Some Kind of World Traveler: Another month in Cotacachi

Morning sun on the summit of Mount Cotacachi

Well, another month has flown by and I head back to the States soon, so I guess it's time to let folks know what I've been up to here in the amazing Andes.

One thing I of course have been doing is eating - and I love that I can go to the mercado here in Cotacachi and get wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables for wonderfully low prices. Here, for example, is what I bought on one trip to the market, for a grand total of about $7.25: 6 tomatoes, 3 avocados, 7 bananas, 4 limes, a bunch of green beans, 3 yellow peppers, 7 red onions, a package of freshly-diced mixed veggies (for soup), a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of blueberries!

There are quite a few stalls selling produce and grains in the mercado, but of course I have my favorites - who have what I want for prices I like.

My favorite vegetable vendor

My favorite fruit vendor

I'm able to take a pleasant country lane to get there to do my shopping - and I get to enjoy views like this along the way:

Mount Cotacachi and a cow

My last post featured a pic of Cotacachi's grand church which overlooks the main plaza. Here are some more of the towns colonial buildings:

This seems to be the oldest building bordering the plaza

Elegant buildings near the church, housing a hotel and the town museum

Simpler colonial buildings on a side street

Colorful mural on the municipal building (which is not at all colonial)

I don't really spend much time in town, though. I'm usually out walking through the countryside. Sometimes I have a destination in mind - and sometimes I just wander, deciding at each intersection which way to head. Sometimes it's just a short walk in a nearby community - and sometimes its a good long hike, like they day I walked to the town of Imantag and decided to keep on going to Atuntaqui - about 12 miles in all:

New corn, old wall and the Imantag church

Church on the plaza in Atuntaqui

On my walks I often see interesting people - and if I'm lucky I get to take a photo. On the way to Imantag I came upon this woman sitting on the side of the road, working on her embroidery as she waited for a bus:

On another walk I came up behind this woman herding her sheep down a dusty road while carrying firewood on her back:

And I got a photo of this lovely indigenous woman carrying a milk pail, with corn stalks for her cows strapped to her back:

It turns out this is Isabel, the mother-in-law of my landlady Rosa Elena's brother. Small world! After I posted this pic on FaceBook I got a message from Isabel's granddaughter Tamy telling me how much she liked it. and we had a nice long online conversation. I got to practice my Spanish and Tamy got to practice her English.

Of course out in the countryside I see lots of animals, too.

Burro - up close ad personal

Cow - with cattle egrets

Horses and mountain ridges

Not all the animals are this big, though. Occasionally I get to see some nice birds - though I'm a bit disappointed with the variety seen around here.

Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager.

Hummingbird

Yellow Grosbeak

This one is a real catch: a kestrel with a mouse in its talons!

One of my favorite hikes around here is on the trail around the Cuicocha crater lake. Several times this year I've been up to the lake - either being dropped off there and then walking back or walking there and back down. Here's a pic I like from when Alfredo dropped me off on the 4th of July and I ate lunch up on the ridge overlooking the lake - and then walked home:

And an orchid backed by mossy twigs along the trai

The time that I walked up to the lake and back, I ate a second breakfast at the El Mirador restaurant overlooking the lake - and was rewarded with the only sighting I've ever had of the peak of Cotacachi rising over the lake:

The peak's appearance was very brief, but I managed to catch it through the restaurant window (sorry about the reflection)

On July 11 I finally went around the lake this year - on a trail that in places is very well worn:

It was a beautiful day for the hike, and the lake was a gorgeous blue:

Island in the blue, blue lake, with Mount Imbabura in the background.

At the end of the Cuicocha trail, I met up with a young couple from California who are traveling around the world - great conversation as we walked together down the road. Then I walked back to my casita in El Ejido - for a total of about 14 miles in 6 3/4 hours, with lots of pauses for photos.

Andean Buckeye on the trail

Colorful flower spike

Blueberry-like flowers

While walking back down to El Ejido, I came upon a group of teens working on a project to build a new water cistern for a local community. We chatted (I think they were grateful for a reason to take a break from carrying boulders up to the cistern site) and it turns out they're volunteers through a program based in Putney VT! Small world....

We've continued with Cotacachi Hikers events. On the 16th, Clare led a hike up above the town:

Clare and John

Cobbled road and Imbabura

Country lane and Cotacachi

One of the great benefits of living in my casita has been becoming friends with the indigenous Vinueza/Quilumbaqui family and and observing their lifestyle. They dry their corn and bean crops out on the terrace:

Drying corn - for the family and their animals

One evening Alfredo came to my door with a pile of freshly-cooked little corn tortillas for me - and invited me out to where they were making them:

Rosa Elena and Alfredo cooking tortillas and a pot of beans over an open fire

On the 18th of July I joined my friends Elin and Dennis for a pleasant walk in the neighborhood. Along the way we checked out this cool old abandoned house made of packed earth - with a balcony and a large veranda:

Elin and this old house

View from the veranda

The next day my friend Kristin and I took a bus out to Imantag and hired a truck to take us to Loma Negra (Black Hill). The hike to the summit afforded beautiful views of the area.

View of mountainside fields from Loma Negra

When we descended the hill, we hiked down into the valley below these fields and over to the village of El Cercado.

Kristin on the road to El Cercado

Me on the same road

After a meeting of the community breakfast volunteers on the morning of the 22nd, I walked back to El Ejido with Panchita, one of the 2 Ecuadorian cooks for the breakfast. Turns out she lives just up the road from me. She enjoyed showing me her home, introducing me to multiple generations of her family, and giving me a tour of her large and varied garden, which included lots of medicinal plants. We conversed pretty well in Spanish - I understood most of what she and her family said.
Before I left, Panchita sat me down for a glass of tree tomato juice and then sent me home with some uvillas (goldenberries) and a sweet, ripe jicama (very different from the crunchy veggies I've tried in the States - I suspect it's actually a different plant). What a treat!

I've enjoyed helping to serve the community breakfasts here. The elderly indigenous folks who come are a delight to be with and so appreciative.

Olga, one if the breakfast cooks, often leads the attendees in a bit of exercise and dancing before we serve breakfast. It can be especially appreciated on a chilly morning. Note the fresh snow on the summit of Mount Cotacachi.

On the 23rd I lead an easy hike for the Cotacachi Hikers group - and we had our largest turnout of the year!

There were 10 of us for the hike that looped through the countryside around Cotacachi.

I've posted many photos of Mount Cayambe, the 19,896-foot glacier-capped volcano that I can see from my back window. But from my window I can only see the top of the mountain. On July 24th it was a bright, clear morning, so after a breakfast of whole wheat pancakes with wild mountain blueberries, I set out at 7:00, heading to higher ground on the old Cuicocha road to see how much of Mount Cayambe I could get to see before the clouds moved in.

Cayambe from my window on a cloudier morning

This is the most of Cayambe I got to see before the clouds moved in


Mount Cayambe, with clouds encroaching, from the abandoned restaurant up near Laguna Cuicocha

It has taken me a while to complete this much - especially since the wifi often is uncooperative - so with a couple of photos of lovely butterflies, Ill come to a stop for now: