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Finding Guayaquil
The road from Cuenca to Guayaquil twisty-turned us up to 14,000 feet and then down to sea level as we crossed the western range of the Andes Mountains and headed for the Pacific coast. As we neared Guayaquil the weather became warmer and more humid and the vegetation changed from lichen and moss on rocky…
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Experiencing lovely Cuenca
Hats and ceramics. So much to learn, so much to appreciate. We are in Cuenca, my raison d’être for this visit. This lovely city was founded by the Spanish in 1557 on a site that resembled the city of Cuenca in Spain. It is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Trust site in part because of…
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Railroading our way south
What fun we had this morning, that is after we recovered from the 4:30 a.m. wakeup call! We drove south for two hours to Alausi, the terminus for the Devil’s Nose train line. The train itself consists of old wooden cars with windows that slide open, pulled by a single engine. It reminded me of…
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Travelling the Avenue of Volcanoes
The trip to Riobamba took us down the Avenue of the Volcanoes; on both sides of the highway were the Andes Mountains, with active volcanoes all around. This is the first day we have had appreciable cloud cover; unfortunately it obscured the snow-capped volcanoes. But we were able to see the equator as we passed…
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Dancing with children
Otavalo is an uplands city surrounded by volcanoes, most of which are active. The northern region is known for its woven alpaca sweaters, shawls, carpets, wall hangings … you name it. Saturday is market day when artisans from miles around bring their wares to Otavalo to sell. Gonzalo tells us that market day is as…
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Communing with nature
For the last few days I have been living in the most beautiful steam bath in the world. Sacha Lodge, an ecological centre in the Amazon rainforest (sachalodge.com) provides accommodation, meals, wellies, rain ponchos and tour guides for folks in search of a naturalist experience in the jungle.
