Baños: Ecuador wk. 7 1/2

View of Baños from the rooftop of our hostel

View of Baños from the rooftop of our hostel

On Saturday we went to the Quitumbe bus station, bought a bundle of rock-solid rainbow taffy from one of the many food stands, and headed to Baños.

10:10 MuralEagleVolcanoThe town is located about two hours from Quito, named for the natural hot springs that bubble up around the periphery. As towns go, it’s tiny. The buildings are hemmed in by gorgeous, towering green mountains and the streets are full of bicycles, backpackers and busking musicians; it felt like a hippie/bohemian paradise, with murals to match.

10:10 BañosWaterfallWe dropped our bags at a ridiculously cheap hostel and headed to the hot springs, which were packed. The highlight: a nearby torrent of water pouring out of the mountainside, funneled from the waterfall. I dunked under the icy torrent a few times, and we went to pay homage to the actual waterfall (and eat espumilla, which is like whipped cream piled onto a cone).

Evening got interesting. We booked a ride on a tour bus that we thought was going to visit the dozen waterfalls around the town. We were mistaken; when we showed up at the tour service at dusk, the man behind the desk led us to a line of fluorescent buses with no windows and piled us in. The driver blasted dance music and started driving up the mountain in the dark, until we reached an overlook where (on a clear day) you can see the volcano Tungurahua. Since it was misty and nighttime, all I saw were the lights of Baños below us. The guides served canelazo and it started to rain. Eventually we went back to the buses, huddling together under a roof dripped – only onto our row. I still have a grudge against that bus.

10:10 MuralGirlBirdWhen we got back, the roads were working on becoming rivers. We hurried to a café, where a slice of tiramisu and dark Amazonian hot chocolate worked wonders on my sniffles and sour mood.

As a rule, the food on that trip was fantastic. There was the café-bookstore where we almost collectively fainted over the milkshakes and ginger tea, to say nothing of the entrees. And the many coffee shops serving thick, organic hot chocolate. And the Ecuadorian-Danish owned place where they make veggie sandwiches with a toasty, crunchy-yet-tender baguette. Usually international travelers have to be constantly vigilant about vegetables, but this restaurant washes them all thoroughly, so we had no fear. I  scarfed everything.

One place I did not visit in Baños: the spa. I’m not usually a spa-going kind of gal, but that weekend I was; unfortunately I was also broke. I made a solemn vow to go back one day and get a chocolate massage with aromatherapy. Thirty dollars for an hour and a half. Relaxation will be mine.

10:10 MuralFaceCat

 

 

Sea Lions and Turtles and Boobies (oh my!) Ecuador wk. 6-7

10:4 Beach Pano

Ah, yes. Another day at the office.

We were the first generation of students in this program to go to the Galápagos, and it was…refer to above picture to see how great it was.

Blue-footed booby babysitting fluffy child

Blue-footed booby babysitting fluffy child

On Friday we flew to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s biggest city, and explored for a day before flying to the isle San Cristobal, on the eastern edge of the archipelago. I bubbled with excitement while we flew over the Pacific; once we landed, the flight attendants sprayed insecticide into the overhead compartments and released us onto the tarmac. We took taxis to our hotel, where I bubbled with excitement some more.

10:4 NappingLion1The first people we met were sea lions. Being that the Galápagos islands have only been inhabited by humans in the relatively recent past, none of the animals are shy. Sea lions regularly colonize the benches along the beachfront, waddle around on sidewalks and park themselves in front of shops. If not flopping around, they’ll be sleeping, with absolutely no regard for the people (like me) who gather to gawk at them. They were at every beach we went to, and some would swim close to inspect us. It was only jealous males who might bark threateningly at interlopers, so we gave them a wide berth when swimming.

 

10:4 IslandGeoThe first island we visited looked like somewhere geologists would go to die happy. Or ornithologists, or marine biologists. In subsequent days, I saw blue and red-footed boobies beyond count, pelicans doing synchronized diving, and frigate birds wheeling or following our boat. Frigates are my new favorite bird – males are known for their scarlet inflatable throats, but I like them because they look like a cross between a swallow and a pterodactyl.

Hungry, hungry baby blue-footed booby

Hungry, hungry baby blue-footed booby

Then, snorkeling. Had never done it before, did it almost every day in the Galápagos. I swam with schools of razor surgeonfish (think Dory’s cousins), parrotfish, rainbow wrasse, Pacific creole fish, puffers, and more. “Part of your world” played in my head on repeat, but my plight was reversed. I want to be where the fish are! I want to see what the fish see…which is a rainbow microcosm of organisms, hiding in nooks and crannies in steep flows of lava rock. 10:6 RockTowerOnce we had some snorkeling savvy and could be trusted not to drown at a moment’s notice, we boated out to deeper waters (around 60-80 foot depth) around spires of rock where turtles and sharks are known to congregate.

I had perhaps the most zen moment of my life that day, floating above a sea turtle so closely I could count the speckles on its shell. I saw about a dozen of them in an hour, and one Galápagos shark cruising far below. There aren’t quite words to describe the feeling of floating suspended over a different world.

Things I didn't think I'd see: a sea lion placenta lying near this newborn and its mama. Apparently it's a mark of how safe the Galápagos are that mothers don't eat it to hide the blood from predators.

Or of seeing new life! This sea lion had given birth so recently that the placenta was still lying in the sand nearby, and the baby was so fresh it wasn’t even sure where to look for milk. It snuffled around its mother’s head while she took a postpartum nap.

There was a flip side. Not all pups survive, which I should have expected, but I was still speechless to see little piles of fur mixing with the sand on a different beach. I already know I revile social Darwinism, but I discovered that I can also detest regular Darwinism for the pragmatic ruthlessness of biology. I almost demanded of the sea lions why they didn’t have better social support networks and food redistribution. Filthy socialist that I am.

This dog has better color coordination than I ever will

This dog has better color coordination than I ever will

The trip overall was incredible, as was the sunburn. When we got back, we looked (in the words of one friend) “like we just crawled out of a bisque.” It doesn’t help that malaria prophylactics make people photosensitive. The medicine is for when we travel to the Amazon next week, and we’ve also started an intensive class in Kichwa to better communicate with our hosts. I can now introduce myself and my family, comment on everyone’s marital status and conjugate verbs in the present and future tenses. With any luck, next week we’ll learn swear words.

Of Tripe and Taxis: Ecuador wk. 5 (and 1/2)

One view on the road from Intag to Quito, north of Otavalo

One view on the road from Intag to Quito, north of Otavalo

Something shifted when I got back from Intag. Maybe not the same day: I quietly mourned our descent into the city smog and collapsed into bed almost as soon as I got home, exhausted. But the following week felt different, like I had settled in. To be honest, I haven’t experienced as much culture shock as I expected; that may be because I expected everything to feel weird and different, and it turned out to be only partly weird and different. I’m sure there are other factors – knowing the language (enough, anyway), the info from orientation, the people I’ve met, etc. But I’m a bit tired for introspection, so full psychological portrait later.

The fifth week was a whirlwind. Our second class began (Development Paradigms & Political Discourse), and every single day featured one or two speakers, all incredibly well-informed and often considered authorities on their subject. Topics included immigration, human rights, mining, indigenous movements, feminism, poverty, LGBTQ activism, and (of course) political discourse and development paradigms. All of this made me extremely glad to be abroad with SIT, as opposed to enrolled in a university proper; I got to ask a mining geologist details about copper exploration, a US Embassy economist about Ecuador’s development options, a human rights consultant about immigrant labor, and much more.

Then, a load of tripe. Not figurative. It’s an infallible remedy for stomach issues, though so far I’ve been fortunate to avoid anything debilitating. But them temptation remained; it’s like a rite of passage for long-term visitors. Three of us went to La Floresta (a neighborhood to the southeast), ordered a bowl of tripa mishka from a street vendor, then watched queasily as she fished an intestine out of a bucket and fried it over a grill. Our dish came with mote (corn, but think big), onions and an epic thunderstorm. Lightning cracked a few blocks away as we took our first tentative bites. The tripe itself tasted a little like bacon, but nourishingly fatty and so chewy that it’s referred to as “Ecuadorian gum.” There are so many idioms that make sense once you spend time around cows (or eat them) – spilled milk, kicking the bucket, chewing the fat. I was a vegetarian for eight years before I came to Ecuador, and I’ll probably be a vegetarian again when I go back, but for now – adventure is out there!

On Friday we went to La Ronda, a stretch in the historic district that comes to life at night. Sights included a rabbit wearing a tiny hat perched on someone’s shoulder, spitting images of Charlie Chaplin, Disney’s Merida and Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter, jugglers and comedians, Andean folk dancing and stores full of artisan-made chocolate.

This last week and a half I’ve set a record for sights that went un-photographed, but I haven’t been completely unproductive. Apart from eating tripe, I’ve undergone another important rite of passage: haggling with taxi drivers.

Something I’ve learned: no taxi driver wants to use their taximeter at night, despite the fact that it’s illegal not to (punishable by $45 fine, nothing to sneeze at in a country where only chain stores can reliably break a twenty). This was exactly what happened on the way back from La Ronda: four people piled in, the driver set the price (“diez dollarcitos, no más”) and ignored requests to use the taximeter until I opened my door and threatened to find another taxi. It was mostly an empty threat, but he grudgingly turned on the taximeter, and we paid half his suggested fare. It’s the little things.

Another little thing: going to the GALÁPAGOS TOMORROW!!! I can’t even believe this is happening. But first, a taxi to the airport at the crack of dawn, and they better be nice, because I’ll be too tired to haggle.

9:18 OtavaloCountryside

Otavalo countryside