Reflections

Well the trip is coming to an end. We fly to Bogata today then home on the 11th. I'll most likely do only one post from Bogata. The rest of the posts will probably be just interesting facts or things that I found interiguing.

Here is one.
In both Ecuador and Columbia, they do not want you to flush your toilet paper. Instead you need to put it in the waiste basket that is lined with a plastic bag. Then the plastic bag is taken to a land fill where it never decomposes........seems counter productive to me.

Interesting fact.

The day we went to Cotocachi, we stopped at a place that swears they make the REAL Panama hats. They gave the history of the hat.

When the Panama Canal was being built, many thousands of Ecuadorians went to help build the canal. The president of Ecuador felt badly for his country men sweating in the hot sun, so he sent thousands of the white hats made in Ecuador. When Teddy Roosevelt went to visit the canal and see how the work was going, he got very hot in the Panama sun. Someone gave him a white hat to shade him. The US press reported " look at Teddy's new Panama hat" and the name stayed. 

Off course after hearing this tale and how the salesman touted the quality and authenticity of his hats.....I had to by one. Don't know how I'll get it home , or if I'll ever wear it at home. But the REAL Panama hats come from Ecuador...............this information cost me $25.

Rosario island 2

We stopped at the national park where they had a large aquarium and dozens of outside corals of different species of fish. Some people on the trip took the time to snorkel.

 
We then went on to the beach. There we spent a couple of hours sunning and swimming. The waves were big, the water was warm and the color of the water was a beautiful Caribbean blue.  .

 Along the route there were several small islands with just one or two house on them. They will be in trouble when the sea rises

The ride back to Cartagena was a nail biting one. The sea swells had gotten twice as big and it is never a good sign when the captain gets out a screwdriver and pliers to work on the motor. Everyone got soaked on the way back but we made it. If you ever go, make sure you sit in the back of the boat.

Rosario island

Today we took the boat ride to Rosario Island. The boat was small, the seas were rough and we were packed in pretty tightly. The trip out was about an hour and a half.

Cartagena

We took the 9:00 flight out if Quito to Bogota and then a one hour flight to Cartagena. Arrived around three to the old town part of the city. This place is gorgeous. No graffiti, no store grates, beautifully colored buildings with charm around every corner. I could explore these tiny street alleys and small boutiques for weeks. We took a city bus tour and got to see the more modern area as well. At night there are  groups for performers that travel from plaza to plaza through out the night entertaining. We are here until Monday. It should be fun to spend Mardi Gras weekend here.
Tomorrow will take a boat out to one of the islands for a day at the beach. The weather is quite warm but the ocean breeze helps to cool things down........."hey Boston, enjoy your storm.

    

Latest paintings

Today we took a tour of the presidential palace and walked the city. We leave tomorrow for Colombia. I don't know if there will be much time for painting......Will see. Here are the last ones I did. And now I say goodbye to Ecuador.

Guayaquil

Waiting for the bus

Cuenca city

Lazy day

Today was just a lazy day. We went to see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace. It was an impressive ceremony. We even got to see the president of the country who was on the balcony.

                        
                 The president

Tap on you tube link to see
    
http://youtu.be/Lwg8e4amDSY

http://youtu.be/SeUjMJgOCHc


Spent the rest of the afternoon painting.

Cotopaxi pictures

                                    

                                                    

         

Cotopaxi

Another early start today. We met our tour in down town Quito. Only 5 of us are on the tour, a couple from Brazil, a man from Holland, AL and myself. To get to Cotopaxi is about an hour an a half drive. Once we were near Cotopaxi, we stopped at a beautiful hacienda to pick up the dirt bikes we will need for riding down the mountain. When everything was loaded we drove into the national park. The park has been closed off and on since November because of recent volcanic activity. From the highway you can see steam and ash coming off the summit. The ride up the mountain was beautiful. Mostly low growth plants and trees. We had a brief stop at the first station where our guide explained the vegetation we'd find on the mountain and how it has been used by the local people. We then went to Laguna Limpiopungo. It's on a plateau just below the mountain. There we saw wild horses, cows and a variety of birds around the lagoon. We hiked around the lagoon for about 2.5 miles. We could also see on the mountain the upper shelter. We could not go up to it because they have closed that section of the mountain. People who hike the summit stay there and hike the summit at midnight. It is when the snow and ice terrain is most stable. They hike six hours to the summit and get there just at dawn. It must be beautiful but I'll settle for seeing the videos. The weather at our level was sunny but chilly. I was happy I had worn layers.

Then some real fun began. We all got on our dirt bikes and began the one hour ride down the mountain. It really was an adrenaline rush even though people probably could have pasted me walking. My bike was the one with the steam coming off the breaks as my fingers grew numb from holding the breaks.

I'll post someone else's video from YouTube that will give you the feel of the experience.

Touch
Cotopaxi down hill,

Cotacachi

After visiting Otavalo we went on to Cotacachi. We first stopped at the Laguna de Cotacachi. The dark lagoon is cradled in a collapsed volcanic crater. It has two mounded islands that shot up in later eruptions. It is at the base of the volcano Cotacachi. In ancient times the indigenous people would bring animals to this lagoon to sacrifice to the gods. We walked part of the rim of the lagoon looking for hummingbirds and taking pictures. Our next stop was to the town of Cotacachi for lunch. It was a pretty little town that is best know for its leather goods. After lunch we spent some time shopping. Between Otavali and Cotacachi it was an expensive day. I will have to throw out more old clothes from my suitcase to make room for new stuff. We headed back to Quito very weary and arrived in Quito around 6:30.. Shopping can be exhausting.
Tomorrow we have booked a trip to Cotopaxi.

Otavalo

Our day started early, 6:30, we took a cab to downtown Quito to meet with our tour. There were about 15 of us. All ages all nationalities. Many of them young woman who were traveling for weeks alone around South American. Our first stop was another Equator line site, ( it's a long line of latitude)  this a a non profit organization and it had some very interesting historical and scientific information about the Equator. You can visit their web site.www.quitsato.org.

After that we stopped for breakfast where we saw them making by hand corn biscottis and then cooking them in a wood fire. Mmmmmmm.

We made to the  Otavalo market about 11 and that was a wonderful experience of sights and sounds. Every Saturday and Sunday the town square closes down for these merchants to set up booths. It was fun to wander around and see the wide variety of goods.

 

Most of the merchant were dresses in indigenous clothing. One native woman on our tour explained the meaning of the wardrobe.

¿Donde esta?

We said goodbye to Bahia at 8:00. At the bus station was easy to figure out which bus was going to Quito. It was a seven hour bus ride but once we left the coast the landscape became green and lush. We past large plantations growing bananas, cattle farms and small villages. At one point our bus had to wait for a herd of cattle to get off the road before it could pass. As we got higher in the Andes the switchbacks became more frequent and we saw beautiful waterfalls cascading off the mountain ridges. An added bonus was the bus's movie theme was not The Fast and The Furiest 1-2--3-4 but romantic comedies. They were all in Spanish and in two of the three movies the child dies. We got to our hotel in Quito about 3. We picked a different hotel in the Old Town area for a change. It's very nice and has two rooms. (Gives us both a break ). We walked around the old city and visited more churches and museums. As poor as these people are, they have given a lot of money to the Catholic Church. At night we visited a neat part of old town called Ronda. It was filled with small artisan shops and little restaurants that all had live entertainment. We went to one that was tucked away off the street and they had an outstanding musician playing the Spanish guitar. Very romantic but      ¿ Dónde esta mi hombre?

 We have booked a tour for Otavalo for tomorrow.