Friday, January 28, 2005
Ecuador
I am amazed that more folks do not travel to Ecuador, or South America generally for that matter. The people are friendly and very helpful and in spite of the low per capita income, there are very few beggers.
Hotel Patio Andaluz
We have being staying at the Patio Andaluz the three times we have been in Quito. It is a charming hotel, which originally was a "stately" home in the old part of the city - founded 1534. There are two cloistered courtyards where you can dine and the place has been restored beautifully. The waiters and waitresses are dressed in 16th century costume and all the furniture is reproduction of the period. We are two blocks from the Grand Plaza with about eight churches in view and the perfect place to sit and people-watch. Nevertheless there are internet cafes at 80c per hour (and a free if slow service in the hotel) and CD-burning capability on the very steep cobbled streets.
We took a three-day tour by car and driver/guide along the Avenue of the Volcanoes to Cuenca, a lovely old city on four rivers. Our first guide was the son of a diplomat posted to Washington, DC so his English was excellent and knowledge of the area vast, once you could cut through the hyperbole. Everything was either the best in the world, the first in South America or the only example of its kind.
Lunch at the Hacienda
We had lunch and spent one night in two haciendas, which had been built by Spanish aristocrats and were the size of small villages, saw Chimbarazo among the clouds and went up Cotapaxi as high as I was comfortable. The altitude really affects me and climbing even twenty steps is a challenge. Tunguruhua was belching smoke when we spent the first night in the hacienda at Riobamba and the car was covered in volcanic ash in the morning. Most meal times are serenaded by musicians using indigenous instruments and playing Beatles or Simon and Garfunkle.
Tunguruhua smoking
We had planned to ride the train through Devil's Nose, known for its incredible switchbacks but there had been a landslide that morning farther up the line and the railcars could not get through. I got the impression that the train is not reliable at the best of times as they do not sell tickets to ride it until they actually hear the whistle. The backpackers may still be waiting on the platform. We did catch a glimpse of the red car on the line an hour back. Half the passengers have to sit on the roof and I cannot imagine being up there while the train clings to the mountain.
We had a great guide in Cuenca, who seemed to be a kissing cousin to most of the city of 300,000 and after a year in Cheltenham, spoke excellent English. He took us into the Carmelite Convent, or as far as the public can go and we watched the locals buying lotions and tonics using a turntable dumb waiter as the nuns cannot be seen by anyone outside the convent. The cathedral is a replica of St. Peter´s in Rome plus a few other famous cathedrals and is within a stone's throw of five other churches. Ecuador is a very good Catholic country - 52 churches in Cuenca alone. The indigenous people were always into worship and took to Catholicism with gusto. Most of them still wear the traditional dress, hat and all, with baby strapped on the back, while they till fields on the slopes, I did not think even a mountain goat could manage. We visited an Inca ruin where the llama were grazing and caught glimpes of the old Inca road throughout the Andes.
Indigenous woman
On to Manaus.
LS
Hotel Patio Andaluz
We have being staying at the Patio Andaluz the three times we have been in Quito. It is a charming hotel, which originally was a "stately" home in the old part of the city - founded 1534. There are two cloistered courtyards where you can dine and the place has been restored beautifully. The waiters and waitresses are dressed in 16th century costume and all the furniture is reproduction of the period. We are two blocks from the Grand Plaza with about eight churches in view and the perfect place to sit and people-watch. Nevertheless there are internet cafes at 80c per hour (and a free if slow service in the hotel) and CD-burning capability on the very steep cobbled streets.
We took a three-day tour by car and driver/guide along the Avenue of the Volcanoes to Cuenca, a lovely old city on four rivers. Our first guide was the son of a diplomat posted to Washington, DC so his English was excellent and knowledge of the area vast, once you could cut through the hyperbole. Everything was either the best in the world, the first in South America or the only example of its kind.
Lunch at the Hacienda
We had lunch and spent one night in two haciendas, which had been built by Spanish aristocrats and were the size of small villages, saw Chimbarazo among the clouds and went up Cotapaxi as high as I was comfortable. The altitude really affects me and climbing even twenty steps is a challenge. Tunguruhua was belching smoke when we spent the first night in the hacienda at Riobamba and the car was covered in volcanic ash in the morning. Most meal times are serenaded by musicians using indigenous instruments and playing Beatles or Simon and Garfunkle.
Tunguruhua smoking
We had planned to ride the train through Devil's Nose, known for its incredible switchbacks but there had been a landslide that morning farther up the line and the railcars could not get through. I got the impression that the train is not reliable at the best of times as they do not sell tickets to ride it until they actually hear the whistle. The backpackers may still be waiting on the platform. We did catch a glimpse of the red car on the line an hour back. Half the passengers have to sit on the roof and I cannot imagine being up there while the train clings to the mountain.
We had a great guide in Cuenca, who seemed to be a kissing cousin to most of the city of 300,000 and after a year in Cheltenham, spoke excellent English. He took us into the Carmelite Convent, or as far as the public can go and we watched the locals buying lotions and tonics using a turntable dumb waiter as the nuns cannot be seen by anyone outside the convent. The cathedral is a replica of St. Peter´s in Rome plus a few other famous cathedrals and is within a stone's throw of five other churches. Ecuador is a very good Catholic country - 52 churches in Cuenca alone. The indigenous people were always into worship and took to Catholicism with gusto. Most of them still wear the traditional dress, hat and all, with baby strapped on the back, while they till fields on the slopes, I did not think even a mountain goat could manage. We visited an Inca ruin where the llama were grazing and caught glimpes of the old Inca road throughout the Andes.
Indigenous woman
On to Manaus.
LS
# posted by Bill and Lynne @ 1:47 AM 
