Alausi, Cuenca and Parque National Cajas. With Pictures

March 5. 3:17 am.  Alausi.

For some reason I am awake and since I forgot to write anything last night, now seems as good a time as any. 

We got up early and left our lovely Oasis Hostel.  Our plan was to take the 8 am bus to Alausi, find a room, go to the market and then take the 3 pm train ride to the Devil's Nose.  All went according to plan except that they had cancelled the 3 pm train.  We were lucky, we arrived just in time to get the last two seats for the 11 am train.  But, disappointment, they won't let passengers ride on the roof anymore.  The door to the stairs is not just closed, it was bolted and then screwed shut.  So no roof surfing.  I'm sure Val's mom, Glenna, who didn’t sound too keen on the roof idea, isn't as disappointed as Val.  We didn't almost die once on that trip - where's the fun in that. 



Me on the train



Val on the train (in  the least flattering photo of her EVER)

But the train ride was impressive.  Basically, the train zigzags down a mountain by doing switchbacks.  Forward to a point, then backwards, then forward etc.  all of the while descending into the valley.  At the bottom was a touristy trap area.  Gift shop, cafeteria (free sandwich and coffee with our tickets) and an interpretation centre - my favourite 'interpretation' - that the valley used to be home of the condor but they left because of all of the dynamite and people dying.  I suspect it was more the dynamite than the dead people, I don't think the condors are that empathic - but I could be wrong. There were also some dancers in traditional dress.  Anyway, no condor, but one swallow.  The track is so narrow and tight, that we had to do the return trip backwards.  More nauseating but much faster.  We were back in Alausi by 2:30pm.

The train trip:

All Aboard!!



This is the Devil's Nose.  You can kind of see the switchbacks



More stairs to get our free lunch

The dancers

Alausi is quite small.  When we first arrived, we had consulted our guide book for a recommended hostel but all three listed were right on the main drag (bus and truck route).  So we found another one, Ventura Hostel, back a block.  We think it is newly built.  It is super clean and more like a hotel than a hostel.  And it is right at the base of the hill that holds a giant Jesus statute that overlooks the town.

Alausi:

After we got back from the train, we just wandered around.  We checked out the Saturday market.  There seemed to be two.  One, the merchandise, very utilitarian - clothes, pots, household stuff.  The other was the fruit and vegetable market.  It was a whole city block of makeshift stalls selling the more bizarre and exotic fruits and veg (and some chickens).  We got laughed at a lot as we picked things up gingerly, sniffed it and put it back.  But, as I have mentioned, the people here are very nice, and they didn't mind us manhandling the produce and asking stupid tourist questions:  What's this?  Is it sweet?  How do you eat it?  We didn't even buy anything after all of that.  Although, I did buy another toque and a scarf and (Lea cover your eyes) a small bag.  My poor backpack.
 

The fruit and vegetable market:
 



I like the chicken but I doubt he is long for this world.

We tried the bus station to see what time the bus left in the morning for Cuenca.  But there is no station, just guys standing near buses, yelling destinations.  So we asked them.  From what we could tell, the busses leave Alausi at 6:30 am and 10:30 am.  So, this morning we are getting up early (although later than this) and catching the 6:30 so we have all day in Cuenca.

More people from Alausi:

Val trying to convince a shoeshine boy that she doesn't need her suede runners shined.

The same boys, recognizing Val the cheapskate from earlier



A lady and her piglets (I love this picture)

I forgot to mention lunch.  We had the Menu del Dia again.  The soup was a pig's foot and a whole potato in broth.  Yum.  I ate the broth, it was ok as long as I kept the bowl at exactly the right angle to pretend the foot was something other than a foot.  If I turned the bowl a degree or two in either direction, that foot was clearly a foot. 



The foot (and a potato to add insult to injury)

Then we decided to end the day by climbing the hill and visiting giant Jesus.  His perch gave an impressive 360 view of the city as the clouds wafted down the mountains and became fog.  On the hill were huge beetles.  Kids were playing with them.  Dead ones were littered all over the place.  As dusk started to descend, so did the birds. There were Golden breasted Gosbeaks (new) just picking them off the trees and chowing down on them.  We watched that carnage for a bit but left as it started to rain and get dark. 

The beetles:



This is what happens to kids without cable TV

Giant Jesus and his stairway to heaven

:

Alausi from above:

A quick, non-noteworthy dinner and back to our room.  This is the first room we have had with heat.  Even Val, who is perpetually cold here, has kicked off her quilt.  I have to get up in an hour so I will sign off for now. 

March 5.  8:37 pm.  Cuenca
 

Well, fortunately, we got to the bus 'station' early this morning because the bus actually left at 6:19.  The trip was a long 4 hours.  The bus was very busy, lots of city corner and mountain meadow stops.  I like watching the people get on.  There are lots of women in interesting clothing and so many babies and little kids.  Have I mentioned how absolutely gorgeous the kids are here.  I think the babies are being manufactured in Japanese factories beside Picachus and Hello Kitty.  Big black eyes, pudgy cheeks, thick hair covered by tiny woolen toques.  I haven't stolen one yet but I make no promises.  First I have to learn how to tie one to my back with bit of cloth. 

But I digress (one for the Anth crowd).  We reached Cuenca at around 11 am.  We had a few cheap hostels from the book in mind.  But they were all a bit icky and none of them had a private bathroom.  Plus they were very near some bars.  Are we getting old or what - "We don't like that loud rock and roll music, no we do not!"
 

So we walked a bit further in and found the Capitolio Hostel (we think, we can never quite remember) off of Hermoso Miguel street.  Still no private bathroom, but our room is huge.  We are planning a cotillion.  Well, not quite, but the laundry line is up and not in our way.



The 2nd floor courtyard of our hostal



Our big sunny room.

Once we threw our bags in our room, we headed out to find some food.  We didn't have time for breakfast in the morning so all we had was some day old bread.  But, we discovered, most restaurants in Cuenca don't  open on Mondays (at least for lunch).  So, we wandered around again, searching.  I was starting to doubt Cuenca.  Eventually we just ended up at a Coffee Tree, a franchise.  It was actually not bad.  We were both tired and hungry and Coffee Tree offered American-type food which fit the bill perfectly (especially after my 'soup' from yesterday).  Val had a burger, I had pasta.  And of course, we both had coffee. 

After lunch we just walked around.  Cuenca is a beautiful city along a river.  There is a walkway along the water so we followed that for a while.  Then we headed into 'Church' territory.  There are so many churches here. We came upon one with the doors open so I was all keen to go inside for a looksee.  But just as we were discussing it, a hearse pulled up and a funeral procession started and the casket was carried into the church.  We figured that now was not the best time to be obnoxious tourists.  So we moved along. We checked out some shops.  Val bought a fancy girly ring, but, I am proud to say, I bought nothing. 

Cuenca

We did go into one noteworthy store though.  We walked by a store window with some odd things in it.  The sign said antiques and curiosities - if you want to come in, just ring the bell three times and wait.  I would have kept walking but Val rang the bell three times so I waited.  We got buzzed into the very grand courtyard.  First a creaky voice called down that she would just be a minute.  Then a thousand year old daschund came down the stairs.  If it hadn't of been moving, I would have sworn it was dead.  Then a very old lady appeared at the railing on the 2nd floor.  She would just be a minute.  It turns out that this 90 year old woman was waiting for her 85 year old assistant to help her down the stairs. 
 

They opened the store for us.  The place smelled like a tomb.  Everything was covered in dust.  There were 'antiques' everywhere.  Every piece I picked up was broken, chipped, dented, or damaged in some way.  The old woman followed us around and pointed at things with her cane, she drooled a bit too.  Having a soft spot for the old ladies, I kept asking how much things were, figuring I could buy something cheap.  Nope, everything I asked about was $14.  Now, I am willing to pay a buck or two for a broken 'antique' whistle or rusty dented plate, but I draw the line at $14.  We eventually escaped but I swear the next unsuspecting tourists will be mummified in there and then sold for $14.

Antique and Curiosity Shop

the thousand year old Dachshund



The lovely courtyard, the two ladies are in the top right corner, preparing to descend.



At some point, we also popped into a tourist office.  We wanted to find out about trips to a National Park near here, Parque National de las Cajas.  The nice lady said we could join a tour of eight for an all day trip with a guide or we could just the two of us go with a guide for the same price.  Ummm, let me think about that...  Yeah, we will take option two, thank you very much.   We are booked for that for tomorrow morning.  Now, let me warn you.  There are Andean Condors in the park.  I fully expect another Cock of the Rock situation where I get all excited only to be crushed by non-compliant birds.  So, expect some whining tomorrow night.

On our way back to our room, I bought a used book (the Onion Fields). Then just as we were almost back to our hostel, we met up with a couple from Kansas that had been on the train with us yesterday.  Scott and Sue.  It turns out they are staying in the same hostel as us.  We quite liked them so we all went for a beer and some empanadas.  They had never had an empanada so I convinced them how good they were.  Well, of course, they were the worst empanadas I have had in Ecuador but since they didn't know any better, they still enjoyed them.  But there was potato in them,  and no way to pick it out so I ate the potato.  Maybe one day, I will be all adult and able to eat potatoes, the blandest food in the world.  Blaccch. 

Now, we are eating popcorn for dinner.  Another early day tomorrow so I am off to bed soon.

P.S.  Thanks for the note Diane.  Always nice to have comments.  Val says hi.  BTW, blogspot has a fancy tracking feature that I have never used before.  Apparently we have a few viewers/readers from Russia, Germany, Ireland, Japan and even Latvia.  I'm not sure what that is about. 

March 6.  6:32 pm.  Cuenca. Cajas National Park.

Did I see a Condor?  Haha.  Of course not.  It turns out there is only one (a lonely male) living in the 2854 sq km park. Our guide had never seen him either.  But to be honest, I am just glad to be done with our ‘hike’ (or as I call it the Andean death march). 



this poster is as close as I ever got to a Condor.

Our guide, Patrice (female) picked us up at the appointed time.  It turns out they had added a third person to our outing, a French woman called Laurant (?).  She was very nice but when we saw her, tall, lean and fit like a marathon runner, we knew we were in trouble.  We drove up to the park.  It was a nice drive and our first stop was at the ‘three crosses’.  Apparently, the highway used to be riddled with crosses from fatal accidents but they removed them all when they improved the road and just left these three.  They are at the highest point in the road.  So we got out and took pictures.  Then Patrice pointed up a very big hill and asked if we wanted to take the stairs up to the very highest traversable point – 4100 meters.  So up we went.  Val is having some respiratory issues, waited half way up.  But I went up and it wasn’t too bad.  I figured I was getting in a bit better shape and the altitude wasn’t bothering me so much.  But then we took the hike and I knew different.

Three Crosses and adjacent mountain.

Three Crosses



One of the three crosses



The stairs



flowers were an excellent excuse to take a picture (break)



At the top

Now, of course, when we asked about the hike, we were told it was ‘easy’.  I think we have figured out the code for ‘easy’.  It means ‘doesn’t require your own grappling hooks.’ Although they would have come in handy on this hike.  Seriously, I don’t think I can overstate the depth of difficulty of this hike.  But I shall try.  Imagine if you will – mud, torrential rain and hail for the last half, paths turned into rivers, traversing many creeks, brooks, and raging rivers, ascending and descending rock faces, patches of jungle with more mud, paths that defied the term path – muddy, steep, rocky, wet, slippery – these were llama trails for sure.  We slipped and fell and bled.  Val almost went over a cliff when she fell, only by the grace of God and some clumps of grass is she still with us.  We went around a mountain, up hills and over valleys until the rain started.  Then we just went up.  I swear , I barely  remember any down parts of this trip.  Occasionally we would slip in a downward trajectory, but since it took as much full body effort to stay upright on the down hills as it did to propel myself upward on the up hills, it was really no relief.   

Patrice had insisted at the beginning that the park says the route of our hike takes 5 hours but we could surely do it in 3.  Again – haha.  Patrice and Laurent were ahead of us for the entire trip.  We just stopped when we had to, you cannot make a dead hiker dance, I say.   Eventually they would notice that we had died somewhere back on the trail and wait until we resuscitated ourselves and catch up.  Eventually, we made it back to the Interpretation Centre at the start (top) of the trail.  We made it but barely.  We were soaked through.  I can’t even imagine when we will be able to wear our hiking shoes again, they are so wet and muddy.  But we made it back (without crying, barfing or dying) in 4.5 hours.  So we are quite chuff that we beat the ‘recommended time’.  And I got to try out my new plastic parka.  It kept my upper bits dry but the billowing blue plastic and the steamed up glasses added a new level of skill required.
 

Oh, yeah, the scenery was beautiful and I saw a few new birds.  Laurent really wanted to see some llamas that live wild in the park.  We saw some from the first mountain with the stairs but they were so far away that we couldn’t take pictures (there was a baby though).  But on the death march, no llamas.  Lots of llama poop to avoid, but no actual animals.  But as we finally reached the end, there were two llamas in the parking lot of the centre.  I knew I liked Laurant at this point when she said “you mean I could have avoided that god awful path and just waited here for the llamas to arrive”.  That was when we discovered that she thought it was brutal too, and she is fit!  I blame the mud.  You can only fall down or sink to your ankles so many times before it stops being fun. 

The Andean Death March
(ok, as I look over the pictures later, it was really very beautiful - except for the rain).  

Mud (this is the path)

The killer pineapple cousin



Quinua jungle



another flower break, these are tiny mountain tulips



This is a cross for someone who actually died on the path (really).





More mud path



River to cross



A flat bit, it's a miracle.




The end, drenched in my blue tarp.



Llama at the interpretation centre




warming up at lunch after the walk (that's Laurant with Val).

When we got back to our room, we peeled off our clothes and shoes and showered. My legs were so covered in mud and blood I couldn’t even lay on the bed. I should explain the blood. I wore my capris. There are plants there related to pineapples, which are basically the leafy top part of a huge pineapple sticking out of the ground. But they are pointy and barbed. But the path as so narrow, I couldn’t avoid slashing myself with the fronds about every 30 seconds. Good stuff. Are we glad we went? Sure, now that it is over. Would we do it again? No freaking way!

After we cleaned up we went out looking for a coffee roaster listed in the LP. My coffee recipients expect nothing less –sore, moleskinned feet shod in sandals is no barrier to locally grown and roasted coffee. But alas, no coffee, the store is not where it is supposed to be and even though we searched the area, we couldn’t find it. Nescafe for everyone.

This is how tired we are. We wandered past a market and didn’t go in. I bought some new flip-flops from a stall on the edge, but we couldn’t face the aisles. The flip flops are to replace the ones I bought in Quito for a dollar. They were too small. But there were cool with dragons on them. The new one fit but are powder blue and have hearts on them, not cool. And, who doesn’t demand coolness in the public showers in hostels. 
 

I ache pretty much all over so it is early to bed tonight. Tomorrow we head to Guayaquil for one night. Then to the coast, likely Puerto Lopez.

Sorry for the extra-long post.