Vilcabamba

Just got off of the bus yesterday and Wanted to get his post out soon after my trip since I have a busy week this week so here goes...

The journey was an epic one by bus. Vilcabamba is on the complete opposite end of Ecuador from where I live now. I was due in Vilcabamba for a meeting of the working group I'm on GAD. I didn't realize how far away it was when we agreed it was okay to meet there. Turns out 3 of us living in the Province of Emeraldas and it was a FAR journey for us. However, I don't think I would have made it to the "Valley of Longevity" without the call to the meeting.

Vilcabamba has the reputation for having people live for up to 120 years, which is why it is known as the "Valley of Longevity". I couldn't wait to see it in all of it's glory.

After taking an 8 hour overnight bus to Guayaquil, a 5 hour bus from Guayaquil to Cuenca another 5 hour bus to from Cuenca to Loja and another hour bus to Vilcabamba we had arrived.

Everyone stayed at the fabulous hosteria of Izcayluma which is owned by a couple of German brothers. It was a BEAUTIFUL location with fabulous perks. It had a pool, private and dorm rooms, free breakfast, helpful staff, the list goes on. I would definitely recommend this place if you go to Vilcabamba. Plus we were there for a meeting as I said and it was a great location for groups to meet be it on the hammock laced patios or the welcoming restaurant with a fabulous view.

We spent a lot of the time in the Hosteria since it was such a great open aire space to be. However we DID venture down to the town square. For me this is when things took a turn.


The main square is pretty much overtaken by people that are not from Ecuador! It was a shock. Most of the people we met were from Europe or the United states. People have opened smoothie shops (with deliciously healthy smoothies), bought and started owning hotels and land. It went from a shock to a feeling of discomfort for me when I found out about some of the people and it didn't seem like they were there to enjoy the Ecuadorian culture and explore what has made this the land of Longevity but instead people just taking advantage of the situation. Some people we found that lived there for years hadn't bothered to learn any of the language. This always rubs me the wrong way just because as English speakers especially we always expect other people to speak English and usually without an accent. It seems somewhat imposing to move to a place because you like what they have to offer but yet aren't willing to stretch and learn what you can about the culture.

Hey learning Spanish is Hard I get it. My Spanish after 2 years is not great, BUT it has improved and it would be hard no to if your'e interacting with the locals because when your submerged in a culture you pick it up. So what that says to me is people are moving there but then moving the local people out. The restaurants were more expensive and things seemed targeted to a more European/American culture food wise as well. No almuerzos or comida tipico.

Don't get me wrong it was enjoyable, but at the same time as a group that has been trained to ingrate and we have lived with local families and know how they think and feel, you start to take that on yourself and almost identify with them more than people who come from the same country you do!

I was very sensitive to the fact that the money these people were making didn't seem to be going back to the local community. Higher prices for food and for a place to stay mean soon the people are born there can't afford to stay there and are wedged out to the margin and Vilc becomes an elite exclusive environment. Am I jumping to conclusions? Maybe, I tend to, but I think everyone in the situation could benefit if both parties worked together. The Ecuadorians and the Expats. However, as one volunteer was telling me, he knew an Ecuadorian man that was selling his farm land to retire to Cuenca. He said he could sell i to another Ecuadorian but he'd rather wait for a Foreigner to offer him twice what it's worth and live off of that.

Soooo everyone has to be on the same page of preserving and respecting the culture so that both parties can live harmoniously. This was just my outside view and opinion by the way I don't want to be negative, but I don't want to see something so beautiful and pure be robbed, or dashed because people didn't think of preservation.

All in all (rant over) the trip was great, Vilcabamaba was Beautiful. I wish we had more time to enjoy the sites and hikes but we were working and I don't know when I'm going to get on a bus for that long again! I know I will go back though because I met some great people and wonderful artisans that I would like to buy jewelry and souvenirs from.

I would recommend Vilcabamba for it's beauty and nature, and if you're looking for an authentic Ecuadorian experience the people of the town are there, just outside of the main square. The people in the town that have started businesses are groovy peaceful as well, it will just have more a touristy feel but also a positive warm experience.

Que Bonita es Carnaval! *graphic photo warning*

I knew I should have written about my Carnaval experience way sooner, but the recovery time is like a week and then life happened, so here I am writing about it now.

Carnaval was SO much fun. We went to the Capital of Carnaval in Ecuador which is Guaranda. It was my second time there and I had breezed through once before.

Guaranda is a quaint Sierrian city with great weather (well if you don't mind the cold), nice people and safe streets :)


We went to visit the volunteer that lives there and she certainly was the hostess with the mostess!

I can't remember the order of operations but I'll tell you in general how it went down.

I feel like we rolled up off the bus and immediately were out the door for the first desfile (parade). I had heard that Carnaval was about water, flour, eggs...wait...it sounds like I'm giving you all a recipe...ahaha...well this is how they celebrate. People were throwing ice cold water from the balconies or just running up to people with buckets and getting you at close range. Que Frio!! Eggs were cracked over the head (hey it's a good for your hair), wiping flour all over our faces, and most importantly the cans of spray foam! It was an all out love war :)

I guess there are no friends at Carnaval. Definitely the people I went with ended up being the people giving me face fulls of foam and directing anyone with a bucket of ice cold water to run in MY direction. The first day we went hard. Laughing, "playing" Carnaval and being introduced to the enemy of my life....Pajaro Azul!


Pajaro Azul, which means "Blue Bird" in English is the drink of Guaranda. It's a hard hitting clear colored blue hued caña drink. When we asked how it was made one lady told us that dissolved cow hooves are in it. Crazy. If you tried it you'd believe it. It has a black licorice flavor and is one big fiery punch to the gut every sip you take! You can buy a recycled water bottle full of this stuff for .75! That's how you KNOW it's the street drink! The people of Guaranda were loving it and were so proud of there Blue Bird. It's rude to pass it up so while I did a couple of the fake out, just put it to your lips and don't drink, sometimes people know and you just have to take it.

Whew, I went off on a tangent thinking about that stuff....

Anyway, full fiesta and parade and that night was more fiesta, more water even though now it was night and FREEZING but still pretty fun.


I believe it was the next day where we met up with even more volunteers from Peace Corps and made friends with the lovely people of World Teach! We were such a great blend of friends. We were calling our self World Peace Teach Corps, how cute, no?
Some of them were wise and wore full on rain coats! However, we later found that ponchos and rain coats only made you a target for the bucket! People were take off the hoods and pour the water right down there backs! I was having fun with the spray foam myself. I was nailing kids, the elderly, anyone who had one in their hand and looked at me too long was fair game. As you can see from the pics I was getting my fair share of foam and flour too!!




Another morning we got up bright and early after a day of super fiestas for the roasting of the Chancho. Chancho = Pig and Pig = a living creature that must be killed in order to make the all the Chancho treats. Being a soft core vegetarian I was quite woozy about the whole idea, but Chad was SO game to help and I'm ALWAYS down for a cultural experience.

The host fam of the volunteer we stayed with said that Chad could help kill the pig and he was stoked. Guess who got nominated to Film and take pics of the whole experience? You guessed it. I stood in the corner, held the camera covered my eyes and tried not to cry...too much as the big screamed and cried. I won't go into details and man it was hard even finding a pic that was not soooooooooooooooo graphic. I will say that the next pic is a dead animal if you're sensative.



Chad was a straight up surgeon though. He handled it wonderfully and after that the family was OBSESSED with him lol. It just goes to show you how far integration well get you. If you want to join the Peace Corps, but you're stuck on being a vegetarian and you like things this way and you only want to do things that way, that's fine, but you will miss out on an enriching experience being stuck in your ways. Sometimes it is really rewarding just diving in all the way and really experiencing the lives of other people. EYE personally wouldn't have been able to kill no pig though lol, but I'm glad that I was with someone that could and I got to still be apart of the celebration. Talk about romantic. Chad also scraped our names in the hide of the pig, to my horror and to the families delight. The teenage girl next to me longingly added "necesito un novio pronto" I guess she TOO would love a man that would carve her and his name in the charred skin of a recently slaughtered pig. I'm only lucky lady! (no seriously I am.)


Later we went back to the house and they had prepared the chancho 100 different ways. I pretty much stuck to eating the mote (boiled corn) but I did have a bit of some fritada (fried pig fat) but just cause it was Chad's conquest. As we ate an impromptu fiesta erupted in the kitchen. The abuelo of the family came in with a drum and we danced and sang..and oh yes the Pajaro Azul made it's rounds one again.

After that I believe was the concert, we partied in the cold but we still had fun. I had been thrown in a fountain earlier so I was soaked to the bone. When it was time to go we were more than ready. The volunteers from both Peace Corps and World Teach came streaming in all weekend into the week. I had to go back to work but the fiesta went well into the week. I have no idea how the volunteers that live there made it happen but they were oh so hospitable and great!


I would definitely suggest Guaranda for Canaval if you are going to be in Ecuador at the end of February/beginning of March. It's a jumping good time but also a cultural experience. The best of both worlds. Be ready to let go and dive deep into the moment. Bring a raincoat...maybe, don't get your hair done before you go and if you have some extra flour and eggs laying around, pack those too, cause at Carnaval those are no longer grocery items...they are ammo!

Hasta el proximo!!!

*Gracias DD for la su hospitalidad y los fotos!

Naranjal

Naranjal, now this is one you may not hear a lot about. It’s a small city outside of Guayaquil where a volunteer I was visiting lived. We were throwing a surprise party for a friend and decided that a hike would be the best birthday present. Naranjal brags of waterfall hikes, that an be physically challenging but worth the trek. I will say I like Naranjal. The city was small, but not campo like I thought. It’s an actually city with stores, cars and even a Tia! (that’s a store that I liken to Walgreens). We had to drive a little ways (in the back of a truck, you already know) to even get to the location to start the hike. It started off chill enough, but soon it became an issue of if we wanted to advance we had to climb ropes to get there. It was crazy and I never thought I was going to be able to climb using the ropes,
but I did and it was great. We swam in the waterfalls and climbed the rocks. Our group ranged from experienced and adventurous to I-just-have-on-street- clothes-and-I-don’t-do-this-kind-of-thing! The experienced helped, us less experienced and we had fabulous time. We rewarded ourselves with ice cream and brownies to close out the birthday and headed home. It was a great day trip and I liked knowing that an adventure like that is only an hour or so away.

Colimes!

Another place I don’t think I would have found myself if I didn’t have a friend that was volunteering there. It’s small but a town in it’s own right.
There is a river that divides the town and is the town swimming pool/beach when it gets hot outside. The only way across? A rickety old caña bridge! They too have a main town square there too that the weekend I was there was pretty live. It was one of the first places I visited after moving to Guayaquil and it was such a breath of fresh air, being in a small safe community.

Pedro Carbo

What to say about Pedro Carbo? I know one thing I would have never stopped through the modest campo town had it not for my friend who is a volunteer there. However, I have now been a couple of times and Pedro Carbo isn’t just a town you drive through. I thought Pedro Carbo was going to be super duper campo, as in nothing but trees and huts. It’s actually a small town, with a main park several stores and concrete houses. Also, it seems they are always celebrating something or putting on an event. My friend organized a concert series where people from Guayaquil came to perform! Another time I went there was a festival going on and we listened to music in the park and road on the caterpillar.> I didn’t know about the caterpillar before, but that is a CRAZY STREET ride. That’s right, imagine a rollercoaster in the middle of a main straight and there you have the Caterpillar. The youth group my volunteer friend works with are also a lot of fun and active presence in the community and it’s really great to see. For those reasons I love Pedro Carbo and will be back…yet again.