We should be in the Galapagos, but we haven´t gotten our alternator yet ... but who cares about that when there´s a whole country to discuss.
A day after we arrived, we hopped on the night bus from Salinas to Quito. Aside from sitting with my knees around my chin for 12 hours, the ride wasn´t too bad. My favorite part was snacktime. At 4am, I woke up as a packet of cookies was tossed in my lap. A man poured a glass of apple soda and handed it to me. He turned to Ryan. Ryan was very much asleep. "Señor!" he said. "SEÑOR!" Ryan´s eyes opened and he was quickly handed a cup of soda. There was no sleeping through snacktime. Sorry. On this bus, you eat your cookies at 4am, no excuses. I think at that point, I took some really uneventful video footage to add to my collection.
After a night in Quito, we headed to The Otavalo Market. The Otavalo Market is supposedly the largest market in South America. This means that they have enough alpaca sweaters, blankets, wall-coverings, scarves, tableclothes, table-runners, napkins, diapers and technicolar dreamcoats to build every person in Ecuador a three-story alpaca mansion. Yes. Three soft, sweatery stories of knit house per person. There is just that much alpacaness at the Otavalo Market. There were dozens of other wares for sale. You could buy an Inca vs. Spaniard chess set, hammocks, pigs, five trillion kinds of beans, jewelry, soap, cell-phone cases and armadillo-backed guitars. It was quite an experience. Bargaining was a lot of fun.
Then we returned to Quito. We toured some churches, took some photos and hiked up to a volcano called Cayumbe. The hike was great except the altitude made me sick. I took a really nice nap on the side of the glacier while everyone finished the hike. It was tough to admit defeat, but the strawberry yogurt I spewed towards a particularly scenic vista was argument enough. I settled in on a nice dry patch and cuddled up with my "when in Rome" alpaca sweater. There was something very soothing about sleeping on the side of a gigantic volcano. I felt like I was on the back of a dragon or something. Actually, a dragon is almost too close a parallel. I felt like I was curled up in the mouth of a lion; it was a dry and arid mouth surrounded by tundra and unprotected from sunburn.
Then we traveled by bus to Zumbahua, a small town in the Andes. I like that, in South America, a taxi is a person with a car and a restaurant is anywhere that has a table and some extra food. Riding in truck beds has quickly become my favorite activity. Watching the world go by from the comfort of a bouncing, speeding truck, sometimes in the company of large bags of onions or livestock, is just so terribly authentic I can barely take it. Oh my gosh! PIGS, llamas and mules just wander around the towns. My own delight and amusement at such normal parts of daily life fascinate me. Is it that novel to see a child herding a group of sheep up a mountain? I can´t inhale the experiences quickly enough.
After that, we checked out the nearby, Laguna Quilotoa, an alarmingly green lake nestled between volcanoes. It was a lovely little trek. Then I went to Baños for some white-water rafting. The guide, Fabricio, was a card-carrying lunatic. "From here, easy," he´d say. Then we´d turn around to see bubbling water, rocks, cliffs, waterfalls and ominous overhanging rocks ahead. It was pretty tame overall, but Fabricio liked the flavor of danger, or at least, propagating fear among the nice family that accompanied us.
I returned to Salinas to prepare to leave, but we´re still here.
With no alternator and most boat projects under control, we took off to Montanita for the last two days. I had not expected to go at all. It was pretty cool. Most of the tourists were from other parts of South America and they liked taking pictures of us. Being white and carrying a gigantic surfboard that shouts, "I have no clue what I am going to do with this thing when I get to the water" seemed to pique the interest of the South American tourist. I'm pretty sure I heard the Spanish for, "Let's get a photo of the gringos before they die surfing," on multiple occasions.
Surfing was okay. I can't really claim to have "surfed" per se. I would say I did a great job of swimming after my board. Of course, it was attached to my left ankle at all times, but I assure you, loads of skill were involved in its retrieval, namely breathing before getting smashed by more waves. I kind of almost got up once or twice. I'll have to try again some other time. Maybe a lesson would be a good idea, too. It got slightly tiring to be thrown around in the salt water like a sock on the spin cycle, but the water was wonderfully warm and the experience was worthwhile.
Other highlights of Montanita include this bar with really cheesy music videos. In one, there were two backup guitar players who leaned forward and backward in unison while playing the same chord over and over again. It was awesome.
I´m back in Salinas now and it´s almost time to set sail. I could stay for awhile, roam around and travel in truck beds, but the ocean is calling.
