8 January, 2018
Day 8 consisted of a city tour of Cuenca. Before starting our tour, we dropped our laundry off to be done for only .65 cents a pound. We took a ride to a high looking out with a view of the whole city. Although hard to see, Diego pointed out that Cuenca is in the shape of a puma, one of the most important animals for the Incan culture. We learned about the history of the city, and how the Incas conquered the Cañari people, killing all the men but leaving the women and children. Then the conquistadors arrived, resulting in the mestizo population of Cuenca, half Cañari and half Spaniard (Diego is considered a mestizo). The indigenous people are represented by the older women, who were seen in traditional clothes around the city and countryside. Diego explained how the city has a good economy and a lot of professional people working in it. There are some sustainability initiatives such as recycling campaigns, signs to not waste water, and a “green license” that buildings need, which includes this like motion activated lights(our hotel had all of these). The city is also home to over 52 catholic churches. We went inside the largest church in South America, the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. Of course when in Cuenca we had to try some Cuy! The lady who worked at the shop was handing us pieces of meat( pork or beef?) through the windows of the bus to try and get us to come to her restaurant! It worked, and Tait bought us a couple guinea pigs to taste. I admit that I only took a small bite, and Becky and I fed it to one of the cute dogs hanging out underneath the table. Next stop was the Panama Hat Factory. We saw the process of hand making hats and learned that it can take up to 3-6 months to weave a hat of super fine straws, but only 1-2 days for a hat with thicker straws. After some time trying on hats, we visited the market, which sold everything from meats, to medicinal plants, to alpaca sweaters, to knock-off nike sneakers. We had one more stop in this full day, which was a terrace made by the Incas called Pumapungo. The layers of the terrace represented the condor(heaven), puma(earth), and snake (underworld). We also saw a very small "zoo" of birds that had been taken from people trying to smuggle them out to sell illegally as pets. We ended the day with a presentation from Paul Amos, an American who retired in Cuenca and found friends among the other expats. |
9 January, 2018
The day started off by leaving Laurel at the gas station (not for too long). After that little hiccup, we started the drive towards Riobamba. We were driving through the countryside and passed a lot of invasive species- Pine trees, Eucalyptus, and African grass. The Eucalyptus trees were originally planted in the 1850s for the indigenous to farm and sell, but they quickly grew out of control. Pine plantations also grew in popularity as the timber could be sold. As we drove we stopped at a reservoir in the middle of dairy farmland and saw how the farmers work together to create aqueducts through the landscape and connect the water ways for irrigation. As we made our way into the “old Andes” we learned that the sediments are very different here because of the nutrients from the volcanoes. Volcanic soil, known as andisols, are very fertile and used to grow lots of quinoa and beans in this region. After some driving though to countryside we stopped at the Ingapirca Ruins. It was created by the Cañari people, and is the only temple in South America to have a perfect eclipse for reverence to the moon and the puma shape for reverence to the earth. When the Incas took over and killed all the Cañari men, they left the the tomb containing the Cañari princess out of respect to their culture and too live on as the “brain “of the puma. We continued to walk through the ruins and even picked up pieces of clay used in some sort of pottery or dishes of the ancient Civilizations along the trail. Although history was never my favorite subject, I really enjoyed being in the ruins and learning more about these ancient cultures who built them. After lunch we even stopped to see the original Inca Royal Highway, used by the Incans to travel by from the Andes all the way to the coast. After the short stop we kept driving towards Riobamba where we saw some amazing views of Chimborazo behind the first catholic church built in South America. It is interesting that the people are catholic, but also believe in the power of nature. The last “ice man” is 70 years old and continuous the tradition of climbing Chimborazo and bringing ice down for the people to drink, for good health and fortune. That night we settled into Hacienda Abraspungo and had a presentation on Ecuador’s top 5 chief exports by Hunter and John, and on Deforestation and Ecological Integrity by Aiden and Hunter. |
10 January, 2018
Day 10 was the day we were going to climb Chimborazo! On the drive in we saw a heard of vicuña, the animal that the Chimborazo reserve was created to protect. From the summit of Chimborazo, you are actually closer to the sun than Everest, due to the fact that Chimborazo is on the equator and the natural equatorial bulge of the earth.
Our bus was able to drive up pretty high to the first shelter, which consisted of bathrooms and a little snack stand at about 15,800 ft. We were lead by a local guide who told us that he attempted to climb to the summit six times, but only made it twice. We were only going to gain 200 more meters in elevation and walk 1 km, but even that proved to be struggle. I found myself in the middle of the pack, not too light headed to stop but not able to keep a quick pace. Abby and I paced ourselves with lots of breaks and finally made it to Refuge Whyper at 5,000 m.
After spending some time at the refuge and taking some pictures, it was time to make the descent back to the van. After some debate on how much daylight we had left, we ditched our original plans of seeing Quilotoa and had an early night at our hotel, La Quintana Colorado. My roomates Becky, Eleana, and I had some fun with the zipine outside our room before heading to a discussion on the energy portfolio of Ecuador. Next stop, Quilotoa!
Day 10 was the day we were going to climb Chimborazo! On the drive in we saw a heard of vicuña, the animal that the Chimborazo reserve was created to protect. From the summit of Chimborazo, you are actually closer to the sun than Everest, due to the fact that Chimborazo is on the equator and the natural equatorial bulge of the earth.
Our bus was able to drive up pretty high to the first shelter, which consisted of bathrooms and a little snack stand at about 15,800 ft. We were lead by a local guide who told us that he attempted to climb to the summit six times, but only made it twice. We were only going to gain 200 more meters in elevation and walk 1 km, but even that proved to be struggle. I found myself in the middle of the pack, not too light headed to stop but not able to keep a quick pace. Abby and I paced ourselves with lots of breaks and finally made it to Refuge Whyper at 5,000 m.
After spending some time at the refuge and taking some pictures, it was time to make the descent back to the van. After some debate on how much daylight we had left, we ditched our original plans of seeing Quilotoa and had an early night at our hotel, La Quintana Colorado. My roomates Becky, Eleana, and I had some fun with the zipine outside our room before heading to a discussion on the energy portfolio of Ecuador. Next stop, Quilotoa!