Vilcabamba Blessing

Vilcabamba is purported to be the valley of longevity, where many indigenous people live to be over 100 years old.  This is our southern most Ecuadorian exploration - then we head north again.

Traveling southward in Ecuador continues to open vistas of high paramo and green valleys, steep mountainsides with some sloped valleys.  Unbelievable that these people actually cultivate corn, sugar cane, bananas and whatever else on slopes steep enough that a cow would topple down head over tea kettle.  Makes us dizzy to think about.

On the way southward we passed Malacatos, a small pueblo that barely notes a mark in tourist books.  Nevertheless, it appears (from the bus window) that there may be a piece of heaven here with large nearly flat cultivated farms and many well kept large modern homes.

When we arrived in Vilcabamba we looked at several hostels, settling on Hostel Jardin Escondido, owned by a Mexican.  A real artist designed this place with charming rooms and BRIGHT colors.  The Rooms surround a somewhat overgrown garden complete with a nice Mexican restaurant.

Alright, so this much was just great.  But then we walked around the perfectly adorable main town square to see what action was going on.  What we found was a bit off-putting, if not embarrassing.

In Vilcabamba there are expats/tourists all over the central downtown area wasting time and talking loud, drinking all day.  I don't just mean ten or twenty.  I mean that it appears that the locals own the stores and nearly everyone else are foreigners. . . and that many of the locals aren't altogether pleased with the situation (based on their abrupt attitude).

Sure the central town square seems a bit like a movie set - however the rest of the town is about 50% destroyed and 30% under construction. Piles of rubble are the rule, with quite poor care for appearance. Sadly we were not feeling any true Ecuadorian center or heart in Vilcabamba.

Two nights here is enough.  Vamos!!

Met young travelers at the hotel from Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Norway. Out for 6 to 15 months each. Awesome.

Loja High

(Loja is the name of Ecuador's southern state and it's capital city)

Directly behind us in the bus we heard laughing and rapid, loud talk - quite unusual behavior here.  Amidst a stream of garbled Spanish came the word "coca" several times.

Then a little pharmaceutical bottle about 3" high was passed from behind us to the man across the isle.  He opened the bottle, sniffed the ingredients several times, chuckled, nodded affirmatively and passed it back.

Curious about what was really happening, Jeff propped himself up to peer back and saw what appeared to be a daypack stuffed with coca leaves.  

Later when the group exited the bus we saw one man had 30-40 of the little bottles, 2 sizes, stacked up in a clear plastic bag for display as he walked down streets hawking his wares.  And there was the other man with the daypack that appeared to be full of coca leaves.

After we arrived in Cuenca we were eating dinner when we began talking with the man next to us.  We learned that he is a lawyer who used to be a prosecuting attorney in Ecuador, prosecuting those accused of money laundering and drug sales.  He only did this for a year and a half because of threats on his life.  This gentleman explained to us that there is a LOT of drug trafficing in the southern state of Loja, Ecuador.

And that´s where Vilcabamba´s located - where tons of tourists collect - way too many tourists, actually.  So Mr. Ecuadorian Lawyer, is there any connection between the tourists hanging out there and the availability of drugs?

Yes, but not just tourists; Ecuadorians too, according to him.

For real?  That explains a lot.  
Adios Loja.  Heading on.

Starr

Expat Central: Cuenca

Cuenca is a charming city of a half million people - a major regional center in the South Central highlands just west of the Andean cordillera. About 4 thousand non-ecuadorians have chosen this place to roost. American, Canadian, and European "expats".

So what is an expat? Well, that is what we are planning to become. An expat is a citizen of one country whose current residence is in another country. That's all. Nothing EX-PATriotic about it. We just get bored easily and fantasize that adjusting to new languages and cultures will keep us entertained for the rest of our lives. Sure beats TV.

Back to Cuenca. You can see the effect of the tiny expat population in the wider variety of restaurants and also in the realm of real estate development. The suburbs are full of beautiful homes, and gated communities.

So I was surprised to hear that most of this development surge is powered, not by Americans, but by Ecuadorian expats who have returned from the US and from Spain, countries whose economies are now struggling. Meanwhile Ecuador's economy is growing 6% per year, and the money these Ecuadorian expats are bringing back is bolstering that growth.

I don't know if there is a lesson in this. But maybe you could say that people who allow themselves to dream bravely would choose to live in the best circumstances they can imagine. Right now for us that is not in the US, and the returned Ecuadorian expats seem to agree with us.

We're Good Now

We felt so energized by our successful side trip to Paute that Starr & I decided to walk all the way back from the bus terminal to our hotel. Only a mile or two - no problem for us old troopers.

It was a super busy festival night in Cuenca, and all the street vendors were out in force. We bought some odd little "ciruelas" (plums) from a man who wanted to practice his English. So he asked what we were - meaning were we Catholics, or what. Starr answered well: we feel God in our heart and do not see the need for anyone to dictate religious values to us. Surprisingly (to me) the man erupted in joy and said "me too!". In a country of 95% Catholics I was amazed. We talked for a bit - happily and loudly on a festival street corner, then embraced all around and we were on our way again.

A minute later we passed a market and found that for $2 the indigenous healers (aka witches) were giving total body purification ceremonies using medicinal herbs fresh from the mountains. We watched as little children, old folks, young bucks, and mothers went through the ritual. Still I hung back, hiding behind my camera as a passive spectator.

Then Starr said "I think you want to do this". And I had to admit that I did.

I was drawn to an energetic sorcerer of middle age and sat down on a small stool in front of her. She asked for two dollars and began by grabbing a generous bouquet of strange-smelling herbs and holding them under my nose. It reminded me of a mother giving her child a taste of something new to eat.

With fierce focus she began sweeping, thrashing, pounding, and shaking the herbs all over my body and head. Purifying me. She asked me to turn the other way, smell the herbs again, and kept up the onslaught for an eternity in which I surrendered to the ancient practices of her culture. She chanted intently what sounded like "shwoosh-shwoosh-shwoosh-shwah" over and over in cadence with her movements.

Eventually her rhythm began to slow as the natural power of the herbs approached a complete transfer into my body.

Then she stopped, picked up a bottle of cane liquor and took a swig, and sprayed it into my face. I gave a startled shout, releasing some evil spirits,stood up and then politely thanked her for the cleansing.

Not to be outdone, Starr had already chosen her practitioner, a very old toothless woman. Near sightless yet more intent and serious in her practice than the others.

The pictures tell it all.

We're good now.

Quick! Repack the Suitcases!

After two whole nights in Cuenca we repacked and headed south again.  I swear that the further south one goes in Ecuador, the nicer the scenery, the nicer the people, and the more comfortable we become.  Slowly relaxing with each kilometer . . .

We arrived in Loja this afternoon and I must say: Traveling by bus is inexpensive but oh my God is my butt sore.  Jeff seems to fare a bit better in that respect - at least he has some decent padding to deal with.

When we're in a town we walk for hours and hours, possibly just to see if we can once again avoid getting killed as pedestrians.  But we feel like aliens: gigantasaurus aliens surrounded by short people with black hair that cast side glances at us or just outrightly stare.  We stand out, really stand out.

And whether they like us or not, there's no hiding the fact that "we're not from 'round here."

Organic Ecuador - NOT

In forums, blogs and articles Ecuador is touted as being ever so organic. Well we're not so sure about that at this point.

We arrived in Cuenca on the 11th, found a sweet place to stay for a couple of days.  Then we headed out by bus to see a place that we really wanted to check out: Paute.  Really just a dot on a map though lower elevation, warmer, and agriculturally oriented.

After the hour plus bus ride there, we jumped out of the bus and onto the sidewalk, once again bewildered by yet another maze of streets, stores, homes, wandering dogs and speeding cars - but this time a much smaller town.

Right away we found the town marketplace.  Unfortunately the vendors were few and far between due to the "festival."  What festival?!  Apparently a large town on the coast thought up a reason to have a festival that day and even though it pertained only to that particular town, the town of Paute also opted to celebrate.  Cute.

We wandered around musing at the selection of fruits and vegetables - wondering what a number of them actually are.  The vendors would tell us the names but our heads are so full of new Spanish words that the names slide out one ear as quickly as they slide in the other.  No matter, there will be time for memorizing later.  I so wanted to buy many of the cool looking fresh produce items, but I had no place to prepare it.  No matter, there will be time for sampling later.

We bought some fruits, including a "tree tomato", some bananas, and peaches, sat down in the market and pigged out.

Back to the organic concept: I'd say that probably at least one out of every five storefronts in Paute is an agricultural or feed store.  Finding this quite curious, we stopped in to talk to a friendly looking man tending a seed and feed joint.

We asked him about the use of chemicals by local farmers.  See, we were curious about it because the country is touted as being ever so organic in its practices.  But we couldn't figure out how that could be the case.  It just isn't logical.  It's as though people think that farming chemicals haven't made it this far into the so-called 3rd world yet.

Chatting with Luis, a man who partially makes his living by selling fertilizer and insecticides to farmers and partially in growing produce himself, we learned the fallacy of the Organic Ecuadorian Farmer myth.

He says it wouldn't be so bad if the farmers would use the insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers as recommended on the directions - but they don't.  According to Luis, chemicals are very much over-used without regard to any instructions or safety for themselves.

Consequently, his wife explains, those beautiful yucca that we had been admiring in the market (she had seen us there), could actually be FULL of chemicals in spite of how beautiful they appear.  But yes, there ARE organic growers in the region and on two days a week they sell produce in the Paute marketplace under the name of "Agri-ecologicos". 

Granted, ONE agricultural supply vendor/medium scale farmer's opinion is just that . . . but me thinks he has some experience in this arena.  

So as always, wash your produce and consider ways of detoxing.  That's what we learned about organic produce in Ecuador.

Escape to WHAT?

In a dash to leave Quito we jumped on a bus headed south for a little place called Latacunga, thinking we'd just spend the night in some small peaceful pueblo.  Well, not so much.

Firstly the bus simply dropped us off at some nondescript section of the PanAmerican Highway - no phone, no internet access, no restaurants, no bathrooms, no hotels - and for a few moments - no hope.  We just stood there with our luggage looking at each other trying to figure out who to blame.   OK, it was my bright idea to be free flowing, spontaneous, cast care to the wind.  This was payback.

We decided to flag down a taxi who took us to the marketplace (as though we seriously wanted to wander through some Latin American marketplace with day packs and dragging our luggage - NOT.  What were we thinking?!!

Thank goodness the market was shutting down so we redirected the taxi driver, asking him to take us to the town center.  We couldn't do much in the way of checking the place out while dragging luggage around town.  Plus it just plain looks tacky.  So we opted for a hotel right across the street from the main town plaza; nothing fancy at all, but functional.  

We parked our luggage (thank God) and headed out on foot to explore this late great pueblo of Latacunga. It didn't take long for us to decide that though it was a darn site better than Quito, it was not for us.

We were greeted by a hummingbird with a long dark tail in a small park on the outskirts of Latacunga. This tiny connection with nature resounded as a reminder that this  connection is central to our existence. What are we doing in these cities anyway? Going rural presents challenges, but we are up for it!