean Claude van Dam movies, and delicious fish stuffed bread.
By the time we were in Guayaquil it was almost midnight so we just caught a cab to our hostel and passed the night hanging out with the caged jungle animals by the small pool in the courtyard of the hostel. A perfect ending to an absolutely wonderful, wonderful day.
Watching Whales and Isla de la Plata
Homeward Bound: 27-August 2009
So here we are at the last day of Jim’s trip. His flight left at 10:00am so we loitered at the airport as long as possible before an American Airlines employee told Jim, and at least fifty other travelers, that they had to start the boarding process as there were more lines ahead for immigration and customs.
Then Jim walked through a different set of sliding glass doors and started his 14 hour trip home and Mike and I headed back to the bus terminal for the bus to Sayausi.
I guess that brings us to the end of the Conejo’s trip to Ecuador. Simply put, it was awesome!! We miss you Jim and hope we haven’t left anything out!
In Guayaquil
Saturday
8:34am
Sayausi
Cloudy, 60
(Note to our loyal followers: For some unknown reason the email alert for our blog is not behaving in as reliable of a manner as it should. Please spread the word amongst yourselves that a new post is up. Thanks.)
Jim in Ecuador
My brother came to visit last week, during which time he was awarded the nickname “Conejo” or “Rabbit” (explanation to follow). Of course we did many things, met many people, and had an absolutely fantastic time. Below is a day-by-day account of the Conejo’s visit in Ecuador!
The Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Guayaquil and bus to Sayausi
Day 2: Cuenca
Day 3: Cajas
Day 4: Cuenca again
Day 5: The art of paseando and futbol
Day 6: Cuy lunch and more futbol
Day 7: Ingapirca and Cuenca
Day 8: To the coast!
Day 9: Isla de la Plata and bus to Guayaquil
Day 10: Depart Guayaquil and back to Michigan
Arrival: 18-August 2009
Jim’s plane was scheduled to arrive at 8:30pm on Tuesday night. Mike and I left Sayausi around two o’clock in the afternoon on a bus that for trip entertainment featured several Jackie Chan movies. Many flying kicks and poorly translated one-liners later we arrived in the Guayaquil bus terminal where we took a taxi to the Guayaquil airport (in the daytime it is safe to walk the one block from the bus terminal to the airport but once the sunsets all moving about is done in taxi).
The airport was packed! Granted this isn’t anything unusual as entire families go to the airport to meet arriving family members or see off departing family. No joke, for every arriving passenger in Ecuador there are at least five to twenty people waiting for them in the airport, which makes for a very festive atmosphere. Even though we were only two strong we did our best to make a contribution…and we had a lot of time to do so as Jim’s flight was delayed two hours.
At 10:00pm we, at least a hundred other people, and a surprising number of live chickens tucked away in what appeared to be luggage gathered around the arrival area for the Miami-Guayaquil flight. Necks craned and everyone on tip-toes trying to peer through the sliding glass doors to see who the next passenger out would be we waited for the Conejo to make his appearance.
Of course, the rest of the story is pretty much how you would imagine it. Jim arrived, I jumped up and down, Mike waved, and then was that, literally as we had to run and catch the last bus for Cuenca that was leaving twenty or so minutes later.
So we climbed into another taxi and headed back to the terminal to catch a bus back up to Cuenca with the Conejo in tow.
In the terminal we bought our bus tickets, waited for about ten minutes and then got on the bus where the entertainment for the evening was The Mechanik II starring the Russian superstar Dolf, most famous for his role as The Russian in Rocky vs The Russian. After four hours on a winding road, which included several hours of masterful cinematography we got off the bus in Sayausi at 3:30am.
Upon arrival in our humble abode Jim met the acquaintance of Chuspi who took an immediate liking to the Conejo (whether that was because of the many cat toys he had brought with him or his rabbit-like aura we will never know). Needless to say, we went to bed en seguido.
Cuenca-19 August 2009
I would like to say we all slept in but let’s be honest we are not good at sleeping in. At seven o’clock we were all up. We spent a good part of the morning chatting (my brother was here!!) before heading into Cuenca for the day.
We walked around Cuenca for the better part of the morning, visiting artisan shops, the market, and eventually buying Jim an Ecuadorian hat (wide brimmed, probably something that will never be worn outside of Ecuador). We ate lunch at El Paraiso in Parque San Blas. San Blas is one of the 52 churches in Cuenca, Parque San Blas is one of the hundreds of little parks in Cuenca, and El Paraiso is one of at least twenty vegatarian restaurants in Cuenca.
After lunch we continued the walking tour of Cuenca, heading down to the Banco Central to see if there were any concerts or theatre performances going on but as it is August and everyone in all of Latin America is on vacation for some part, if not all, of August there were no scheduled events in the near future. So we continued our walk past some Incan Ruins that run along the river, continued on the river path that led back into the Centro Historico of Cuenca, and then checked out some DVD/CD/MP3 stores.
By mid-afternoon we were all beat and decided to buy some food then head back to Sayausi to make dinner and generally relax after about 3 hours of sleep from the night before.
Back at home in Sayausi we made a quick stop at my garden to pick some fresh salad greens for dinner that night then home to make some pizza and watch a movie. As I write this I am certainly aware of how wonderful it was to have Jim here with us, just being able to spend time with him and hang out together was fantastic, especially with pizza and candy!
Pics of Cuenca I
Cajas: 20-August 2009
Early Thursday morning we hitchhiked up to Cajas for what would turn out to be a really great hike. We crammed into the bed of a small pickup truck and started the hour drive up to and through Cajas.
At Cucheros we got dropped off and started the hike: a steep, prolonged uphill. This hike always leaves me gasping for air and with a heart rate that exceeds normal ranges of comfort, and I live at altitude. As such we were a little concerned about how Jim would do. Turns out there was no cause for concern as Jim did great even though he had come up from sea level only the day before. With the hardest part of the hike behind us we continued on…for another seven hours!!
During the hike we saw a pair of foxes (rare to see, I have been hiking pretty regularly in Cajas for over a year and had only seen glimpse of one fox once), a pair of endangered Andean condors (super, super rare), and of course traipsed through super muddy trails leaving us with what is known as “Cajas Foot” i.e. a foot, ankle, and lower calf that is covered in wet, cold, sloppy mud. Fortunately, it is the dry season here so as muddy as the trails were it could’ve been much, much muddier. We passed lakes, quinoa forest, made our way through paramo, passed waterfalls, crossed log bridges, saw more Incan ruins, and chased alpacas. Yes, you read correctly, we chased some alpacas (though if you watch the video you won’t feel bad for the alpacas…our threat to them was minimal to non-existent).
A daring display
Not-so-daring Return
The Amazing Alpaca Chase
By the end of the hike, the Conejo was beat (eight hours of heavy hiking at altitude will tucker anyone) and the better part of my energy reserves were also spent. Fortunately, we were able to catch a ride with some fishermen at the guard station in Llaviuco which saved us another two miles of walking before we would have gotten to the highway where we would have had to hitchhike on a downhill curve (not an ideal set up for getting cars to stop for you).
All in all a pretty great day that left us all tired and ready for some good food and some great sleep!
Hiking in Cajas
Cuenca: 21-August 2009
Friday morning we walked in to Cuenca from Sayausi along the Rio Tomebamba, arriving in Cuenca just before lunchtime. Still quite tired from the hike the day before, we stopped in at Café Lojana to get some freshly roasted and brewed coffee along with a few humitas (corn tamales). Sufficiently caffeinated we spent some time planning our coastal trip i.e. finding hotels, tour agencies, bus schedules, and loads of incorrect phone numbers. Before hitting the artesania markets we grabbed a light lunch at Govindas, another vegatarian restaurante.
After lunch we scouted the stalls in the Mercado San Francisco and then the indoor market located on the San Francisco Plaza. About an hour or two into the shopping Mike had to go to a meeting at the Cajas office so Jim and I were left to finish souvenir shopping on our own. We also managed to squeeze in an ice cream cone and do some people watching in Parque Calderon (the central park where the giant cathedrals are) and do some t-shirt surveillance before Mike caught up with us again (don’t worry Mike gets plenty of ice cream). From there we walked down through Parque de la Madre to check out the infamous statue of speedwalking superstar Jefferson Perez. We also walked over to the soccer stadium and then back along the river before going to Moliendo Café (the best food in Cuenca is Colombian) where we were planning on having dinner with Chris and Kelly (two other volunteers).
We had gotten to the restaurant a little early and so ordered a few drinks and some delicious empandas to enjoy as we waited. Several minutes later Bridget walked in (another volunteer) who we did not know was coming who was shortly followed by Kelly and Sarah, who were followed shortly by Katie and her sister Megan (who was visiting from the States) who were followed by an unknown male wearing a PeaceCorps Peru shirt who upon questioning turned out to be a PCV from Paraguay and was meeting Gloria (another Ecuador volunteer) for dinner. Shortly thereafter Gloria arrived who was followed several minutes later by Andy and Jason (two more volunteers). Chris, ironically, was last person to show up that evening as his bus had to take an eight hour detour due to a landslide. So, the dinner expanded substantially from four to many within an hour, a very PeaceCorps-Ecua-experience and a great time all in all.
Pics of Cuenca II
Sayausi: 22-August 2009
Saturday morning we planned to do the grand walking tour of Sayausi heading up through Bellavista, down through Buenos Aires, and then eventually ending up back in Sayausi-Centro. We had warned Jim that this loop could take anywhere from one hour, if we did the walk straight through, or four hours depending on how many people we ran into. Any guesses on how long the proposed loop took??
Trick question! We didn’t get past Bellavista. At Dona Rita’s house we stopped to talk to Sandra, Melida, Elvis, Juan Diego, and Tatiana. They were trying to plan a cuy dinner for Jim but upon hearing that he was a vegetarian and after some explanation as to what that meant they decided they would have to do something else for him…today. So, we talked about making pizza among many other things before deciding to make him banana empanadas. It was during this time that Jim got his apodo, or nickname, “Conejo”. Part of the explanation of Jim being a vegetarian involved a lot of comparisons to rabbits. Subsequently Jim was named “Conejo”.
After naming the Conejo, Sandra left to go get the ingredients and we stayed at the house with Melida to make the dough. Four hours later we were eating banana empanadas with café con leche that one hour earlier was still in the cow.
Upon downing at least four banana empanadas each and planning to come back the next day to go see the cows with Maribel, we made our farewells and headed back to Sayausi…to go see Dona Melchora (our host mom for our first few months in Sayausi).
At Dona Melchora’s house the Conejo met Dona Melchora, Norma, Norma’s daughters Jenny and Diana, and Don Nestor. We were invited upstairs for tea and pineapple while Norma’s daughters gave us a detailed account of their recent trip to the beach and gave each of us a seashell. Before leaving we stopped at my garden again and gathered some nabo (turnip greens) for dinner.
Then we were off to my soccer game in San Miguel (another barrio of Sayausi). We arrived at the field a little early and watched the game before us. Then Jim and Mike hacer-ed the barra (made the fan section) for my team as we played and won our game! We won 5-0. I scored one goal and had one assist while the other superstar made a whopping three goals, did I mention she’s awesome?
The three of us then got a ride back from the game with Maira (the captain), her husband (Darwin), and their three children (Jessica, Churros, and Daku) in a two door, very small Suzuki.
Paseando in Sayausi
Sayausi: 23-August 2009
Early Sunday morning we walked up to Dona Rita’s house to “go see the cows” (ver las vacas) with Maribel. We were told they were really close so not to worry about the Conejo (Jim) and altitude problems. However, when we got there at 7:00am Maribel was concerned to find out we had to be back by 11:00am to go to a lunch at our land lady’s house.
“Bueno. Vamos rapido pues.”
The three of us went tearing up the road for about ten minutes before making a sharp uphill turn. We proceeded to walk uphill (45 degree upward slant) for no less then forty five minutes (with very occasional breaks to catch what little breath we had) before arriving at the cow pasture. Once at the pasture we took a short snack and rest break before Maribel started digging a hole for the cows to drink from (we continued resting while she dug). Then it was time to sacar leche i.e. milk the cows.
Maribel started, and of course made it look easy. Jim after a minute of carefully studying Maribel’s masterful milking hand took a go at it. As it turns out milking cows is not quite as easy as it looks. Somehow moving your hand in what looks like the exact same way as Maribel is somehow not exactly how she does it. I, having tried once in the past to milk cows with Maribel’s sister Norma, passed on a second opportunity to try milking cows. Instead we laughed as Jim tried and watched admirably as Maribel milked several cows within twenty minutes.
Milkin´
Still Milkin´
La Maestra
After the cows were milked, each one had to be walked over to the little hole that Maribel had dug while we were still resting from the climb up and listening to the parrots flying around just above us on the hillside. This took a little under an hour and then we started the walk down. Maribel asked me to “cargar” the milk bucket so she could run ahead and give water to the two remaining cows that were further downhill. The twenty pound bucket tied to my back with a blanket definitely made the slick, steep downhill path a little more exhilarating than it should have been. Fortunately, no milk was spilled and Maribel took the bucket from me after she had seen to the other cows.
The downhill certainly went much quicker than the uphill climb but also required much more mental exertion as very quick small, but still carefully planned, steps were needed to prevent slipping and sliding down the trail. We were back at Maribel’s house by 10:30am where we were served morocho (a milk and corn flour drink that is normally served hot but as we were in a rush it was served cold – not as tasty) and a cheese sandwich. We then bid our farewells and headed back to Sayausi to shower before going to the cuy roast at our land lady’s house.
Unfortunately, weekends in Sayausi generally come with a 2-12 hour stretch of no water. When we got back to our apartment we were without water and so had to set off for lunch without showering and probably smelling faintly of cow and grass.
Our land lady, Dona Carmen, lives in Gulag, another barrio of Sayausi. Usually there are busses that go the one and half mile stretch of road but as there is major construction on said road, we had to walk.
We arrived at Dona Carmen’s house a half hour after we said we would be there but in Ecuador a half hour late is at least a half hour early, so we hadn’t missed much. Dona Carmen was still roasting the cuyes in the living room fireplace (yes, in the living room) when we got there.
About an hour later we were eating a lunch for which all of the ingredients had been harvested that same morning from the garden behind the house.
Lunch Menu for Non-Vegetarians: Half a cuy, five potatoes, rice, lettuce, a boiled broccoli-carrot-pea-cilantro salad with coke.
Lunch Menu for Vegetarians: Lettuce and a boiled broccoli-carrot-pea-cilantro salad with coke.
Dinner Later that Night for Chuspi: Cuy
Cuy Dinner
Cuy Dinner Take II
I’m not sure why rice and potatoes weren’t included on the vegetarian plate (further evidence of the utter confusion the term vegetarian caused in Sayausi) but Jim a.k.a El Conejo was served a gigantic plate of lettuce leaves and boiled vegetables. As for the non-vegetartian plate the cuy was delicious, definitely the best cuy in Sayausi, and the rice and potatoes were exactly how you would imagine them.
After eating, a tour of the cuy hut (not sure Jim liked that), and some chatting we headed back to Sayausi for Mike’s basketball game.
Turns out the game was cancelled because the opposing team withdrew from the league so we stopped by Carmita’s (she owns a tienda next to the soccer field). She served us berry ice cream and candy as we watched one of the vacation league games and introduced Jim to all the regular soccer fans that frequent Carmita’s i.e. sit on the benches she has outside of her house.
When the game ended it was pretty late in the afternoon so we stopped by the Sunday market to get some fresh veggies and fruit and headed back home for some much needed rest and some serious hangout time.
Paseando in Sayausi Continued
Ingapirca: 24-August 2009
Monday morning we got an early start to catch a bus to Ingapirca. Ingapirca is a site two hours north of Cuenca with the largest Incan ruins in all of Ecuador. The two hours turned into two and half hours on the way there due to more serious road construction but the drive is beautiful and the weather was lovely so it passed quickly.
The ruins are in the province of Canar (we live in the province of Azuay) which has a large indigenous population. Ingapirca, the ruins, are most known for the mortar-less stone work and the fact that the majority of what remain is not only from the Incas but from the Canari who were there before the Incans arrived.
The site is gorgeous and located in a beautiful valley with views of the nearby towns and, on the day we were there, views of many mountain ranges off in the distance. We spent the better part of two hours walking around the ruins and generally enjoying the pleasant weather, lovely surroundings, and of course the impressive mortar-less stone work.
After touring the ruins we had lunch (the quinoa-cheese soup was particularly delicious) at a nearby restaurant that overlooked the ruins of Ingapirca, browsed for souvenirs, and then got back on the bus for the ride back to Cuenca.
Back in Cuenca we did some last minute errands for our trip the next day and had dinner at El Paraiso to watch the sunset over the San Blas church.
The rest of the night was spent packing and getting ready for the coastal leg of the trip that would start at 5:30am the next morning.
The Ruins
To Puerto Lopez: 25-August 2009
This day passed in a blur as we were on a bus for most of the day. We left Sayausi at 6:30am and arrived in Guayaquil at just before 11:00am. Incredibly lucky with the timing, we then got on an 11:15am bus for Puerto Lopez. We were on this bus for three hours before it stopped in the wonderful, truck/bus stop town of Jipijapa where we waited for an hour before continuing on to Puerto Lopez. Fortunately, aside from the coastal landscape and agriculture out he window, throughout the ride there were high quality movies to entertain us: Chuck Norris and Mark Walhberg at their best. We arrived in Puerto Lopez just before five o’clock ready to put our bags down, walk around, and eat some fresh seafood (expect for Conejo, of course).
We stayed a really cute hostel called Itapoa. It’s run by a Brazilian women whose Spanish can, without warning, turn to Portuguese and then just as quickly back to Spanish. Our room was actually a two story cabin with a small balcony overlooking the courtyard gardens, and each bed was outfitted with its own mosquito net (I wonder why?).
After dropping our bags at the hostel we walked around town stretching out our mildly cramped legs (even my legs were sore as the bus seats were kind of small). We walked up and down the malecon (beachfront walkway) and along the beach checking out the local fishing boats and other beach activity i.e. ecuaboley.
We hung out on the malecon for the rest of the evening, had a great dinner, then retired to our humble abode after finalizing the details for our whale watching and island tour the next day.
To the Coast!
Whales and Isla de la Plata: 26- August 2009
To say this day was totally and completely awesome would be an understatement! After a complimentary breakfast overlooking the beach we boarded a small motorboat with our guide Cherry and a group of about ten other random tourists. We then headed out into the ocean in search of humpback whales, which come here every year to mate and give birth during the months of July, August, and September.
It takes about an hour and half to cover the 25 miles of Pacific Ocean and get out to where the whales are but the ride is great. The wind whips at your hair and the sea spray at your face, not to mention the many sea birds flying along side the boat making occasional dives into the ocean below. And then, as if all that weren’t enough, the captain cuts the motor and suddenly you are in the center of a group of nine humpback whales!
Whales
The whales are indescribable, larger than our boat, and they are everywhere. I don’t know how much time we spent following them around as everyone is sort of in a trance like state watching them swim, dive, spin, and listening to them making their whale noises. Eventually however we had to continue on to the island.
On the island we went on a 6km hike through colonies of blue footed boobies, masked boobies, frigates, and red footed boobies. The sheer quantities of birds is astounding, and then add the baby birds, the nests in the middle of footpaths, and the birds’ general apathy toward the group of humans walking through their nesting grounds and you’ve got yourself one incredible experience.
Take his phone!
Boobie Talk
After the hike we got back on the boat and headed to a cove for some snorkeling!! You could see the fish just by looking over the side of the boat but that was nothing compared to what you saw once in the water. There were lots of fish in all different colors and tons of coral as well. The water was also really nice which made it hard to get out. But all good things must come to an end so eventually we got back on the boat and started the return trip back to land.
Once back in Puerto Lopez (around 5:30pm) we changed into dry clothes and then with some great timing, immediately got on a bus for that wonderful truck/ bus stop town of Jipijapa. In Jipijapa, again with perfect timing, we switched busses to get a bus for Guayaquil at which point I fell asleep and didn’t wake up again until we were in Guayaquil. I’ve been told I missed some killer Jean Claude van Dam movies, and delicious fish stuffed bread.
By the time we were in Guayaquil it was almost midnight so we just caught a cab to our hostel and passed the night hanging out with the caged jungle animals by the small pool in the courtyard of the hostel. A perfect ending to an absolutely wonderful, wonderful day.
Watching Whales and Isla de la Plata
Homeward Bound: 27-August 2009
So here we are at the last day of Jim’s trip. His flight left at 10:00am so we loitered at the airport as long as possible before an American Airlines employee told Jim, and at least fifty other travelers, that they had to start the boarding process as there were more lines ahead for immigration and customs.
Then Jim walked through a different set of sliding glass doors and started his 14 hour trip home and Mike and I headed back to the bus terminal for the bus to Sayausi.
I guess that brings us to the end of the Conejo’s trip to Ecuador. Simply put, it was awesome!! We miss you Jim and hope we haven’t left anything out!
In Guayaquil
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
