JANUARY 12, 2016
As sad as I was to leave the Galapagos Islands, I was excited to see what Cuenca had in store for us. We traveled all day today, we flew from Baltra to Guayaquil to Quito to Cuenca, we got there about an hour later than we initially thought because we did not know we had to fly to Quito to get to Cuenca. The hotel, Morenica Del Rosario Hotel, was the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in so far. Today I learned that if Tait doesn’t want to do his dishes he has ghosts that do the dishes for him and they’ll even tidy up his backyard for him while he’s sleeping.
JANUARY 13, 2016
Cuenca has 4 rivers running through it and two of the rivers come from Cajas National Park and 70% of the water used in Cuenca comes from the park. The Incas arrived to Cuenca in 1492. Eucalyptus trees have invaded the Cuenca area, they are so successful because of their ability to grow so fast. Cajas means gateway to the snow, there are 786 lakes in Cajas, 160 species of birds, 47 species of moss, and it contains forests that are 4,000 years old. Cajas National Park is shaped by glaciers that advanced and retreated. El Niño years provide the Andes with more water. Our drive to Cajas was beautiful, when we arrived it was something out of this world. The Andes Mountains are the continental divide of South America, meaning the water that falls west of the mountains flows to the Pacific Ocean and the water that falls to the east flow to the Atlantic. The park serves medicinal purposes for the natives that live off of the lands. We saw a wide variety of plants and flowers on our hike and the only pollinator in Cajas are hummingbirds. We saw a species of flowers that closed when we touched them, we also saw a few species of flowers that have colors that point inward to where the hummingbirds need to pollinate. There are five endemic frogs in Cajas, one of them is the marsupial frog. We saw serval lakes on our hike, one of them had this rock that my classmates and I climbed to the top of (Nick helped me) to see the most stunning views of Cajas. The polylepsis forests are 4,000 years old, the trees are called paper trees because they shed multiple layers of bark, the mother plants make up the younger trees.
To minimize the negative impacts tourists have on the national park, it was broken up into two zones: the water catchment zone and the recreation and tourism zone. The water catchment zone is protected and unusable by tourists, while the recreation and tourism zone has regulations on development. (National System of Protected Areas) Our next stop was the Homero Ortega Panama hat factory, turns out they’re not made in Panama, they’re made in Ecuador. The hat got its name because the people who worked on the Panama Canal wore them. Every single Panama hat is handmade by weaving toquilla palm, the smaller the fibers the more expensive the hat is, it can take 3-6 months when the cheaper ones take a day to make. All of the hats are made in the countryside then they’re shipped to the factory to be molded and completed for sale. Nick bought a Panama hat and he thinks he looks handsome in it, when in reality he looks like an old man, especially when he wears his alpaca sweater. One of Tait’s friends recently retired in Cuenca and he gave us a presentation on moving to Ecuador and the cost of living in Ecuador. It costs about 1,500 dollars a month to live in Ecuador. Applying for a residency visa like a green card in the US, you can't vote but can work and they are good for up to ten years. There is a pension visa where you have to prove you have a monthly source of income, an investment visa where you have to put 24,000 in an Ecuadorian bank, and there is a professional visa and you just have to show that you graduated from a university. Later that night a few of us went out to eat and we decided to try cuy (guinea pig), it wasn't that good and Nick and Steve were eating the feet and claws, it was disgusting. Unfortunately, at about 2 am Sydne began violently vomiting the cuy she consumed that night. |
JANUARY 14, 2016
On our way to Ingapirca Ruins we stopped at Santuario de la Virgen del Rocio, it is a church that overlooks Biblian, Ecuador and it build into the mountain, the back wall of the church was made of rock from the mountain. Ingapirca Ruins are shaped like a puma, the temple is the head of the puma, and the storage rooms are the stomach. The Incas killed canary men, they were known as canaries because they lived in canary valley. The Incas were only here for 34 years, the empire collapsed when the Spanish arrived. There is a tomb filled with 11 canary men, it is the foot of the puma and the sun faces toward the rock that marks it during sunrise and sunset. We saw a stone that had holes in it, the holes would be filled with water and work as a mirror for the stars, and they were carved out for specific constellations. We saw a trumpet angel flower, the pollen makes you go to sleep, it was used in Alice in Wonderland. The Andes Mountains got their name from the Incas because they used andesite to build. In order for the Incas to build with andesite they would have to cover the rock with fire for hours to be able to crack it. In the temple there is one side to see the sun at certain times and have ceremonies, the temple was built for the sun. While we were there we got to walk on park on the Incan Trail and we saw the face of the Incas, they carved a face in the side of a rock to warn people who were coming towards their village on the trail. We saw two hummingbirds while we were here a black-tailed trainbearer and a purple-throated carib. We had an amazing meal near the ruins and I had the best blackberry ice cream that I have ever eaten.
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JANUARY 15, 2016
This was our last day in Ecuador, it was a free day for us to do as we please. I walked around in the city and sat in Parque Abdon Calderon to enjoy the beautiful weather. We got cake to celebrate Steve’s birthday right before we left for the airport. This trip has been an amazing, unforgettable experience. I learned so many new things and I got to experience a totally different culture. I love Ecuador and the people who live there, they were so kind and tried their best to communicate with me regardless of the language barrier. So many of my dreams came true while I was here, I’m so appreciative that I was given this opportunity. Thank you for following me on this adventure, Ama la Vida.
Works Cited:
National System of Protected Areas. (n.d.) Integrated Management Plan of Cajas National Park. Retrieved from
http://suia.ambiente.gob.ec/documents/10179/242256/37+PLAN+DE+MANEJO+EL+CAJAS.pdf/75bd0e29-4e3e-49f0-9fda-5edf2fc39533 *Translated using Google Translate for Documents