Post #50! More about Ecuador

This is Warren, again.

In this post, I'm going to cut down a bit on the sort of dragging details I included in the first post about our Easter week in Ecuador. My thought is that, due to spending several days doing similar things in the same place, my memory's gotten hazy. Plus, I taught six hours today and I'm a little beat.

I forgot to mention on our way to Quito, we passed through the Mitad del Mundo, which is a monument erected by a French expedition in the 19th century to mark the exact place on the globe where the equator passes. Apparently it's special, because everywhere else on Earth except for Quito the equator passes through either teeming rainforest or ocean. The monument itself is interesting but not amazing, though I do have a cool photo here marking where the equator should be.

And by should, I mean surveyors later discovered that the French had been mistaken about plopping their monument down, because the true equator was actually a few hundred meters away, where the Indians told them to build it. Of course, being brilliant Western academics, they had to go and prove themselves wrong just out of spite.

So, after locating our hotel room, Melody got depressed at how unlike its online description it turned out to be. Read her thoughts in the post below if you want to know exactly what she was thinking. Basically, the place smelled like fish sticks, our window faced loud traffic, there was internet but no connectivity, and there was shower water that was at best lukewarm.

We went to Gringolandia, a neighborhood in Quito where all the foreigners hang out as business-owners and tourists. We agreed to go on a later bikeride with the Biking Dutchman, and had lunch/dinner (lunner?) at Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mexican food). Our first night was honestly blah.

Day two, Wednesday, we woke and walked to the government square where some protesters were shouting. We signed up for a personalized tour of Quito for Saturday. We went to a museum about ancient Ecuadorian cultures as well as colonial religious artwork. Weird combination. Paid for our biking trip to the volcano Cotopaxi for Thursday at Biking Dutchman. Bought cheapo fridge magnets and keychains later. And later still, we lined up outside the symphony hall for a free concert in which the orchestra lacked a string section but still insisted on playing some classical style pieces like Barber's "Adagio for Strings." Ironic choice, eh?

Thursday morning we woke in the dark and took cold showers before heading to Gringolandia and hopping in the Biking Dutchman Toyota Land Cruiser for our excursion to Cotopaxi. We had a bilingual biking expert lead us, a Spanish-speaking driver, and there were two other guys along for the adventure--Camilo, a Colombian engineer from Bogota who worked for Mazda, and an ex-pat Brit named Oliver who recently left his job as high school math teacher in New Zealand. We were eclectic, but we all meshed somehow.

We saw Cotopaxi volcano's snow-capped peak much sooner than the two hours it took us to traverse the Pan-American Highway to get there. We stopped along the way so that we could take pictures. It was both cool and cold.


Riding down was definitely an experience. We bundled in coats, gloves, and stocking caps (I bought Melody gloves and a cap made of alpaca wool at the entrance to the national park) to battle the fierce cold. The first eight kilometers were downhill on a curvy, steep, pothole-encrusted, more-dirt-than-gravel road. Hurts your hands from all the shaking. When the land flattened out again it was easier on the hands and harder on our lungs. Thankfully we stopped for water and pictures every so often.

Everyone had lunch around a hut meant to demonstrate what the ruins of the Incan hut at the top of the next hill would have looked like. We ate excellent hummus and pita, cheesy pasta, and some kind of lasagna, washed down with warm green tea and finished off with brownies.

More tomorrow... I still have to write about the el Gran Poder procession/parade that featured thousands of people dressed in purple robes and hats that strongly resembled KKK costumes.

Two for One Special!

Hey guys. As you hopefully noticed below, Warren posted today about the first part of our trip to Ecuador. He is going to continue posting this week, so hooray for me not having to!

I'm sorry I made empty promises about updates a few weeks ago. I had a very bad experience with a hotel in Quito. I anonymously reviewed them, but they somehow figured out it was me and found my email in their old reservations. They sent me a truly horrible email that bordered on harassment. It was hurtful and cruel and prejudiced to the extreme. I was upset about it for days.

I don't normally review the places where I stay, but this place promised all sorts of things on its website and didn't have any of them: specifically, hot water, clean rooms, a quiet night's sleep, and free laundry. It also had a terrible breakfast and the entire place smelled like fish sticks. We left after 3 days because it was so horrible. It is absolutely the worst place I have ever stayed.

So my review, which was honest and completely true, upset them. The owner responded by calling me a stupid American and blaming the Iraq war and all the other problems in the world on me. She said she was disgusted by my behavior and called me a liar who never traveled and expected the whole world to be like the U.S. She also told me that if I spoke Spanish I wouldn't have had any problems. FYI, I spoke in Spanish to almost every person working at the hostel, and I had been very proud of myself for communicating in my developing second language.

Basically, I was hurt. I had my review removed and I told the woman to never contact me again. But that didn't make her words any less painful.

Although it may seem ridiculous, that's why I haven't posted in 2 weeks. At first, I was too upset and couldn't even bring myself to think about our trip. Since I had promised to write about Ecuador, I didn't want to just start writing about something else. Then I felt guilty about not blogging in so long... and well, I guess I never got beyond it.

So, Warren is going to blog about Ecuador, and I'm not. I might post some photos though--it really was a good trip, and I just need to get over that nasty email.

The beginning of Ecuador

Hi, this is Warren, not Melody. She's been asking me to write her next post for at least two weeks and has refused to update until after I have made my own mark here for once. Now, I know she promised to talk about all of what went on in Ecuador, so I suppose that task is mine for now. Here goes nothing:

We made sure to do all of our paying of monthly bills and tennis shoes shopping (for Melody) on Friday the 25th, the night before we would be out of the country for just a little over a week.

Got up early on Saturday the 26th. By early I mean 4 a.m. Took a short 35-minute connecting flight on low-cost carrier Aires to Medellin. In Medellin, we grabbed our bags and jumped in a taxi to Colombia's Walmart, which is called Exito. We stocked up on breakfast and traveling snacks there, and then took another taxi to the international airport, which is conveniently (read inconveniently) located 45 minutes and 25 dollars outside Medellin. We literally waited the entire day there, reading English language magazines, eating Dunkin' Donuts and peanuts, and watching the jersey-clad team members of various South American countries who had participated in the Ninth South American Games, which had just come to a close. Melody and I bought two snazzy screw-cap water bottles with the Games logo on them.

TACA Airlines flew us to Quito in the late afternoon. A bunch of team members took the same plane as we did. After arriving and taking our bags, we found Estuardo holding a piece of paper with Melody's name on it. He was the guy we hired to drive us to Mindo, a tiny village two hours northwest of Quito, located in what's called the "cloud forest." He drove us there as night was falling. I fell asleep for awhile, and when Melody poked me awake, I could see the shapes of clouds hanging thick and ghostly just above the trees as the truck snaked on and on, down the mountainside. We were welcomed by an American voice when we arrived at our hostal/hotel/bed & breakfast called CasKaffeSu in Mindo. Susan showed us to our room and filled our new Medellin water bottles for us, kindly reminding us not to drink from the tap in Ecuador.

After breakfast and conversation in CasKaffeSu dining room the next day, we bought a map of Mindo from Susan and then rode in a taxi (It was actually just a truck owned and operated by one of the town's residents. Mindo's backroads are pretty scruffy.) to the ziplining location. Our two professional guides outfitted us in support ropes and clips and helmets, and then our group nine listened to their safety talk in Spanish. They threw in a couple English words here and there for the gringos' benefit. Then we were off.

For what must have been at least an hour, each of us took turns being hooked up and run across lines dipping through the forested valley between two mountains. It was pretty amazing. Melody and I even got to do what they called "the Superman." Not surprisingly, this entails them hooking your support from the backside of your waist rather than from your navel, which is the regular way. From there, you fly down the cable with your arms spread wide like you are, well, Superman.

Following that, we decided we'd hike it to the next attraction--the butterfly house. The journey was, however, much longer than it appeared on the map, so we ended up walking for probably over an hour on gravel roads intersected by some quick-moving streams. Luckily for us, the butterfly house also housed a butterfly restaurant. Our waitress and cashier turned out to also be our tour guide for the butterflies, and she explained in English the stages of butterfly life while demonstrating chrysalises in an upright box with a mesh door. There were hundreds flying about, with many latched to the walls and ceiling of netting. Melody and I made a new friend there. Her name was Isabella, and she would not let go of my finger. When she finally did, she decided to come right back and land on my arm.

The next day we went to the nearby Terrabita, where a canopy car shuttled us over leafy valleys to the next mountain over. We hiked on what felt like a jungle path all the way to several waterfalls, then disrobed into our swimming suits. The water was quite cold, however, so we were content to simply sit on river rocks with our feet dangling off the side. We snacked there and took cover when it began to rain. But half an hour later it was raining that much harder, so we sucked it up and trekked back up the trail. Needless to say, we were drenched through and through long before we got back up to the cable car platform.

That afternoon we ate a late lunch at El Quetzal, a nice but empty local restaurant where they also produce their own coffees and chocolates. We asked for a tour, but the two girls working recommended we come back after the manager returned, who could guide us in English. We did. The guy turned out to be in his early thirties at most and was a Michiganer recently transplanted to Ecuador to oversee the chocolate production. After the tour (which was interesting but a bit bland), we bought chocolate and dropped by The Dragonfly Inn, where we had fajitas and drinks. Monday night was our last night in Mindo.

So there you go. The first three days of Spring Break for us. We'll be posting more about it in chunks later.

Beyond this, our time here lately has been CONSUMED with creating, administering, and grading final examinations. We publish grades tonight, and tomorrow is the first day of second term. One down, three to go.

Thanks for reading.
-Warren

It's good to be home.

Isabel the butterfly at the Butterfly Museum in Mindo, Ecuador

Hello, blog. Hello, readers. I'm finally back. We just returned from Ecuador after a wonderful Semana Santa (Holy Week) vacation. I am going to post on our trip throughout the week, but for now I have lots of unpacking, cleaning, and planning to do to prepare for this coming week... BUT I want you to keep reading this week, so here's a taste of some things I experienced:

1. Taking a terribita (cable car) across a mountain valley through clouds in the pouring rain (actually way more fun then it sounds).

2. Watching people dressed in outfits that are basically a purple version of KKK outfits drag chains through the streets of Quito.

3. Learning about how chocolate is made late at night, outside, in the rain, with a guy from Michigan.

4. Riding a bike down the highest active volcano in Ecuador and eating hummus next to an old Inca fortress.

5. Closing the degree of separation between me and Axel Rose (of Guns & Roses) from about one million people to one. (Too bad I don't listen to them...)

And here is why I am glad to be back in Colombia:

1. I can drink the water out of the faucet.

2. I cooked my own dinner tonight.

3. My pesos go farther than my pesos-into-dollars did.

4. I can flush toilet paper down the toilet.

5. The weather. There's no where in the world with weather as good as the weather in this part of Colombia!


So, yes. It was a great trip, but it's lovely to be back in my own apartment in the 80 degree F weather. Please check back frequently this week, as I promise to post often this week and tell you all about my trip.