Wandering Footsteps: Wandering the World One Step at a Time » South America

Snapshots of Ecuador

Brittany — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 16:22:00 +0000

I have been avoiding writing this blog entry for several weeks now. I am waiting for that inspiration which has propelled my blog these last few months. I have been getting such nice comments on my blog lately, and – though very nice to hear – I think I am starting to feel the pressure to make each entry as inspired as the last.

And for this particular blog entry on my trip to Ecuador, that poetic, self-reflective Brittany just hasn’t come. As I waited for her, I asked myself why she was being so elusive this time. Was it that Ecuador wasn’t inspiring? Did I not learn anything while there? Were my observations less astute than usual?

I think, deep down, I always knew why this blog entry wasn’t brewing in my mind. All year, I had traveled to places “just because” – for travel in and of itself; pure discovery. I was an empty vessel begging my destination to fill me up.

But on this trip to Ecuador, there was a purpose, and it was not to fill my ever-emptying vessel. It was to see my brother and the life he has lived in Ecuador for the last 10 months. It was to spend time with his girlfriend of 2.5 years, to get to know her and to meet her extended family. Because of this purpose, I fear I may have traveled to the country with partial blinders on. I saw the mountains of Quito, but did I really “see” them? I saw the biodiversity of the country but did I really “see” it? I felt the flavor of the culture, but did I really “feel” it?

I’ve come away from this trip with a few isolated impressions of Ecuador and Ecuadorian culture, but they are mere snapshots of a country which I know deserves a full-length feature. As such, in this blog entry, I can merely pass on my Ecuador snapshots to you, my faithful reader.

Snapshot #1: Quito

Picture a historical city located in a narrow valley with Andean mountains cascading overhead and you will conclude that this city must be spectacularly beautiful. And it is, though I didn’t internalize it until near the end of my time in Quito. I spent the majority of my 15-day trip here, as this is where Nathan, Ara and the family live. My initial impression of the city was that it had an interesting mix of old and new, rich and poor. Its outskirts were dusty, almost desert-like, but its neighborhoods reaching up into the mountains were brightly colored, standing out amid the dust. As I spent more time in the city, I got to see its charming historical center, its basilica, its narrow European streets leading to its cobble-stoned plazas. Aboard the tourist city bus, I saw its urban parks, low skyscrapers, and funky tourist/artsy streets and markets as the bus wound its way up to El Panecillo, a gigantic Virgin Mary statue on a hill on the south of the city. After seeing Quito’s beauty and charm, it slowly became more than a dense Andean developing capital and more a hip, intriguing, historical and cultural town that Nathan and Ara are lucky to get to explore daily.

Snapshot #2: Quito Surroundings

I got to do quite a few day trips from the city, thanks to Ara and her great little new car!

1. Mitad del Mundo – “center of the earth”, a monument commemorating the geographical work that was done here as well as celebrating the fact that the equator runs through this exact point.

2. Teleferico, a gondola lift up the mountain range surrounding the city. At over 4000 meters, the Teleferico literally offers a breathtaking view of the city below. It’s hard to believe the city only has a little over 2 million inhabitants, for from this peak, the city seems to have been stretched on both ends like a baker preparing baguette dough.

3. Mindo, a eco-tourist town where we went rafting down a cool, fresh river surrounding by jungle scenery, and where I made best friends with a butterfly at the butterfly garden.

4. Papaillatcha hot springs, a series of warm pools nestled in a misty mountain village. Nathan convinced me to jump back and forth from the hot pool to the freezing cold natural spring river and back. It’s actually really addictive, as your body tingled from head to food!

Snapshot #3: A Taste of the Amazon

I got to do an overnight trip to Tena, a town bordering the Amazon jungle. After the brisk mountain air of Quito, Tena’s hot humid heat was stifling. Even hotter was the cave that Nathan, Ara’s cousin and friend, and I wandered in for an hour. What a different environment from the landscape outdoors – pitch black, full of bats and spiders, stalactites and mites everywhere, and fresh water pools and waterfalls that you had to swim in to get out the other end. Later that afternoon, a visit to a jungle river where the locals bathe and cool off in the hot jungle heat. On my next Ecuador trip, I’m venturing further into the Amazon!

Snapshot #4: Salsa

I got to dance salsa on two occasions: one at a famous Quito nightclub, and the other at an exercise class in Tena. Salsa is in the bones of Ecuadorians and it was really fun to try to keep up with them!

Snapshot #5: Food

I made it my goal to try every Ecuadorian food that didn’t have meat in it. I always like tasting local delicacies because it’s one cultural aspect that I particularly value in travel. But it was even more important here in Ecuador since I wasn’t doing a lot of other cultural inquiry. Thanks to Ara, I think I managed to try every vegetarian Ecuadorian food possible:

– Helado de paila – local ice cream made with native Ecuadorian fruits

– Michelada – Ecuadorian beer with salt on the mouth of the glass and lemon in the beer

– Locro – creamy potato soup with avocadoes and mozzarella dropped in just before serving

– Morocho – milk and Ecuadorian corn heated up and slightly sweetened; drunk in a mug as a beverage

– Empanada de Aire – friend bread shaped in a half moon, filled with air, a bit of mozzarella cheese, and dusted with sugar on top

– Bolones – green banana batter fried with mozzarella in the center, eaten with a spicy chili sauce

– Patacones – some kind of banana (apparently there are 5 or 6 kinds!) sliced and fried; Ecuadorian version of chips

– Fruit, fruit and more fruit! Fresh, salads, with salt, in juices, in batados (milk juices)!

There may have been more Ecuadorian foods I sampled, but I can’t recall. I enjoyed the ones I tasted, as they are mainly composed of ingredients like mozzarella cheese, corn, bananas, and potatoes, with the option of adding spices! What’s not to like???

Snapshot #6: The Coast

I’ve already written two blog entries about the coast of Ecuador, but it needs to be mentioned again on this trip. Here is where I let myself eat seafood (ceviche!!) and where the three of us explored unchartered territory together. As mentioned in other entries, we visited the Isla de la Plata, saw blue-footed boobies and humpback whales. We also did a really nice 3 hour walk in the Machalilla National Park, hitting up viewpoints and hidden beaches on our journey toward Los Frailes beach. And I watched the fishermen come in with their catches, desperately trying to avoid the sea birds who await them each morning. In Montanita, we became beach bums, soaking up the strong sun and playing in the waves for a few days. Ecuador’s beaches did not disappoint!

Snapshot #7: Family

I saved this snapshot for last because it was the most important and impactful snapshot of my time in Ecuador. Ara’s family generously offered to let me stay in their family home. I really enjoyed getting to share meals with them, especially sitting around the table at dinner (which is more like free-for-all evening snacking) and conversing in three languages over a plate of cheese and bread or an omelet, as Nathan, Ara, and her sister Sophia sucked on salty lemons. (Ecuadians love salt and sour things!)

I also got to have lunch once at Ara’s grandmother and another time at her aunt’s. Ara’s family tries to lunch together once a week, and the whole extended family shows up on their 2-hour lunch break! Even though there was a language barrier with some members of the family, it was really meaningful to get to know them and to feel so accepted into their family.

Lastly, I got to spend a lot of time with Ara’s other sister, Nadia, her husband Andres, and their son Samuel. They had us over for dinner one night and I made Nepali food for them on my last afternoon before taking their son bowling. I had heard so much about Samuel and it was so lovely to get to spend time with him and the entire family. I am eternally grateful to Ara and the entire family for their generosity and their welcoming attitude. You all truly made the trip for me!

Meditation on the Beach

Brittany — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 21:03:00 +0000

There’s something about the beach that just feels like home. No matter where in the world it is. As long as it has a few key features, like a long, flat, walkable beach, soft, smooth, unlettered sand, and a few seaside creatures that wash up on shore.This morning, I woke up before most of Montanita, a seaside surfing town in coastal Ecuador. I scarfed down a quick breakfast of banana, granola, and milk. I grabbed my ipod. And I went to the place that had been silently beckoning me all night – the beach.

The clouds have been thick the past few days, and this morning was no exception. But, sometimes, clouds are exactly what one needs to inspire a reflective, meditative mood. On the ipod, the first notes of Sigur Ros helped to set that stormy mood. But as Fela Kuti’s funky saxophone completed my two-hour sojurn, the glorious sun was out, beckoning me to jump around in the waves.

These waves beckon me still, and always, in fact. The rushing, rolling, crashing consistency of them is both inspiring and reassuring. For as long as I’ve lived and shall live, those waves will crash on; sometimes with the docile lulling of a baby being lullabied to sleep in a rocking cradle; sometimes embodying the anger of Poseidon in each crash; but mostly steady, its energy, building in each ebb and manifesting itself in each forward-flow.

I love waves. They make me feel like a child again, as I gleefully dive and jump in and amongst them. They bring a fresh, clean, crisp sea breeze to the shore, which envelops me, caressing my curves, playfully tucking my hair behind my ears, and reminding me that THIS is where I belong.

On this beach. In Ecuador. Or in Mozambique. Or Thailand, or India, or the Philippines. Or, especially, New Brunswick, the beach where it all began for me. The mother beach, whose breeze and smell and sand and water and waves beckon me home, no matter where in the world I am.

Close Encounters with the Wild Pt II (as well as an angry postcript)

Brittany — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 20:58:00 +0000

Pt II (written July 31st) I’ve just returned from another day of close encounters with the wild. These encounters, however, took place a world away from the bushland of Zimbabwe.
I am now in the land of Ecuador. A land whose landscape is as varied as an entire continent, with its coasts, deserts, mountains, and jungles meeting at the center of the world. If I were here for more than 15 days, I’m sure I’d have amazing close-encounter stories from each of these distinct regions of Ecuador. Alas, I’m not, so my encounters today happened from the coast – the obvious choice for a beach-lover like me.
I was brought to the Isla de la Plata by Nathan and Ara (whom I will talk more about in a blog entry whose topic isn’t close encounters with the wild – although they are wild in their own way and I’ve certainly had my fair share of close encounters with them this week!) Translated into English, the island is called “Silver Island”. This name was chosen because the famous bird that lives on it – the blue-footed booby (holla!) – pools all over the place, and when its dried dung shines in the sun, it makes the island look silver.
The Isla de la Plata is also known as the “Poor Man’s Galapagos” because you can get there for $35 rather than $3500! Probably not quite as stunning or entensive and with no human culture to explore, but with a similar landscape. And, of course, the booby, one of Galapagos’ famous birds.
You notice these birds because of their unique blue flippers. But you fall for them because of their dopey faces with blank yellow eyes that follow you as you sneak past them on the path. Yes, strangely these birds will actually let you approach them, even within less than a meter!
You almost always find boobies in pairs (hahah!). They are merely mates for a season, but seem nonetheless to quickly form a strong bond; the man singing to his woman, and that woman squawking back (remind anyone of a human relationship???). The female also has massive pupils and is bigger than the male, so even when they aren’t making noises it’s easy to tell them apart.
We learned a lot of facts about these blue-footed boobies (and their white cousins) while on our day-tour, but the most interesting fact is that they are able to desalinate water in their throats. Goes to show how much smarter mother nature is than man!
Close encounters with boobies, check. (Never thought I’d share THAT on my blog!).
But that’s not all, folks. For, on our boat ride back to shore we had a close encounter with humpback whales! This is the close encounter I actually wanted to talk about, for it left me breathless, teary-eyed, and feeling so incredibly small. As I watched in awe as whale after whale danced beside our boat, I was filled with both ecstacy and sadness. Ecstacy, because these gigantic creates were as close as 10m from us, spurting water from their blowholes, showing off their fins and tails as they swam alongside us, and jumping high up in the air, spinning 360s, and then crashing back down into the water so hard it made the boat vibrate!
And sadness… because these peaceful, majestic creatures were here long before us. And they will probably disappear because of us. How is it that creatures as small as humans can have such an impact on creatures as massive as whales? Or elephants? Or lions? Or hipps? Or boobies? We, who believe ourselves to be intelligent, and morally superior. We, who are actually so small. Why is it that so few realize it, that it takes these close encounters with the wild to remind us just how small, and just how un-intelligent, we actually are?

Angry Postcript (written Aug. 3rd)
Humanity? What humanity?
I just saw a dead humpback whale wasted up on the beach. The same kind of whale that took my breath away merely three days ago.
And around him, people taking photos. But not just of the whale. Of themselves posing in front of her. Warrior poses, smiles, thumbs up…
It reminds me of an experience I had back in June, as Rory and I were driving to Mozambique. On the road, an oil tanker had exploded had exploded, and the fire balls crashing out of it were quite the sight to behold. The entire nearby town, it seemed, had shown up to watch those flames float up into the sky. People took photos. But no one tried to help the four people trapped inside the tanker.
A white couple in a car behind me came up to ask me what happened. When I told them, the man’s reaction was, “Oh dear, we’re gonna be here for a few hours – it’s cutting into my holiday time!” And the woman’s was even more horrendous, for she wanted to go get a close up view of the bodies, later reporting to us – as though I wanted to know – that they were merely charred skeletions now. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d taken a photo of herself in front of the blast, smiling and thumbs-upping the camera and she jumped into warrior pose.
I thought humanity was a term encompassing positive words like goodwill, kindness, empathy, a community of humans, charmingly flawed in their humanE nature. Now, I wonder if humanity really encompasses heartlessness, selfishness, self-interestedness, and is defined by a group of people bent on destroying the eath while smiling, and thumbs-upping one another.
Humanity? Sure, we’re full of it.