Vilcabamba During Carnival

Our time in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. First of all, for both of us, it was one of our most favorite places in the world!! A city of about 1000 people (about 4200 when including the surrounding valleys), it is an excellent option for those wanting to relax.

It is known for having some of the best water in the world and so is home to numerous centennials (folks over the age of 100!). Although, you can not drink the water from the tap, the rivers apparently give long life if you bathe in them.

Outside the dates of Carnival, Vilcabamba is a sleepy town. However, during Carnival, thousands of people pour into the city to celebrate the holiday. In fact, they hold a desfile (parade) the first day.

I love that this float says, ``Fuera Gripe Porcina´´ (``Away Swine Flu´´) Here´s to Lisette in the ISA office for that one :)

This is Wilson. He works with the owner of the horseback-riding company through whom we rented horses. He was in the parade and apparently is well-known in the town because he was on the posters for Carnival.

We avoided getting bombarded with bombas most of the time, but we did receive carioca (foam spray) in the face a couple of times. The first day, we rode horses through the mountains, starting off in the center of town.

Once we got to the mountains, the view was breath-taking...

Looking down into the valley.

Yes, moms, we were that close to the edge, but it was beautiful. We kept telling ourselves that the horses wouldn´t want to fall, so they are careful.

Lindsay in the left-hand corner.

We hiked down to a beautiful waterfall. Can you find Lindsay in the picture? (I´m wearing a green jacket.)

Mark was bold enough to take a shower in the frigid water!

The last day, we decided to rent bikes (no pics because we were mojados-soaked). The first part of the ride was fun, with a few buckets (baldes) of agua being thrown at us. The second part of the ride was not as tranquil. We chose a route that was filled with people and their very large buckets of water, which they poured on us (and everyone else) over and over and over and over. Needless-to-say, we took a shower on bikes.

We returned to the hostal to shower and replace our ropa mojada (soaked clothing) with dry apparel. There, we met a really cool couple from Idaho who has been living in Guayaquil, Ecuador teaching at an English school. They were married, in their early thirties, and had normal jobs (teaching, and sales) in the US, when they decided to move abroad to teach, after attending an international teaching fair. They said the pay is pretty good, and it is a way to travel for free. In the next four months, they will be moving to Vietnam to teach at an English school there. Pretty cool!

Culture...Shock?

There are many things about the Cuencan/Ecuadorian culture to which we have had to become accustomed, but the hardest thing is the continuous fear of being hit with water balloons...yes, water balloons.

Since our arrival, the community has been preparing for Carnival, where stores close, and people pour into the streets to have a gigantic water / water balloon fight. Oftentimes, folks will throw some flour, raw eggs, instant coffee into the mix too. And if you don´t want to participate, well, too bad.

Walking calmly down the street one Sunday afternoon, we were looking for a panaderia (bread shop) when WHAM / SPLASH! A water balloon splashed onto my back. It was thrown from a passing car, and well, I, as the gringa (foreigner), was a target.

Carnival technically begins this Sat, but for Cuencanos, it begins in early January...

This weekend, we head to Vilcabamba where we will engage in friendly water balloon warfare. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

In Shape

In shape? We thought we were! We hiked in the mountains about two hours from Cuenca this past Sunday with the outdoors group Club Sanguay. It was beautiful!! (See pictures below.)

About being in shape...our legs are still sore (Thurs) from the 4-hr hike on Sunday. We climbed about 1000 meters of the Cerro San Pablo near San Fernando, in the state of Azuay, Ecuador.  Much of it was like stairs of steep rock. Our legs were burning and we were out of breath like everyone else, including a 70-year-old man who went with the group. We are still recovering and expect to be in great shape by the time we hit the Rockies in the US.

We hiked to the top of this mountain.

Mid-hiking, Lindsay´s hair had a mind of its own

.

During lunch-time break, Mark found a cozy bed for a siesta.

Martin (host brother), Lindsay, Mark break with the group for lunch.

We were to hike to the very top via a rope, but it was too wet.

What goes up must come down...it was a steep walk on the way up, so a ``butt race´´ on the way back down.

View from above, and zoomed in of our starting point: the building with our bus awaiting our return.

Poco a Poco

I played Mafia in Spanish last night!




Lindsay and I are making friends with a fairly large group from the local church.  The're all professionals or students in town, and we like them a lot.  The church is very similar to the one we attend in the US.  We both talked in Spanish for almost the entire night.  My Spanish was limited, but I could understand most things, ask questions, and answer simple questions.  Telling stories is still beyond me at the moment, I found.  At about 11:30, we started up a game of Mafia, and played for a couple hours.  If you haven't played it before, it's a simple game that requires a great deal of talking.  I accused people, defended myself, and almost won once. 

I keep telling the family we're staying with that I'm understanding, poco a poco.  Last night was a good one for practice!

Comida (Food)

Food!

As promised, we are pleased to share with you the delicious food we enjoyed each day this past week. A typically almuerzo (lunch-the largest meal of the day) includes:
- a soup with mote (more on mote later)
- a main course (usually includes rice, meat dish, and a salad)
- a postre (dessert)

MONDAY: We enjoyed a soup (I forgot to take a picture), but shown on the right is our main course:
stewed pork and papas (potatoes) over rice, with a slightly hot sauce w/onions (the orange color you see) and a salad of aguacate (avocado).

TUESDAY: We consumed a pasta and chicken soup, then had fried yuca patties over rice, with a side salad of squash, radishes, green peppers, onions. The meal was completed after a saucer of homemade mango ice cream (I was so excited about the mango ice cream that I forgot to take a picture before i ate it...)




















WEDNESDAY: We had a vegetable/rice soup, followed by rice and egg/cheese/potato cakes on rice with a beautiful green salad of tomatoes, greens, yuca, peppers. No picture of the postre: jello!












About the first picture: MOTE. It is a type of corn (maiz) that is known in the US as hominy. Here, they soak it and put it in ALL soups, so we have it every day.








THURSDAY: We had a filling chickpea soup (the white items in the soup is the mote). For the main course, Mark loved the stewed sausage and pork with zanahorias (carrots) over rice. I loved the fried plantains (I had been looking forward to plantains and mangos since we planned our trip!) Postre: A mango! (not shown)



















FRIDAY (today): We had a vegetable/rice soup, followed by seasoned rice, papas with green beans, and a cebolla (onion), tomato, tuna fish dish. Yummy! Postre: Flan (not shown).















Our housing arrangements include breakfast and lunch, but not dinner, so we have had adventurous trips to the markets, and have cooked many creative concoctions ourselves. Our favorite addition to these dishes is this little red pepper with black seeds that adds the perfect amount of spice!