Last Sunday I went on another hiking trip with the Club de Andinismo. We went to Fuya Fuya (about 14,060 feet), which is near Otavalo. We had a huge group—about 27! I was told this was a low-level hike, so I figured it would be fine compared to the last hike I did (which was low/medium). The route was pretty short, but it was steep the whole way. A couple other IES girls were there too and it was their first trip with the club. I think the two of them were about to turn around in the first 10 minutes! I kept assuring them it would get better and that I couldn’t breathe for a while at the beginning of my last hike. It did get better, but it was definitely a workout. We stopped practically every two minutes to take a breather! We got to the peak in just over an hour, so we all decided to climb up another peak that was close by. That one, however, involved some definite rock climbing. It was really cool, though. On both of the hikes I’ve surprised myself with the confidence I have in doing things that makes other people afraid. I feel like that’s not always the case with me…Anyway, overall it was awesome. Unfortunately it was really cloudy up top, but I can only imagine how incredible the view would be on a clear day!
This past week was really busy with lots of work, but I made it! I was thrilled to find out that I could go to the beach with a bunch of other students over the weekend (I almost couldn’t go because we’re planning a week-long trip to Loja with my family and thought we might be leaving, but it didn’t work out for this week). Anyway, we took an 11pm bus on Thursday, which worked out pretty well. It was a really safe company, decently comfortable, and I actually got some sleep. The ride was about 7.5 hours and the bus took us to Bahia de Caraquez. We had a short way down to the bay, where we took a quick canoe ride across the water. We hopped on another bus for about a half hour and arrived at our hostel around 7:45am. We had specifically chosen a hostel with a kitchen to save some money, so we kicked off our trip by making some delicious banana pancakes. Actually Philip made them—all three of our chefs on the trip were male. Impressed? I was. We then headed to the beach (about 10 steps away) for the day. It was slightly overcast on Friday, which meant the temperature was just right. Any time the sun came out it got pretty hot. The water was absolutely perfect—cool enough to be refreshing, but not cold at all. I would have stayed in all day if it weren’t for the decently strong waves. A couple of the guys rented surfboards and I really wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately by the time they were free, the other student who knows what he’s doing had gone down to the other end of the beach and wasn’t there to help me out. I took it into the water, but didn’t have much success because I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. Later that afternoon I walked all way down the one of the beach, where the sand ends and some rocky cliffs begin. It was really beautiful and quiet. After that I hung out on the beach a little longer, since the sun wasn’t as strong and it was perfect. Then we got cleaned up and Eric made a delicious spaghetti dinner. We headed down the street to check out the nightlife, which apparently doesn’t heat up until Saturdays. All along the beach there are a ton of little shacks with drinks, milkshakes, juices, etc. Most of them have hammocks, so we hung out for a while then headed home, as we were all still a bit tired from the bus ride the night before.
On Saturday we got up and a few of us attempted to find the organic market that, according to my guidebook, happens every Saturday. Unfortunately we couldn’t find it, but we came across this great bread shop with freshly made bread with different fillings. I got one with chocolate and another with creme. They were delicious, and still warm! When we got back, everyone was talking about the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami watch that had been issued for the coast of Ecuador. After initially receiving word from the embassy that the watch was between 12:00 and 1:30, we talked to the program director and determined that the timetable had shifted and that most of the danger had already passed earlier in the morning. The director made the call that we could stay, and the locals didn’t even seem to bat an eye. Despite the fact that fishermen still went out their boats, we decided to play it safe and not spend much time in the water. I was a little bummed because I didn’t get to really try surfing and I also found out that there was a place that rented skimboards. The day before the tide had been perfect for skimboarding and all I wanted to do was relive my obsession from summers in Maine. Unfortunately I missed my opportunity. We still had a fun day hanging out, though, and I had some pizza and an amazing banana milkshake for lunch. (I have to say, I’ve been very impressed by the pizza I’ve eaten in Ecuador so far). It was for the better that we kept out of the sun because, despite reapplication of sun block, we all got sunburned the day before. We were all really excited to go out for dinner that night, as we had been told that the food on the coast is incredible. I had a rice and shrimp dish, which was good, but I wasn’t quite as impressed as I was hoping I might be. We walked around town for a bit, then hung out for the rest of the night. One of the other guys had made a delicious dessert consisting of tortilla layers and chocolate, nutella, and peanut butter, so we snacked on that for a while. It was SO good. We wanted to stay up late so that we’d be tired for the bus ride the next day, but we only made it until about 1am. At 2am I woke up with another stomach thing, which is weird because we all pretty much the same things. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to travel home in my condition, but luckily I was pretty much better by 6am. Needless to say, I ended up being the only one who stayed up late—all night, in fact. Because I was awake, I was one of only two of us to feel a slight tremor at 5:30am. It was really quick, but I finally learned today that there was a 5.3 earthquake in Portoviejo, Ecuador. I guess it might have been an aftershock, but I’m not sure. It was a little scary, but pretty cool at the same time. At 6:15 we headed to the bus and began our journey home. The bus ride went pretty quickly and I was able to sleep for a bit. The entire bus stopped for lunch, which was pretty cool, and I was back home by 4:30.
Hi Sweetie:
ReplyDeleteGreat words and pics..LOVE those sunsets! glad you didn't get swept away by the little waves that weren't ! I changed my pic in honor of your rock climbing excursions :-). Keep up the "good blog" !
Dad