Drinking chicha with the natives

Karl and I got up at sunrise and snuck out into the thermal pools outside our room for a soak before everyone else was up. The steam rose off the pools , the sun came up behind the nearby volcano, and I sat drinking my coffee and took it all in. It was a perfect morning. We agreed that this is a place we could definitely come back to.

After breakfast, we loaded a bus and drove towards the Amazon basin.  We stopped in a small village to see the wild monkeys. They come into town on days the locals set up market in hopes to find food. We were warned the monkeys can get a little aggressive (they steal stuff) so we needed to take off hats, sunglasses, or anything shiny or colorful.
After a short walk across a very sketchy bridge (that I thought was a pedestrian bridge and turned out to be also for traffic), we made our way to a bunch of trees on a beach right by the market. The monkeys were playing and jumping from tree to tree. On occasion one would jump down and try to take something from someone’s neck or head that hadn’t listened to the instructions of taking these things off. They were a lot of fun to watch.

We eventually loaded back up on the bus and headed to the Amazon Basin. The lower altitude was a little bit of a relief. We made it to a place called La Punta Ahuano on the Napo River (a tributary to the Amazon River). It was pouring rain when we arrived. There was a small shelter that we all crowded under waiting for it to let up a bit before we loaded into motorized canoe to go across the river. Eventually we decided that we are in the rainforest and rain is a part of every day, so climbed onto the boats.

The heat and humidity were intense so the breeze from going upstream felt great. The current was so strong that our boat didn’t go straight against it. We zig zagged back and forth. About 10 minutes later we arrived at Casa del Suizo, our resort set up on a hill overlooking the Amazon Basin. Yet again, I was blown away by our accommodations.

We had to climb a lot of stairs to get up to the resort from the boat. We entered next to a pool surrounded by little huts, palm trees, a bar, and an outdoor dining area. We were shown to our rooms, which were just as impressive. It was surrounded by so many exotic plants and flowers. Our balcony had a hammock that Lil’ Man and I instantly took advantage of. It overlooked a courtyard full of more gorgeous trees and flowers.

Once settling in a bit, we marinated ourselves in bug spray (even though I hate it, it’s better than all the bad things you can get from a bug bite in the Amazon). We headed out for a visit to a local Quechua family in Ahuano, also called Anaconda Lodge.

We were fitted with rubber boots and loaded back into the canoes. We went to an island called Anaconda by the locals. We hiked across a muddy wet area that is often underwater. We continued our hike for about 15 minutes through high grasses and trees. Our boots sucked into the squishy mud and sweat poured down every inch of our bodies. I kept a look out for any strange snakes or insects. The most interesting thing I spotted was a giant black mass on a tree. At closer look, it was a large grouping of catepillars. I have never seen anything like it.
Eventually we walked into a clearing and saw huts on stilts. We had arrived. We climbed the stairs into the hut and found a seat next to a burning fire pit. The heat was already stifling and my clothes were soaked. A barefoot woman sat on the edge of the pit.

Our guide explained that the hut was on stilts because once a year the entire area floods about 5 feet high. The fire is left burning all of the time because the smoke keeps the bugs away. It is women’s work, and they get up at 3 a.m. to start stoking the fire and making breakfast.

The woman sat in the middle of the room with yucca root and sweet potato on a board. She began to mash it to demonstrate how to make chicha, the local alcohol drink offered to guests. We were told, as she was mashing, that this alcohol was originally created by the maker chewing the root and spitting the saliva into a bowl. This would cause the solution to ferment and eventually turn into alcohol. In the past few years, they learned that if the person making the brew was sick, everyone the drink is given too also fell sick. She then used bark of walking pine to grate sweet potato into the brew to be the fermenting agent.

Once she finished the demonstration, she passed a bowl of 10 day old chicha around for us each to drink out of. I was very happy this was no longer a saliva based solution. I was proud of Lil’ Man for trying it, too. As soon as I tasted it, it reminded me of the intense smell my moms homemade bread use to have while it was rising. It was bitter and I couldn’t have drank more than a sip.

After our chicha sampling, we went back to the ground where we got a demonstration on blowing darts. We were each given an opportunity to try. Lil’ Man was set on getting a blow dart set until he realized that the ones for sale were just replicas. It didn’t discourage him from trying to shoot the target several times. The blow dart gun was about 5 times bigger than him.

 

 

 

 

We finished the day up with hiking back to the canoes and returning to our resort. A shower was required to wash all of the sweat and bug spray off. We were told that bug spray wasn’t required in the resort because ginger was strategically planted. I had no idea that ginger kept the mosquitos away.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Lil’ Man play in the swimming pool with a new friend. Bats swarmed overhead and the kids seemed completely oblivious to it. I had a cocktail and sat under the ceiling fan in the hut enjoying the amazing view and feeling completely blessed.

Into the Andes

As we headed into the Andes Mountains, we stopped in a village called Papallacta. We were invited into the home of a local family of musicians. The man of the house gave us a demonstration of how he makes musical instruments. He made a pan flute out of bamboo and string, carefully cutting each piece to the right length for the right tune. Once he was done, his entire family came out and played for us.

 

 

While on this trip we saw several local bands play, and what I found the most fascinating is that the little ones are always included. This is a tradition passed from one generation to the next and they are included from the day they can hold an instrument.

From there, we went to our resort Termas de Papallacta. This area is famous for its thermal springs and has a magnificent view of the Antisana Volcano. It is the highest city in Ecuador at almost 11,000 feet above sea level. It’s well known for it’s thermal springs that are heated by the subterranean activity of the nearby volcano.

This place was simply breathtaking. These heated pools were just feet from the front door of our cabanas. Lil’ Man couldn’t even wait until our bags were delivered to our room before he ventured in. These waters are known as healing waters due to the natural minerals. It definitely healed me of any stress I may have had.

I spent the little extra money and Karl and I went to the spa. Our tour manager volunteered to watch Lil’ Man while we treated ourselves. We found even more pools of different temperatures. After 30 minutes in the pools, we were taken to a sauna. We were supposed to spend 30 minutes in it, but it was so hot I cut out a little early. We were shown to a room with lounge chairs where we laid and relaxed until a masseuse came and retrieved us for a neck and back massage. I was pretty much jelly by the time the whole experience was over. Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

Middle of the World

Driving out of Otavala, the landscape that passed outside my window reminded me of
Vietnam. Trash littered the streets, stray dogs ate out of shredded garbage bags, houses were dirty and shabby. It is evident that the country is poor.

We stopped roadside at an ice cream shop. It is 6th generation owned. The owner made homemade sorbet in a large copper bowl that sets on ice and salt. By spinning the copper bowl on the ice and salt, the raspberry and soursop juice poured into the bowl began to freeze. It was a very refreshing treat. Of course I had to try all of the flavors. We waited out a massive afternoon downpour eating the ice cream.

 

After we were done, we headed to the equator. La Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World) is the place of the monument marking the Equator. In reality, the equator is actually located 250 yards away.  This was only discovered a few years ago after GPS was invented.

 

 

 

This is definitely a tourist trip, but it’s pretty cool to be able to kiss your love from a different hemisphere, or balance an egg standing up on a nail. Lil’ Man was the egg expert.

We grabbed some lunch at one of the many restaurants and watched local dancers perform native dances. I finally got to try real Ecuadorian food. I ordered several different kinds of empanadas and potato soup for our table to share. I chased it with an Ecuadorian beer.

Probably my favorite part of this entire trip was the hotels we got to stay in. After our equator adventure, we headed to the village of Otavalo to Cabana del Lago. This is such a magical place right on a lake surrounded by mountains. We had our own cabin, complete with a fireplace.

There was lots of activities such as boating (though it was too cold), miniature golf, and even a pen with rabbits and guinea pigs that you could feed by hand. I was reassured they didn’t eat these (guinea pig is not an uncommon delicacy). Lil’ Man instantly made friends with a girl his age and they spent hours playing mini golf. A great deal of it was flooded due to all the rain but it didn’t slow them down. The hotel workers were quick to come to the rescue with pails to clear out as much water as possible.

We had a big buffet with Ecuadorian food for dinner.  We drank chocolate liquor and chatted over yucca chips until we retreated back to our cabins. The temperature had dropped considerably and I was a little afraid that our room would be cold. When
we entered I was happy to find that our fireplace was burning warm. There was an extra special touch in the bed. The hotel staff had not only started a fire, but also had placed a hot water bottle in my bed. At first I thought it was a little odd, but found myself cuddling with that most of the night listening to the frogs chirp outside and the fire crackle in the fireplace.

Waterfalls and llamas

Today we drove down the old Pan-Am Highway. It’s essentially paved with cobblestone. It’s rough on the bladder after a few cups of strong Ecuadorian coffee. The rough ride was totally worth it. We went to Pegucha which is famous for waterfalls.

We walked through a small village where people were cooking on their front porches and stray dogs followed children around. This is the first place I realized the value of carrying wet wipes with me. In attempt to give my full bladder some relief I found a public restroom. It turns out that toilet paper is a precious commodity and very scarce in Ecuador.

We hiked up a steep path to the waterfall. Once again I felt the altitude reeking havoc on my
lungs. We couldn’t get super close to the waterfall, but we did get up to a nice view point.

A local was at the falls with two llamas. A girl asked if I would take a picture of her while she sat on the llama.  As she climbed onto the llama, and reared its head back and spit a green fat ball of phlegm right at me. I managed to dodge most of it and it hit my shoes. After I took her picture, I decided that the llama and I were going to have to be friends. I took a picture with him, but he wanted nothing to do with me.

Giving up on making a new friend, we headed to the market in Otavala. It is one of the largest in South America and run by the local Otavaleños. It covers several large blocks. I’ve never been very good at bartering, but it is expected here. We browsed various stalls for traditional goods such as hand-woven clothes and rugs, jewelry and more. I bought a watercolor painting from a woman who insisted that buying it would give her milk for her baby. She had a small baby wrapped around her. I loved the artwork. Lil’ man found a musical instrument for Lil’ Man. Since this was  my birthday trip,  Lil’ Man felt the need to buy me something. He got a few dollars from Karl and he felt like a rich kid. He quickly learned to ask “Cuantos?” which means how much. The locals seemed quite taken with him. I’m guess some of it had to do with his big blue eyes and big smile.

The heat became pretty intense so we stopped for a fresh coconut being sold from a vendor. We drank all the water then had the seller use her machete to chop it open so we could eat it.

Exploring Quito

Our first day in Ecuador started early with a buffet breakfast at our hotel. I had expected an Ecuadorian breakfast, but instead the buffet was filled with a western style breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, etc.  If you want the Ecuadorian breakfast, you have to pay  extra for it. Seeing that it consisted largely of soups I stuck with coffee and a muffin.

After breakfast we waited in the Hilton Colon lobby for the other members of our tour group. One thing that stood out was the huge vases of the longstem roses everywhere. It turns out that roses are the second most exported product from Ecuador (oil being number one). They export 400 million roses her day.

We loaded the bus and took off for the Old Town section of Quito. Quito is the capital city of Ecuador is almost 3000 feet above sea level. It’s famed as the highest capital city in the world, and walking around I instantly felt the altitude.

Our first stop was Quito Cathedral. It’s the largest church in South America. This was also a made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Quito has one of the most intact historical centers on the continent.

I was more interested in exploring the area around the Cathedral than paying the fee to go inside. There were great views of the city below. Also, there were many vendors selling coca leaves and candy. Even though it’s illegal to grow coca in Ecuador, they are brought in from Peru and sold. Of course I had to try out the candy, and will say that it is no joke! One piece of candy has the same effect as an energy drink on me. It definitely helped with the altitude.

All amped up on coca candy, we continued our tour of Quito. We went to the Inglesia de la Compania de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus). Even though pictures were forbidden inside (so you will buy the postcards), I managed to capture a few. The amount of gold in this church is excessive. Everything is covered in gold.

After getting our shiny fix we ventured through the Plaza de la Independence, the central public square of the city. I watched political groups protest, religious groups sing, and locals sitting on benches having conversations. We walked by lots of vendors peddling ice cream, sunglasses, coca leaves, and clothing for dogs.

As we were heading back to our bus an elderly woman bumped into one of our group members. After getting settled onto the bus our group member realized that the clumsy elderly lady had relieved her of her iPhone that was in a pocket in her backpack. I helped her track the phone and then wipe it with the Find My Iphone app. We were told that Iphones are not imported into Ecuador and can be sold for up to $1800.

I was happy to be heading out of the city.

Getting to Ecuador

I find that most kids are like puppies. If you don’t run them out of energy and let them get bored, they will get into trouble. Knowing that we had a 5 hour flight to Ecuador, my mission was to run my son out of energy. That began with wave jumping in the ocean and runnng along with he beach. After a quick shower, we made it to the airport.

This past year I got TSA Pre-check approved. It’s seriously one of the best things I’ve done. Not having to wait in the long line, take off my shoes, and empty my carryon of liquids and laptop has made traveling a lot less dreadful. Because my son is a minor, he can cut the line with me.

I planned for the 5 hours and downloaded movies onto an iPad along with a few new games. My electronic babysitter worked wonderfully.

When we arrived in Ecuador, everything went fairly smoothly. Even though I have backpacked around the world by myself, for this trip I booked a group tour. Since this was Lil’ Mans first international trip, I liked the idea of having a support network in place if anything unexpected were to occur; at least until we have a few trips under our belt together.

Once we got out of customs (and they had confiscated the banana Lil’ Man had in his backpack, we quickly found our tour guide waiting just outside the arrivals gate. I managed to pack us in carry on suitcases so that we didn’t have to deal with baggage claim (I never check bags).

We were put onto our bus and driven 45 minutes into Quito where we would be staying the night at the Hilton Colon. It was already dark out so there wasn’t much of a view.

Once we arrived to our hotel, we checked into our room and set our attention on finding dinner. After a day of travel and not much sleep the previous night, eating at the hotel restaurant seemed like the best bet. This is where I discovered my first shock. There was a large buffet and I was excited at the strange smells and unfamiliar dishes. When our waiter came around I asked how much the buffet was. He told me it was $26. I nearly choked on my water. These were not the prices I expected in a third world country. (On a side note, Ecuador uses US currency).

My internal tightwad could not allow a budget of $26 for a meal and I instead ordered chicken and rice soup from the menu. It was $11. Lil’ Man was tired and not in a very adventurous mood. He ordered an overpriced hamburger.

No one spoke English in our hotel except for the front desk. The service was impeccable and rooms super clean and comfortable. Only later did I find out that the room rates were $220/night if you did not book through the tour company.

I drifted off to sleep still thinking of the outrageous dinner price and concluding that it must just be because we are in the hotel. I slept like a rock.

Preface to an International trip

For the sanity of my kiddo and myself, I decided to break up the flight time for his first international trip. Our flight to Ecuador was scheduled to leave from the Miami airport on Saturday afternoon.  I booked our flight on Friday to Ft. Lauderdale from Kansas City because it was cheaper than flying into Miami. Due to a lot of saved up hotel points, I also booked our first night in Fort Lauderdale.

We took an Uber from the airport to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. Uber has started carrying a U-shaped light in their car windows, and you can choose the color you want it to display so it’s easier to spot. (I actually really like this idea and I hope it catches on in other cities).

I noticed immediately that my driver had a very heavy French accent. He told me that he was from Haiti. My little man launched into conversation with him in French. They spent the next 15 minutes having a conversation, while I sat quietly, secretly wondering if they were talking about me. (On a side note, my son goes to a French language immersion school, so he is fluent).

What I didn’t count on for our night in Florida, is that every drunk college student in the US must’ve chosen our hotel to spend Spring Break because it is across the street from the beach. Fortunately, even though the sun was down the college students were on a mission at the bars intoxicating themselves, so we had the beach all to ourselves. I have a mad love affair with the ocean, but don’t get to see it often because I live in Kansas.
The last time I brought my son to the Atlantic Ocean to play, he broke his arm the day before so he never got to get in the water . We walked along the beach in the moonlight, and the temptation finally over took my son and he ended up soaked head to toe.

We called it an early night, however, I didn’t get much sleep due to all of the partying in the hallways and rooms around us. Fortunately, my little sidekick can sleep through anything. We got up early in order to enjoy the the water before our flight. We stopped by a nearby store and grabbed donuts and coffee to enjoy on the beach. We spent the next few hours jumping in the waves and playing in the sand. We returned to our hotel room just before check out so that we could clean up and head to the airport in Miami to catch our flight to Ecuador.

I had intended on taking the Tri-Rail to Miami because it seemed like the most affordable way to transport between cities at $5.00 per person. I ordered an Uber to go from our hotel to the Tri-rail. The Uber was going to cost about $15 just to get to the Tri-Rail. On a whim, I asked the Uber driver how much it would cost for him to just drive us to Miami. It was $36. The convenience of not having to jump on and off with baggage and wait on schedules (not to mention an Uber is quicker) it seemed worth the extra six dollars.

So this is middle aged

Today I turned 40. That’s like middle aged. I would say I should be ready for my mid-life crisis, but I think those are reserved for people who have lived a life of some convention. My whole life has been a mid-life crisis.

I began to lose friends and loved ones as early as grade school. It hit me in second grade when a class mate stood up suddenly and collapsed to his death bed that we are on borrowed time. By the time I graduated high school. I had lost 10 friends or close relatives. Mix that with growing up in a small farm town in Kansas and watching my father beat my mother to near death many times, and I knew I had to move. I couldn’t spin my wheels. Hell, I’d be lucky to make it to the ripe old age of 30. I had a bucket list to get busy with (yes, even in my early 20’s).

Before I hit 20 I had tried college in New Mexico and had worked as a dishwasher, waitress, bookstore clerk, housekeeper, and missionary. I sold my car and bought a ticket to Hawaii because it was somewhere I was always curious about. I sold art on the beach and wondered why I was so completely alone in the world. I came to the conclusion that I was capable of whatever I wanted.

In my 20’s I chased a man back to Kansas, then one to Iowa. I worked in marketing and sales, fire safety in a nuclear power plant, counselor to people with multiple sclerosis, barista, Executive Director of a non-profit, office manager of an environmental firm, personal assistant to a CEO, house sitter, and a nanny.

I fought to be paid and promoted as an equal in a corporate job, had my heart broken at least 3 times, played house, was misdiagnosed with cancer, began painting, and decided I had worth.

I won my first artist fellowship, moved to Europe with $300 and no back up plan, fell in love with myself, and fell in love with so many strangers that became friends.

In my 30’s I became a mother (unexpectedly). All the demons I tried to bury in my 20s came back to play. I was humbled and hungry. I was forced to think about someone other than myself. I wrestled with the fear of never being good enough.

I came to the conclusion that no one had walked in my shoes, therefore their way didn’t work for me. I would have to figure out how to do it my way.

I learned to ask for help, lost friends that were just there for the party, but gained friends who were genuine and true.

I held hands of dying loved ones, held new born babies of friends, learned that crying isn’t weak, and kept another human being alive longer than any house plant in my possession.

And now here I am at the doorstep  of my 40s. My intent is to make the next 40 years as interesting as the first. To remember that I am on borrowed time. I have a gift of another day that at least 40 people in my life no longer have. There is adventure in every day; we just have to be willing to say yes to it. So my physical years on this big blue and green planet might be 40, but I still don’t feel like the grown ups I remember from my teen years. They seemed so polished and put together. I am just me, and I’m ok with that. I’m faking it until I make it. I’m looking for the every day magic, and I’m wearing skirts and tennis shoes.

I’m working on accepting my body, hugging the shit out of the pain and releasing it, loving the unloveable parts, and trying to figure out why in the hell I still get neck acne.

On to the next adventure.