More markets in Guaranda

Our central Ecuador schedule is about markets. In order to catch the next big market in Guamote on a Thursday, we came off the so-called Gringo Trail to Guaranda to kill some time. Turns out that Guaranda itself has a lively market on Saturday.

Guaranda is a pleasant colonial town. The main square is closed for remodeling, but as John says, you've got to like a town trying to spiff itself up. The same goes with our guesthouse. The day we arrived, there was some remodeling work going on. The next day there was major cleaning. The second evening the wireless router got upgraded, which was very good for us since we no longer have assume our customary position in the doorway of our room.

Hostal de las Flores.


Built in 1944, the deco-ish Mercado 10 de Noviembre.


Cheese vendors and customers - Mercado 10 de Noviembre.


John's lunch at Mercado 10 de Noviembre: rice, avocado, red beets, onion salad, and potato-cheese patties.


Mandarino vendor.


The friendly hat maker and vendor just across the street from our hotel.

Saquisilí market is worth the effort

The Thursday market in Saquisilí is supposed to be the most economically significant in all of Ecuador. We had to do some juggling and backtracking in our schedule in order to catch it this Thursday.

Markets are spread out all through town, but our guidebooks failed to provide any maps. After a 20-minute bus ride from Latacunga, our bus dropped us off at one of the markets. We had to find our own way to the highlight, the large animal market. Half way along we realized that we were following a lady with her sheep to the market. It took us a another a few seconds to recognize a close-look-at just took place when the sheep was picked up off the ground. Then we heard numbers going back and forth. The lady held her price firm at $50. Before she even got to the market, the lady had her $50.

We proceed to look at all the different animals. There were so many pigs, they had to be organized to have the big ones at one end and babies at the other. The Alpacas were the most exotic animals for us.

There were so much commerce, it was infectious. We proceeded to sample snacks, sit down at food stalls, and make fruit and vegetable purchases.

We returned to Latacunga with our appetite for local markets satisfied for now.

Guarding the newly purchased sheep.


Alpacas.


Fava beans.


We bought a few very tasty llapingachos (potato patties stuffed with cheese) from this lady. Other folks were buying bags full.


Fruit Vendor.


John digs into a bowl of potatoes, rice, red beets, onions, and cabbage topped with a spicy picante.

I didn't die

Given my dismal performance in Lhasa 3650m (12000ft), I have been wondering and worrying for months now how I would do at high altitude on this trip and how cold it gets at such altitude. The first opportunity for me to find out is Quilotoa Lake, a volcanic crater lake, whose rim is at 3900m (12900ft), and the lake at 400m below. Though we were skeptical, I did not want to wait for another two months to find out in Bolivia.

We planned out all the scenarios. We would get on the 10 o'clock bus from Latacunga. The trip takes 2 to 21/2 hours. We left John's backpack back in Latacunga, so the family mule can carry everything in case I become debilitated. The plan is to find some lodging however primitive, so I can lay out for the rest of the afternoon if necessary. To stay warm, we packed all the layers of clothes, including hats and scarves. I planned to not take a shower, since it is only for one night and it is cold and I may be totally out of it.

Well, I lived to tell about it. We were so pleased to find that I was more or less fully functional, given the family mule bears the majority of our burden. The first afternoon we went along the rim for a short stroll, a little slow. The next morning, we walked down to the lake and ascended the 400 meters in one and half hours, no headache. I was ecstatic and covered in dust! In Lhasa we would have gotten a taxi to convey me 400 horizontal meters.

At night, the cold was not so bad either. We went to bed at 57F and woke up at 52F. In the middle of the night, I did wake up with a headache, not sure because of altitude or sinus, took two ibuprofen's. That was that. No sleepless nights.

On the other hand we found Quilotoa Lake to be a tourist trap, its environment overused by grazing eroded, and its people tarnished by tourism discontent.

Volcano Quilotoa and its crater lake. There is a hiking trail around the rim as well as a path down to the lake.


Sun-Ling hiking along the outside of the crater rim at almost 13000 ft.


Sun-Ling hiking down to the lake inside the crater.


The last rays of the sun hit the upper part of the crater rim.


Crater Lake in the morning as we were descending.

Hiking Banos

We did a couple of epic, all day, hikes from Banos. Yesterday on the north side of the Rio Pastaza with almost 1000 meters of elevation gain and great views down to the city of Banos and across to Volcano Tungurahua.

And today on the south side of the river, up the cliffs that surround Banos, with great views back to yesterday's trails, and an occasional glimpse of Tungurahua through the clouds.

Today's hike just about wiped us out on the steep, rocky 2-hour descent. However, yesterday's hike featured graded dirt roads most of the way and a farmer couple who gave us each a couple of granadillas.

Two views of Banos from opposite sides of the valley. The first from today, the second from yesterday. By chance, the two photos point towards each other.




It was cold at the highest point of yesterday's walk. We pulled out our rain jackets.




Almost down to the bottom of the valley on yesterday's hike with Tungurahua looming overhead.

Snow-capped Cotopaxi

For us, seeing snow-capped mountains ranks right up there with seeing whales in difficulty. Most times we only see clouds. If it were not for those helpful photos, we would not even know what we are missing. On the rare occasions when the planets are aligned in our favor, there would be a brief clearing and we would get a glimpse of the peak(s) for a couple of minutes.

They hide in the clouds like in this shot taken by John on route to the Galapagos.


However, on our bus ride from Quito to Banos, the Cotopaxi Volcano stood proudly in front us at a height of 19,347 feet the whole time we went around it, almost making me swoon.

A couple of shots taken from the moving bus.