Back in Cotacachi - June 30 to July13, 2015

Back in Cotacachi, it was nice to have the volcano views from my windows again.  Above is the moon rising over Imbabura at dusk and below is the full moon rising the next night, an hour later.

Inti Raymi, the Inca celebration of the summer solstice, was coming to an end in Cotacachi when I returned.  June 30th was the last night of the men's "dancing".  What I mostly saw was men in furry chaps and unusual pointy hats marching in circles stamping their feet, chanting, and whistling.

Grudges between the various pueblos often lead to fighting at Inti Raymi, so  there was a significant police presence

On the riot shield:  "I am a policeman - and a father.  Demonstrate in Peace"

That evening, after days of celebration and continuous drinking, fighting and rock throwing broke out and the crowd was dispersed with tear gas.  This seems to happen every year.

Morning light showed new snow on Mama Cotacacachi.  .  Here they say that that shows that she and Papa Imbabura made love in the night.

The next day it was the women's chance to "dance" - also with marching and foot stomping - but at least they did it to the accompaniment of musicians.

Indigenous women "dancing"

A lovely elder participant

On July 3rd I awoke to a beautiful morning - totally blue skies, with the peaks of Cotacachi, Imbabura and even Cayambe gleaming in the sun.

Cayambe's peak from my window (via zoom lens)

I succeeded in making fluffy whole wheat banana pancakes for breakfast.  (I hadn't been sure about what had been sold to me as baking powder). No Vermont maple syrup - though It's available at a store here for $35 a quart - so I bought local and made a syrup from organic panela (brown sugar) . Delicious!

With the sky so blue, I decided it was a good day to walk up the lower slopes of Mount Cotacachi, following a cobbled road that became a dirt road that became a grassy path as I ascended.

Cotacachi as I started out on my lane.  I was headed up through the agricultural fields, to just below the steeper slopes.

The higher I got, the more of Cayambe I could see

View from the highest point I hiked to.

Butterfly (Actinote rufina) along the trail

Flowers near the top

Cayambe from the highest point (with zoom, of course)

I had a somewhat traditional 4th of July.  I went to a band concert (with dancing) on the common (here called the plaza).  They were actually celebrating the 145th anniversary of the establishment of the canton of Cotacachi.  In typical Latin fashion, the 3:00 concert started at 4:45.
 

The Band

 

The Dancers

Also in the Latin tradition, the male singers didn't seem to need to always sing on key. But it was fun.
 

At least the lead singer was cute.

And then I went to a barbecue at an expat bar and had grilled hot dogs and chicken, with cole slaw, potato salad and beans - and chatted with a bunch of Americans. A fun 4th - without the fireworks.

As I take my daily walks in and around Cotachi, I'm always delighted with lovely new scenery

 and sometimes with words of truth:

"We were all humans, until religion separated us, politicians divided us and money classified us."

I was getting a little frustrated with the difficulty of locating local walks and hikes, so I decided to do something about it.  There had been some discussion on the Cotacachi Expats Facebook group a while back, before I arrived, about people's interest in hiking in the area.  So I posted a notice on Facebook, calling for a meeting at a local restaurant -  and 12 people showed up on Friday the 10th!  We each introduced ourselves and talked about our hiking interests - and then we decided to form a Facebook group - Cotacachi Hikers.  I set up the group - and it now has 19 members!  Here's the group description:

"This group is for anyone interested in hiking in the Cotacachi, Ecuador area, whether they're into easy country walks, multi-day backpacking trips or anything in between. Members can upload files with descriptions of hiking routes to share with others as well as post invitations to shared hikes. If you post an invitation to a hike, please include details of meeting day, time and place, difficulty level of the hike, estimated duration and whether or not dogs are welcome on this particular hike. Posts of trip reports - hopefully with photos - are welcome!"

A couple of local walks were mentioned at the meeting, so I decided to check out one of them that afternoon. I followed a dirt road down to a river ravine, where it continued as a trail.

View in the ravine - with Imbabura looming above

River winding through the ravine.

I walked down by the river and made a wonderful discovery.  Many years ago my friend Roy Keene - in his nineties - had told me about growing "cobaea scandens" aka "cup and saucer vine".  I found seeds and tried growing it, but never got blossoms.  Then on this hike, looking across the river, I saw some flowers blooming, looked through my binoculars - and saw that they were cobaea scandens, growing wild! I was a bit surprised that I recognized them immediately after about 33 years. It's a beautiful flower - shown here in various stages of acquiring its deep purple color:

  I followed trails along the river and below the cliffs, enjoying the views and flowers and butterflies.

Green-eyed White on purple flower.

Long-tailed skipper

Colorfully-dressed woman looking out over the ravine.

The trail wasn't far from Hosteria Oro Azul, where I stayed when I first arrived in Cotacachi.  After my hike I was headed there to help my friend Marcelo set up for a big party in the event hall - a big old barn all prettied up, with 2 long rooms separated by an arched wall.  Here's what it looked like, before the place settings and flowers were to be added the next day:

That's Marcelo's assistant, Edwin, up on a ladder taking a pic of the hall.  Room to the right for dancing.

The Cotacachi Hikers did their first group hike on the 12th.  Six of us met at a downtown restaurant and walked out of town to Teatro AmiCine, where movies are shown to benefit the on-site home for abused and neglected children.  I had been there the day before to watch Nine Queens, a fun con-man movie from Argentina - and I'm looking forward to next month's film festival:  23 movies in 5 days.

Quinoa growing in the garden at the children's home.  I hadn't known what the plant looked like.

From the theater we continued on a grassy lane through the countryside, enjoying views of Cotacachi, the countryside and the mountains.

Barley field and the slopes of Cotacachi volcano

Our group:  Karla, Bonnie, Kaden, Kristin and me.  Catherine took the photo  for me.

"You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold"

Arched aqueduct - and cow -along the road as we headed back into town.

I'm looking forward to more hikes with Cotacachi hikers - and continuing the adventure of living in  Ecuador.

Cayambe at Sunset