CANOA

What to do in Ecuador post Christmas? Having visited the jungle and the mountains, it was time to hit the beach.



Situated on the north coast of Ecuador, Canoa is a surfer's paradise and also home to local fishermen who brave the waves to keep the local restaurants stocked with fish.


We stayed in a hostal made entirely of bamboo and other exotic woods, with hammocks slung under palapas and tables cut from massive trees on which to place our cuba libres (rum and coke).



We chilled under canvas sunshades on the beach and then jumped in the warm water to get shaken up by the waves.

Sunsets were special!

CUENCA FIREWORKS

Cuenca's residents love a good firework display, but it's like nothing you would experience in the developed world.



First a tall bamboo and coloured paper structure loaded with connecting tubes of gunpower are placed as close as possible to a historic building.



Then the people surge forward as the tubes of gunpowder on the lower section of the structure are lit.




The structure shakes and whines with the strain of the energy being released as the gunpowder
tubes explore in an upward direction.


At the same time jets of fire shoot out from the sides, hurling bits of burning bamboo into the crowd who retreat screaming to a safer location.

By the time the structure is fully lit it is like being in the middle of a war zone, with rockets hurling into the sky and spraying burning debris on the ground below.




My thanks to Ed for braving the war zone to shoot the photos
and not hiding behind pillars like the rest of us.

CHRISTMAS EVE PARADE, CUENCA

<









Cuenca is famous for it's children's parade on Christmas Eve and we were thrilled to have a front row view as the parade passed through the street in front of our apartment. However, we were soon down on the street ourselves, taking photos, applauding the children and dancing to the bands as they passed.


The parade started at 10 am and it was already a scorching hot day. Every child in the city and from other parts of Ecuador were dressed up - there were vehicle after vehicle containing traditional nativity scenes, with Marys, Josephs, wise men, shepherds and the cutest angels.



There were indigenous groups dressed in their best traditional costumes, miniature spanish ladies in beautiful gowns mounted on horses.


























The procession culminated in the cathedral in Parque Calderon some 6 hours later, with offerings of roasted pig, guinea pig and strangely dressed chickens decorated with fruits and vegetables that had been transported around the city on horses and vehicles.
















Impossible to adequately describe in words, so enjoy the photos!

THE INCA RUINS OF INGAPIRCA

Situated a couple of hours by bus north of Cuenca, the Inca ruins at Ingapirca (meaning Wall of the Inca) are the largest in Ecuador. The site was sacred to the Canari indigenous people who lived there for centuries before being conquered by the Incas. Rather gratifyingly, the descendents of the Canari people now operate the site, thus reclaiming their land.


The settlement was built late in the 15th century as the Inca empire expanded from Peru into Ecuador. Ingapirca was probably a stopping off point on the roay Inca route from Cuzco, Peru to Quito, Ecuador and features an eliptical platform known as the Temple of the Sun used for religious and ceremonial purposes as well as a possible solar observatory.


Unlike Machu Pichu in Peru, which was hidden from the world until its discovery, Ingapirca was exposed and therefore well known, resulting in the removal over centuries of many of the dressed stones that formed the walls of this settlement. But there are still some beautiful examples of this finely crafted stonework, as well as examples of trapezoidal archways and niches that are hallmarks of Inca construction.

CAJAS NATIONAL PARK

Cajas National Park is situated 30k from Cuenca and most of the 228 sq km of parkland is between an altitude of 4000 and 4500m. It never snows there, but it can be pretty cold and the bleak, moor-like landscape reflects the colder climate. There are more than 200 lakes in the park and it is a beautiful location for hiking, trout fishing and rough camping.






We visited for just a day to hike and take photos, and on our way back stopped at a trout farm where the adjacent restaurant owner kindly lit a fire whilst we waited for him to catch the fish for our supper.

A RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

<
Katy and I headed north east to Puyo by bus on a rocky dirt road that was cut out of
the jungle.
In Puyo we found a beautiful hostal with wooden cabins installed in the garden with hammocks for chilling in outside on the balcony.









We didn't have enough time to have a full jungle experience, so settled for a one day trip. Our guide Louis drove us to a spot where a local threw his net into a pond and caught our fish for lunch. We then headed alongside the river which was muddy and swollen from heavy rain the previous day and night to where a dug out canoe was waiting for us. These canoes are very unstable at the best of times, and we carefully got in and set off downstream, with our boatsman navigating the canoe from one side to another to slow down our speed in the fast moving river.

We got out further down the river and walked up a steep path to the top of a mountain where we were able to see a panoramic view of the jungle and the river. Katy also tried her hand at playing Jane on the rope swing.




After a tasty fish lunch we set off through the jungle alongside a stream toward a waterfall,
where Katy and I took the plunge and had the best power shower of our lives!













Our last visit was to a local indigenous community who were two days into a four day fiesta, celebrating nature and the end of a hunting trip. Huge quantities of chicha, a traditional drink made from maize and fermented by the women with spit had already been consumed when we arrived, and many of the inhabitants could barely stand up. It was considered impolite to refuse the chicha which was aggressively and constantly poured into the mouth by women, but luckily i was at the tail end of a month 'on the wagon' after a blood test had shown my liver was not as healthy as it could be. So I got our guide to explain that i couldn't drink the chicha for health reasons.











The chief of the village welcomed us with bowls of chicken and vegetable broth and when we had finished he invited me to dance. He was quite a sight, dressed in full camoflage with a colourful headdress, but I kept a straight face and did my best. We had walked a long way that day and I was quite relieved to sit down, only to be pulled onto my feet again to dance with the medicine man. After that there were a string of men who also insisted Katy and I danced with them, many of them covered in vomit from the vast amounts of chicha they had consumed.

Suddenly I realised that Louis, our guide, was beginning to look the worst for wear and gently guided him outside, reminding him that he had to drive us back to town!



We left the villagers to their continuing fiesta and returned carefully to Puyo.

KATY COMES TO VISIT IN ECUADOR

It was a wonderful surprise when my daughter Katy contacted me to say she was foregoing her usual Christmas skiing trip to visit me in Ecuador.

She flew out mid-December and after a couple of days in Cuenca exploring the city and recovering from the flight, the two of us set off for the jungle on the eastern side of the Andes that dissect Ecuador.


We returned to Cuenca, and explored the area around Cuenca with Ed, including Ingapirca, Cajas National Park and the market villages of Sigsig and Chordeleg.




Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve and we had a great day enjoying the traditional children's parade through the streets of Cuenca. Christmas Day was quite subdued after that, and we had a restful day before packing our bags and heading out the next morning for the northern coast of Ecuador.


We spent a few days in Canoa soaking up the sun and getting battered by the Pacific waves. Ed and Katy rented a couple of boards and hit the waves, although on many occasions the waves hit them!




Then it was time for mother and daughter to take the bus up and over the mountains to Quito for Katy's return flight. We arrived early New Year's Eve at a family run hotel i had stayed in before after running the gauntlet of the crowds already filling the streets.



It is the custom in Ecuador to make an effigy of a despised political figure and burn it at midnight and the family had made one of George W, with a note on in english thanking him for the war and the world economic collapse. Katy and I went off for a quick chinese meal (the only restaurants open in the city as everyone was partying) then back to the hotel for rum and Bush kicking as we waited for midnight. George W was soaked in petrol out on the street in front of the hotel and set on fire as we joined other hotel guests and the family in dancing, jumping over the burning body and drinking more rum.











The next day, Katy and I had a slap up steak lunch in an Argentinian style parilla and then made our way to the airport - katy to London and me to Cuenca. A great visit was had by all!