so i finally left ecuador...just barely, though. what an unexpected suprise this country turned out to be. and those turn out to be the best suprises, don't they?
i arrived in cuenca intending on staying just a couple of days, ended up staying two weeks. the city was clean, not sterile-clean, just pleasantly devoid of massive piles of rubbish (buses still churning out billows of smog, though), cafes and bars lined the streets, a river ran through it. it was nice to get to know a city, make it my own, feel a bit a home away from home. i also got to see a display of amazonian shrunken heads, which was pretty odd and really cool.
on to vilcabamba, the 'valley of longevity,' a city famous for their large collection of very old people. we kept on whispering to each other whenever we saw a wrinkly-face, “do you think their 100?!” must be something in the water, they say. a stopover en route to the peruvian border. plans were to stay a couple nights, then vamos on to peru for carnival. but what are plans if not for changing? The green mountains gave birth to a lush valley below, colorful butterflies and hummingbirds playing house in the foliage. the town center was gringo-fied, but for some reason that didn't bug me as much as other towns. it attracted a certain type of gringo, that's for sure. on any given moment on an given conversation in any given coffeeshop, you could bet the topic revolved around one of ten topics (corporate greed and societal corrutption, 2012 and/or some version of the end times, conspiracy theories, yoga, being an expatriate, etc etc etc). there was lots of hiking and yoga, even more bonfires and drumcircles. needless to say, we decided to stay and it was ecuador carnavele 2010.
carnavele—exactly that. a mismash chaotic scene, foam gone wild, water fights galore. after getting soaked by a wily nino with a bucket, we decided that the best defense was a good offense. back to the hostel we went, filling an artillery of ballon after water ballon, arming ourselves with foam sprayers, tying on rambo bands, pumping ourselves up with slightly-altered quotes from inglorious bastards. “and the ecuadorians will know us—and the ecuadorians will fear us—and when the ecuadorians have nightmares, they will be of us!” out onto the central plaza we went. foam fights between massive dance parties, stopping for refueling breaks of choclo con queso and coco helado, taking a pick-up truck hostage and chucking water from huge tanks, slipping sliding sloshing our way around the town. music, parades, rodeos, music, food stalls wafting smells of all things fried, music, water, did i mention music? It's celebrated differently in every city in every country in the whole of latin america—an experience to be remembered.
after a night bus, saw the sunset in ecuador and the sun rise in peru. as sad as i was to leave the middle of the earth, as it were, my nomadic tendencies took over and took me across the border. the lure of the amazon is calling my name—up next, a looooong riverboat ride throught the biggest rainforest in the world. hoo-rah.
