Baños (de Agua Santa)

I hopped on a bus out of Quito to Baños de Agua Santa, Baños for short. The town is named for the thermal baths that are heated by the volcano nearby. It is situated at the foot of a volcano, Volcan Tungurahua.

The hostel I'm staying at is a great house. Very new. And recently re-opened. The co-owners are very nice and are helping me with my Spanish. I'm learning more and more everyday. Now it's just a matter of practice. The owners are very nice and speak slowly and articulate well. They also told me that the best time to visit the thermal baths is at 5 or 6 in the morning. That's when the water is at it's mineral richest, and less crowded. We arrived at 6am. I thought we were early, but there were already loads of people there. This particular baths is situated right under a waterfall. They have diverted the flow of the waterfall so you can take a quick rinse off and hop back into the water. The opening and closing of the pores is supposed to be therapeutic and good for circulation.

The owners also told me that once a year, people walk from Ambato, Ecuador to Baños during Easter. The waters are attributed for their healing properties. This is an idyllic little town. It is booked solid for this weekend and I wanted to extend my stay. The hostel doesn't have any room, but the owner has offered me a spare room in her house to stay in. I'm so glad I'm learning the language. You get opportunities you wouldn't otherwise have. I can only go up from here.

 The street art in this city is amazing. There are some talented people here.

Cuy & Mitad del Mundo

I've been sick. It sucked. But it was raining the whole last week. So at least I didn't miss much. As a result, no blog updates.

However, I'm back into tip top shape and ready to share my adventures. Cuy is the sound that a guinea pig makes. Cuy, cuy, cuy. The spanish school I'm at offers trips to various places and one of those places was a little town outside of Quito which serves the best cuy in the country. Cuy is a delicacy in these parts. And the restaurant was full. It's a really simple preparation and it's thrown on the grill. Then it's cut into quarters and buen provencho.

On Saturday, I arranged to go to the middle of the world with my fellow hostel-dwellers. Ecuador is named after the equator. So we rented a few cars for $10 a person and were on our way. The first stop was Pululahua Park. I didn't know we were going here, so it was a nice treat. There was some sort of sun ceremony going on which was kind of neat. And the view from the lookout point was spectacular.

Below are some pics and vids of the ceremony.

They also had some cultural dancing and songs. It was interesting to see this side of Ecuador's culture. I dare you to try to not have that song in the first video stuck in your head.

After the park, we went to the "real" middle of the world monument. The place the natives said it was and not where the French built their monument. On the Equator line, were were shown a bunch of cool demonstrations with water going clockwise, counterclockwise and straight down a drain. I don't know if I believed it. I'm still trying to figure out that magic trick. The forces on the equator line also allow you to balance an egg on the head of a nail, which I did, and they gave me a certificate for it. Eggmaster Beemsigne. My new rap name. This place also did a little tour and showed us all how to shrink someone's head if we wanted to. The video below has some nice pictures as well.

Step 1, kill the person and cut off their head. Remove the skull. Then boil their head. Sew their mouth shut so that their soul doesn't escape. Stick a stone in it for it to shrink around. Then wear it on your neck if it's someone you love, or on your staff if it's an enemy. Easy as pie. 

Both middle of the worlds also stamp your passport! The fake middle has the more official looking stamp. Go figure. Tomorrow, it's out of Quito and onwards to Baños. 

Quito

The cultural and political capital of Ecuador.

The old town in Quito is beautiful. The architecture is so well preserved. I'm not usually one to oooh and aaah at buildings. But they are really nice. And you are struck at the history. These buildings are up to 400 years old. Built by the Spaniards when they invaded and killed all the natives. It's full of grand old churches and squares. It can't all be explored in a day, no matter how hard you try. It's also really really high here, 2800 metres above sea level. I went out on a Sunday when they don't allow traffic into the old city and they create bicycle lanes. It was clearly a nice family day. There were street musicians and vendors selling stuff. It's hard to pin down the vibe of this city, but I like it. Check out the crazy carvings on the church below.

The picture below is in the main plaza. There's a huge statue and many large buildings.

I saw this indigenous band playing music and I had to take a picture. And a video. It's crazy. Look at those instruments!!!

There was also a folk music band that was playing that the people seemed more into. Check out my music video below. I should become a director.

There are also a lot of vendors. All of these paintings are done by hand on site. There was also a women and her husband creating incense holder by hand. People are so talented here.

Below are some examples of the architecture. It's so nice. 

The picture above is a stand in front of the hostel. There is a guy with this hand-made seat and hand-painted sign which claims to cure you of all ailments. I would have taken a video, but the guy in the black shirt was giving me the stink eye, so I decided to move on. Basically, this guy just makes people stand up and sit down. But he was busy at 9am and busy at 3pm when I came back. He must be doing something right.

I started my Spanish lessons today. Very intensive, but very good. I like the lady whose teaching me. And I like the price, $5 a day. The language school also offers salsa classes and excursions to local areas where you can sample the local delicacy of cuy, which is guinea pig. Mmmmmm!

My spanish teacher said that the South America Cup final is being played in Quito next Wednesday. This is one of the biggest matches in SA soccer. If Ecuador wins, Quito will erupt. I can't wait to go!

Ibarra & Otavalo

Ibarra is a town two hours south of the border. It's known for it's ice cream and sweets. I was there for a night and decided to try out the ice cream from the Rosalia Suarez Ice Cream shop. It was pretty good. They hand make it right there at the main entrance of the store and you can watch as they spin the copper pan with the ingredients. It's in another bowl full of ice. You can check out the video if my explanation sucks. There's also a poster of their 7-step process for making it. I was trying to be discreet, because I didn't want the guy to think I was taping him, so I turned around like I was taping everything. I don't think it worked.

Mural in Ibarra

Ibarra town crest

7 steps to ice cream

Otavalo is known in South America for it's market. It really is the biggest market I've been to taking over most of the city streets. There is everything you could want or need on sale. Toothpaste, hammers, clothes, shoes, art, animals...everything. It was interesting to walk through and see the indigenous population as well. I had fried tilapia for lunch, an entire fish for $3. And no gringos in sight. There are way more indigenous people in Ecuador than in Colombia.

Hustle and bustle of market day

Animal market

Clothes

Produce

My lunch

Me and my peeps eating fish

The view from the hostel is amazing. You can see 4 volcanoes on a clear day. It was at 2800m.

So...

...very...

...pretty!

Quito is a two hour bus ride away and a UNESCO World Heritage site for it's preservation of colonial architecture. I may do some Spanish classes here so I'm not such an idiot when talking to people on the street. It's been 5 cities in 6 days. Time for a break.

Ecuador

Ecuador! After crossing the border, the immigration officials in Ecuador put your passport into a tiny printer and print the stamp.

I thought I would share my itinerary. I plan on doing Spanish language classes here as well. So that may extend my time here.

The cities/places I plan to visit are:

• Ibarra - which is renowned for it's ice cream. 
• Otavalo - with the largest craft market in South America
• Quito - the best preserved colonial city in South America
• Quilatoa - a volcanic lake
• Guayaquil - Ecuador's biggest city
• Galapagos - no description needed
• Cuenca - a colonial city with Inca ruins

Then on to Peru. 

Ipiales

The final city in Colombia. It feels like I've been here for a whole other lifetime. Canada seems so far away and everything in it. Even though I know it's only a flight away. On the border of Ecuador is a town called Ipiales. There's not much to this town except for the Santuario de Las Lajas. I was told about this place by Jeffrey and his mother's bathroom calendar. This post is dedicated to them. 

The drive to Ipiales was something else as well. The bus was on roads that you only see in car commercials. So many mountain s-curves. Of course, the driver didn't care that he was going way too fast around the turns. He was trying to make up for lost time. I left Popayan at 10am and didn't get to Ipiales until around 7pm. The bus had a flat tire, and then we stopped for lunch, and then we stopped in Pasto. The hotel in Ipiales was only $25,000 pesos. Which is a steal considering some hostels I paid $22,000 for a shared room and shared bathroom. 

It was an amazing drive out to the church. There are quite literally rolling hills. With farms and about a million shades of green. It's postcard perfect. On the way to Lajas, the driver stopped at a lookout point and told me to take a picture.

The collectivo only takes you to the top of the hill and you walk down past about a hundred little shops. This place has really been pimped out for the tourist hordes. There weren't too many people today, probably because it was a Thursday...and 10am. One nice thing about the walk down was this painting.

This church is dedicated to Our Lady of Las Lajas. There are plaques all along the pathway down to the church thanking the virgin for the miracles she provided. The photo below shows just a sample of what was there. There were thousands of plaques there.

The back wall of the church is the mountain! The back story to this church is that a lady and her kid were caught in a storm and took refuge in this valley. They were protected throughout the whole storm by an image of the Virgin Mary in the mountain face. I tried to see it when i was there...I couldn't. But I believe she believed it was there. So did a lot of other people, or else this church would not be here. 

It's truly a surreal experience when you spend a lot of time at home looking at pictures of a place online or in books, and then you are actually there. It still doesn't seem real at times that I'm here. But I look at the stamps in my passport and I realize...Yup! I'm in South America. I actually did it. And I have no regrets. 

After Ipiales, I took a taxi to the border where I had my last meal in Colombia, and walked across the bridge into Ecuador!

Bridge to Ecuador 

I'll miss the Colombiana most of all!