Monday July 2, 2012

Monday July 2/12 update

Sunday

After I sent the Sunday blog I got some distance shots of Tom eating from my hand.   Then Bella called me when she was done bridge to meet her and David and Kathy downtown for pizza.  I caught the bus and managed to get a shot of the new neighborhood police station which appears to be almost completed!  They must have been working almost 24 hours a day to accomplish that!   

As I was just climbing the stairs above Solano, Bella called again to say the Italian Pizza place was closed so they would meet me at the top of the stairs, which they did.   Rather than walk to Millennium Mall I suggested eating either the Taj Mahal restaurant kitty-corner or the other Middle Eastern restaurant we were standing in front of. 

Since none of us had tried this one yet we agreed to look at the menu and stay if it looked promising.  It was a bit of a dive but the Shawarma (sp?) and beer were darn excellent.   Beside us we had this young couple sucking on the water pipe which would make rude bubbling sounds so we had a few giggles and they let me take their picture.  There was no smoke odour so I didn’t mind it at all and was wondering why they were both acting a bit high.  I was offered a chance to suck on it but I said I did not smoke due to allergies.   They bought that excuse.

So we said our goodbyes to David and Kathy who depart in the morning for Riobamba and places beyond.  Whether or not they will return here is uncertain so we wish them all the best.

Monday

Spanish class again for me.   The good news is that Christine is offering to continue the Spanish class for another 6 weeks, Mondays and Wednesdays,  so we can finish the class textbook.  Bella has OK’d that I continue.

Across the street from the Chamber of Commerce building work is progressing slowly, to our eyes, on the Parque De La Madre.  They were jack-hammering the middle of the street and they have taken down all the art boards on this side street.  I assume they will need armed guards to keep idiots out of the park during the night.

Bella was off to Coopera today but didn’t get my usual solid head of cabbage, all they had were the light air-filled ones which are a waste.   That is usually my lunch all week for about 68c and I really enjoy it.

Bella is giving some bridge instruction to an interested friend who is hoping to graduate to the higher ranks of play.  It is hard for them to get enough competent players for the “bloodsport” games.

At 3pm I met with James and John from JD’s Private Transportation to nail down details and responsibilities for my proposed night photography outing.  I want this to be the first trip of many for a possible fledgling photography group.  We are all very flexible, depending on numbers of interested people, which I think will be a lot.  We fleshed out a tentative plan and dates and pricing but one intangible yet to arrange is supper for the group due to the timing of the outing.  John is going to pick me up in the morning and take me out to the Cojitambo ruins east of Cuenca where we intend to start with a sunset vigil.  This is one of the highest points in the area so we should get a 360 view of many different weather patterns as well.   Then we hope to check out a nearby restaurant with a big menu they recommend and see if we can strike a group rate for a few specific dishes and drink.   The trip will then come back into the city to get some specific buildings, churches, etc, then more close panoramic views from the Avenue De Las Americas, then a huge panorama from the mountain with all the communication towers.  This should be a fun trip.

Enjoy the pics.    That was today’s excitement.    Hugs to all.

120701 David + Kathy Ireland

120701 Water Pipe afficionados

120701 Hand feeding Tom 1

120701 Hand feeding Tom 2

120701 Hand feeding Tom 3

120701 Fast work on the Police station

120702 Parque De La Madre mess 1

120702 Parque De La Madre mess 2

120702 Tom is still visiting

Sunday July 1, 2012 Canada Day

Sunday July 1/12 update

Happy Canada Day!

I arranged an appointment tomorrow with JD’s Private Transportation to try to organize a night photography trip.  They have quasi-apologized for the earlier fiasco so I have promised to give them another chance.  I may get a free trip or two if I keep working with them.

Bella is off to play bridge at Joe’s Secret Garden.  That is one of her favorite things to do, especially when she can play with a real experienced partner and “play for blood” as she calls it. 

I just decided to bus downtown to see if the French Alliance music festival had anything going but I couldn’t find anything.  The police were directing traffic on Solano in front of the Banco Pichincha and I asked what was up but didn’t understand the reply.   I wasn’t going to wait around either.  It is a very strange day with alternating beautiful blue sky with heavy rain clouds. 

I just wandered aimlessly and stopped in a couple of video stores.  I had to leave the first one because the guy was smoking and I was beginning to gag.  At the second store I found a couple of old classics, Ghandi and Tora,Tora, Tora.  Gotta love 4 movies for $5.

As I started to head for the bus it started to rain heavier and I really needed a banos (washroom) so I ducked into the Chicago Pizza alongside the Santo Domingo church.  I had a large slice of cheese pizza and a soft drink for $1 while I waited for the rain to pass.

Then I caught the #50 like usual but this guy took two shortcuts.  The second shortcut completely bypassed our old neighborhood, and this was the second #50 to use the same detour, so I assume they must be doing roadwork.   I don’t mind, I get home quicker.

To has been at the window regularly today.  The hibiscus are not as plentiful nearby so he must be enjoying the free meals I am providing for him.

Enjoy the pics.    That was today’s excitement.    Hugs to all.

120701 Resting on the stairs

120701 Flower Seller

120701 Part of the flower market

120701 El Centro Rio Tomebamba west

120701 El Centro Rio Tomebamba east

120701 San Francisco with heavyy sky

120701 Avenida Solano traffic circle

120701 Tom Thumb sucking it up

120701 Tom Thumb dipping way in

120701 Tom being rude with his tongue again

120701 Tom Thumb flat out

120701 Tom going Na-Na-Na-Na-Na

Friday-Saturday June 29-30, 2012 Giron/Yunguilla

Saturday June 30/12
I was up at 7:30 and have been working on the 9 movies, and 249 photos, and this blog until 3:45.  It would have taken longer but I chose to batch edit the photos first in Photoscape.  Then I only adjusted the photos here as required in Photoshop. 
The blog is trying to rearrange everything on me and it has been an extremely frustrating process.  I apologize for the huge spaces but this is not user friendly and I have no way to correct this without starting from scratch (and I sure as H--- ain't doing that!).
Bella had her youngsters come with their homework for English instruction and they were joined today by Rosa and Carolina.
That was today's excitement.  Hugs to all.


Friday June 29/12 update

Even though I had set the alarm so I would not worry about awakening on time I woke at 2:30am and then just dozed until 4am.  I made use of the time to get all caught up on emails and photo uploads etc.  Bella was up at 6:30 and we finished our preparations for our tour today.

At 8am we hopped on the Terra Diversa tour bus to go on the Yunguilla/Giron waterfalls trip.  We were 14 people, 4 Canadians (ourselves and David and Kathy) and 10 Americans, plus Marco the driver and Juan the guide.  Juan had a fantastic knowledge of the area (because he lives there) and I could have sworn he had geology training but he said no, he had just learned everything to become an effective guide.   Marco was a skillful driver so we had a comfortable trip throughout.    This was a great group of congenial people.

Marco and Juan

Our tour was called the “Two Worlds of Yunguilla” featuring Ecuadorian history and two fascinating and starkly different ecosystems, the cloud forest of the El Chorro waterfalls near Giron and the amazing Jubones desert.

A day full of contrasts, we first stopped at the 9,000 feet high Tarqui Battle Memorial historical site of Portete commemorating the Feb 27, 1829 victory by Mariscal Sucre, under the command of Simon Bolivar, by the short-lived confederation of Gran Columbia over Peru.  The strategy was to control the high ground in the mountain pass so that, when they ran out of bullets, they could just throw stones.  Sucre later became the Ecuadorian President at the tender age of 33.   From here we also admired the wonderful view of the subtropical valley of Yunguilla in the middle of a canyon surrounded by the Andes ranges.  It is very cool and windy way up here and we caught a rainbow over the valley.

Yunguilla Valley

Rainbow over Yunguilla

Down the road we had a good view of the highest peak in the region which has some terraces at the top made by the Canari people before the Inca conquest.   

Canari terraces at the peak

Then we headed for the 104m high waterfalls of Chorro de Giron (pronounced hee-rrronn), which is twice as high as Niagara Falls.  The falls are in 3 sections, with the lower falls being the most spectacular.  We didn’t have the time nor inclination to hike another 3-4 hours to get to the upper falls which were covered in cloud until just before we left and we managed to catch a view of them.  Please enjoy the following video of the falls which ends with the visit to a dry gulch (explained below).

http://youtu.be/uz7-CN3GAzk

View of upper+lower falls from the road with heavy cloud

Rain Forest

Gorgeous lower falls

Different angle

Through the rain forest

Breathtaking isn't it?

Base of the falls

Magnificent

Picturesque

Cat on a hot tile roof at the bottom

Sky clears for a view again of the upper falls

We then visited the town of Giron and the unimpressive church, on the outside, but the interior was incredible with the huge stained glass windows that took your breath away.  The locals are mostly Chola tribespeople.  When the Spanish arrived they found this tribe where the ratio was 65 to 1 women, because most of the men had been killed off in the wars.  As a result the women would line up outside the Spanish settlers homes for breeding purposes and the Cholas are the offspring of this pairing.  Their hats, dual braids, and skirts are very distinctive to this tribe.

Giron Town church and square

Giron church and monument

Giron Church interior

One of Giron Church stained glass side windows

Giron Church stained glass above the door

Local Giron Chola women

Local workers enjoying the attention

Next was the Museum of Military History which had a few interesting features.  The gardens had a long series of soldiers’ boots being used as flower planters.  Inside they had many displays of guns, rifles, uniforms, flags, oil paintings of generals (Ecuadorian and Peruvian), and many other interesting paintings which I could not resist.  The soldiers manning the Museum were very happy to pose for us.

Interior

Giron Military Museum

Friendly soldier

The infamous boot planters

Mariscal Sucre

Simon Bolivar

The reality of war

Planning tactics?

Heroic depictions

Next was a severe drop in altitude to 3,500 feet elevation to reach the Jubones desert in the Yunguilla valley which features an actual oasis in the center.  They are talking about putting in a hydroelectric dam that will flood the entire valley.  Naturally there will be major opposition to this plan.   The desert is much like in Arizona according to the Americans with very stark dry landscape and cacti.   In this subtropical farming area they grow sugar cane, bananas, coffee, flowers, fruits and other crops.  It is very warm and windy here.  One strange phenomenon is that the coastal clouds stop above the western ridge of mountains and is completely clear over the valley, then the clouds resume again on the eastern ridge.

We were taken to a spot where we disembarked and slid down a hill into a dry gulch canyon and riverbed that was like something out of old western movies.  The surrounding stone is very porous, and when the water is flowing, this creates pressure and the water seeps into cracks and fissures and dissolves some of the stone, bring it to the surface where it creates new layers of an ever-changing landscape.  I didn’t think I would enjoy this part of the trip but it was truly fascinating.   It was very dry, warm and windy, and I though I had lost my Tilley hat when it blew off and was flying back down into the canyon when it luckily got hung up momentarily on some vegetation.  I had to skittle down there quickly before it got blown any further or I would never have seen it again.

An Ecuadorian erratic

Gorgeous canyon carved by a river

Tramping through the dry gulch

No real hoodoos here, but close...

Very windy and dry heat

Stopping to enjoy the cliffs

A farming oasis in the middle of desolation

El Condor Pasa overhead

We then returned to the small town of La Union for huge plates of fabulous seafood lunch of sea bass or shrimp at a lovely restaurant called Puerto Bolivar (Port of Bolivar , where cruise ships dock on the coast).  We were behind schedule and the lunch wasn’t over until about 3pm.

The next stop was at Juan’s family farm just above the town and this was an unexpected treat.  Their family farm is directly below the family compound of the richest family in Ecuador, of Juan ElJuri, Lebanese Christians who came over here in the 1920’s who amassed a large fortune through skillful importation and business ventures.   The ElJuri compound is visually stunning, with a church built to resemble the Taj Mahal, and the family home to resemble Moscow’s Red Square.   Apparently they have a zoo with giraffes, lions, tigers, etc but I did not see or hear them.

Juan’s farm had multiple buildings, swimming pool, pond, and a large dugout which had many of my relatives, the frogs.  The property is covered in huge fruit trees and palms.   Juan’s father divided the family farm into 3 parcels of 2+ acres for each of the 3 sons.  Juan’s parcel is just below, and across the creek from the ElJuri land, with a hilltop view of the valley where he intends to build his home.  What an awesome spot!

Gorgeous View from near Juan's farm

The ElJuri home, like Red Square

The ElJuri church

Amazing tropical plants

View to ElJuri church with magnificent palm

This is a monster lemon!

Relative #1

Relative #2

Juan's family farm

Another view

On the way out we stopped at a sugar cane processing plant.  They have old wonderful machinery to grind the cane stalks to a pulp and to drain the cane liquid into a large heated vat to make sugar cakes and some pure cane liquor.  I thought the fellow running this looked like Anthony Quinn with a broken nose.  Next door we got to sample some of the cane liquor which packs quite a punch.

La Union roadside fruit stand

Sugar cane sugar cakes

Great old machinery to crush sugar cane

The boss looks like Anthony Quinn

Juan dispensing cane juice

Anthony Quinn, don't you think?

Guarding the hooch

 The return trip went surprisingly quickly and we came into Cuenca along the Avenida Loja which is part of the original Inca Trail.  This road has a direct view to the Immaculate Conception cathedral and the December 21 solstice sun (our summer) shines straight down this road, so it must be directly north-south??

Inca Trail to Immaculate Conception

For a second time this day I almost lost my Tilley hat when I left it on the bus upon arrival,  I thought of it about 2 blocks away and quickly ran back and retrieved it before the bus left.

We then walked down to the Victoria Hotel and the El Jardin Restaurant to meet with Chris and Bettye for a lovely supper.   It was so nice to see the two of them again after so long.  Bettye has been fighting an infection for a month and still has severe ear problems but she looked extremely good and on the mend.  They are busy trying to buy furniture to move into their new apartment along the Tomebamba shortly.

Since it was only 3 hours after our large lunch at La Union, Bella and I were not particularly hungry so we only had salads and desert.  We thoroughly enjoyed both!

Arriving home was a relief and, believe it or not, I was in bed by 9pm, collapsed from exhaustion and over-consumption.

I do hope you enjoy the pics and video as I have spent 8 hours putting this all together.    That was today’s excitement.    Hugs to all.