Ecuador, Cuenca

We chose to take a bus back to Quito, rather than risk the possibility of a repeat nightmare taxi drive, then boarded a flight to Cuenca. Again, another city but smaller than Quito, which in recent years, attracted 3500 expatriates. During our 5 day stay (this time we were renting a room in a young couples home, she was Ecadorian and he, Canadian). We had ample opportunity to speak with several expats who were more thanwilling to share their stories and reasons for relocating to this much gentler city with it's 4 rivers flowing through it, and grassy pathway alongside. And here were some of those reasons:

The mountains
The rivers
The people
The culture
The architecture
Sunshine
Cost of living
Parks
Cafes
Critters (lack of)

To give a little history.... Cuenca means 'River Basin' and has an elevation of 8500 ft. The Incas conquered Cuenca in the late 1400's, prior to that the Canari' had been living here since 500 AD. There is an abundance of museums, so we chose best part of a day to explore the most famous ... 'Museum del Banco Central' which had been constructed over what was previously, an Inca Palace. Attached was an archaeological site along with some lovely Botanical Gardens.

This museum has re-creations of typical dwellings from the various regions of Ecuador and a section devoted to the chronicles of the country's currency. Along with the history of the Incas, there were several real, shrunken heads. It was interesting to note that the "white man" was not thought worthy of having their heads shrunk!



We also wandered around The Panama Hat factory .... because, as we all know, Panama Hats come from Ecuador NOT Panama. We were quite tempted to purchase a couple, but discovered the most popular hats that the tourists prefer, sell here for $25, and are categorized as being only a grade 1 ... when in actual fact, a truly decent hat (a grade 20) sells for several thousand dollars and can be more easily purchased online.


We enjoyed our usual bus tour around Cuenca, but despite this we found that we walked 30 miles over our 4 days, enjoyed decent cups of coffee, good quality, tasty, inexpensive food. Saw local indians washing their laundry in the rivers (interestingly, in many cases it is the men who actually wash the clothes, while the women supervise) It is evident that a high priority is to have clean shoes, and there are shoeshinners set up everywhere, one even tried to persuade Ron to have his Keen walking sandals cleaned, Traffic still has the right of way here, and crosswalks are totally disregarded, if anything the drivers speed up if they see you using them! It definitely felt a much safer city despite there always being a guard with a sawn off shotgun standing outside every bank.

Ecuador, Quito and Otavalo

It took all day to get ourselves relocated from Panama to the huge sprawling city of Quito, temp barely 60 degrees and raining.... could we really be on the equator? But, with an altitude of 9000 ft we found ourselves wearing multiple warm layers and our rain gear, oh yes, and where was the oxgyen ....the air seemed so thin, this was to be 'home' for the next 4 days. As always, when we are in cities, we find ourselves walking 7, 8 or 10 miles a day as we explored museums, churches and generally get the feel of the place. We found that it did warm up between 11- 3, and our day packs would be full of clothing, as we peeled our layers off. Although Quito was very easy on our wallets, large $1beers, full meal $3 each, alpaca yarn for $5/100gm, Ron had a haircut for $2.75, generally I did not care for this city - it didn't feel safe. We were constantly being warned to be vigilant for pickpockets, not to be out walking after dark. One local lady even discouraged us from walking in a certain tourist area, saying' don't look, don't smile, don't speak to anyone, they could (and here she indicates something being placed over our nose) do to your body what ever they want" .... Well .... that was enough to put me off, and this was in broad daylight! The traffic was crazy, pedestrains second class citizens, and the buses belch out black clouds of exhaust fumes.

Our Quito experience was topped off with a 2 hr taxi ride from hell, the driver, a maniac. The man beside me kept crossing himself, Ron and I were white knuckled in an attempt to prevent ourselves being hurtled all over the place. There were 5 of us jammed in like sardines, luggage strapped on the roof, the driver seemed possessed, overtaking everything, ignoring the double yellow lines on the hair raising bends on what seemed like two wheels. We were most thankful to finally reach our destination, Otavalo, a small town nestled amongst lush mountains. Our accomodation was a cabin a couple of miles out of town, with scenery that can best be described as ' Little Switzerland'...llamas, donkeys, cows, dogs, clean air and oh so tranquil.



Our main reason for coming to this area was to experience "the world famous artisans market", which was somewhat overwhelming but really impressive, especially the live stock section, where locals were buying, selling and exchanging just about everything imaginable, from your everyday farm animal to guinea pigs (on the menu here!) and llamas of course. On Saturdays the venders set up stalls on every available speck of sidewalk and alleyway, and one can literally spend all day browsing and bargaining for treasures.


On Easter Sunday I attended a Catholic church service conducted in Latin and found myself to be the only tourist. Not only that, but the only grey haired person (and I was by no means the eldest) feeling like a giant beside the 4 ft, and under, local indians, who smiled their toothless smiles with bright eyes set in weather beaten faces. We were packed in like sardines standing, shoulders touching, and during the Easter Service, several groups of local indians brought bunches of corn stalks to the alter to receive a blessing for a good harvest. It really was a unique and unforgetable service. Later in the day I went horseriding, something I had not done for 25 years.... Now what on earth made me think I could just step up and swing my leg over the saddle as I had last done! but, I managed on the second attempt with some assistance that time. The horse was no fool he knew he didn't have an equestrian on his back, but we plodded on even through the pouring rain.



After the w/e we chose to take a bus back to Quito instead of a taxi, which turned out to be not only much cheaper but more comfortable too, and then a flight to Cuenca.......but that's another posting.

Panama City/Embera Village

After spending 10 days in two quiet mountain locations, we drove to Panama City dropping off the car we had rented for the previous week, and found our next lodging, a rather quirky hostel for the next few nights. The city seemed noisy, stiffling and hot after the cool mountain air and we were thankful to have a small pool we could dip into. Our first day in the City we did our usual "hop-on/hop-off" Bus Tour in order to get a feel for the city's sights, and then explore on foot the areas which appealed. Naturally, one of the highlights was visiting the locks of theCanal, which as most people I'm sure, we found to be really intriguing. Another nice area we walked was along the city waterfront, which ended up being an 8 mile walk, and our aching legs certainly confirmed that.

Amazing Day Trip to the Embera' Village


We were picked up at 7:30 by Anne Gordon - who was an animal trainer for film & TV for over 20 years when she was hired in early 2004 to work on a film "The End of the Spear" which was shot in the jungles of Panama. The production company had contracted to use the Embera' tribe as their actors for this real life story. During the months it took to film this movie Anne became friends with many of the Embera' people and fell in love with their quality of life and how warm and open hearted they are, and as fate would have it, she is now married to one of the Embera' men from the village, so we really felt fortunate as she was the perfect guide.

Anyway, to get back to our memorable day, after picking up another couple of Americans the 5 of us drove for an hour out of the city, before climbing into a hand dug out canoe with an outboard engine for the 90 min ride up the river, we were told it would have taken a day to paddle the same distance! It was really quite a challenge for our 3 native men to navigate the river against a strong current and in places the river was so shallow it was necessary to lift the outboard engine out of the water while we all climbed out and pushed the canoe through several of these low spots. That in itself was fun, and all so peaceful, seeing turtles gathered together warming themselves on rocks, and various birds gliding overhead.

There were about 100 total, counting the many children, living in this simple village consisting of about a dozen or so round open huts on stilts, with tree bark floors, and palm frond roofing. Each 'home' had it's own open wood fire set on a sand bed, simple pots for cooking, and a few hammocks for sleeping. Access up into the hut was by a log propped against the side with wedges cut for steps, when a family were away for the day then the log was simply turned round to show the smooth side!



Clothing for the women were brightly colored lengths of cloth just wrapped around their waist, the men wore only loin cloths, and all barefoot. No drawers or closets required for clothing, only a clothes line to dry the lenghts of cloth.

The river was used for bathing and washing their 'clothing' - with downstream as the bathroom area. Everywhere was tidy and picked even though there were kids, dogs and chickens everywhere.



We were able to roam the village freely, taking photos of the children swinging on woven ropes, playing kick ball, pretending to ride a horse, which was just a stick or pulling each other on a plastic 5 gallon container cut in half, which was their 'sled'. They all had big smiles and always wanted to see the photo you had just taken on your digital camera. The women weave
beautiful hand crafted baskets, or made jewlery from various pods/ seeds/ while the men wove monkey masks or did amazing carvings of birds, turtles, hummingbirds made from wood or hard nuts.

The men would also fish (meals were not set times, and as Anne said, you could never be quite sure what you would be served, she has learned to eat many things an American would not normally consider). Much of their time was spend 'body painting' each other with elaborate designs using the juice of a special fruit. These designs only last 10 days so it was a constant upkeep.

We were introduced to an elder who was the herbalist and took us on a tour informing us, via Anne as our interpretor, of the properties of the various plants, he was a gentle, quietly spoken man.

We were given a simple but delicious lunch of cooked fish/plantains/fruit, served in large palm leaves formed into a pouch, and afterwards treated to some traditional dancing, singing and the playing of simple handmade instruments. Our return trip down river was much quicker but just as enjoyable.

It was easy to see why Anne fell in love with these warmhearted friendly people and their easy going lifestyle, and we were all a little sad when it came time to leave.

Note: The majority of this tribe lives about 300 miles further into the jungle.

El Valle de Anton, Panama

Despite recommendations for us to visit Bocas Del Toro (Panama's principle tourist draw to some of the most beautiful beaches) we decided to continue to seek out the quieter more remote mountainous areas, and so found ourselves in 'El Valle de Anton' elevation 2000 ft, nestled in the crater of a giant extinct volcano, last active some three million years ago! To be fair it is a popular, second home 'weekend get away' for the folk who live in Panama City, approx 2 hr drive away. Our lodging has been a modest hotel with the big attraction of having a large covered roof patio, hammocks, comfortable bamboo furniture, great views of the mountains/creater rim, along with warm breezes, so when we want to read, relax, or enjoy our breakfast of fresh fruit this is the spot to be. (Speaking of fruit....huge local pineapples for $1...perfectly ripe and juicy....what a treat!)



The charm here is once again the cooler climate, the lush scenery and clean air - though one finds 'pockets' of smoldering trash which is not so pleasant - a frequent occurance throughout Panama it seems. And the reason we are not at the coastline at this time of the year..... the comfortable 70 degree temps. Like Boquete, this is a popular place for hiking.....we did over extend ourselves a bit on a 3 hr strenuous and challenging walk one day with our legs feeling like jelly at the end, but we enjoyed ourselves and slept well.
Another shorter and kinder walk for our legs boasted of it's unique square trees along with their square growth rings. - We read that saplings from these trees were being grown in FL to see if they retain their squareness in a different environment, however, it is believed that the shape is probably due to some unknown but purely local condition.

Other attractions include horseback riding and warm thermal pools with the added attraction of indulging in a mud bath with supposed curitive properties all located in a remote forested area.....we restrained ourselves and just did a facial!


El Valley de Anton is pristine, quiet, and lacks a town center, however there is no evidence of trash, shacks (or worse) dwellings for the poor, for this is not an area where the indigenous people live. What does strike one as being unusual here is the number of bicyles due to the extensive flatness of the crater. However the cyclists could benefit from a couple of safety tips, such as, don't ride down the center of the roads at night without a flashlight or any kind of reflector on your bike, and the preferred dark clothing only makes you blend into the inky blackness of the night.

At times clouds DO tend to roll on down the mountain sides, almost reaching the town, feels a bit like being wrapped up in cotton wool, then the warm breeze becomes a little cooler and chases us indoors for a while. Several times today we heard a vehicle drive by with a loud booming megaphone making what we thought was some important announcement..... such as to the impending eruption of the volcano maybe? ... only later to learn it was a truck full of watermelons that someone was trying to sell!..... that's the problem of having an over active imagination.



There is an extensive choice of places to eat, from a road side stand that prepares the most delicious chicken or beef tacos $1.50 to a fancy Irish pub, that looks more like a country estate with it's stone walls, and upscale landscaping, where one can purchase fish/chips or sheperds pie for less than $10 and a beers $1.

Tomorrow (28th) we exchange our peace and quiet for Panama City.... better get the ear plugs out.

Boquete, Panama

And so, all good things must come to an end .... we said farewell to our jungle house and climbed into a taxi at 7 am to drive down the 7 km teeth rattling road for the last time in order to catch the 90 min water taxi to Golfito. Here we boarded a 2 hour "chicken bus" ride to Panama's border, thankful to have secured a seat. We prepared ourselves for the forewarned, complicated process of crossing into Panama, however it turned out to be a fairly simple, if somewhat disorganized, process because before we knew it, we were bundled into a taxi (deciding it was well worth the extra cash NOT to take another local bus which would have been a 4 hr, no a/c trip to our next destination). We received one last scrutinized head to toe check from a couple of armed police who obviously lacked any form of humor as my rather timid smile was received with a piercing frown.

Oh what luxury.... we were gliding along smooth well marked roads where 2 hr later we arrived in the mountain town of Boquete, elevation about 3000 ft, with it's cool fresh climate and lush pristine natural setting and our 'home' for 6 nights. Boquete is known as 'The valley of eternal spring' and is a well known destination for outdoor lovers with plenty of hiking trails and surrounding breathtaking vistas of mist covered hills, nearby forests, and many coffee plantations, farms and gardens. There are jacaranda trees, bougainvillaea and azaela blooming everywhere in fact the ground is so fertile here I would bet that if one stuck a stick in the ground, it would start sprouting leaves in no time! The climate is perfect, no air conditioning OR heating required year round! That's not to say there is not a rainy season or that it doesn't get cool at times, but folk just throw on a sweater or blanket at night.



There is a large community of expriates from the US and Canada now living here, some are involved with the much needed voluntary work (teaching, dental and medical services) for the indigenous folks that are very prevalent in this town, they have so very little, and one can see their poverty everywhere. Generally they seemed to prefer to keep to themselves, and would rarely make eye contact. We were fortunate enough to visit and spend a little time with several Americans who relocated to this beautiful area, and patiently answered many of our questions, they don't seem to miss living in the US at all.

Observations:

- An over population of wandering, seeminly homeless dogs, malnourished and skittish. We were actually told to pretend to pick up a rock, then the dog would flee.... this is how these poor animals are treated.

- Garbage needs to be placed in elevated wire baskets outside residences in order to keep it out of reach of these dogs.

- And, like everywhere we have been, the smell of burning of trash is always in the air!

- Fine dining, $12.... Beer $1 unless bought at a groc store then it's 50cents!

- Aggressive drivers, cars/ taxies/ buses, all oblivious they have indicators but love their horns.

- Excellent roads.

- Electricity erratic, one day we were without electricity for 7 hours, not sure what would happen had this been Christmas Day and all those turkeys cooking.

- Locals holding out a parrot, for sale along the main roads.... I wanted to buy them all and then set them free again.




Two coffee pickers that agreed to a photo, but would not smile.

Bamboo House

One would NOT believe the roads we drove on in order to reach our 'Jungle Home' which is well and truly "off the grid" During the 7 hour journey we drove over mountains that look as though the road would only support a bike, across wooden bridges barely wide enough to accomodate our 4 tires, even through a few low rivers. At one part of the journey we opted for a short cut that took us through a small town to an unmarked river crossing. To get across, the car had to be backed down a steep incline onto a "single car" rusty ferry propelled by a wooden boat lashed to the side of it..... quite the adventure.


Our "Jungle Experience" is not so scary after all. No mosquitoes :) and the monkeys keep their distance, but oh how they have entertained us as we watch them travel through the canopy of the trees in large groups with the young un's hanging on. It's keeping the racoonls at bay that is the challenge, all our food is either in a mini fridge, the oven or locked in a mesh screened cupboard. Yes, we have a few hard backed beatles, spiders, lizards, bats, birds that actually fly through the 'A' framed roofing, but we are doing GREAT!
We need to be vigilant with the clearing up after food prep due to the industrious ants. Katie and I took the 30 stepping stone walk to the open air bathroom one night only to see 2 pairs of eyes shinning in our flashlights .... we had disturbed two racoons playing in the toilet water! I am actually very impressed with the bathroom area, simple wood/ stone trough for a sink, and a bamboo covered pipe shower with folage for walls.

There is a beautiful butterfly garden at one side of 'the house' and they frequently drift through our living quarters, and the smallest birds rest among the bamboo beams singing their hearts out... it is truly like living in a garden. We are lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean and the howler monkeys calling out to each other.



The house with 'no walls' actually is really neat, a simple construction, a bit like a ' Swiss Family Robinson' tree house only it has raised deck levels from the ground, not up in the tree tops, and the four of us are enjoying it immensely. Our days are simple, even though the jungle comes to life at the earliest sign of daylight, we just take in all the strange sounds and scents... these monkeys can really make a racket. We don't get going till we have had our coffee, which takes us to about 9 am, and by 'getting going' I mean, we meander down to the beach, a 3 min walk away, and 'wallow' in the tidal pools - watching the brilliantly colored macaws - for a couple of hours. Then it's breakfast/lunch around noon, followed with reading and sleeping till 4 pm ...none of us have a desire to move any faster than a sloth! We can't, it's too hot. Then somehow it's evening time, fix dinner, play cards, sleep, and start the whole hectic process all over again the next day!

All four of us can say we have this relaxation thing down to a science!!


We did change up the routine one day by taking a remote walk to reach a waterfall which we had been told was a great place for a swim. So using the cobble stone river as our guide we carefully picked our way through the water which was anywhere from ankle to chest deep! (had we not been assured that this indeed was the right way we may well have turned back as there were no directions - just word of mouth). Shaded by the lush canopy filled with monkeys we trekked onward until we reached the cascading waterfall with it's deep refreshing cold pool. Here we lounged at the base of the falls thankful that we were able to steal a brief reprieve from the tropical heat. The 45 minuite walk back along the riverbed afforded us an opportunity to encourage a couple with directons to the falls, feeling we were now seasoned explorers!

March 5th Costa Rica

Today we left our quiet cocoon haven, the bio thermal springs, which we had enjoyed for the past week, and drove " the never-ending nightmare" of a road (5 hours to cover 40 kilometers in first and second gear all the way!) interspersed with sheer drop offs and at times the road partially washed out. We eventually reached the town of Monteverde, snug in the misty greenbelt of two cloud- forest reserves( elevation 4000 ft)... a good massage would be greatly appreaciated right now. However the views were quite magnificent, and we joked about how the tourist folk were missing out on NOT charging us for this 'adventure ride) Rain gear, smartwool, and mud boots are definitely in order here. This is also our first hostel experience ( have to say I miss my own private bathroom, and the bed could be compared to a park bench... BUT, there IS a sloth sleeping in the tree right outside our bedroom window.