The Amazon rainforest near Puyo and the colonial city of Cuenca

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Hi friends! I’m in Cuenca, Ecuador’s third-largest city.

From Banos, I went to Puyo, where begins the Amazon, which I visited with a guide. After, I moved into a hut of a family of Kichwa indigenous, inside their village. It was a small village of fewer than 100 people with many children wandering and playing.
The landlord was around in the forest searching for food, and his daughter, a little girl named Brigitte, accompanied me to the village to see the meeting room where they take decisions, the school, and various animals that live there: an alligator, a parrot, a nocturnal monkey, and a giant rat, a little crazy maybe because in a cage.

Before dark, the landlord returned with an armadillo caught by his dog, that had dug inside the hole where it was sleeping. The family cooked it. I’m vegetarian, so I ate rice, palmito (white filaments, fresh and soft, taken from the trunk of the palm), and yucca, a vegetable similar to potatoes.
In the evening, when it was already dark, I went to sleep upstairs in the hut. As always, it’s really nice to sleep in the forest for the concert of sounds from nocturnal animals that start with the setting sun. Sounds that resonate thanks to the total silence all around. There was a giant full moon. I fell asleep soon, and I woke up in the middle of a roaring tempest. The hut was wholly enveloped by a cloud.

The next morning, at 7, the landlord woke me up for another tour in the forest. He told me to get ready and go down. He said that he was busy, but I would have done the tour with his eldest son. But the bed called me back, and I fell asleep again. Then arrived Brigitte. She told me to get up to do the tour with her and two other siblings because no one knew where his big brother was at the moment. But I fell asleep again.
I woke up with kids all around, I was still half asleep, and the scene seemed surreal, with all these children repeating: “Giovanni, wake up!”, “Giovanni, wake up!”
I didn’t want much to wake up, I tell the truth. And also, why all this rush? I know that there is this terrible problem of deforestation, but even sleeping a few hours more for sure I could still manage to visit it.

Anyway, I finally went into the forest around there with Brigitte, a sister, and a brother. They were excellent, I have to say. They paved the way with machetes and knew all the plants and trees and their possible use.
All that vegetation that appeared to me as a confused green tangle had a utility for them. As food, as medicine, to make soap, to wash clothes, for painting their faces, to make necklaces, to build huts, to make baskets, etc. …

This reminded me of an old idea: to create a community where we work the minimum necessary to help Mother Earth feed us. And at that point to say fuck off to all the corporations that enslave us and to the states that steal us what is left, with taxes used just to pay the cops for beating us when we protest.
Nothing original, of course, since ever the smartest organize in that way, but seeing it now concretely, I’m convinced that it is indeed achievable. I don’t like to work anymore. I just want to laze during the day and drink wine the night by a bonfire.

“And to travel, how are you going to do?”
Well, guys, we can’t have everything…
“But you didn’t think of us? Your blog readers? What will we read after? If the hen has laid an egg or not?”
Eeeeh, I know, I know, my dear readers, but there are thousands of travel blogs, don’t be afraid of that. Undoubtedly not as brilliant, not with such beautiful pictures, not with such sharp analysis, jaunty humor, freshness, and originality of style… yes, I know, most of them seem like little wankers, you’re right, but what can I do? Can I continue to travel the world like a spinning top? Mhmmm, but in the end, why not? Ok, we will see, we will see… Now the photos.

 

Woman with daughter in Puyo.

 

A tapir caressed by Sandra, a girl from Quito with whom I had the forest’s first tour.

 

Flying on a liana.

 

And with a typical boa on. In short, the usual bullshit you do in the Amazon rainforest.

 

With Sandra on the bridge leading to the village where I slept.

 

Children in the indigenous village.

 

The head of the village.

 

Brigitte with a flower.

 

The armadillo caught for dinner.

 

Dogs around the pot where the armadillo is cooked.

 

Parrot.

 

Girls painting their faces with the seeds of a fruit. The next day I surrendered to their requests, and I accepted to having my face painted too.

 

A stream in the forest.

 

Black-red seeds.

 

Cuenca, Ecuador’s third-largest city, is a beautiful colonial city. It is located at 2500 meters altitude. Before being conquered by the Incas first and the Spaniards soon after, it was an important city of the Cañari, one of the many Ecuador indigenous ethnic groups.

 

Old women in Cuenca.

 

Woman.

 

Live free! (A)

Lake Quilotoa, Kichwa people, legend of the condor and Banos

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Faithful disciples, here He is again :D . This time He will tell you of a spectacular lake inside a volcanic crater and Banos, a tourist place with thermal baths.

The lake Quilotoa was formed by the collapse of a volcano about a thousand years ago. The volcano has a diameter of 3.15 km and is still active. The last eruption occurred in 1799.

 

Most of the local women and girls wear a felt hat, even in the house.

 

25% of the Ecuadorian population is indigenous, composed of 13 autochthonous communities. The descendants of the Incas form the largest of these communities. They are called Kichwa, as their language, used today by about two and a half million people. The Kichwa is part of the Quechua languages, spoken by over 7 million people in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia.

 

Little girl. Other photos of boys and girls follow.

 

 

Dusk.

 

The family that ran the posada where I stayed, near the lake. I slept in a nearby house, barely warmed by a small wood-burning stove. During the night, after the fire run out, it was very cold.

There I read a little book for children in Kichwa, Spanish and English, very well illustrated, about a Kichwa legend, the legend of the condor in love. I’ll give you a summary:

The spirit Pachakama created the universe. After that, he realized that he needed a flying messenger to communicate with the Earth.
Together with his companion Pachamama, the female spirit of fertility, and other forces of the universe (Sun, Moon, etc…), he created an egg. From it came out a little condor.
The condor immediately began to do his duty, sending messages and receiving inquiries from Earth. He used the kipus, ie colored cords, and dreams to communicate.
But after few years, the condor began to feel lonely. “Everyone has a partner, even the rabbits, only I am alone…”. So, he started to seek love.
Fluttering above the Andes, he saw a girl who grazed sheep. He immediately fell in love and, after stealing a poncho to look more beautiful, approached her.
She mistook him for a guy with pants to his knees, and after speaking at length, she fell in love as well.
Once she realized he was a condor, she was taken away from him, flying. In the beginning, she was a little scared. Still, soon she became delighted by the places below: the lake Quilotoa, the picks of Ilizinas, the Chimborazo, and the sacred volcanoes Cotopaxi and Tungurahua.
Eventually, they arrived on a kunturmatzi, one of the quarries in the high Andes, where the condor lives. He pecked her lovingly and, with each peck, feathers grew on the girl.
At her home, meanwhile, were worried. It was already night and the dog, who had seen where they went, drove the girl’s family and the entire village to the nest of the condor. Once there, the villagers sent away the condor and recovered the girl.
Back in her house, the parents locked her inside, but the girl, burning some straw, managed to send a message to the condor, which came back and took her again with him.
This time they flied up until a very high kunturmatzi. There, the condor pecked her lovingly, and feathers grew on her. When the villagers reached this nest, she was already completely transformed into a bird, a female condor, and her parents had to accept the fate. Pachakama and Pachamama were happy about this because from now on, there is a greater connection with the people of Earth to send and receive messages.
And still nowadays, when a girl goes to graze, the parents warn her: “Beware of the condor!”

 

Little girls peel potatoes in Zumbahua, the closest town to Lake Quilotoa.

 

Banos it’s a peaceful resort, surrounded by steep mountains all around. One of its main attractions is the thermal baths.

 

Ecuador is full of volcanoes, including Chimborazo, 6310 meters, no longer active, and the Taita Cotopaxi, 5897 meters, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, a sacred place of the Andean Kichwa.
The volcano near Banos is Tungurahua. And I’ve just discovered something curious: looking now on the Internet to see when it erupted last time I found that happened three days ago, on April 30, when I was already here! (link: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/tungurahua/news.html ). It seems there were earthquakes, tremors, pillars of smoke, ashes, but I haven’t noticed anything!

 

In Banos, it is possible to do many activities like rafting, climbing the canyon, bungee jumping, etc. … I did the “canopy” (as this Argentinian guy in the photo), which consists of flying down into the valley, hooked on a wire cable.
I had done it already in Warsaw, where, however, the route was short and the scenery not spectacular.
Here the cable was 1 km long, and the flight lasted about a minute. Unlike what you might think, it was not a scary experience, and, actually, it was relaxing. I flew silently, just above a river.
Anyway, I don’t think that the mandatory helmet would help if falling from that height.

 

Later, I discovered that more than a helmet, I could have been saved by a magic spell, as you can see in this painting in the main church of Banos. In fact, back in June 1889, something similar happened to Mr. Paulino Gavilanes. However, after pronouncing the words “Madre mia de Agua Santa” (“Mother of the Holy Water”), he was caught and carried to safety by the Holy Virgin.
Well, we must recognize that the legend of the condor is much better than this bullshit.

 

An odd church on the road that, from the mountains of Banos, goes down for about 40 km to the forest. Full of waterfalls and beautiful scenery. It is enjoyable to do on a bike, also because it is mostly downhill.
And for coming back up? To come back, I hitched a ride on a truck. Eeeehhhh, not stupid dekaro! ;-)

 

The most beautiful place along the way is the Diablo (devil) waterfall.

 

You can get very close, up to where the water springs. It’s impossible to describe the feeling of strength and energy that emanates the jet. It was at its fullest because we are at the end of the rainy season (and in fact, since I arrived in Ecuador, is raining a lot).

 

Crawling under a path inside the rock, you can reach a small area behind the waterfall. There, you feel blended with the mighty force of nature, a continuous roar, almost mesmerizing.

 

This is, instead, the cascade of the Virgin of holy water, and, indeed, compared to that of Diablo, is docile and shy. It is located right next to the thermal baths of Banos.

 

Candles in honor of the Virgin of Holy Water in the main church of Banos.

 
And that’s all for this time. Kisses! :-)