Backpacking South America

Sometimes the best trips are the ones that you didn’t plan thoroughly. We were set on visiting Banos, Ecuador, but at the last minute, we changed our plans and headed to Latacunga, the start/end of the Quilotoa Circuit. Latacunga was a fine enough city whose views of the surrounding mountains are supposed to be incredible on a clear day – unfortunately it was damp and dreary the entire time.

We made our arrangements and set out Thursday morning to Sasquisili for the market. The market is based in the town’s squares. We were only able to squeeze two squares in, but our book said that there are seven squares in all. Our goal of the day was to try/buy any fruit that was sweet and that we hadn’t tried yet… We also found a pretty awesome felt hat with two pretty feathers.

From Sasquisili, we headed up into the mountains. Interestingly, an older man bought a sheep at the market and it was decided that the best way to transport it was to tie it to the top of the bus. Eventually the road changed from paved to gravel to mud with lots of ruts. At each stop, you could hear the sheep “baaaahhhh” and with every big bump, you could hear his hooves land hard on the roof.

We finally arrived in the small village of Isinlivi for a night at Llu Llu Llama hostel. A nice hostel with views over the canyon, we spent a wet afternoon relaxing indoors, preparing for the big hike the next day.

We woke up early, filled up on breakfast, and set out to hike to Chugchilan with the descriptive directions provided by the hostel. The route was a combination of trails and crossing various people’s pastures and land. Fortunately, we were with four other hikers, so between the 6 of us, we were able to successfully navigate the path to Chugchilan.

In the middle of our hike, right before we had to climb out of the canyon, we reached a small village. It was time for a quick snack. While sitting around, it seemed that school got out. Soon, we were surrounded by school kids that just seemed to stare and whisper to each other. We started asking some simple questions (about all we can do in clear Spanish), and the kids would slowly and timidly start to answer.

Lunch was over and it was time to get ourselves out of the canyon. As we started up the trail, we came across some kids with a slingshot, aiming at fruit in the trees. We stopped, watched and went on our way. Just as we started to think that perhaps these kids might aim at us, a rock went whizzing behind us… It was quite a ways from us, but it was a bit concerning. Our friend Dan, whose Spanish is quite good, informed them that it wasn’t so funny. Eventually, we were able to keep them slightly ahead of us.

In the meantime, the rest of the kids caught up to us. This was their route home. Every day, they walked up and down the canyon to go to school. On this day, we were their after school activity.

Unfortunately, we still aren’t acclimated to high altitude the same way people are who live in it day in and day out. So we took a break just about every switchback, which was nothing for the kids, and allowed them to follow, stop, stare, whisper, giggle and sometimes talk to us. By the time we made it to the top, the kids warmed up to us and started asking us questions, but then that is where our paths split.

We eventually caught up to the road and hitched the last little bit back to town to our wonderful and cozy accommodations at Mama Hilda’s.

Our final day of the circuit started with an early departure to reach the Quilotoa Crater and Lake. Quilotoa was once a giant mountain that blew its top. In the bottom of what remained, water collected into a lake. It makes for amazing pictures.

We decided to hike in and arranged to have horses/burros take us out. We were told that if we decided to hike, it was 30 minutes in and at least an hour out. So, we made our way down to the lake, through sporadic rain showers, finally reaching the bottom. Two of the horses arrived shortly thereafter. We just needed to wait for two burros. After a few minutes, a lady that lives at the bottom of the crater began to yell/yodel to the rim, asking for our burros. She would yell, then a responder at the crater’s edge would respond. We got a bit tired of waiting, so Carra and our friend Stephanie got on the horses. Dan and I began the arduous, high-altitude trek out of the crater. We were pushing a good pace, but were beat after just 15 minutes; there was no way we were going to keep up our pace. Fortunately, just as we were doubting ourselves, we saw the burros.

We hopped on and were soon relieved to be on the burros backs and not slaving up the hill. Upon reaching the rim, it was a quick bite and a direct bus back to Latacunga, or so we thought… After lots of waiting and countless conflicting stories, we think that the hosteliers and restauranteurs misled us into believing the bus would come into the village and honk its horn, but instead, it only went as far as the turnoff to the town. So after a little over an hour and some serious haggling, we were in the back of a pick-up truck to a nearby town to catch the bus back to Latacunga. At the end of the long day, we were in Latacunga. Now we just had to get to Quito and then on an overnight bus heading to the beach.

So, it needs to be said, not all of our experiences have been “hoops and glitter.” We have been traveling now for 8 months. We have seen big cities and remote towns. We have survived crazy bus rides and avoided countless dangerous situations. But, no matter how cautious you are or how “on” you are, traveling can be tiring and sometimes you feel as if you can never be “off.” Sometimes you feel like you need to sleep with your eyes open.

We have had such a positive traveling experience. We have met wonderful locals and fellow travelers. In comparison, it is a relatively rare occasion that we meet legitimately unfriendly, unhelpful people. But, while the majority of people are friendly and often eager to help, one Sunday morning we happened upon a bad apple in a good area of town.

We had arrived in Cuenca the night before. It was late and we were tired, so we didn’t venture too far from the hostel into town. Sunday morning we woke up to a dreary, rainy and quiet town (nothing too far out of the ordinary for a Sunday in South America). We decided to take a look at this new country (our first stop in Ecuador) and the city we stopped in. We stumbled upon a lot of closed doors (normal for a Sunday). Eventually we happened upon a cute little café. For a rainy Sunday, a good cup of coffee was just what we needed. Unfortunately, they didn’t have WiFi, but the place was super comfortable with a delicious menu and wonderful décor. It was most definitely a gringo hangout, with several gringos eating breakfast and others coming in and grabbing a quick cup of coffee. It was comfortable. So, we decided to grab this little table for two tucked into the corner by the front door. Jared took the seat sandwiched between the corner and the table, squeezed right next to the wall. He set his bag down right beside the chair and the wall, thinking “what a tight squeeze, it’s sure to be safe here.” Usually, he attaches it to his leg or something to just be sure there’s never a tug on it, but it was near to impossible to reach and we thought “no worries.” So, we ordered our coffee and engaged in conversation.

Two men entered the café and ordered bottled water and proceeded to leave. As they were leaving they seemed to linger by the door for quite some time. We noticed their presence, but thought nothing of it, until right after they left. Jared decided to just peer down and double check his bag as the door closed. Missing. Immediately, he said “what happened to my bag?” And immediately the staff said, “Robo?” And it all happened so quickly, but Jared was out the door with the waiters at his heels. The two guys who just came in for a bottle of water were walking down the sidewalk and kindly pointed out our bag, sitting on the sidewalk, no more than 10 feet from the door. It was amazing how our bag grew legs and walked right out the door behind these guys. The two waiters didn’t wait to see the bag, they took off yelling and running after the men, who in turn were running and yelling that they didn’t take it. Jared and I scooped up the bag and went back into the café. We made sure everything was there, which it was; there really wasn’t any time for these men to take anything out of it because we realized right away that it was gone.

The wait staff chased these guys down the street, caught them and called the police. As they waited for the police it attracted a crowd and people started yelling and chastising them. Apparently there is some citizen justice to be dished out to crooks like this. Old ladies approached them shaking their fingers yelling, “You should be ashamed of yourselves! Get a job. You’ll deter tourists.” Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and sure, theft is going to happen, but the local people don’t tolerate it.

Once the police arrived, they arrested the men and then drove down to the café to speak with us and see if we wanted to file a report. Since nothing was stolen, it was sort of a difficult situation. We asked the staff what was best for the community. If filing a report was beneficial, we were willing to do so. So, we told the police we were willing to file a report and they proceeded to tell us that it would probably take about 2 hours. We told them we had time, after all, it was Sunday, there’s nothing else to do. Then they went on to tell us they would need to retain our bag for a few days. And well, that was the deal breaker. They won. They got their way and we decided against filing a complaint. The police simply assured us that they were going to hold these men in prison for a few days on other charges.

Whether or not justice was served, we hope the public humiliation shamed these crooks to change their ways.

Our first stop in Ecuador was Cuenca, Ecuador – one of the hubs of the Panama hat industry. Interestingly, Panama hats are not actually made in Panama, but Ecuador. The name Panama Hats was a result of the hats departure point being from the Panama Canal, so once they reached their destination, they were called Panama hats because of the origin of the shipment.

After a lazy Sunday in Cuenca, we set out Monday to learn more about the Panama hat industry and made stops at Homer Ortega and Serrano Hats to view their process and collection of hats. Ortega was the only factory that was offering tours on the day we visited. So we were shuttled through the history and process of making the hats.

The hats are made from the plaited leaves of the paja toquilla straw plant. The finer you are able to peel the leaf, the finer the weave of the hat. There are two main processes to making these hats: weaving and blocking. The more weaves per block in one square inch, the finer the weave and the better quality the hat. It is said that the finer quality hats are very appealing for travel since you are able easily fold them up into your suitcase and they will retain their original shape once unpacked. It is also said, that it is possible for some of these Panama hats to hold water and to be folded up so tiny that they can pass through a wedding ring.

However, your Panama hat should remain protected from the wet and rain in order to preserve it. To this day, most of the process of making Panama hats is a hand-craft of fine caliber. It is an interesting process with long lasting history.

Needless to say, we didn’t leave empty-handed.

Shrunken Heads

After a morning of playing “dress-up” and trying on all sorts of different hats, we headed out to visit the Museo Banco Central, which had a number of great exhibits, but the Etnografico was by far the most interesting. It showcased the various different ethnic groups of Ecuador. It is astounding how many unique cultures live in Ecuador, a small country of coast, mountain and jungles. The highlight of the floor though was the section on the Amazon tribes which showcased their beliefs, worldview, and lifestyle. It also dedicated a large section to the explanation of their religion and the role of creating spiritual balance through the process of shrinking skulls.

In the exhibit were actual shrunken heads. It was quite chilling and fascinating.

We have finally left the mountains and descended several thousand feet and made it to the beach. We have come upon my heaven on earth…the Beach. After Huaraz, we took an overnight bus and arrived around 7am in Huanchaco on the northern Pacific coastline of Peru. With nothing else to do at 7am, except sleep, we hit the beach! To our surprise, the beach was a great place to people watch – from dramatically posed photographs, old men getting their pictures with young ladies and a lot of experienced and beginning surfers.

Huanchaco is a beach town, of course, and has great seafood (the ceviche’s pretty tasty), but it also has great waves to surf or learn to surf. They are just big enough to get a good ride, yet small enough to not be overly intimidating for a new surfer. Despite our second chance to learn the trade of surfing, we decided to simply sit on the beach and sip our beer and be onlookers. But, we did take in some beautiful sunsets!

Aside from vacationers, Huanchaco is a big fishing village and is famous for its narrow pointed fishing boats, known as caballitos, made of totora reeds. These boats are unique to this community and very often depicted in ruins of the Chimú (a pre-Incan culture that lived in this area).

One day we decided to make a visit just down the road to the famous Chan Chan, the largest Pre-Incan city in South America. The city spans over 28 square kilometers and includes 9 large adobe palaces built by the last 9 kings, temples, homes, gardens, etc. which are currently being preserved or reconstructed. We visited one of the compounds, surrounded by 9 meter high perimeter walls with one narrow entrance. It took us about 2 hours to walk through in and around the palace. It was huge! It is entirely all outdoors, and all made of adobe. El Niño has hit this area of Peru pretty hard in the past and therefore the rains have destroyed and washed away parts of this city. However, what is left on the ruins of the walls reveals beautiful decorations of the elements most important to the Chimú people. As with the Incas, the Chimu had their own symbols of the upper, middle and lower worlds. Symbols such as fish nets, waves, pelicans, spider, snake, rainbow, etc. Chan Chan was a city existing of 30,000 people, lasting about 620 years, prior to the Incan Empires threat and eventual conquest in 1471.

One More Stop in Peru

After our visit to Chan Chan and our time in Huanchaco, we decided to continue heading north, making a pit stop at another beach in Mancora on our route to entering Ecuador. There is not too much to report here other than that it was a nicer beach, smaller waves, but still surfers (probably better for beginners) and still hasn’t been too heavily developed (no huge hotels), but there are a lot of restaurants and bars, for better or worse.

Really, the only thing to do here is lay on the beach with a good book or learn how to kite surf. We had some great beach days until our last day. It was extremely windy with sand blowing everywhere, so we simply retreated to the pool at our hostel.

We shall see how the beaches of Peru compare to the beaches of Ecuador and Columbia.

While planning our trip back in 2008 and early 2009, we lost the ability to plan much beyond Argentina, Chile and early 2010. So for the last few months we’ve been doing our planning just prior to our next destination. So, when we were trying to decide what we should do after Lima, we were slightly surprised to find the Cordillera Blanca (for some readers, this may be blasphemous). We never knew that Peru had a range of such impressive peaks. So we got overnight tickets to Huaraz.

Upon arrival, we were blown away by the shear size and beauty of the mountains. They towered over top with brilliant white peaks. It was not short of breathtaking. The Cordillera Blanca have the largest concentration of glaciers in the tropics as well as the tallest peak (Huascaran).

We didn’t have too much time in the Cordillera Blanca, so we set out to hike the popular trail to Laguna 69. After nearly 2 hours in a car, we arrived at the trailhead with our guide. The trail starts at just shy of 4,000 meters above sea level (13,000 feet) and ends at 4,600 meters (15,000 feet). While not an especially steep trail, the altitude we did gain was in very thin air and made the small hills all the more difficult. I suffered from a somewhat throbbing headache and we were both short of breath the whole way.

Reaching the Laguna was quite the feat. We were ecstatic to reach the top and the views did not disappoint.

During the hike, we had expected to cross numerous other hikers and groups, but we were the only ones at the lake for lunch and we crossed one solo backpacker. It was a quiet, solitary day in the high peaks of Peru.