Ecuadorian highlands highlights

After 30 hours of bus travel from Lima, Peru, we were very happy to arrive in Otavalo, a small town in the Ecuadorian Andes, famous for its handicraft market, the largest of which is held every Saturday (fortunately for us, the day we arrived). We roamed through the market, admiring the alpaca sweaters and ponchos, handwoven fabrics and embroidery, panama hats and whole roasted pigs. Whole roasted pigs? True, along with chicken feet soup, and pototoes cooked with blood. Hmmm, we'll pass on the food section of the market. Mostly, we admired the Otavalian vendors, dressed in their beautiful traditional wear, the women in embroidered white blouses, long navy blue skirts, gold beads at their necks, and bright colored scarfs wrapped around their chests. The men wore white pants, navy blue ponchos, and bowler hats from which hang their long thick plaits.

After two nights, we made our way to Quito, with a stop at Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World, aka the Equator line). We took our obligatory photos at the obelisk, which ¨officially¨marks 0 degrees of latitude, but then took in a very interesting presentation which taught us that the French team who claimed to have correctly measured the equator in 1736 was actually out by about 240m. The Ecuadorian government doesn't really want to acknowledge that their obelisk is in the wrong spot, so development continues at the Mitad del Mundo site. But, the best part is that the indigenous Ecuadorians had mapped the line correctly over 1000 years ago. While the French were looking down and mapping the earth using triangulation techniques, the Indians had been looking up, worshipping the sun, tracking equinoxes and solstaces for centuries, and building temples to the sun on the accurate line of the equator.

We spent one night in bustling Quito, and made our way further south to Riobamba, and El Nariz del Diablo (the Devil´s Nose). The train ride, famous for its spectacular scenery, begins in Riobamba, passes by Chimborazo, (the highest point in the Ecuadorian Andes and 17th highest in the world at 6267m), and winds its way through beautiful farmland, small villages, and then through alpine tundra, barren but for a few pine trees. We rode on top of the train, and along with about 200 other foreigners, were jostled about, occasionally daring to look over the side at the rickety tracks and sheer pitches below. We started the morning with toques (Canadian for wooly hat), fleeces and extra tops on, and ended in the blazing sun, coated in dust. When we reached the actual El Nariz del Diablo, at the end of the 7 hour ride, the train switchbacked down El Nariz, descending almost 300m in less than 12kms. As the train could not turn around at the bottom, the engineers (?) disconnected the engine and rear cars, switched them around, using a second set of rails, and up the mountain we began again. Until... BAM... we were off the track! Fortunately, they stopped the train almost immediately and then they very slowly pulled the train back onto the track, and we continued our way up to Alausi, our final destination.

Straight after arriving in town we took the bus to Cuenca, a beautiful old colonial city, where we spent the night, and the next morning admiring wonderful old churches, ornate buildings, flower markets, and a lovely central park where, when we weren't being touted by shoe-shine boys, we could watch the local people in their traditional costumes walk with their families, crossing themselves and saying a quick prayer as they passed in front of the Cathedral.

And now, we have just arrived in Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands. We are so excited to be here, as it is one of the places we have dreamed about since planning this trip. Tomorrow we leave on an 8 day cruise, so iguanas, boobies, pelicans, sea lions, and sharks, watch out, here we come!

Location: Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos