Amazonia to the High Sierra and South

February 16-28:

Baños was a party, and when we reached the Amazon basin by bus at Tena, we were (literally) inundated in the community water fights, waged from rooftops to roaming trucks with water barrels on the last day of Carnival festivities. We retreated to nearby Jatun Sacha, a private nature reserve with prime forest and meandering nature trails, part of a network of reserves managed by an Ecuadorian foundation. Here, as the rivers flow out of the volcanic sierra into the Amazon plain, there are hundreds of bird and butterfly species, plus thousands of types of plants documented by visiting scientists. We had our own dorm, with intriguing animal sounds at night (e.g. electric-sounding crickets). Nonetheless, we could not spot much wildlife in the daylight, amongst so much vegetation. With international volunteers, the reserve runs an organic demonstration farm (which we visited), and environmental education programs in local schools.

A couple of days later we left the Amazon and returned by bus to the central sierra spine of Ecuador, using Riobamba as a base. It is a lovely city and we enjoyed a quaint older hotel and fantastic pizza! We wanted to experience the high sierra and thus arranged to wind our way up to the base refuge of Chimborazo Mountain, the closest point to the Sun on Earth (yes, closer than Everest due to the equatorial bulge). We arrrived at 4800m altitude and climbed ever so slowly in the thin air to the second refuge, at 5000m. It is from here that mountaineers climb the melting ice to the peak at 6310m; we actually saw some climbers descending from high above, and talked with two guys arriving to acclimatize before their attempt. The veil of mountain clouds parted just as we arrived, giving us a breathtaking view of the steep peak and wide surroundings. On the way back to town, we saw rare wild vicuñas (relatives of llamas), stopped at an interesting indigenous ecotourism village (the grandfather of the young guide, Marta, had long ago seen the now rare and iconic Andean condor) , and then had llama stew as a late traditional lunch.

We then headed south towards Cuenca, a world heritage site recognized for its colonial city architecture and history. Both in Cuenca at Pomebamba, and a bit north at Inkapirca, we strolled around impressive Inca and pre-Inca Cañari ruins of houses, baths, irrigation channels, and sun and moon worshipping sites. The mystery of history seemed still present as clouds rolled in to envelope the site at Inkapirca, and rain then hail enveloped Tomebamba and its lovely demonstration gardens. At the latter, we were soaked and headed back to a welcome warm meal at our downtown hostel. The colonial architecture of the massive cathedral and balcony-lined traditional streets, plus the wide walkway along the central river, left a strong impression of Cuenca. We also got a brief glimpse of the Winter Olympics on TV (soccer is predominant on Ecuadorian sports TV), only to watch the Canadian men lose the first round hockey game to the U.S. Our next journey revealed stunning slopes and arid scenery along the route through the Andes to the southern city of Loja. We enjoyed an overnight stay and morning walk with Joyce (in the small town of Susidel), a helpful mature U.S. Peace Corps volunteer whom we had met on our first morning in Quito.

Another stunning bus ride south of Loja led us to the famed village of longevity and tranquility, Vilcabamba. We stayed several days just outside of town at the private nature reserve Rumi Wilco, named (as is the town) after the sacred and now quite rare Wilco tree. Our little abode, the Pole House, sits on stilts near the bank overlooking the small river, with coffee shrubs, bamboo and fruit trees planted close by (and coffee and granola available on site!). Except for the vegetation, it made us feel at home since it is so much like our cabin north of Peterborough - open room, corner kitchen, outdoor bathroom (although here they have outdoor showers!). Lots of solar heat, too, which releases a downpour at 6 pm or so most days, thus raising the river level a bit and lulling us to sleep during the night. We volunteered by hauling rocks to a wooden crib to help buffer the bank and help build up silt and thus mitigate heavy erosion nearby. Hikes to the heights of the ridges behind us, plus along a surging stoney river up a nearby valley, gave us an appreciation of the panoramas, hillside agriculture, and unique plantlife in this southern part of Ecuador, next to the Podocarpus National Park and Biosphere Reserve.