Cuenca to Latacunga (Part 2)

 This was the third time that I was in Ecuador. I was there in 1969 when I was traveling home from Chile, and then for a short vacation in 2002 when I traveled with friends, Ann and Roberto. It’s a beautiful country with amazing mountains, volcanoes, jungle, and coast.

From the Galapagos, Glenda and I flew to Guayaquil, staying only long enough to get a van to Cuenca. The ride was exciting, to say the least, with mountains and lots and lots of curves. We saw a spectacular sunset with clouds below and splashes and swirls of gold and pink, with every curve the colors changed ending in a deep red. Then the rain came as we arrived in Cuenca. We stayed at a place recommended by a friend, it was a big lovely compound once owned by the grandfather with several houses so that many in the family were living there. It was a half hour walk from Cuenca which was far, but the breakfasts served by Maria were delicious, fresh fruit mostly from their own trees, yogurt and granola, good coffee with milk, bread and cheese, or eggs. We had a very nice room with a balcony looking out at the mountains. Umberto was extremely knowledgeable about everything.

We really enjoyed Cuenca. It’s a lovely colonial city built on hills and with several rivers running through it. The streets are cobble-stoned and the roofs are red tiles. We were there for a festival, the 194^th year of independence for the city, so it was a big holiday weekend with crowds and crowds of people wandering around visiting hundreds of booths with food and junky fair items. There were a few booths with exquisite expensive crafts, wooden vases, weaving, dolls, jewelry, and they were fun to admire. We watched the parade with marching bands, dancers, acrobats, and floats with agricultural products and animals produced in Ecuador. There were very pretty girls riding on many of the floats.

We took a bus to the National Park of El Cajas, again up up up into the mountains at an altitude of about 9,800 feet (3000 meters) called a paramo (high, cold plateau). We walked around the Toreadora Lagoon with alpine vegetation and saw some beautiful flowers and grasses. It’s a very wet climate with mist and fog at night. Glaciers formed 235 lakes in the area. We were very lucky to have finished our hike before the rains came, it poured as we caught a bus back into town. It was very pleasant, however, getting onto the warm bus filled mostly with Indians and with Ecuadorian music playing.

 

Then we went on to Alausi the next day. The scenery on the way was incredible, steep green hills with patches of fields in various shades of green and brown, and small houses. Clouds floated in and out below the peaks. 

We celebrated Glenda’s birthday by taking a train ride, El Nariz del Diablo (The Devil’s Nose). The tracks were built on a sheer rock vertical wall, therefore, the train needed to zig zag to get down into the valley. The best part was the scenery. We joined the rest of the tourists to watch dancing, drink coffee, and eat a sweet bread at the station in the valley, then back to Alausi to catch a bus to Riobamba. We were headed to Guaranda, and then Salinas. We passed by Volcano Chimborazo (20, 564 ft./6268 m.), but we couldn’t see it because of the fog and darkness. In Guaranda we found a hotel and headed to Salinas in the morning. We rode in the front of a pick up while the driver stopped for many people on the road and they climbed into the back.  We caught glimpses of Volcano Chimborazo as the clouds floated in and out. Again the hills sides were very green, mostly with potatoes. 

In Salinas we learned about the cooperatives that began there in 1971. Our guide, Jorge, took us around and told us that everyone in the town is involved in the cooperatives.  The farmers bring in their milk to the cheese factory in the morning on donkeys or lamas. After they empty the milk, the animals are sent home with the empty containers. At the factory they produce many varieties of cheese, mainly for export, because the only kind of cheese we ever found was a fresh cheese. We went to a chocolate factory, then a place where soccer balls are made, then a dried fungi and fruit factory, and finally a wool factory. Fruit is grown at the lower altitudes, potatoes at high altitudes along with cows and sheep. The whole municipality is involved. As in most towns recycling is encouraged, but still there is garbage and rubble all around.

Cheese factory

Our next destination was Latacunga. We were in bleak rugged paramo country again as we rode near Volcano Carihuarazo (16,470 ft./5020 m.). Vendors get on and off the buses with food and other items to sell, but this time a man sang and played Andean music, it was pretty awful, but may not  have been as bad as blasting Ecuadorian music, or dreadful monster and martial arts films.

We arrived in Latacunga and ended up rooming with Scottish Ian in the hostel because it was a very busy weekend with the Mama Negra Festival.