Aventuras Buenas

So although I still have four months left in Ecuador, I am already fearing my goodbye, and trying to cross more things off of my Ecuador/Cuenca to-do list. Two weekends ago, Maggie, Jess, and I embarked on an adventure to Giron, a nearby town with a boast of beautiful waterfalls. We were hoping for a nice hike and some pretty views, although it turned into a much more… saturating hike than we were expecting. Getting on a bus was the first step of the adventure; it was election Sunday in Ecuador, meaning things were not as they normally had been. Luckily, after a minor panic of not being allowed on a bus and hearing people complaining about waiting for two hours, we chased (unnecessarily) after a bus on it’s way to Giron. Success. Once in Giron, the weather was a little gray, but nothing that worried outdoorsy chicas like ourselves. We grabbed a truck (their cabs) up to the waterfall spot, and after checking in, set out for the “hike” to waterfall number one. Well, after walking for 15 minutes, we found it. It was beautiful, but not enough for our adventurous souls. We climbed around a little, looking for a path to the other two waterfalls, and got soaked by the mist spraying off the fall. We made a friend, an older man from Spain, and all trekked back down a little disappointed, wanting more. The man in charge of the park told us he did not recommend our going to the second and third waterfall because of the low fog. We nodded yes, we understand, and asked, out of curiosity for next time, where the other waterfall hike started… and sneakily headed off in that direction. What followed was about a three-hour hike up, down, and over, through fog, fields, trees, and of course, pouring down rain. After the second waterfall we continued to the third, which included a little river crossing and a lot of uphill. The up, down, and all around was well worth it once we reached the two waterfalls, and especially the last, which included an entire cliff face engulfed in cascading falls. By late afternoon, when we were heading down back down to Giron, we were soaked, cold, tired, and hungry, but successful and happy nonetheless. After the uncomfortable hour-long bus ride, I took an excessively long hot shower, put on extra layers, and ate a big bowl of soup. The perfect end to the day of adventure.   

This past weekend, to continue adventuring in the Cuenca area, Emily and I set out Saturday afternoon to Gualaceo. The goal of our trip was to find a specific style of scarves, which we had heard were sold in Gualeceo. We decided to start the adventure off right by chasing down a bus to get to the Terminal Terreste, and from there found a bus that would take us to Gualeceo. Once in Gualeceo we wandered and looked, but found nothing more than lots and lots of shoes (which Gualeceo is famous for). We asked around for the scarves, and were told they were sold in Chordeleg, another town just 15 minutes up the hill from Gualeceo. Emily and I looked at each other and said “why not”, and caught a bus up the hill. Chordeleg, an even smaller town than little Gualeceo, is famous for its jewelry. So we enjoyed looking at jewelry store after jewelry store, as well as a little, free museum, but found the scarves not (except on display in the museum). Plan C. We had seen some of the scarves on our way into Gualeceo, and knew it was actually just a bit outside of Gualeceo that they technically made the scarves. So back on the bus and down the hill we went, and jumped on another bus headed towards Cuenca. We sat in the front row, and dutifully kept our eyes peeled for the place along the road where we had seen them. We had a vague idea of where it was, and what the town was called, but it was a bit of a shot in the dark. Finally we saw it, screamed “parada!” at the bus driver, and jumped off. As we walked into the store hot, sweaty and tired, we realized there was no one there… We used the bathroom, wandered in and out for a bit, and then finally, like an angel, the shopkeeper came in. Emily picked out a scarf for herself and for her mom, and I found one for myself. Although it was a lot of work to find a scarf, it was well worth the journey. Now, whenever I wear that scarf, I’m going to remember just exactly how I got it. After a tired bus ride home, we jumped in a cab and headed home to get ready for something entirely different: prom. One of our fellow teacher’s girlfriends was throwing him a prom themed birthday party, and we were all more than excited to have the chance to get dressed up and made up. As you can imagine, in a house of seven girls, there was a lot of “hey, are you going to wear those shoes, or can I?” and “how does this look?” It was so fun, and although we get dressed up and go out a lot, this was more reminiscent of classic high school days. At prom (held at the apartment of other fellow teachers) they had music for dancing, and a nice photo area set up to take those memorable prom photos (who came up with some of those poses anyway?). It was an awesome night of pretty looks, dancing, and a lot of pictures. Well done, Clara, Adam, Janet and John. Well done.