Otavalo and Quilotoa

To follow up my week in Zamora I returned to Quito. I had no concrete plans to speak of, and I needed to send many an email. While I was around I received a tour of Dr. Ron's lab, and the lab nextdoor, called BALSA de los Sapos, where they have several terrariums of frogs that are of concern for conservation. The tour was highlighted by some Jabba the Hutt-esque Telmatobius frogs, and some spade-footed horned frogs from the arid western part of Ecuador. I also took a quick trip to the equator to see water go clockwise, counter-clockwise, and straight down a drain. Other than the tour my time spent in Quito was not exactly thrilling. I will spare you the details.

After a few days of reading and contemplation in Quito I had the start of a trip itinerary in mind, sort of. I took a bus up to Otavalo for the famous Saturday market. The entire town was a sea of booths selling paintings, masks, sweaters, hats, blankets, and everything else I did not intend to buy. I hate shopping, which makes me wonder why I went on the busiest day of the week. I do have to admit that the big event was quite a sight, and the donut shop in town saw a lot of business from me. Still, I left as soon as possible after milling around the busy streets a bit.

My next stop, after passing through Quito again, was the town of Latacunga. The city is known as the gateway to the Quilotoa Loop, a hiking hotspot in Ecuador. Before starting any hikes I chose to stay the night in Latacunga. That way I could explore the big enclosed market in town, and maybe find a good dinner option. I had read about a tasty regional dish, called chugchucara, and I figured I could find some for cheap in there. Thankfully I was successful. I found a booth with a roasted pig staring me in the face, and a sign reading "Chugchucara." I asked for some and the lady running the place handed me a delicious little pork chunk. It was pork perfection! I asked for the full dinner plate. The full chugchucara meal consists of chunks of pork, little greasy flecks of pork, fried pork skin, a pile of boiled and cooked corn kernels (called mote), fried plantains, and boiled potatoes. It was really good, though a bit of a pork overload.

The very next day I hopped on another bus to get to a good hiking base, the village of Chugchilán. I got there in the late afternoon and took a brief trek to an overlook of the nearby Cañon Toachi. The next morning I did a serious hike. I followed a steep road that provided spectacular views of the rolling hills and their patchwork of small farms. I was told that after a couple hours I would see the Bosque Nublado (cloud forest). Cloud forest is an environment I had been dying to explore, mostly due to its notoriety as a premier place for viewing wildlife. Well, when they said I could "see" the cloud forest they meant so in the literal sense. I reached a mirador (viewpoint) that overlooked a fluffy sea of clouds stretching off into the distance. That was the cloud forest. I saw it. Great, I guess... Do not get me wrong, it was a beautiful sight! Just not what I had in mind. I kept hiking, thinking that in a couple more hours I might actually experience the cloud forest firsthand. I followed a curvy road around tons more hills, confident that I was going the right way. It took forever, but eventually I turned a corner and noticed a thick mist in the air, and a lot more trees. CLOUD FOREST. I continued onward, in search of an entry point into the habitat itself. That part never really panned out. The drop off from the road was steep, and mostly bordered by barbed wire. I was in no mood to get injured or upset a local landowner. Even though I never really got to go into the cloud forest I can still say I felt the mist, saw the trees (and hummingbirds), and even found a frog under a rock in the road. I would grade my cloud forest experience as an incomplete, but at least I got a taste of it!

Those eight hours of hiking for cloud forest proved to be a lot for my legs to handle! My body was worn down, but in a good way. I returned to my hostel wanting more. That night, as I dominated some English high school kids in ping pong, I made the strange decision to take the 4AM bus to Quilotoa. That was where the main attraction (and more hiking) lay in wait. My only other choice was to go at 9AM, but pay $10 more. No way. I wanted the money, and I convinced myself I made my decision because I wanted an early start. Right…

The early wakeup was horrible (technically I never woke up because I never fell asleep). Outside it was frigid, windy, and of course the bus showed up later than advertised. I hopped on and hopped off in complete darkness and with frozen extremities. With my headlamp equipped I plodded down the road into little Quilotoa and looked for an entry point to the shore of the famous caldera lake (lake formed within a crater left behind by a massive volcanic eruption). I found a trail and hurriedly made my descent. I reached a nice lookout point near the bottom and perched myself there starting at 5:30AM. I figured the wait would not be too long since the sunrise happens at about 6AM every day of the year in equatorial locations. What I failed to account for was the fact that the sun would take longer to rise from my vantage point, due to the towering rim of the caldera. The sky was clear and starry as I waited in the cold. Slowly the stars faded and more and more light shown behind the jagged mountain remains. Obviously the sun popped up while I was down there. Though not until 6:30AM. I cannot remember a better sunrise in my life! The early rise and long wait were well worth it. The biggest reward was that as more light entered the sky I began to see more of the massive lake in front of me. When I first arrived the lake was shrouded in complete darkness. By the end it was practically sparkling from the rays of sunlight. That was a good morning.

Later in the day, after a direly needed bout of sleep, I hiked around the lake as well. I went as fast as I could, probably because I am crazy. I was in no mood for a 6-hour hike, which my guidebook claimed it would be. The views were nice all the way around, though a little repetitive. I did get a nice peek at a white-capped mountain that I believe was Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world.

Despite not having a clear plan going into it, this little side trip went well. Now I am looking forward to launching north to Colombia, my final destination. Not sure of my plans yet. Fortunately Colombia receives rave reviews from every traveler I meet. Should be fun!

Hola Ecuador

Though I was hesitant to leave Peru after three good months, I knew I would not be displeased with Ecuador. The little country has gotten rave reviews from the many people I know that have studied abroad, or volunteered in the cloud forest (McGizzle, that is a shout out to you).

My trip to Ecuador started off strangely. I took a bus to the largest city, Guayaquil (nope, not Quito), which is not a common tourist destination. I wanted to see a park I had heard about in downtown. It is a park filled with iguanas! That is about all I did see before leaving the next day. I must say that seeing people feeding a mixed flock (?) of pigeons and iguanas was entertaining, but maybe not worth the significant detour from my next destination, Cuenca.

Moving via bus once more, I headed due east to Cuenca, a city many consider to be Ecuador's most scenic. I was quickly reminded of Cusco, Peru when my bus pulled in. The center of town has an old and somewhat European feel to it. Many of the buildings were old and architecturally fascinating. This was especially true of the churches, of which there were many. The most famous, and also my favorite, was the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with its blue and white domes. Inside it was elaborately decorated with candles, pews, and what basically amounted to a wall of gold. The surrounding plazas of trees and green grass were also a nice touch.

I did not just go to Cuenca to see a bunch of churches and city stuff though, as you might have guessed. I also took a day trip to Cajas National Park, which is only about an hour from town. Joining me was another hostel buddy, Bart of the Netherlands. We chose a nice long hike around some lakes, through a Fangorn-esque forest, and over some rugged hillsides. The park was a beautiful piece of nature to enjoy for a day. The views were stunning, and the people were few and far between. I would have liked to spend another week exploring all the trails. Alas, I had to get to Quito very very soon. I left the next day.

My purpose for going to Quito was to meet up with Dr. Santiago Ron, of Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE). Through the help of Dr. Emily Lemmon (my last employer) I got invited to join Dr. Ron on a field trip, along with some of his students and colleagues. Prior to meeting my host I chose to visit the historic center of Quito for a morning. I saw old churches, and even took a tour inside the double clock tower Basilica just up the hill from the rest of the city center. The views were great, and that church was fantastic, both inside and out. I ended up missing my lunch appointment with Dr. Ron, due to a combination of serious bus confusion and pushing my time limit on my church tour. I felt really bad for missing the meeting. But Quito's historic district was cool.

The next morning I ambled my way to PUCE, met Dr. Ron, and was whisked off on a long car ride with a bunch of people I did not know, and whom did not speak much English at all. We were embarking on a field trip of the herpetological variety (see a theme yet?). Our group visited a couple reserves in southern Ecuador, near the small city of Zamora. We were put up in a hotel and took nightly trips to the forest. I would describe the habitat we were in as something between lowland rainforest and cloud forest. Whatever it was, there were lots of clouds, and plenty of rain to go around. It was a new environment for me, which made it extra exciting. I knew there would be new things to see here.

On our nightly hikes we walked for at least a couple hours to reach proper survey locations. As I should have mentioned above, this was an inventory project that I was tagging along on. Our goal was to find amphibians and reptiles, identify them, and bring them back to Quito for museum collections. I am not a big fan of killing animals for collections, but Dr. Ron is highly respected in his field of work. This was all for the sake of high level science. I did my best to find and catch whatever I could.

In my week in this unfamiliar forest I did not see any boas, vipers, coral snakes, turtles, or poison dart frogs, as I had in the Amazon in Peru. Animals were harder to spot here, and in such a short time one cannot expect to see a whole lot anyway. I did help find tons of frogs of the familiar (and generally threatened) Pristimantis genus. In addition, and much more exciting, were the countless glass frogs I got to see and catch! I never spotted one in Peru, so I was overcome with joy when I saw one my first night in the field in Ecuador. The reason glass frogs are incredible is that they have huge eyes, smooth bright green skin, and a transparent underside, like glass. They are not big frogs, maybe the size of your average chorus frog or tree frog in the US. They are insanely cool, and I saw multiple species. I also saw two snail-eating snakes, and found a leaf litter snake. On top of that, there were some big iguana-like lizards with pointy crests on their backs, making them resemble little dinosaurs. I found a massive toad on the trail, a mating pair of small frogs high up in a tree, and a mass of hatching eggs dangling from a leaf over a stream. Fittingly, the ultimate highlight was the last frog caught on the trip: a Marsupial frog. It honestly did not look all that spectacular, yet it set off a buzz of "que lindo!" and "chévere!" from the students. These frogs are only awesome if you know a little bit about them. On the back of a female Marsupial frog there is a pouch in which her fertilized eggs sit, and eventually hatch into little tadpoles! Que lindo indeed. I had no idea they were in the region, making it a terrific surprise for me on this trip. Credit goes to Diego for finding it.

Beyond just amphibians and reptiles, this forest was filled with all sorts of life forms. Up in the trees I saw tons of bromeliads, which are an epiphyte (plant that grows on another plant). There were also thorny caterpillars, big spiders, shiny beetles, colorful stick bugs, and a night monkey, which we spotted just before getting in the car at the end of our final night in the field.

My week in Zamora was not all cool frogs and rainbows, mind you. Throughout the excursion I was struggling badly to interact with most of my Spanish-speaking companions. My Spanish has improved a lot down here, but I still cannot hold a great conversation without making tons of mistakes, or having people repeat themselves a few times. I got frustrated a lot, and sometimes stayed more quiet than usual to avoid embarrassment. People in the group reached out to me a lot, and that was greatly appreciated. Dr. Ron and I mostly spoke in English to make sure I was understanding things. It felt like cheating to have that handicap, but it was necessary most of the time. This experience has given me much more motivation to improve my Spanish. If I am going to come back to Latin America it will be imperative that I speak it well. I will do my best to get better while I am down here, and when I head home too.

Now that the field trip is over it is unclear how much longer I will be in Ecuador, or where my next destination is. The last few days have been a bit of a scheduling nightmare. I have no clue where I am going or what my next blog post will be about! Stay tuned.

The Cordillera Blanca and Peru's North Coast

After finishing up with things in Cusco I took the long 22-hour bus ride all the way up to Lima. I met up with Gavin and his crew once again, this time for some delicious dinner by the sea. Then I hopped on yet another bus (because I love them so much) and went to Huaraz, a city that overlooks the famous Cordillera Blanca portion of the Andes.

That was a lot of traveling, but I knew my time was limited, so I did not take a rest. Upon arriving the next morning I found a buddy at my hostel and we found a nice long day hike, up to a lake called Laguna Churrup. The hike included lots of beautiful views of the region - mountains and rolling hills in every direction, with little towns fit snugly into the valleys. Eventually the trek went into the Parque Nacional Huascaran, which would have been cool if I had known there was an additional fee for entering. It was not a problem, and the rest of the hike was fun since it included scrambling over rocks and climbing alongside a waterfall. The view at the top was really nice. The lake itself is right at the base of Nevado Churrup, which is a big snowy mountain. I sat around at about 4,500 feet and thought about how crazy it was that about 12 hours prior I was at sea level. The following day I did more of the same by hiking to Laguna Aguac, another nearby lake. That hike was not as fun, and I did it alone. My one consolation for wearing myself out so much was that I caught a lizard with yellow and orange blotches on its underside. I was not expecting to see that at 4,000+ meters. The next day, my final one in Huaraz, was spent doing yet another long hike. This time I joined a tour, mostly because figuring out taxis and buses was wearing on me. The destination was a place called Laguna 69 (yes I only hiked to lakes). That hike was absolutely beautiful, and well worth the long, early drive to get started. Along the way we saw plenty of other lakes and mountains. There were also some towering waterfalls that seemed to come out of nowhere to splash down into the valley. The trek up to Laguna 69 ended up being fairly difficult for me, but fortunately the scenery made me forget how tired my legs were from the previous two days. At the end of the hike you go up switchback after switchback for a good while. When you do finally reach the top the view ahead is unbelievable! Laguna 69 might be the bluest body of water I have ever seen. Yes, it actually rivals the blueness of Crater Lake in Oregon! The backdrop is not too bad either, with a few rugged glaciers and peaks looming right over. The glaciers made a lot of cracking noises, and water was always trickling down the rocks into the blue lake. It was a fantastic place to admire with the few others that had made it up already. Of course eventually people showed up with a stereo and started playing crappy music. Fortunately I had a lot of time to enjoy the ambience before they crashed the quiet party. The hike back was way better than the hike up, as it allowed me to look out over the valley and the mountains that had been at my back all morning. The Cordillera Blanca is a beautiful part of the Andes, and not even bad music can ruin that.

My next destination was Trujillo, which I had gotten very mixed reviews about. People that had never visited said they avoided it because it is dangerous, while people that did stop there said they had zero problems. I went there, in part because it was a sensible next stop on my way north, and because there are some cool historical sites nearby. Those local sites include some ¨huacas¨ that are basically PYRAMIDS, as well as the largest pre-Columbian city in South America, called Chan Chan. Seeing as I had never seen a real pyramid before, that was priority number one for my visit.

I went to the Huaca de la Luna (Temple of the Moon) to get my pyramid fix. I was not disappointed, well at first I was. The pyramid is mostly covered in roofing and supports, which are meant to protect it from the sun. So when I first saw the pyramid I was unsure what all the hype could be about. I was forced to get a tour guide, and because I answered the question ¨Do you speak Spanish?¨with ¨mas o menos¨ (more or less) I was given a Spanish tour. It was me, the female tour guide, and a funny old Peruvian guy with a few teeth missing. My guide spoke slowly for me, and I surprisingly understood about 90 percent of what she said. The tour mostly took place inside the pyramid, where all the good stuff is hidden. I learned from the guide that over the years the pyramid was built over by subsequent generations of the Moche people. They would just plop more adobe mud bricks over what was made by the last generation. This layering proved important for the preservation of the murals and carvings inside. Thus, when one enters the Huaca de la Luna, there are unweathered designs and symbols of all colors visible. The colors were created by the oxidation of minerals, which is pretty clever. Designs on the bricks included faces in a wide range of emotional states, pictures of victorious and defeated warriors, and some deities. I liked the crazy faces the best. While the tour was going the funny old Peruvian guy brought out a "chicha" drink in a bottle. As I understand, it is an old traditional Peruvian drink, and it contains a ton of alcohol. He offered me some, with a twinkle in his eye, so I took a small swig and quickly decided that was enough cultural experience for me. At one point during the tour we looked over at the larger pyramid, the Huaca del Sol, wishing it was also open for tourists. Unfortunately there is still a lot of work to be done there. The structure is not in great shape, thanks to the the Spaniards' decision to divert a river right into it a few hundred years ago. I clarified that I have no ancestors from Spain, which drew some laughs. The inner Huaca de la Luna was amazing, and I am very glad that it remains so well preserved.

The other site I visited in the area, with my hostel buddy Nikki, was the aforementioned largest pre-Columbian city in South America: Chan Chan. It is a creation of the Chimu people, who came after the Moche (the pyramid folks). Much of Chan Chan is restored, and very few colors remain in the designs on the adobe bricks. The sheer size of the place is what impressed me. It goes on forever, and then some. Generations of people constructed the city, brick by brick. There were trade centers, sacrifical altars, and throne areas. I liked it, but the pyramid from the day before was cooler and included a better tour.

After Trujillo I headed up to Máncora, where people go to surf and do beach activities. I laid in the sand, body-surfed, and ate a ton for a few fabulous days. It was a relaxing way to end my stay in Peru.

Three months felt like a long time, yet I still think I missed out on a lot of what Peru has to offer. It is a surprisingly big country with endless natural beauty, great people, and unbeatable historical sites. I will return, and the sooner the better! Now I am in Ecuador, Peru's little neighbor to the north, for a little while.