In search of the sun

Trip Start Mar 31, 2006

Trip End Mar 31, 2007

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Flag of Ecuador Quito, Ecuador
Friday, July 14, 2006

Sheila was heard to say with true feeling, "I did not sign up for this!" - the weather. We seem to spend our days chasing the sun without much success and in the highlands there is not much pleasure sitting outside your tent in long underwear and as many layers as will fit. The statement was made in Cuenca and the next day we hightailed it for the coast. Even if the sun is limited there too, at least its warm.
But first Cuenca and its surrounds: a lovely town (city), third largest in Ecuador with 600,000 people and beautifully preserved. Has that country feel with relatively quiet, narrow streets. Unesco has declared it a world heritage site and someone is pouring money in to do it up and repair roads and sidewalks. It was seething with restoration activity on a couple of streets. We camped in the grounds of a Hostelaria only 20 minutes walk from downtown. Two rivers flow through Cuenca and have nice, although rough parks along their banks

Chimborazo

. Cattle graze everywhere; it seems any patch of green is an invitation. Towards the end of our four days there we drove only 20 minutes west, almost straight up into the mountains to Parque Cajas. We took the southern entrance on the recommendation of our host at the Hostelaria, paid our $20 and then walked for 2 hours up a valley, past a pretty lake until we were really up into the moorlands at nearly 4,000m. On top of the world, and freezing cold in a howling gale - but the sun was shining which pleased Sheila immensely. On the way back I fly-fished the little river for several more hours, with only one small bite, several lost flies and frozen legs and feet from wading into the stream to unhook flies from opposite banks. When I fish small rivers I attempt to snag as many bushes as I can and here I was most successful. Sheila doesn't see much point in the type of fishing I do but was quite content to lie prostrate in the grass with the sun beating down. Actually an idyllic day! Also while in Cuenca we jotted down some more notes of things that had struck us: seeing a bus careering round corners on a terrible dirt road with an un-tethered sheep standing on the roof leaning into the curves and generally enjoying the view; all the new houses - everywhere! Some in the middle of fields with no apparent driveway or connecting road - which we have been told are being financed by relatives working overseas, and although bright and sophisticated on the outside are likely to be empty and unfinished on the inside; roadsides covering with drying beans with large stones to keep the traffic off them; the indiscriminate use of the left-hand indicator - turning left (maybe), stopping (maybe), turning right (sometimes), or telling you its safe to pass

Cuenca from the river

!
When we left Cuenca for the coast we drove through the Parque Cajas again (they give you 20 minutes or you have to pay the $20 fee again) and you pass through stupendous mountain scenery to over 4,000 metres with little lakes dotted about.
Then down to the coast on another precipitous road towards Guayquil, which seems to have a massive magnet for the Page vehicle - whenever we get close we get sucked in and need enormous effort to get out again! The country changes so rapidly from being high above the clouds, through a mist belt on the edge of the range then rapidly warmer as the vegetation changes to bananas and rice; and getting hotter and hotter; a long day back to Alandaluz, our favourite campsite on the coast near Puerto Lopez. Pitched our tent in the same place and settled in. The familiar can be nice, going to the same people in the market, same egg man, bread lady, ice lady and internet caf�! Still cloudy but warm! The sun did come out for one lovely day and was also shining on the day we left. Another lovely 5 days.
So we reluctantly left Alandaluz and the coast hoping the better weather would let us see the fabled volcanoes. We were in luck. We had a lovely drive through the very wet lowlands full of fields of rice and millions of white egrets in the water, the endless banana plantations and again that incredibly rapid change from sea-level to nearly 3.000 metres in the space of an hour

Cuenca main square

. Our destination was Guaranda which is close to Chimborazo, 6,310 metres and the highest volcano in Ecuador. A lovely market town well worth a visit, surrounded by seven hills and because of this they call themselves the Rome of Ecuador.
We left reasonably early the next day with this awe-inspiring, snow-capped volcano in full view. We tried to get closer by leaving the main road and going via a little dirt road but rather foolishly ignored the signs saying road work was in progress and that the road was only open for 1 hour each day (given the normal road signs around road works this wasn't as foolish as it sounds!) - we had to retrace our steps cursing all the way! So we had to follow the main road to Ambato with Chimborazo getting larger and larger and clearer and clearer as we rose to the highest pass in Ecuador at 4,400 metres. Must have stopped the car thirty times for photos until it completely filled the viewfinder. Really quite exhilarating. We then spent the night in Latacunga hoping that the next day would bring good weather for other volcano sightings. No such luck, but Latacunga is a charming town with narrow cobbled streets and many buildings in volcanic rock.
As I sit writing this we are parked at the side of a little dirt road waiting for Ecuador's next highest peak, Cotopaxi, to reveal herself but so far just tantalizing glimpses.
I will leave you with my bouncing rock story. I have always scoffed at those signs that warn of falling rocks - what would you do? Well quite a lot actually: you approach an area of fallen rocks at some speed and you watch the large, bouncing rock crossing the road and you time your entry between static and moving rocks just right and out you come unscathed with another tale to tell!