This trip continues to fly by. We got back from Rose's area (Atuntaqui) last night. We really enjoyed our time there. Picking up from the last post, which was Saturday at the meeting, we've been to a couple towns nearby, such as Cotacachi, known for its leather shops, Otavalo, which has this incredible local market on Saturdays, and we've made our way down to Banos, where there are thermal baths. Here are some of our experiences and observations:
Clothing: In Atuntaqui it is amazing how CHEAP clothes are. And not just local styles, I mean US name brand stuff like Nike, Adidas, North Face, you name it. According to Rose, all of these things are made here and shipped to the US, except for the stuff that stays here and gets sold in the local shops. If you live in this area, you can dress like you might be accustomed to in the US for a fraction of the price. Not only that but getting someone to tailor the clothes to fit you perfectly is common and cheap. Rose will sometimes take a picture from a magazine of a style she likes, bring it to her a seamstress, pick out the material, and have it made for next to nothing.
Paying my dues: Everyone told me that you always have a high chance of getting some kind of stomach issue with the local food at some point. I had hoped to avoid it but apparently that was not to be. We had bought an interesting fruit at the grocery store that Rose says she has never had a problem with. It is called a Pitaya from what I've researched (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yellow_pitaya.jpg) although Rose called it something else. First I will tell you that it is delicious. It was like a Kiwi - but sweeter and juicier. In fact, it was so good and I was so hungry that after I tried it I ended up eating 1 1/2 of them. That was about 4p. Later that evening we took a drive up this beautiful mountain that I think was called La Estelita. The road was dirt, steep, and rough with switchback after switchback until we were above the cloudline. By the time we made our way back down my stomach was hurting but I wasn't sure if it was because of hunger (I hadn't eaten much all day), the rough winding road, or from something else. I assumed hunger. We headed to dinner and Rose took us to this dive-looking place at the base of the hill that she swore was good. It was across the street from lake Yahuracocha but looked nothing like what a lakeside restaurant I've ever seen looks like. When we arrived, I was afraid. It was busy, noisy, and as 3rd-world as I could have imagined. Can this place possibly have edible food? We ordered, paid, sat down at a table and a short time later a plate with a 12+inch whole fish and a few potatoes was delivered to each of us. Is this what 'bone-in' means here? To my surprise, though, it was excellent! Unfortunately, I got to enjoy about 4-5 bites before I realized my stomach just wasn't going to play nice with the Pitaya fruit I ate earlier. I went to the car to lay back and see if it would get better, but no dice. The others finished up about a half hour later and we headed home. I ended up having to drive so I wouldn't add car sickness to my misery. I was just praying I could make it home before letting loose, but this country wasn't even going to give me the decency to be sick in private. Why else would there be heavy traffic in town at 8:30 in the evening? At the point when I realized I was moments away from losing it, a driveway for some kind of business appeared on the right. I whipped the car into the driveway, jumped out, and barely made it to the building wall 10 feet from the car before I lost it...all. Well, not all - a half dozen heaves later, then it was 'all'. The 'evidence' clearly convicted the Pitaya fruit as the culprit. At least I felt better. Unfortunately that was not going to be the end of it, or at least not the only end. 20 minutes later as we pulled up to the house, I had to run from the car to the bathroom to experience the other 'end'. I hope it doesn't offend anyone, but in the interest of accurate reporting, the only G-rated words to accurately describe it are, 'peeing out of your bottom', over and over and over. The fruit seems to divert the liquids to the wrong exit. Moral of the story: beware of the Pitaya fruit! Click on the link above to see what it looks like in case they call it something different wherever you may be.
Like most 3rd world countries, well, like maybe all countries except the US (sans California and New York), the driving here is rediculous or awesome depending on your perspective - either way it is very different. Most non-main roads are two-way, one lane in each direction with a dotted or solid line down the middle. However, that is really just a suggestion. While driving or riding with others, I never saw a solid line discourage any drivers from passing other vehicles. In fact, even oncoming traffic doesn't discourage drivers from passing other vehicles! The driver who is passing and about to smash head-on into the oncoming vehicle simply squeezes closer to the vehicle he is passing and maybe flashes his lights at the oncoming car. That car has no choice but to move over and squeeze by on the shoulder. Neither driver seems to slow down or think that this is anything but normal. This oft-repeated scenario effectively creates an imaginary 3rd/middle lane. Well, it must not be imaginary since everyone knows about it. Personally, I got the hang of this pretty quick. Especially since the little car I was driving probably had all of 50 horsepower...on its best day. So every time I tried to pass someone, it would take what seemed like an hour and a half to make it past whatever I was passing. Oh yeah, we were living in the fast...er, middle lane. By extension, I also have to tell you about the buses. I had read Noah's blog about them, but nothing really prepares you for this experience. In town it wasn't bad, but once we left Quito to head to Banos and got out of town to the winding mountain roads, we really began to understand. The bus drivers are simply insane, there is no other way to put it. Its best not to stand up or you might end up in someone's lap (ask me how I know). I doubt a fighter jet at Mach 5 produces more G's than a multi-ton, fully loaded Ecuadorian bus rounding what should be a 25mph mountain curve. Back home, all of the other vehicles pass the buses because they're so slow - well, here in Ecuador, the buses are the ones passing EVERYONE. We were passing trucks, semi's, cars, even motorcyles! I'm telling you, these drivers are insane (even by my standards).
Other places we checked out: Cotacachi is a quaint little town where every shop sells leather. Great prices for everything and anything made of leather. There is a brother here who makes book covers and bags designed specifically for JW literature and sells it online, shipping it to the US and other places. If you buy it locally, it is nearly half the price. We bought a bunch of items for us and for friends back home and his daughter threw in a couple extra small bible covers for good measure. Now we just need to figure out where to pack it all. We also went to Lake Cuyecocha national park. This is a lake that was formed in a crater. What is cool about it is that the original top of the mountain basically dropped into the crater and it forms an island in the middle of the lake/crater. No fish live in the lake because of the volcanic activity at the bottom of the lake.
One of the things about this place is that many people here are short. In the case of many of the local Kichwa Indians, they are literally miniature! When I tower over people, you know they're small. But these women carry packs on their backs that are nearly as big as they are like it is nothing. These people may be small but they are tough!
While the temperate climate and excellent soil here may not grow tall people, it does make the produce grow two or three times the size of what I'm used to seeing back home. For example, a brother gave Sam some carrots and beets from his garden and the beets were the size of softballs and the carrots looked more like orange oversized cucumbers. The corn stalks grow so tall they look like skinny trees.
Well, I'm being rushed out of the internet cafe, our ride is here. will post more later and try to add pics. Love and miss you all.
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