Recent Posts
-
And Yet, We Go On
April 22, 2024
-
It IS Happening Here
February 16, 2024
-
General Ludd to General Intellect
January 11, 2024
-
Temporal and Geographic Edges
December 26, 2023
-
The Root of All Evil
October 13, 2023
-
Post-Pandemic Melancholia . . . Same As It Ever Was?
September 3, 2023
-
Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
June 24, 2023
-
Reparations is the Least We Should Do
May 11, 2023
-
We Are Not Alone
April 9, 2023
-
War and Anti-War
February 22, 2023
|
 Chimborazo partially obscured by clouds as we finally catch a glimpse far to the west of it. Our journey continues through the Ecuadorian Andes (sorry to all who might be waiting for me to finish this… my plate in San Francisco has been super full lately, so I’m trying to get to this as soon as I can). We left Salinas on a hilariously speeding ride in the back of a pickup through the emerald green terraced mountains, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous volcano Chimborazo. Suddenly it appeared in the distance, swathed in clouds, but after we switched to a bus in Guaranda we took a route across the western and southern flanks of the mountain, and got incredible close-up views of it. Perhaps one of the most magical moments of our trip was seeing a herd of vicuña (an antelope-like creature that lives only in the high Andes, a cousin to alpacas and llamas–my mother had tasked us with bringing her back some vicuña wool to knit with but we learned that it was banned since the animals are extremely endangered).
 A herd of vicuña gallivanting across the high flanks of Chimborazo. They have been re-established here after being wiped out earlier in history.  A bit blurry, but a close-up of vicuña. It was a beautiful ride across the flanks of Chimborazo. Here’s a few shots as we approached and then looped around it.
 In Ecuador, fantastic green countryside with iconic volcanoes poking up along the long north-to-south crest of the Andes.  Looking back to the southwest from the high flank of Chimborazo.  Amidst bored, snoring passengers we were along in craning and bending ourselves around the interior of the bus to catch views like this.  This is one of my favorite shots from the whole month-long trip, Chimborazo as seen from due south, after we'd crossed the mountain and were starting to approach the city of Riobamba. Continue reading To Ingapirca and Cuenca
From Guaranda we rode in the back of a Camioneta to Salinas de Guaranda, a little over an hour further into the brilliant green mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes. We’d heard it was a remarkable place, a town far from the tourist track full of cooperative small businesses. We travelled in gray, increasingly wet weather and arrived to a big Carnaval celebration in the town center.
 Salinas is tucked in the upper left corner of this image, still several kilometers away as we approached.  The town square where folks had gathered despite the rain to enjoy live music and raffles and Carnaval celebration (and much drinking!).  Some had come down from the surrounding hills on horseback...  ...While dozens of others arrived in these old mountain buses. We dropped our stuff at the local hotel, El Refugio, one of the network of cooperatives, and ran back to the center to join the fun. We strolled around and listened to the music, talked to some locals, and got a taste of the local fire water, Pajaro Azul, a perfumey cane sugar-derived drink that packs a wallop! Soon the drizzle turned into a real downpour and everyone bolted for the balconies along the side of the square. Continue reading Salinas de Guaranda: A Nowtopian Town in Ecuador
I’m back in San Francisco now, and so swamped with projects and responsibilities here that it’s been difficult to find time to continue my travel reports from our just finished 30 days in Ecuador and Peru… so here is the next installment, with another to follow soon after… hope to get the whole trip blogged in the next week or two at most.
 This photo gives an idea of the beautiful setting of Guaranda, sitting amidst green hills full of terraced farms stretching in every direction. We woke in Guaranda after watching the sunset the night before, and having already experienced the constant threat of having water poured on us as we walked through the streets (or shot at us with water pistols, or landing us by way of water balloons… all pretty common here!). It’s a beautiful, very mellow town, so we walked down to the center from our hotel, following our ears towards the carnaval music emanating from the streets.
 There were several dozen contingents in this warm-up procession for the Carnaval. We have a pretty beautiful Carnaval in our own Mission District, which encompasses traditions from the Caribbean as well as throughout Latin America, including the Andes, so in some ways this small-town Carnaval reminded us a lot of ours at home. There were lots of kids in this procession, some in sparkly, sequined Carnaval costumes, others in Halloween/Hollywood face masks. One particularly energetic group sent their members running into the crowd to find people to engage, and of course they found us and danced with us for a few minutes… they looked like partisans of V for Vendetta or spooks from one of the Scream films! Most of the groups were teens following regular routines.
Continue reading Carnaval Warm-up in Guaranda
|
|
