Month: November 2024

Today, Sunday, was a travel day. After getting up, showering and getting dressed, I repacked everything for the trip. Nathan and I met at 8 a.m. and checked out of the Hotel La Liria. It had been a good choice because it never lost power due to its location near a hospital, a zone that’s never shut off. (Thank you, Maritza, for this recommendation!)

We took a taxi to a restaurant in downtown Macas that Maritza had suggested for breakfast and sat at an outside table outside and enjoyed a good breakfast, both of us choosing avocado toast with juice. I also ordered guayusa tea.

Then we walked a couple blocks to an ATM to pull out more cash and waited at the adjacent taxi stand. A taxi quickly took us to the bus station, which was impressively large, clean and not too busy. We bought bus tickets to Tena, our next destination city, for $9.50 each.

At 10:20 a.m., 20 minutes before our bus was due to leave, Maritza and her family came to the terminal to say a final goodbye. She also gifted me one of her books in Spanish, a novel. (The previous night I had given her a book of American English sayings and Seahawks attire for her husband and the two boys.)

The bus departed on time and drove to the city of Puyo, picking up and dropping off lists of local,people along the way. It was a trip of 3 hours or so. At Puyo we changed to another bus from the same bus company that left immediately to go to Tena. We finally arrived about 4:30 and found a taxi (fare of $1.50) to take us to the Hostal Limoncocha, our accommodation for the night, where a room with three beds and a private bathroom cost $24. There was no power when we arrived, but it was still plenty bright to see.

We were really hungry since we hadn’t eaten any lunch, so as soon as we checked in and dropped our bags, we got a recommendation from the front desk person for a restaurant downtown Tena and took another $1.50 taxi ride to it. We enjoyed panini sandwiches there but we were still hungry, so we walked next door and ordered a small pizza. We were finally satisfied.

But while we were eating it started to pour rain. Absolutely pour! A river started running down the street. About 78 degrees, 100% humidity, lightning and thunder. After we finished and paid for the pizza, we waited under the restaurant awning for an available taxi. We had to wait 10 minutes or more, with lots of full taxis and cars going by, but we finally found an available one.

Even now, more than two hours later, it’s still pouring down rain and thundering. The room is on the third/top floor of the hostel so it’s very loud. Either it will be a soothing sound for sleeping, or it might keep me awake. I’m not sure yet. I can’t even hear my phone when it’s sitting next to me! And did I mention that it’s really humid? Welcome to the Amazonian region!

Yesterday and today were busy, beautiful, adventurous days. Friday morning started with another fruitful bird walk with Fabricio at Buglas, adding more first time bird species. I’ve lost count of how many new ones I’ve seen. We sat in a bird blind with our arms leaning on a large board to steady the binoculars, focused on birds in the trees. Then Fabricio spotted a huge bullet ant walking toward his elbow. Yikes! He called my attention to it, then flicked it off the board into the woods. I was so glad it had been walking toward him, not me!

We returned for another delicious breakfast. I learned that the name Buglas comes from the local name for oropendula birds, which are quite common there. Nathan and I repacked our backpacks, then we relaxed in the garden to wait for a taxi that was scheduled to come at noon.

The taxi took Nathan and I and our packs to downtown Limón once again, where we ate lunch in a restaurant next to the bus terminal. It was a sunny day that felt hot and humid to us. The planned next step was to take a taxi to Las Cascadas Coloradas (Colored Waterfalls) where my Ecuadorian conversation partner, Maritza, and her husband would pick us up about 4 p.m.

We had to wait a few minutes at the taxi stand for a taxi to show up. Then the pickup truck taxi took us 12 kilometers up a gravel road to the waterfalls park, charging us $8 for the ride. The entrance fee to the park was only $3 each.

In the park, there were a few small cabins for overnighters, a volleyball court, restaurant and a hiking route to see the waterfalls, which was described to us in Spanish after I left my backpack in a storage area in the restaurant. So Nathan and I started down the hiking route. It turned out to be a relatively strenuous hike in which we needed to use ropes attached to rocks to go up or down the path. It was challenging but doable. The waterfalls were pretty, with orange colored water that was probably from a high iron content, although that wasn’t explained.

The hike was about 45 minutes out and then back on an easier trail. At the last falls before we turned around, there were two nuns in full-length white habits, having done the route we thought was relatively strenuous. It really surprised us!

It was about 3:15 when we finished, so we cooled off for a while. I bought a $1 colada morada, which is a sweet berry drink, and Nathan got a $1 fruit-filled ice cream. We spent a few minutes talking to an Ecuadorian lady who teaches English and her sister and nephew while observing several Cocks-of-the-Rock emerge for their ritual displaying in the park.

Then Maritza and her husband Johnny arrived. I was so happy to meet them in person, after more than a year of twice weekly conversations online. We talked for a few minutes while they ate some fries as a snack, then we all got into their Nissan Pathfinder to go to their home city of Macas. It was a 4-hour drive that included several short stops along the way, including one at another waterfall.

When we arrived in Macas about 8 p.m., we dropped off our luggage at the hotel Maritza where had reserved two rooms for us, Hotel La Liria in downtown Macas. Then we went to a restaurant for a late dinner and lots of conversation in both English and Spanish. Her husband teaches English at a Catholic middle school. After dinner, they returned us to the hotel and I went to sleep much later than usual.

This morning it was thundering and raining in Macas. That ruled out the small airplane ride around Sangay volcano that we were hoping to take. But we enjoyed a good breakfast together, with Nathan and I trying the traditional Ecuadorian tigrillo dish made of green plantains and cheese, topped with a fried egg and avocado, plus hot guayaba which is a traditional tea.

Then we walked through a market in which Johnny bought several samples of Ecuadorian vegetables or fruits for us to try.

We also went to the Catholic Church in town which is attached to the school where Johnny teaches. We went inside the sanctuary and even up to the belfry to have a great view of the town.

We walked in a park, sampled “guaguas de pan” which are sweet rolls shaped like a baby with icing added to create a baby’s face and are available only in the days before El Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead). Then we waited for the owner of Chiguazas Labyrinth to pick us up and take us there, something that Maritza had arranged for us.

The owner, Romulo! His mother and his 7-year old daughter Gabriela, arrived about 12 to take us to the park. It was a 90 minute drive through heavy rain and lightning. Once we were there, it stopped raining, thankfully. A family of 5 joined us there. Romulo took us on a hike through the park, natural stone labyrinth and quite a strenuous trail to see fossils, caves, and two fast moving rivers., while narrating in Spanish. I understood about 70% of the explanations. We finished about 2 hours later and we returned to a late lunch that Rómulo’s mother had cooked: rice, lentils, boiled purple potato and chicken.

After cleaning up, Romulo returned us to Macas and our hotel. We met Maritza, Johnny and their two sons at 7:30 for dinner and more conversation. We capped off the night at an ice cream shop. At both the restaurant and ice cream place, we ate outside where it was pleasantly warm. Then they drove us to our hotel for the final night in Macas.