Tiim & Kathy

Cajas National Park and Mirador Tres Cruces (Continental Divide)

We spent a lovely day in the nature of the Cajas National Park. We had a local guide, Juan, who educated us with his knowledge of the birds, plants and history. We walked a two mile path around the Llaviucu Lake.

Turquoise Jay (photo taken from Merlin Bird App)

We then drove to Tres Cruces, which is the point on the highway of the Continental Divide. The three crosses were erected to remember those that died attempting their trek over the Andes.

It is difficult to see the crosses as they blend into the landscape.

We are standing at 13,760 feet above sea level. The views of the lakes and terrain were beautiful.

We finished our outing at Dos Chorreras, a beautiful restaurant and lodge.

Cuenca, Ecuador (Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca)

Our hotel in Cuenca is in the middle of the historic district. Marcelo lead us on a walking tour in the morning. Our first stop was the large main plaza with a beautiful cathedral and the more modern city hall.

We visited the plaza with the local flower market. The plaza also was the location of a Carmelite convent where the nuns used provide a healing tea. The locals like it so much that the tradition is continued. It is called Agua de Pitimas (a little more) tea.

We got to experience a large produce market.

Cuenca has four rivers running through the city. The city is popular with expats from the United States, Canada and Europe. It is a beautiful city with local markets, weather that is temperate all year long and Ecuador’s currency is the US dollar.

We stopped at a local restaurant that prepared the pig and guinea pigs in the traditional way. Interesting, but not to our liking.

We ended the day visiting a local clay potter. He is Jose Encalada and he is 90 years old. Just like most traditional crafts around the world, he is one of the few left in his neighborhood.

Ecuador Road Trip Day Two

October 18,2024

We leave Riobamba and continue south on the Pan-American Highway. Our first stop is to see the oldest Catholic Church in Ecuador.

We made another stop at the small city of Alousí. It is a city that based itself around the train that went through the city. There are no more trains running in Ecuador, but this city wants to revive the train as a tourist attraction for their city.

Our next stop was at Pistishi. We were entertained by the locals with a traditional dance.

We had a visit to a local small farm nearby. Guinea Pigs are a common source of protein in the locals diet. These were being raised at the farm for consumption.

From here we had a three hour drive to Cuenca and our beautiful hotel, the Santa Lucia. It is a boutique hotel in the home of a former mayor of Quenca.

Ecuador Road Trip: Quito to Cuenca

Our trip leader led us on a two day road trip on the Pan American Highway from Quito to Cuenca. We were able to view a few of the 82 volcanoes that are in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Our first stop was at a rose farm, Rose Success. Ecuador is the largest producer of roses in the world.

Sorting, removing thorns and leaves and packaging roses

Ready to ship and send all over the world

Our next stop was to visit a local traditional artist. His name is Manuel and he gave us a tour of his garden. He explained his medicinal plants.

Manuel and our guide, Marcelo, interpreting

We visited Mabel’s art studio and were given a quick art lesson.

We had a stop at an ice cream shop in Salcedo to sample Helado de Sabores. It is a four flavor layered ice cream.

Our last stop before our hotel in Riobamba is to visit the daughter and family of the last ice merchant. His name is Baltazar and he died last week. His daughter, Carmen, talked with us about her father. He would climb up the volcano, Chimboraso, three times a week to cut ice from the volcano. He originally would have it sent to the coast so the fisherman could keep their catch on ice.

Road trip continues in the next blog post.

Cartagena Day Two

October 15, 2024

Our guide, Luis, took us on a walking tour of the Getsamani neighborhood in the walled city. Not too long ago it was a dangerous area, but now is lively with beautiful wall murals, restaurants and cafes.

After the tour we hopped on the Chiva bus. It is an old bus that has been turned into a party bus. There were three musicians playing lively music.

The Chiva dropped us off at the village of La Boquilla. It is a village that makes a living from fishing. The people of the village are mainly of African descent and they want to preserve their way of life. The people of the village have a school for children to learn drumming and dancing Cumbria. We were given a lesson in drumming and dancing.

The flag of Cartagena on the wall looking out on the Caribbean Sea

We spent the afternoon walking around the walled city and walking on the wall. We took a horse carriage ride to our farewell dinner. Tomorrow we head to Ecuador.

Cartagena Day 1

We began our day with a visit to the San Felipe Castle. This was built by the Spanish in the 17th century to protect Cartegena from a land attack.

We took a walking tour around the walled, historic part of the city a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Palenquerias are natives of San Basilio de Palenque. It was the first city of free slaves in America. These ladies make a living posing with tourists.

We visited an emerald museum later in the morning. Colombia is one the top three exporters of emeralds in the world.

Coffee Farm and Tejo in Montenegro

October 12, 2024

Our goal for today is to visit the Buenos Aires Coffee Farm. Before visiting the farm, we went to Montenegro and mingled with some locals on the plaza. We sampled Tinto, the local coffee from a vender in la Plaza de Bolívar. It was nice because it was not a tourist town.

We road in class is Jeep Willy’s to the coffee farm.

On arriving to the farm we begin by helping the family prepare lunch. We chopped vegetables for salad, made the tomato salsa, and smashed the boiled plantains for the appetizer.

The process of growing the coffee was explained as we picked a few berries and observed the sorting process.

The farm processes the berries three different ways: natural, with honey , and washed. They go through at least three different sorting to get the highest quality to export. The “bad coffee or pasilla” is sold in country only. That is what the locals prefer.

After lunch we went back to Montenegro to play the national game of Tejo. It is similar to corn hole. You throw a heavy lead disc at the slanted clay tray. The target is the middle of a circle of plastic triangles with gunpowder. If you hit the triangle the gunpowder explodes. And it involves drinking beer.

Cocora Valley

October 11, 2024

We began the day at the Cocora Valley. We hiked up to the first lookout enjoying the amazing scenery. This valley is the only place to find the tallest palm trees in the world, The Wax Palm Tree of Quindio. We enjoyed the flowers and animals. Bulls and horses. We kept our eyes open for the one Andean Condor, but he did not appear.

We visited a coffee roaster in Salento and Johnnie explained the process. Then we went to the coffee shop to, of course, taste the coffee. We also got to try our hand at latte art. Not being a coffee drinker, I chose to have a moccachino and made a flower.

Salento is a very pretty town with a central plaza with a statue of Simón Bolivar in the center, of course.

Medellín Comuna 13

October 10, 2024

The city of Medellín has houses built up on the hills. It doubled in size over 20 years as people moved from rural areas. The hills are so steep that the metro system includes trams. Our experience today was to ride the metro train, the tram and the local bus.

The local bus took us to Comuna 13. A neighborhood once controlled by the paramilitary and now a vibrant tourist destination. A local guide, Miguel told us his experience growing up up in the comune.

Miguel was a small boy when paramilitaries took control of the town. When they heard shooting they would put their mattress up over the windows and hunker down. He remembers sharing with friends how many dead bodies they saw each day. The neighborhood lived in fear for years. The government decided to take control and sent tanks and military into the comune and started randomly shooting and killing innocent people along with the paramilitaries. After days of shooting, the paramilitary lost control of the town. Now the neighborhood has come to life 20 years later as a tourist town. It is filled with colorful graffiti, shops selling souvenirs and bars and cafes. There are escalators to get around this steep hillside comuna.

Several groups of breakdancers were performing for the tourists. Their strength and creativity was amazing. We stopped at a stand to enjoy mango/passion fruit popsicle.

To see a city that has been transformed from a dangerous place to one that welcomes thousands of tourists a day was amazing.

Guatapé

October 9, 2024

The small town of Guatapé is a delight of color and fun. The houses and businesses decorate the lower part of their buildings with colorful paintings. These are called zócalos.