Laguna Quilotoa, Animal Market, Photos May Offend
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
121
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Latacunga, Chugchillan, Zumbahua,
Ecuador
Sunday, June 29, 2008
After drawing a mud map of the route we wanted to take and showing it to a few bus drivers, we were comfortably seated on a rickety old rattling bus filled with locals dressed in their beautiful clothing and watched as their cute, green pork pie, felt hats bobbed up and down as the bus started itīs counter-clockwise journey around the unpaved, beat up and bumpy southern loop road out to Quilotoa lake. This road winds through some of the most spectacular high Andean scenery in Ecuador and we were well impressed with the journey, after each corner we turned there was a new view to be admired in the high mountains. Farming towns and indigenous market villages were the only signs of civilization here. The people wear distinctive clothing
green hats on the bus
. The women wear a full skirt, blouse, thick stockings, court shoes with a tiny heel, scarves and shawls with their long hair tied back and wrapped with ribbons and the pork pie hat on the head. The hat has beading or a peacock feather for decoration. Sometimes the women add plastic gold chains around the neck, they seem to be big fans of sparkling objects. There is usually a baby on the back wrapped up tight in fabric. The men wear a poncho, often red or red and white stripes in colour or pattren.We passed a bull fighting ring, little farming houses with animals like hiary donkeys and alpacas and colourfully clothed, red faced children. People were doing everyday jobs like washing their clothing in the river and carrying produce and we enjoyed taking in the sights of the people on the side of the road. The housing was the small thatched hut type dwelling with thatched roofs that hung almost to the ground giving the impression that they were mounds of old hay sitting on the ground. We saw a couple of interesting, hobbit type houses and caves set into hills by the side of the road. We watched as the locals got on and off the buses and various random items were loaded off the roof like aluminium sheeting for roofs (maybe the thatching is old school now), a new bed, vegetables in baskets, grain sacks and live chickens tied up in stacks by their feet. The road was narrow and had some huge cliff drop-offs. The bus conductor guy would hang out the open bus door and hang on while the bus drove
views
. The main destination and reason for our trip was to visit Laguna de Quilotoa, a beautiful volcanic crater lake where the water changes in colour from inky black to glistening turquoise within minutes depending on the weather and light, quite a beautiful site. The crater rim has treks all around it, about 15km around. The town of Quilotoa is small and has a couple of hotels. We were met at the bus stop by a young boy of thirteen who showed us around, told us about a 2:00pm bus and took a small fee to cover our visit to the lake, a real little town ambassador. Once at the entrance to the lake, which is hidden from the road, the friendly indigenous people have a small strip of handicrafts stalls. When we turned up they all rushed out with lots of little brightly painted boxes and paintings they had done on sheep skin depicting the scenery and lifestyles of the area. We bought one of each and had our painting signed by the artist. The painting we bought has images from the area depicting the lifestyles of the indigenous people who live there. It has sunrise, fields of maize, mountains, waterfalls, a fiesta parade and spirits watching over the whole scenario. We enjoyed the lake and were planning to do a four hour trek to Chugchilan village until we realised that we are not acclimatized for the altitude and there was the bus.
We jumped the bus and went another hour and a half along a scary road with giant ravines and cliffs that threatened to claim the bus at every turn
laundry in a river
. The bus would turn a corner and then you would wait to see if the back wheels were following or if they would take the whole bus and us over the edge. We ended up in the sweet village of Chugchilan where we scored the room of our trip at a place called Mama Hildas which featured natural wood, cosy rooms, hammocks and deck chairs. Because we knew we were the last bus of the day and there were still rooms up for grabs we did a sale of the century deal with the caretaker for $10 a night each including breakfast and dinner and a room with a fireplace and hot water. The town had that mountain air feel and we chilled out for a much needed rest with a couple of glasses of Chilean wine bought from a charming woman in a shop where they weighed flour. We chatted with some travellers over a basic dinner of chicken and rice. We had met a guy from Los Angeles named Andrew on the bus, he was a sweet heart and had a wonderful smile and he was a joy to be around. Back in the room we cranked up our fire place and enjoyed a warm sleep. We thought about using the Liars Planet as fuel for the fire but decided we were still fans of it. There was a fiesta happening in the town on Saturday and we saw the children at the school practising their dances for the big event. We had bigger fish to fry in the form of the Saturday morning Zumbahua indigenous market that turned out to be a wonderful, eye opening event. First we had to work out how to get there. By doing the market it would mean we would miss the north bound buses that would take us on the rest of the loop road to join back at Latacunga but we decided to do the half loop and go south, the prospect of a high Andean indigenous market was too tempting to miss
Laguna Quilatoa Crater lake
. The transport system is a little random in these parts including irregular local buses that generally leave very early in the morning and hitching rides between towns by standing on the back of the morning milk truck. There is an option to pay a truck some good dollars to get anywhere you want to but where is the fun in that? Very few tourists come this way and maybe this is why we loved it so much.
We felt special to be a part of the morning market which provided a really good insight into the highland way of life. We decided to take the 4am bus from Chugchilan to the village of Zumbahua where the live animal market started at 6am. Early yes and painfully cold. Lucky we were ready to go because the 4am bus was beeping up the hill at half 3 and Andrew was calling out to tell us it was there. The morning bus provided a defining Ecuadorian moment. The bus was to follow the same scary road we had driven on the day before except........ we were in complete darkness doing the terrifying turns. Sometimes the driver would cruise along with his headlights off, you just had to forget about the cliff drop offs and the state of the old bus. The loud Ecuadorian music and the flow of people getting on the bus heading to market kept you busy with enough distractions. The conductor would climb onto the roof to haul up produce, chickens, sheep and even a squeeling pig who did not want to be sold at market that day.
Market day seems to be a very enjoyable agathering for the indigenous people of the area
Azul Colours
. As soon as we arrived we were swept up by the hustle and bustle of the market, the senses were stimulated all at once, these are the days we travel for. The sounds of the animals, the smells of the food, the sights of colour and movement. We immediately saw many types of animals like donkeys, cows, a bull, alpacas, chickens, goats, pigs and sheep being unloaded from buses, trucks, tricycles and anything with wheels and being paraded past us down to the preparation area then on to the area for negotiating deals. It was still dark and very cold in the pre-dawn air. There were rows of people cooking breakfast and empanadas on and serving hot drinks from basic stove top set ups and everyone was getting their fill. We ate one of the eggs, hot chips and banana combination plates as we watched the market come alive. Zumbahua is special because it is nestled amongst beautiful mountains and we couldnīt wait for the sun to wake, light up the mountains and thaw us out. I snapped away taking pictures, people were really too busy to notice. It was a total stuck up llama convention, so many llamas in one place. There was one that looked like Kira of course. People were selling ropes and brooms. There was a hippie donkey with dreadlocks that we were tempted to bargain for. Spring onions were popular. The bargaining was done quietly and people seemed to really inspect the specimens before choosing their purchase. The animalīs teeth, testicles, arses and hooves were given the thorough look over and some animals were weighed before decisions were made
Artist of Our Piece
. One really ugly pig with a whole litter of feeding young attracted lots of attention as did a good looking bull, the biggets ticket item in town. Bullfighting is very popular in Ecuador. Pigs were hit and kick by their owners as they tried to escape the sale. There was a freak dust storm at one point and everyone covered their heads with shawls. Andrew, Nadine and I were the only foreigners here so we were free to observe and people were mostly friendly. The clothing of the women made the market very colourful as they moved about in shawls and ponchos of greens, hot pinks, oranges, reds and gold. The sun finally hit marking the end of most of the animal market sales so we made our way into town.As we walked up into town we realised that their was another market gathering going on in the main square of town. We had a laugh as we followed a couple up the hill. They were leading a freshly bought alpaca on a rope and carrying the most mammoth of cooking pots that we have ever seen. An alpaca and a pot to cook it in! Perfect. Once in town we saw that stores were fairly basic. There was a store where they repaired the cute, little pork pie hats they all wear, next to that a store for fixing the shoes and then next to that, a hairdresserīs salon. All that they need in one location. The market was quite the eye opener. There was a row of guys on old Singer sewing machines doing repairs and vendors selling the brightly coloured shawls, skirts and velvet skirts
The Finished Product
. Indigenous Ecuadorians are somewhat primitive with their food. The whole event was a vegetarian marketing campaign. There was a guy with fish for sale brought all the way from the coast, loads of live chickens squashed into crates, people weighing flour on giant scales, cheese stalls, and chicha (rough fire water alcohol) plus alot of things we didnīt recognize. There were food stalls selling cow hoof soup and fatty pork bits and pieces where people would crowd around and eat then throw the bones out to skanky dogs loitering behind them. We saw a very rustic butchers shop where nothing has been treated or trimmed and whole animal parts and organs were sold. We saw a box of flesh with a cowīs face half ripped off lying on top plus alpaca head lined up in rows. The feral sight of the day goes to the open air sheep slaughter area that took up a large space in the square. From market to the killing fields. We saw sheep have their throats cut, then hanged from hooks and have their blood drained. There was people sorting out innards on a table and bowls of blood. There were sheep cut in half and we saw men hacking at carcasses with sharp machetes. Nightmarish and bad. Sorry if the photos offend but they make us think twice about eating sheep again.
I bought a forest green coloured lace, embroidered shawl and when the vendor pinned it onto me, the local women all started crowding around and wanting one the same. We had been at the market for a few hours so decided to go back to Latacunga and head off to Alausi in time to catch the Sunday Sevilīs Nose train where we can sit on the roof
The Locals Show Us Their Wares
. On the bus back around the loop two men drunk on Chicha were evicted from the bus for not paying and they caused quite a scene because they couldnīt be moved. A great day.We had lunch at one of the chugchucara restaurants south of the centre of Latacunga. Chugchucara is a weird traditional dish made up of alpaca eyeballs, pigs trotters and monkeys brains. No just joking, itīs a combination of fried pork meat, pork skin, fried bananas, potatoes, toasted corn, popcorn and cheese empanadas, a strange plate. The restaurant was called Chugchucara La Mama Negra and had some strange decor. The place was run by a campy guy who seemed to have taken great pleasure in unleashing all his long kept hidden, interior design fetishes into one venue. There were winding staircases with golden dragon heads, a fish tank set into the wall, bathrooms that had a dungeon theme and a skylight. They served kick-arse home-made lemonade too.
Nadine was nearly hit by a bus today, missed her by a whisker as we ran across the road with our packs to flag down a bus.
We made it to Alausi in one piece after standing up on a bus all the way and found we ahd landed in town smack bang in the middle of a major fiesta..... and there were bulls.
