Babies on Motorcycles and Other Shocking Discoveries

As my time in Ecuador has now officially come to an end (as of today actually....I am currently writing this blog while on a layover in Houston),  I've been reflecting on my overall time there and have decided to do a blog about my shocking discoveries during my stay just as I did with the Republic of Georgia in my very first blog entry.

Shocker #1. Babies/Toddlers on Motorcycles. 
I can't recall the amount of times I've seen babies on motorcycles...and not only babies but entire families! Who knew 5 people could fit on a motorcycle? Most of the time, it's only a dad, a mom and a baby squished tightly (thank God) between them but I've also seen a dad, a mom, 2 children squished between them and a baby hanging off the side in mom's arms. This was a major shock at first but now it doesn't really phase me...which is not a good thing.

Caught them while at a stop light in Cuenca.

Shocker #2. Children Wearing Cannabis Gear.
I know this doesn't sound as serious as babies hanging off the side of motorcycles but it was still a shocker for me to see. While working at the Guarderia (Nursery), many of the children often had hats and backpacks with the Cannabis leaf. Now, why on earth would anybody put that get up on their child?? I figured that maybe marijuana was legal or common there but it is in fact illegal in Ecuador. So, this one still boggles me.

Shocker#3. $1 Eyebrow Waxing.
 Now, many of you may know that Ecuadorian beauty salon prices are super cheap, as I previously posted a picture on my Facebook with a list of some of the offered services and prices but a $1 eyebrow wax? Get out! A $2 or $3 eyebrow waxing is more commonly found but while in Vilcabamba (aka "The Valley of Longevity") I found a place that only charged $1. I mean, the woman was no Lisa (my waxing guru back home) but she did do a fine job, I must say.

Reminder of just how cheap the salons are. Translation: Cuts $1.5, Blow dry $3, Color from $5, Highlights from $5, Waves from $5, eyelashes $9, make up $3

Shocker#4. Gas Prices.
Two words...... SUPER CHEAP! Obviously, I don't have my vehicle here, but if I did.......that little Corolla would double as a Taxi! In fact, many people there do just that. It's common for people (mostly truck owners) to give others a lift in exchange for a little money. I personally would never trust that system if I was in the States....because these are ordinary people not official taxi drivers. But in Ecuador,  it's perfectly safe and is so very common.

Gas prices per gallon!

Shocker #5. Getting Charged To Use the Restroom. 
It's only 10 - 15 cents depending on where you are and not all places charge (it's mostly at bus terminals or outdoor markets). But still, getting charged to use the restroom? I don't wanna sound cheap, especially since everything else there is extremely affordable, but I think that it's a little crazy to have to pay to use the bathroom in a public location. Using the restroom 3 or 4 times a day at these places everyday starts to add up! I mean, I'd rather be getting an eyebrow wax instead of paying to use the restroom! I guess they gotta make their bucks some kinda way (God bless 'em). Anyway, for 10 - 15 cents you get a little bit of toilet paper and access to the restroom. Sometimes, they even try to charge you, if you just want to go in and wash your hands but that's hardly the case. As for the men, it's usually a few cents cheaper if they don't require any toilet paper.

Translation: Cost for using the toilet 15 cents

And that wraps up my shocking discoveries of Ecuador. Well, besides the breastfeeding incident I previously wrote about. That was definitely up there on my Shocker Radar as well!

Photo Blog of Mindo

Mindo was so beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.While in Mindo, Amy and I went on a chocolate tour, hiking  up to Cascada Nambilla, the largest of seven waterfalls there, went to a butterfly garden (which also had hummingbirds), went tubing in the river, and Amy went zip-lining. I stood on the sidelines for that one! In this photo blog, I hope you get a tiny slice of just how beautiful this litte town was. I also hope to add a couple of video clips to this blog as well. Unfortunately, I am unable to do it now because the place where I´m currently using the internet doesn´t have the capacity to upload the clips! Hopefully, in the next few days I can get them up!

Now, I know why Mindo is also called the Cloud Forest

Hiking

Amy swam like a little fish in that freezing water!

We got to see a butterfly hatch from his cocoon. Afterwards, they slowly exercise their wings for a good 30 minutes before being ready to take flight.

We learned that butterflies have a life expectancy of about a 1 month. But the larva takes about 3 to 4 months to become a butterfly. Crazy!

Lenin, a nice Ecuadorian we hung out with 

Emilio, equally nice and super funny!

Cuenca

I love Cuenca! It's probably my favorite city in Ecuador. I'm a sucker for the beautiful cobble streets, the beautiful churches and the panaderia (bread/dessert) shops on every corner. I met up with my friend Amy, who I originally met while volunteering on that farm in Vilcabamba. She is a really funny and out going girl and makes a great traveling companion. Although, we are so different in some aspects we have a lot in common.

Amy my favorite travel companion

The first day in Cuenca we went to a Musuem called Banco Central. It had some really cool ruins behind the actual building. At night, we hung out with a young German guy. There seem to be so many Germans traveling. Anyway, he was an interesting sort of character. He was 18 years old and on a pretty high horse about himself. He wanted to talk about German history (seems like every German I've met along the way wants to do this). When my friend Amy and I couldn't really converse on that particular topic.....besides knowing about Hitler, he started on about how poor the education was in the US. Which I can´t totally disagree with but after about 20 minutes of this and how Germans know at least three languages and so many Americans only know one and yada yada yada.....that conversation was becoming tiresome. So, we cut that evening short.

Part of the ruins behind the museum

Over the next couple of days, Amy and I visited several of the markets in town, went to the Museum of Modern Art, a hat museum and met up with some friends that Amy had previously met in Vilcabamba. While in one of the markets we met an interesting Ecuadorian fellow by the name of Coconut Man. He had a Tagua jewelry shop and was very eager to talk to us about the history of Tagua and how it´s used to make handicrafts. The material used comes from the tagua palm tree which grows in the swampy parts of the forests. The nut or fruit is left to dry out in the sun for a few weeks and then the interior turns into palm ivory which is then carved into jewelry, figurines, chess pieces, buttons, or other useful things. The best part about the tagua is that its harvest brings an economic use to the rainforest and therefore helps protect them.

Nut from the tagua palm

Jewelry made from Tagua

Coconut Man

Hat Museum

From Cuenca, Amy and I took an overnight 8 hr bus to Quito and then another 2 hr bus onto to Mindo.  The town known as the Cloud Forest. I´ll fill you in my time here next time as well as upload some pictures onto the previous posts!

Peru

I spent most of last week in Peru. Since the farm I was volunteering at was in the Southern part of Ecuador, I figured I should dip into Peru, it being so close to the border and all. And not to mention it was only a $10 bus ride to get there. Who could refuse that? Anyway, I planned to just spend a couple of days in Mancora, which is a touristy town on the beach where people from around the world come to surf. Honestly, the waves were lacking and I found it difficult to believe that people actually go there just to surf. I met a traveler from California who said he flew there specifically for the waves. I could see he was disappointed that there wasn't much action in the water.

Mancora was an interesting place for sure. The first day I arrived, I was really exhausted from the bus ride. The first leg of the journey took about 9 hours (rode on an overnight bus) then I had to change buses to get to Mancora and that ride was an additional 3.5 hours. Within the first 5 minutes of arriving at the hostel (which is the nicest place I've stayed at to date) I met a new friend. A German girl named Nora, who said she was 23 years old and in her last year of school studying Dentistry. She had come to Peru with a group of friends from Germany to volunteer for two months with the Red Cross to do free dental work for the locals. Her friends had decided to go to Bolivia for their last two weeks abroad and seeing as she only had one week left she decided to spend that time relaxing and reading on the beaches of Mancora. She had just arrived a day before and she said that she was lonely and bored and asked if I wanted to hang out. I said sure and so began my friendship with Nora. I learned all of that information about her before I even had a chance to set my belongings down.

Nora, the cutest German I´ve met to date

We met two other German girls that day and below is a list of some of the activities in which we partook during our stay:

-Relaxed on the beach
-Ate lots and I do mean LOTS!
-Hung out at the bar
-Played Beer Pong with the owner of the hostel (to which I only observed....and played "cheerleader" which was actually quite fun)
- Read/Took naps on the many hammocks
-Walked the touristy strip, shopped a bit and spoke with some of the locals
-Flirted a little with all the young Aussie surfers
-Tried to practice our Spanish with each other as well as everyone else we came into contact with

All in all, it was a really nice time. I do have to say though that I was really surprised to see that the Northwest coast of Peru was like a desert. Super dry and sandy. Like Ecuador, there were a load of mountains, unlike Ecuador they were far from lush!

My last two days in Peru were spent in Trujillo (the third largest city in Peru). I didn't do much there, spent most of the time near the main square. I ended up connecting with a friend there that I had met previously in Vilcabamba. An Irishman named John who had been riding around South America on a motorcycle. He's really into movies as am I and to our surprise there happened to be a nice movie theater in town. We saw a new film called Abduction which was actually pretty good.

Me, John and his motorbike

I just arrived early this morning to a city called Cuenca in Ecuador. It's a colonial city with a lot of churches (52 according to Loney Planet). I am meeting up with another friend that I met while volunteering at the farm. I'll tell you all about my time here in the next blog :-)

Farm Work for a City Girl

I spent last week volunteering on a farm. Yes, you read correctly, a farm. It was a really interesting experience and I got to meet some cool people from around the world. An Aussie, a Kiwi, 3 Brits and a few other fellow Americans. The farm is up on a mountain in the Southern part of Ecuador, just outside of a village called Vilcabamba (which is called the Valley of Longevity. The two oldest people in town at the moment are 98 and 100 years old. They're on billboards and posters around town). The goal of this organization is to create sustainable living conditions for the natives within a functioning ecosystem.

Yves

 Just getting up to the farm was quite a journey. It's about a 2 hour hike from Vilcabamba.The path is super steep and very narrow in areas. It had rained a few days before so it was also slippery. There were a few moments when I wasn't certain I was going to make it up, but eventually we did. The next day, we received a tour of the farm and Yves (the guy who started the project) gave us a run down of the tasks and projects that needed to be accomplished. My duties consisted of weeding, digging rain diverters, cutting trash for cob (small pieces of trash mixed with mud to make walls, benches, and other things),watering plants, and helping in the kitchen. I was willing to lend a hand wherever needed but I did feel a bit lost up there. Some of the other volunteers seemed to know a lot about permaculture, nursery care, and farming techniques which made me feel completely out of my element and a bit inadequate, to be honest. But a good attitude and a willing pair of hands seemed to be all that was required....and those I did have!

Using the bathroom was interesting. We all had to pee outside in the bushes. If anyone had to go number 2, you had to use this toilet made from cob with a bucket underneath, which we all had to take turns emptying. Absolutely no pee in the poop bucket! Otherwise it would be soggy and even grosser to empty. Each time you go poo, you cover it with sawdust, which seemed a bit more sanitary than the outhouses I used in the Republic of Georgia. The contents of the bucket were used as fertilizer. It was amazing how they use absolutely everything for something. Even the trash is used for cob building.

Yves made a 15 year commitment to this project. So far he's been here for 7 years and although a lot has been accomplished, there is still so much to be done.

Hand carved stairs

S

Sleeping quarters

Kitchen

Wash stand for brushing teeth, washing hands, and washing clothes

Shower

View from the shower

Toilet made from cob

Chill out spot in front of the kitchen

Open deck that's attached to the sleeping quarters. Gorgeous views every morning and evening