And... we're... back.

We're finally back from South America, and are enjoying the food up here again. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Christy for taking our sorry asses down here to Santa Cruz from the City. Here, here to zip car (and finding the overdrive button halfway down 280). We're excited to get back into the swing of things again and to see all of your lovely faces. Kate started school today, and I official end mine with the submittal of my thesis (please let the margins be correct this time). It was a great trip, but we're glad to be home (the new bathroom that was installed while we were gone helps).

Quito and Out

Welcome to the Jungal

And yes I know that ¨Jungle¨is misspelled, although someone should mention that to the ¨Jungal Tours¨outfit that we came across in Quito. So we´ve survived the Jungle having braved Caiman Crocs, frogs that could kill you within 24 hours just for kissing them, red and white pyrahanas, a tarantula that guarded our dinner table, and two giant spiders that made sure that no butterfies disturbed our beauty sleep. From Mindo we took a 2.5 hour bus to Quito, then a 9 hour bus to Lago Agrio (Neuve Loja if you work for the oil industry), a 3 hour truck ride into the jungle and finally a 2 hour boat ride through the swollen rivers to our lodge on one of the many temporary lakes in the Cuyabeno reserve. Our lodgings were of course basic, but the ambience and sounds made those silly ¨rainforest¨audio tapes sound like... well... silly. The birds and insects were amazing, and the monkeys that we saw everyday were furry and monkey-like. Our first night was spent swimming in the lake with the sunset as a backdrop. The next day was taken up with a long walk through the jungle, listening to our Death Metal Ecuadorian guide enthuse about the medical properties of all the trees that he was hacking with his machete. After surviving the mud pit that our guide tried to get us stuck in (hey he needs some entertainment too I guess), we motored over to a river to do some pyrahana fishing. Alas, Kate and I didn´t get any fish but Kate got some bites on her hunks of steak that we were using for bait. Luckily we had a Dutch couple with us who were real fishermen and we were able to check out there toothy catches (although when Hans dropped one in the small boat things got a little tense- those things are FAST). The next day was filled with a visit to a nearby Shaman where our guide wouldn´t stop talking about his ¨flying¨experience using some of the Shaman´s local plant life, and ended with a peaceful sunset over one of the other nearby lakes. Later that night we visited the nightlife of Cuyabeno, and shared some laughs with the local wolf spiders, cicada´s, giant ant colonies, and countless other bugs straight out of an 80´s horror flick. On the last day we woke up at the butt crack of dawn for some bird watching from a paddle raft. It was a beautiful sunrise through the fog on the lake, as we winded through meandering waterways. And then... we did all of those bus rides in reverse, and are now back in Quito getting ready to head out to Otovalo, home of the expensive trinkets. Hope everyone is well, and we´ll see you soon.

Mindo

Just got back from Mindo, and about to jump on a bus to the jungle where Kate´s hoping to have Monkeys playing with her hair. Mindo was great. It´s a sleepy little town deep in a valley surrounded by hills of cloud forest. We did a 5 hour hike to the various waterfalls around the area and generally had a great time.

Mountains, donkeys, and waves

Ah Ecuador, where the buses pass the cars, motorcycles carry no less than four people each, and the lines in the road are more like ¨guidelines¨ than actual demarcations of fact. We´ve finally made it to the coast, and are in fact getting ready to take an overnight bus back up the hill to the highlands in the middle of the country.

From Cuenca we moved on South to the town of Vilcabamba. We splurged and stayed in a cabaña with a private deck and hammock, and a view of the surrounding hills. It was a tranquil place with the ever present dogs in the streets, friendly people, and donkeys that will bray you to sleep in the night. Shawn was unfortunately turned inside out by something that he ate and left Kate to do the hiking for the first full day that we were there. On the second day Kate got Shawn off of his death bed for a ¨short¨ five hour hike up to a viewpoint that allowed us 360 views of the surroundings.
At the top we opted for the adventurous ¨that looks like a shorter route¨ way, and navigated a knife ridge, and steep descent down to a dry a river bed where Kate was spooked by the sprinting donkey we encountered.
From Vilcabamba we took the hottest - why do Ecuadorians not need air? - overnight bus ride we ever thought humanely possible to Guyaquil. For some reason the bus did not stop at the main terminal, but decided to drop us off near an empty soccer field 1/4 mile away at 6am.
Things always work out though, and a few minutes later we were on a local bus to Mantañita, the surfing capital of Ecuador. Mantañita is something that you would find in Disneyland under a sign that said something like Ëcuador Land¨. It was definitely a surfer´s party town as our little bungalow was bombarded by thumping base (a different song from each cardinal direction). We tried our hand at surfing the mess that was the beach break (the famous point break is really only for short boarders) and Shawn surfed a locally made balsa board. The music and hemp bracelts were really all too much though, and after 2 days we headed north to Puerto Lopez which is much more our speed.

Puerto Lopez is famous for whale watching tours, but instead we opted for relaxing in our bungalow on stilts, runs on the beach, body surfing in the ocean, and petting the great dane called Scooby Doo that guards our bungalow. Off to the cloud forrest in Mindo and then the jungle!!

Closed roads and Cathedrals

Everyone must go to Baños. We enjoyed every second of our 3 days there and had marvelous adventures hiking, biking, and soaking hours away in the springs. On our last day we rented mountain bikes for a 4 hour excursion downhill towards the jungle. Along the way we passed some 20+ waterfalls, botanical gardens, and lush greenery everywhere.
We seemed to plan it just perfectly, and as the rain rolled in we found an empty, tin covered fruit stand and hailed a bus back to Baños. In town we lounged in the Casa Hood Cafe for 3 hours with nachos before gorging ourselves over an Argentinian grilled meat sampler plate (think sausage, pork, chicken, and beaf!) It was extremely hard to leave the hot mineral baths, but we tore ourselves away after one last soak for a 7 hour bus ride to Cuenca. Thanks to a mudslide and ensuing traffic jam the 7 hours turned into 11. With sore butts in tow we dragged ourselves to a hostel and passed out. In the morning light we realized the hostel was really a decaying, sloping building with disgusting bathrooms and electric green walls.
For $2 more we moved 12 rungs up the accomodation ladder to a different hotel and scored a 3rd story, sparkling clean room with private bath and views over the Saturday flower market. Today is Sunday, my favorite day in South America, when all the locals come out in their traditional best for church and slow walks around the city with family. Cuenca is lovely with cobbled streets, churchs on nearly every corner, clean sidewalks, parks, rivers, and a slow, relaxed nature. Tomorrow we head south to the mountain town of Vilcabamba for a few days of hiking and relaxation. Loving life.