Equatorial Excursions: #1 Rule for Ecua-Family Vacations: Go with the flow

So last week I managed to get sick with another stomach thing, which is starting to get a little frustrating. Luckily none of them have been that bad though. My host parents left for Loja on Wednesday, but because I had a test on Thursday I decided to get a plane ticket to fly down Friday morning. Unfortunately because I was sick I couldn’t even take the test, but I already made it up no problem. So I headed to the airport on Friday morning, although I was still pretty weak from being sick. Despite that however, I think that it was the best flight I’ve ever had. It was only 45 minutes, which I’d say is definitely worth the money compared to a 14-hour bus ride. The best part though, was that we flew right by Cotopaxi, which is Ecuador’s most famous volcano. Although I plan to travel to a location where I can at least see Cotopaxi (I’ve accepted that I don’t have the time to dedicate to preparing myself to climb it, which involves ice climbing classes), I know that seeing it from an airplane is a completely unique experience. There were no clouds obscuring our view, and we were just far enough away that we could see the entire thing perfectly, but up close. We were also just above it, so I could see inside the crater, although it was pitch black because the volcano isn’t active. Unfortunatley I sent all of my luggage and my values in the car with my host parents so that I wouldn’t have to deal with it on the plane. I wished so badly that I could have taken a picture!

I arrived at 9:30am and was greeted by my host parents, as well as my host dad’s parents. My host family lived in Loja up until about 4 years ago, and they have a lot of extended family down there. We headed back toward the city, which is about 30 minutes from the airport. They can’t actually build an airport in Loja because it’s too mountainous. They showed me around the city a bit, then we went to eat at a really nice restaurant. I was kind of bummed because I still couldn’t eat much. We said goodbye to the grandparents and continued on our way around the city. My family still owns the apartment they used to live in, but they’re currently redoing the bathrooms and preparing to sell it. Every time they visit they have a million things to take care of, which is part of why they needed to go in the first place. The rest of the afternoon my host mom needed to meet with a bunch of people and pick out bathroom tiles, so she gave me the option of staying at her niece’s house to take a nap. Although I didn’t want to waste any of my time in Loja, I decided that I needed the rest and I didn’t really feel up for all the errands. She finally came back around 5:30 and told me we needed to drive out to their cabin to drop off some materials. At this point I was pretty confused, as I thought the main point of the trip had been to go to the cabin. I knew that we had to hike there, so I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be doing that since it was already getting dark. We dropped off the stuff on the main road with a guy who I think does some work for them, then we headed back to Loja. The niece had invited us for dinner, but by the time we got there it was about 9pm. In the meantime, we had picked up all my stuff because I was apparently staying at their house, while my host parents were staying with the grandparents.

The next morning my host mom came to pick me up, and we proceeded to run some errands. I waited in the car with the 9-year-old nephew while the niece (who is probably in her late 20s) and my host mom visited a few different stores to buy bathroom sinks and toilets. The adventure ended up being longer than everyone expected, but we finally headed out toward the cabin. It had been raining all day, so we needed to kill some time anyway. We went a bit further down the main road to eat lunch and visit Vilcabamba, which is a quiet, but touristy, town. On the way there, my host mom realized that she had forgotten the keys to the cabin, so we would need to return to Loja. After lunch we stopped by my host dad’s uncle’s house (the uncle disappeared for 40 years and was living on the Columbian frontier up until last year). Then we drove back to Loja and offered a ride to two elderly people who had been at the uncle’s house (I think they’re related to my family somehow). I found out after the fact that the wife has Alzheimer’s, and she was asking me the same questions the whole way there. Although I suppose I should be flattered because she couldn’t seem to get it straight that I wasn’t Ecuadorian and hadn’t ever lived in Loja. We dropped them off, picked up the keys, and drove back out to the cabin. We parked the car and began the hike (about 45 minutes) out to the cabin. Shortly after we got there, my host parents realized they had left the keys to the main bedroom (where they lock up all the important stuff when they’re gone) in the car, so they had to hike back to get them. Although I felt bad, I couldn’t help but laugh at how crazy the day had been.

The view from the cabin was absolutely amazing. The entire trip was worth it just to sit in a hammock in the middle of the mountains in Ecuador for 5 minutes. They only built the house two years ago, and because you have to hike to it, it’s still very much lacking in furniture. There is only one bed (which I was lucky enough to sleep in), although they have some egg crate type mattress things too. I felt slightly guilty, as I spent almost all my time there reading in a hammock, while my host parents did a bunch of things to fix up and clean the cabin. The next morning we walked around a bit to put up a couple birdhouses. The property borders a national park, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to explore it at all. I now understand why my host parents had originally wanted the trip to be a week long, but it just didn’t work out. They had said we were going to go out to eat lunch because there wasn’t much food, but the next thing I knew all the bags were on the porch; apparently we weren’t coming back. I had to laugh a bit simply because I had been so unaware of any type of plan all weekend, which is not usually how I roll. But I figured it would be best to just go with the flow. We got some lunch and then we drove around the city some more, while my host mom and her sister explained lots of things. Then we went to the zoo with the nephew. We stopped back over at the grandparents’ house so I could say goodbye, then I went back to the niece’s house to spend the night.

The next morning we left at 5:15am in preparation for the 11 hour drive (luckily a car doesn’t take as long as a bus). It was really cool to get to drive through almost all of Ecuador, South to North. We were surrounded by mountains the entire drive; sometimes it really felt like we were in a painting. We drove around the city of Cuenca a bit, which is Ecuador’s third most important city after Quito and Guayaquil. The architecture is much more colonial, and in general it has a very different feel than Quito. I’m definitely planning to return for a longer visit. We passed Chimborazo, which is Ecuador’s tallest mountain, and Cotopaxi (which was nothing compared to what I saw from the airplane, although it was cloudy so we couldn’t see the peak). Overall the drive really wasn’t too bad. Although the trip was short and a little crazy, I’m definitely glad I went.

Tomorrow morning I’m heading off to Riobamba with some IES students. We’re also going with an Ecuadorian student who one of the girls has become friends with. Her parents have a house there, so we’re going to stay with them for free and practice our Spanish!