We arrived in Ecuador around 11:00 pm and had arranged for our guest house, Chapelet Hostal, to pick us up from the airport. We stayed the night in a suburb of Quito, Tababela which is only 10 minutes by taxi from the airport. And cheap too, $25 a night included breakfast, albeit a bland one. Like so many places in South America, the coffee is of the instant variety and is undrinkable. I have a caffeine withdrawal and an altitude headache. Ill also admit that the altitude is hard on my heart, my resting heart rate is 130 beats a minute while Mayas is 70. That doesn't seem too great to me.
The Hostal called us a taxi in the morning that took us to the bus stop, where we waited for just a few minutes. The public bus that goes from Tababela to Quitumbe Terestre is a green bus with the destination printed on the window. The uneventful ride took a little over a hour. Quitumbe is a busy but very organized bus station. There are about 30 ticket windows divided into geographic regions so it's easy to find the company that will take you where you want to go. There's a decided lack of nefarious characters hanging around and we were unbothered. We paid $6 each for tickets to Guranada, a four hour ride south. We bought the usual comforting bus ride snacks of plantain chips, sweet roasted peanuts, and Maria cookies. This was a beautiful ride, taking us high in the mountains at 13,123 feet through clouds. Country folks in various colorful dress got on and off, usually women with babies strapped on their backs in a sling made from a long scarf. The views of Chimborazo (20,547 feet) are incredible on this ride. We didn't have a map of Guranda so we didn't know where we were when we got let off, but we knew were starved. Walking a few blocks we ended up in Plaza Roja where Maya spied a great little place to eat. There's no menu but the lady said something like "all we have is ...." In Spanish. I had no idea what she was offering but said ok we'll take two. Looking around at the decor while we waited for food we figured out we were in a seafood soup place. From our experience in Peru and Colombia the soups in the Andes are so very good, and of course this one didn't dissapoint. A lovely limey cilantro broth with chunks of fish and potatoes. Comes with a side of popcorn which I didn't quite get. We washed that down with an Inca Cola, paid our $6 and weren't in search of the colectivo trucks to Salinas. I read that they we're to be found in Plaza Roja, so we just kept asking until we found the, we hopped in the back and sat on the little built in wooden benches. After waiting fifteen minutes or so we left, picking up passengers on the way.
I do love a ride in the back of a pickup truck to a remote village.
Folks got in and out, and for part of the ride we shared it with a huge bale of grasses presumably being trusted up the mountain for animals. That $1 ride took about an hour and brought us to Salinas. I had made contact with Hotel Kachi Yaku but didn't have a reservation. They have plenty of room in this new place and ours comes with an incredible view, $15 per person includes breakfast. They seemed too new for guests and not quite ready, and they lacked a good common area. We've moved to Hostal La Minga which is $12 a night per person, no breakfast. It has a delightful sunny courtyard where we can hang around.
We went to the tourism office to arrange for a guide to take us around to all the various factories in town. We did a loop of the village and watched cheese, chocolate, yarn, mushrooms, soccer balls, and herbal products being made. We really didn't need to pay $20 for a guide, which was only in Spansih, as we could have used a map and walked the route ourselves. Maya said Don Victor was part of the experience.
We were off to explore a swing that seems perched above town.
That hostel looks adorable! Sorry no breakfast, but nice place to stay for $12 a night. On to the next day's blog post now. :-)
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