Happy Mother's Day From Cuenca!

OK, so Mother's Day ended 1-1/2 hours ago from when I'm writing this. But I still wanted to send Mother's Day greetings to all of the moms I know!



I'm in Cuenca, Ecuador right now, and it was a beautiful day. I've uploaded some pictures from the day, and I have some video to upload too. Hopefully I'll get that done Monday. I had a great day exploring the city. I met a Russian couple, a couple from Australia, and some expatriates from the states. I treated myself to Mother's Day lunch at a very nice, but...like all of them, inexpensive restaurante. I got to watch part of a free concert in the Parque Calderon, and tour a 190 year-old home that an elderly woman lives in with her 3 dogs...pictures of it are uploading as I type.



It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to shut up for now...first close...but I have plans to catch everything up sometime Monday. My love to all! Dios Bendiga! (God Bless You!)

Of Volcanoes and Waterfalls...In Banos and loving it!

[I started writing this last night...]

Well, it’s Wednesday night, and I’m sitting in an Ecuadorian Hostel (not the one I mention in just a couple paragraphs) watching a German movie with Spanish subtitles! I’d planned to travel to Puyo today, but had some trouble with a website that I was working on, and ended up missing the bus. 8 hours online (at $1/hour), and I still didn’t get done what I needed to get done! So since I’m here another night, I figured I’d try to catch up on my blogging.

I’ve tried to keep a journal in my notebook, so I’m going to start with those entries, and add to them as I go:

Monday 2008-05-05: OK, so I’m staying at this very beautiful (muy bonito) hostel called La Petite Auberge. It’s even nicer than the Oasis in that I have a private balcony that overlooks a flower-filled courtyard. There’s also a common area with a big fireplace. And desayuno (breakfast) is included. I took an ~2 hours long nap when I got in.

Before I left Riobamba, I realized the effects of the altitude there. The elevation in Riobamba is 9750 ft. I’d done some walking around Riobamba previously, but without my packs. I walked the ~ 1 mile to the bus station (I could have taken a taxi, but I wanted to take a few more pictures and find an ATM) Oriente Terminal, and by the time I got there, I was almost gasping for breath and felt exhausted. It dawned on me part way there…I’m used to the 1200 or so feet above see level in Roanoke, not the almost 10,000 ft where Riobamba is located. I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a place with such a high elevation…but this was sure kicking my butt! :D

I took a couple baby aspirin…it seemed like the right thing to do…make the blood thinner and easier for the heart to pump, which seemed like it would increase the ability to circulate O2. It sounded good anyway, but I could be wrong…again, no experience with high altitude issues. At least I didn’t experience any of the altitude sickness symptoms that I’d been warned about by my Lonely Planet guide book.

Anyway, the bus ride was uneventful. We dropped a lot of elevation I a short time. I thought I was taking the bus to Baños that passed through Penipe- a 1 hour ride, but I’d been directed to the bus that went through Ambato- a 2 hour ride. I hadn’t had much to drink that morning, intentionally, but by the time we completed the 2 hour drive, necesita el baño muy rapido! The one at the bus terminal looked quite questionable, and it looked like they were making people pay for the use of it, so I decided to find my hostel. I found the one I was looking for without a problem, despite the fact that (according to the tourista map) there are well over 100 hostels in this little town of 18,000 people. I counted 16 in a just a 4 block stretch!
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2008-05-05 7:00pm: I’m eating pizza right now, and at 9pm I’m going volcano watching. The tourism trade here is booming, thanks in part to the active volcano, Tungurahua, which sits right behind us. There are tour guides in every block offering Volcan Tours, mountain bike rentals, cascade tours, white water rafting, 4-wheeler rentals, trekking, mountain climbing, jungle excursions, horseback riding, paragliding, and more! I paid $4 for the Volcan Tour and $8 for the half-day cascade (waterfall) and cable car tour that I’m taking tomorrow.

Two things I’ve observed about traveling in Ecuador: 1. Unless you are in a very high tourism are, they DON’T speak English, and 2. They don’t take American Express…or Visa…or MasterCard, hardly anywhere! It may not be as bad as Uganda, but this is a poor economy, and I’ll hazard a guess that a great many people don’t have bank accounts, and even fewer have credit cards.

23:30 Just got back from the Volcan Tour. We rode on the top of the bus up the mountain. When we got there the clouds were starting to descend, so we weren't able to see the volcano shooting out any lava or anything, but there was a bonfire, and a guy playing guitar. We stood around the fire and people sang. They gave us this warm spiked...I mean spiced drink from a thermos jug...served in little 4 oz plastic cups. It was rather suspicious smelling (and tasting). It kind of kicked on the way down. I took some video at the campfire and am including it for your experiential pleasure.


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2008-05-06- Tuesday: I’m on a tour to see the cascades. There are many lovely waterfalls in the area, and we’ve seen several from a distance so far. I also had a chance to ride a cable car across a canyon-y thingy several hundred feet over a river. It was a beautiful view, and I was excited in that I wasn’t scared at all (I’ve worked on overcoming a challenge with heights for years.)



A little while ago we stopped at a bridge where people do bridge jumps (not bugee jumping, more of a jump-swing). It’s only $10 to do the jump. Right now we’re stopped along the road waiting for the “highway department” to clear the big mudslide that affected probably a ¼ mile of road. Somehow the slide came within just a few inches of this little shack on posts…and missed it! It was amazing considering the amount of mud and rock that plowed through there. I don’t know why we can’t have hindsight during an event instead of afterwards…except that it couldn’t be called hindsight…We were stopped long enough that I could have gotten out and taken some great pictures, if I’d thought about it. I couldn’t tell if there were any houses under the mud and rock on the mountain side of the slide. On the downhill slide it took some power poles and came close to some small homes.

After the mudslide was cleared, we continued on through the tunnels and finally reached a waterfall that we could actually hike down to…and when I say hike, I mean hike! It was about a 20 minute hike straight DOWN. Thankfully there were some stairs built in a couple places that were particularly steep- a relative term…the whole thing was steep.

I’d worn my bathing suit under my clothes, because I’d been told that we could get in the water if we wanted to. There was only one other person (one of the guides, a young man named Elder – I don’t know if I spelled it right) who was stupid brave enough to get in the cold water. It was an exhilarating experience, and I’m glad I did it.



The hike back UP from the bottom absolutely Kicked my Butt! I’m blaming it on the altitude again…5500 feet. The young guide that got in the water with me waited on me the whole way. I think he was concerned I was going to pass out :D with as much gasping for breath as I was doing. At least someone was nice enough to help the “old lady” up the hill!

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2008-05-06 16:00 Tuesday: I’m at a little café called Café Ali Gumba, and I just finished a great smoothie and a delicious heated jamon y queso sandwich on French bread with chopped tomato, onion, and cucumber. Talk about GOOD! MMMmmm. The café is run by a lady from Denmark who is married to an Ecuadorian. She’s had the café 6 years, and I can tell she does good business. And she serves fresh ground coffee…NOT the instant stuff that most of the places serve. She makes some yummy banana muffins too. :D

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That was all I had handwritten in my notebook, so I’ll fill in from there. After I left the Café Ali Gumba (did I mention how good the food was?) I went in search of a massage. You can get a one hour massage at some of the spas here for $20. Kinda hard to pass that up! After my massage I figured a nap was in order. It’s a tough life here, but someone’s gotta live it!

I’d passed a café earlier that day, a few storefronts down from my hostel, that showed free movies nightly, so at 7:30pm I headed down to Café Good to watch Seven Years in Tibet, and old Brad Pitt movie that I’d never seen before. It was in English, with Spanish subtitles, so I could understand it! Whoo Hoo! I was pretty moved by the movie, as I know that the Tibet-China struggle is still being played out at this very moment. I also was challenged by the relationship that developed between Brad Pitt’s character and the Dali Lama (at that time a young boy)…the trust, love, and respect. The Holy Spirit referred to several points in the movie during my prayer time later that night. I think it’s interesting that God sends you to South America to see an American-made movie to teach you things that apply to your walk with God! God has a BIG sense of humor!

Anyway, that leads me back to where I started off…I was going to leave Baños yesterday, and head to Puyo after I did a few hours work online. Finding internet wasn’t the problem, but finding a place where I could hook my laptop to internet WAS a problem. There’s no Wi-Fi here. At least none that I’ve found. I finally found a place that would let me unplug one of their computers, and hook my laptop to their service.

I thought I’d only be online about 3-4 hours…(if you aren’t a computer geek, you’ll want to tune out about now!) upload some web pages to the server, change the DNS settings, add on some new domains to the host server, set up some lists in our auto-responder, etc… Yeah, well, “the best laid plans of mice and men…”

Eight hours later I was still fighting with the host server to get it to recognize a domain I’d added. I’d gotten a confirmation when I added it, but then it didn’t show up in the listing when I went back in…anyway, it’s till giving me problems, and I missed my bus because of it! I love computers!

It was 9pm EST/ 8pm local time when I left the internet place and went in search of LUNCH/Dinner and a place to stay. I settled on the RainForestur Hostal for lodging. The rooms are small, but clean and secure. After dumping my big backpack I headed down the narrow streets to find Casa Hood, a funky restaurant that most foreigners go to at least once. At Casa Hood you can find any kind of food, from Thai to Italian to Mexican to American to Ecuadorian. Most foods are served your choice of either vegan or con carne. You can take yoga classes there, play a board game, watch a free movie, or sit and relax by yourself or with friends. I had the vegan lasagna which was probably the best lasagna I’ve ever had…sorry Troy, it was even better than yours… And they make an incredible mocha shake…thick and rich…for $1.30.

I sat and played several rounds of solitaire then wandered back to the hostel at around 11pm EST/10pm local time. I’m not sure why I turned on the TV, I guess I had hopes of English speaking CNN to catch up on current events. Instead I settled on the German movie I mentioned at the start of my post.

After that went off I watched a Spanish-speaking minister from somewhere in south Florida. I actually understood part of it. He was talking about the prophetic word of God for this day and time, and how that God was looking for people who were willing to be radicals or revolutionaries for Him…in my way of explaining what I heard, to get off the pews and start really living out the Word of God (de Palabra de Dios) …in our churches, in our communities, in our workplaces. Anyway, it was good!

This morning I’m sitting back at Café Ali Gumba, and had a great breakfast (coffee, juice, eggs with cheese, homemade wheat bread, mixed fresh fruit, granola, and yoghurt.) I’m enjoying a second cup of fresh ground coffee, and then going in search of internet. I need to leave for Puyo today! (Because if not, the temptation to just move to Baños might get too great to overcome! :D ) Going to close for now…Thanks to all who are following along with me.

In Riobamba...

I'm finally getting caught up in my blogging! Yay! I know some of my posts are lengthy, but I have ulterior motives. I plan on turning my blog into a book, and I need to write enough for the framework that I'll need later on...

Now...Riobamba. Riobamba is another city...not much of a tourist place, especially on Sunday. BUT God has planted me in a beautiful spot! I'm staying at the Hostal Oasis, and it is just what it says it is, an oasis. Tucked away behind the nondescript outer walls is a wonderfully inviting and charming place. It is run by a family who live on the property. You enter through the reception room, but once you pass that, you walk through a lovely little courtyard and then into a smaller courtyard from which the guestrooms are reached. They have at least one dorm room that sleeps 3. And at least 3 private rooms. I believe they have 1 or 2 apartments as well. The private room that I was led to is so nice! It is kept immaculately clean, and I feel very welcome here.



I walked around town last night in search of groceries to cook my own meals while I'm here. After walking about a mile, and stopping in smaller stores that didn't have a full line of groceries, I finally found a mercado that was open, and was able to purchase bread and queso to go with the huevos, pasta, and margarina that I'd purchased in two other stops. Saturday was market day in the city, so there were still plenty of people around town. Indigenous people come from all around to sell there goods. I wish I'd been here earlier in the day to experience the sights and sounds.

The nights get very chilly here, and the warm blankets and comforter on the bed were very welcome when it was time to turn in for the night. Despite the proximity to the equator, the elevation provides respite from extremely hot temperatures. I got a full night's sleep, waking to my alarm at 8am this morning. I wanted to take part in VWM's pre-service prayer, albeit from a distance...

I've worked on the computer most of the day, and still have more to do tonight. But it's been a very relaxing and enjoyable day. The clouds that blocked the sun earlier are gone now, and it's beautiful! God is SOOOO awesome! There's no way that I can describe how I've felt so far on this trip. Blessed is an understatement. This has been one of those times where I feel like God has just stopped everything else, just to do something special for me. He's such a good God, and I love Him and appreciate Him sooo much! It's been one of those times where I truly feel like I'm God's favorite! (I know...and YOU are too!)

Well, I took a break to go in search of Pollo! Most everything is cerrado (closed) on Sunday, but I found a fast food Pollo place abierto (open). All I can say is..."I'm stuffed!" I ordered the Combi Asado which was the pollo asado (roasted chicken) combo. It came with 1/4 pollo asado, arroz (rice), papases fritas (french fries), cole slaw, and a gaseous (Coke). Grand total: $3.45. I love the prices here!

I'm getting better at recognizing some words. I guess I don't have much of a choice though. Oh! I was so excited! I walked all over last night hoping to find a panaderia (bakery) and I took a different route this evening and found one just a few blocks from the hostel. I'd already bought a loaf of bread, but I was able to get some yogurt there...and a dessert. :D

I hope everyone is enjoying my blog and the photos. I have more video to upload yet, and once I do, I'll have a video sharing page for that. I appreciate everyone's prayers. Thanks for being there!

From Guayaquil to Riobamba...

When I left you last, I was being dropped off at the bus terminal. It was a huge place that had a multi-story shopping center incorporated into the building. As I approached the entrance, a young man walked up to me and asked me (best as I could figure) what bus I was wanting to take. Before I go on, I have to say, this was a God-thing...you'll find out why in just a moment. I said Riobamba, and he motioned for me to follow him...fast. He led me through the crowds of people and around the right turns to the ticket counter.

It turns out that the bus driver was there getting his bag, and the bus was going to leave as soon as he got to it. I paid the 10-cent fee to the terminal itself, and they motioned that I'd pay the cuatro cincuenta ($4.50) to the bus driver on the bus. After an exchange between the driver, the ticket agent, and the young man who'd led me there (with the "non-Spanish speaking me" being the obvious topic of conversation), the driver grunted to me to follow him, and we were off...weaving through 100's of people, up the two sets of escalators to the 3rd floor loading area, through the gates, and onto the bus. I'd planned to stop at the ATM before going on the bus, but if God hadn't sent that young man to lead me to the right place, I'd have missed the bus!

Within moments the bus headed out. I was a little disappointed that I hadn't had time to buy a drink before boarding, but that would end quickly...this is Ecuador, and there's always somebody trying to sell you food or drink. Even on the bus. At every traffic light, or even at random places along the road, there are street vendors waiting to pitch their wares to you. And being the thirsty, hungry, and curious gringo that I am, I was happy to oblige them. I bought water and juice through the window at a red light...reach out the window with your money and grab a bottle out of the bag.

Then some vendors flagged the bus down and hopped on for a sort distance so they could sell helados (ice cream!!! God loves me!!! :D ), frozen juice, pirated record copies, more water, etc. I bought, of course, ice cream and frozen juice in a baggie. (You poke a little hole in the baggie and suck the juice out as it melts.) Later in the ride one of the vendors had these flat bar -looking things (see picture.) I'd ignored him at first, but he kept talking straight to me, and I was curious as to what they were...so for cincuenta centavos (50-cents) I figured I'd give it a shot. Seemed that lunch would be a series of snacks.

Mainland Ecuador is broken up into 6 regions. Guayaquil is in the South Coastal Region, and Riobamba is in the Central Highlands. By the time I got my "some-kind-of-fruit-maybe" bar, we were leaving the Coastal Region, and starting to enter what I'll call the foothills. I was snapping pictures like a tourist (oh, I am a tourist, so it's OK...) and getting weird looks from the other passengers...I WAS the ONLY gringo on the bus...I'd have gotten weird looks anyway. By the time we got to the section of the highlands with all of the spectacular, majestic views...I'd blown through 2 sets of batteries...and the rest were in the luggage compartment in my backpack! I was definitely kicking myself.

I've been to several foreign countries before, and I'm accustomed to seeing poverty. It never ceases to amaze me though the wonderful strength of the people who live in countries like this. You can see from the photos on my Flickr site that outside the cities they live in very meager dwellings, yet they have such a pride in themselves and their country. They are hard-working, resourceful, and have an entrepreneurial spirit to be envied by those back in the states. Lest I get on my "welfare-mentality-everyone-owes-me-something" soap-box, suffice it to say that there's a wealth to be learned from the people in countries like Ecuador.

Back to the bus ride...and the Central Highlands. Oh my gosh! What a magnificent ride! Ecuador's mountains are wild and beautiful! And Ecuador hosts some of the most active volcanoes in the Andes. Tomorrow I'm taking the bus to Banos which is a jungle town that had to be evacuated in 1999 when Volcan Tungurahua was changed from a yellow alert to an orange alert due to a climber and his guide being burned by a gaseous eruption. It's was changed back to a yellow alert in 2002, and though it is still active...burping ash, smoke, and steam... they don't consider it to be an imminent threat of eruption. It is continually being monitored.

As we drove, we passed numerous mudslides brought on by recent rain. None blocked the whole road, so they posed no problems for us. We stopped in a mountain town to let some street vendors on, and since I was hungry, I bought what I was hoping to be chicken on top of hominey. It came in a little styrofoam bowl, and you had to eat it with your fingers. It didn't quite taste like chicken, and was very salty. As we passed another little stand in the village the whole, splayed open pig on the table told me what I needed to know. Pork, not chicken. That explained the salty flavor. That also explained the suspiciously shaped piece I was gnawing on...pig ear...I ate part of it, but passed on the cartilage...I don't think you're supposed to eat that part.

I watched the mountainsides as we drove. They were amazingly steep, but what was more amazing was seeing the homes clinging to the steep mountainsides and the successful attempts at cultivating those steep areas.

I shot a little bit of video while we were driving...crazy! The buses pass in the fog, on a curve on a mountainside...they all do it! It was SOOO "just like in the movies!" I kept expecting either Harrison Ford or Juan Valdez to show up on the road...I'd have preferred the former! :D But neither one appeared, darn! The memorial crosses that were scattered along the steep mountain road were a grim reminder that there is a lot of mistaken judgment on the part of the drivers who traverse this area.

During the last couple hours of the trip, they driver's assistant turned on a Jean Claude Van Damme movie for us. You couldn't hear what was being said, but who needs to? It had the same basic plot that all of his movies have...pretty girl, seemingly endless bad guys, and he wins in the end. It ended just shortly before we arrived in Riobamba.

The bus doesn't actually go into TOWN, just to the outskirts, so I grabbed my bynow normal mode of transport...a taxi, and we went in search of my chosen hostel. That was a trip in itself. He didn't know where it was. We drove all over Riobamba, a city of 126,000 people, and no one we spoke to had heard of it. I finally got him to look at the map in my Lonely Planet guide book, and he realized he was on the wrong end of the very lengthy street that it was on. We finally arrived at about 8:30-ish, and I gave him a good tip for all his trouble.

The son of the hostel owner greeted me. I was so excited because he speaks a little bit of broken English...someone who understood a little of what I was trying to say! Whoo Hoo! English, by the way, is NOT widely spoken...anywhere that I've been here in Ecuador. They all look at me and shake their heads...I know they think I'm crazy for being here without speaking the language. Heck, I'M beginning to think I'm somewhere off center for being here without speaking the language as well! Oh well! To late to turn back now...just adds to the adventure! More in the next post.

In Guayaquil, Ecuador...

Hey everyone! I’m sitting in the courtyard of a beautiful little hostel in Riobamba. It’s called Hostal Oasis. I’m amazed at how nice some of these places are at such a low cost. My private, en suite room is only $10 a night, and it’s lovely!

But, I need to backtrack, because I didn’t get to post anything Friday night or yesterday, and there’s SO MUCH to share!

I got to Guayaquil Friday afternoon, and had thought about taking a bus downtown…but after the 5th or 6th taxi drive tried to drag me to his waiting taxi, and I got this one talked into Cuatro Dolares ($4) for the ride, I decided it was easier than having to find my way around a city of over 2 Million people by bus…That and the fact that the buses don’t just STOP at the bus stops. You watch for the one you want, and flag it down…yeah, well, I didn’t know which one I wanted. So that wasn’t too good a plan!

I had decided to check out the Hotel Alexander, as my trusty Lonely Planet Ecuador guide book (I won't ever go to another country without a Lonely Planet guide book...they are fantastic!) told me they had free Wi-Fi. It was pricier than some of the others, but was supposed to be nice. (And it was, but I’m not to that yet.)

The taxi ride…How do I describe my taxi ride? Well, I won’t use that language…but anyway, I think the driver was trying to do everything in his power to scare the daylights out of me. It didn’t work, but he gave it a good shot! For those who went to Uganda with us, picture 10 times worse than what we saw the taxis/boda bodas driving. The taxi drivers use their horn frequently. They literally force their way through traffic, cutting people off, riding down the center lane between vehicles, pulling in front of buses…uhmmm, they’re MUCH bigger than a taxi. It was definitely a wild ride. And the whole time I was kicked back taking it in thinking, “I am NOT going to let than man even THINK I’m concerned about his driving!” Not for the faint of heart.

Ok, so he pulls up in front of Hotel Alexander and the armed security guard/bell hop with the flack jacket on came out to the taxi and promptly grabbed my bags and led me into the building. Didn’t look like quite that bad an area, but whatever.

The lobby of the Hotel Alexander is reminiscent of one of the hotels in those old 1920’s or 1930’s movies. It had that look and charm to it. My pictures will describe it better than I can.

My stay at the Hotel Alexander was pleasant. There was a restaurant off the lobby, and I had dinner there Friday night. I ordered what I THOUGHT was a chicken chalupa :D. This is what the menu had on it: Chaulafan de Pollo. Ok, so I know pollo is chicken...I got that part right. But chaulafan definitely was NOT a chalupa! What I did get though was a HUGE plate of rice, veggies, and chicken that was wonderfully seasoned. The food was great, and the prices were very reasonable for the city.

I ordered the Desayuno Alexander for breakfast the next morning. Mainly because I was SURE I knew what all those Spanish words meant! And I was right! It included coffee with milk (cafe con leche), fresh juice, 2 eggs (huevos), 2 croissants, 6 slices of bacon, a plate of fresh fruit, and jam. All for only $3. I wonder if we could get them to move to Roanoke?

Anyway. I'd originally planned to stay in Guayaquil for 2 nights, but after my view of the city on the way to the hotel, I decided there probably wasn't a whole lot for me to see there within walking distance...I just wasn't "feeling" staying another night. So I finally Got my stuff packed up by around 1:00-ish and checked out. The always available taxi was waiting outside the door, and I headed off towards Terminal Terristre. That's the bus station where you catch the buses to other cities. My new taxi driver was a much safer driver...or there was just less traffic, and the ride to the bus terminal was uneventful. You can check out the pics on my Flickr site (which is now organized into several sets for my trip).