A National Park, an Island and a Fishermen's Town

We’ve just returned from a short trip to the coast and I am already missing it…Stu had a few meetings there, so we flew out to Manta (Manabí province) early on Friday morning and returned last night.

Jipijapa

The coast of Ecuador has a completely different feel to the Highlands. Suddenly time slows down and everyone seems to take a relaxed approach to life. We flew into Manta airport and took a car to Puerto López, which is 1.5 hours’ drive south. The road takes you past some interesting places including Montecristi (the home of the Panama hat), Jipijapa (an important agricultural village with a massive corn statue at the entrance), Puerto Cayo (a coastal town), Los Frailes Beach (a beautiful sandy beach), etc… 

Puerto López itself is not that interesting, but what the village lacks in charm it more than compensates with the wildlife and nature that surrounds it. To the north and east you can go to “The Parque Nacional Machalilla”, a unique habitat with a dry and wet forest. Out in the sea there is the Isla de la Plata (Silver Island) and every year (between June and September) the humpback whales come to this little coastal town to mate and give birth.

Stu’s contacts organised for us to join the Park Guides for a four hour hike and horseback ride across the national park. Two Belgian girls (Community Work students) joined our little expedition where we saw some amazing trees, monkeys, orchids, etc…

Isla de la Plata

The next day we headed out to Isla de la Plata (Silver Island). During the previous days we got told that there had been whale sightings. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any, but we did see a fair amount of birdlife which reminded us of the Galápagos Islands. No wonder they call Isla de la Plata “the Galápagos of the poor”! We also did some snorkelling. Despite it being far less spectacular than that of the Galapagos, we saw beautiful fish and coral.

On our last day we went out with the guys from Equilibrio Azul, a charity which looks to protect and preserve the diverse marine ecosystem. The task was to capture turtles, so that they could tag them and create a census / database. The charity works with the help of volunteers (mainly foreign) who come to do some practical work during the summer break. It was very interesting to hear what they had to say and the challenges they face with the local fishermen (fishing and tourism are the main sources of income in the village).

Looking for turtles

The sun came out to say good-bye to us and at that point I really didn’t want to leave. Throughout the days we’d met some lovely people at the Hosteria Mandala (http://www.hosteriamandala.info/) and I felt that our time there had been cut short. There were more stories to be told and more tips to be exchanged. Some of our new friends headed to Baños, others to Guayaquil, others to Montañita (a surf village further south) whilst we returned to Quito.

One thing we did make the most of was the local fish-based cuisine: ceviche, “merluza”, “calamares”, etc… Yum!    

Tigua Painters

Tigua is a little village in the Quilotoa Loop. With a population of around 3000 (mostly indigenous families) it has become famous for its painters and art.

We first heard of this style when we stayed at Casa San Marcos (http://www.casasanmarcos.com) during our first couple of nights in Quito. Casa San Marcos itself is a little museum with antiques dating a few centuries back and paintings from influential Ecuadorian artists such as Oswaldo Guayasamín (http://www.guayasamin.org). It is a beautiful colonial house in the heart of the Centro Histórico whose host has a great interest in keeping the national heritage alive. She even showed us a book she’s written on the Tigua painters and explained their influences and history.

All the paintings are done on sheepskin, hence why dimensions are limited to the size of the sheepskin. This means that the majority are rather small. They are all very bright and colourful and the level of detail varies from painter to painter. Most depict scenes of everyday life: farming, harvesting, etc or they show local scenery and myths.

I, personally, loved them and wanted to buy a few, but Stu had to stop me. We walked out of the Galería Tigua with a little painting which had Cotopaxi, the condor and some indigenous people about to harvest the land. A great reminder of the time we spent in Tigua and the Central Highlands of Ecuador.

In da Hood...

I was a bit reluctant to live in the Mariscal Sucre initially, but as days go by I've come to appreciate our "barrio" (neighbourhood).

Plaza Foch or Quinde

Even though La Mariscal is a magnet for backpackers and tourists, it is also true that locals go there to enjoy the bars, restaurants and other forms of entertainment that the area offers. Locals refer to it as the "pink district", not too dissimilar to London's Soho.

During day time other types of business take more prominence. Hostels, hotels, English schools, tour agencies, souvenir shops, museums and even a handicraft market (el Centro Artesanal) are the reason why this part of town is considered the epicentre of Quito's tourist infrastructure.

We're located on the border between La Mariscal and another area called La Floresta. Despite the huge variety of entertainment that La Mariscal has to offer, some of our favourite places are in fact in La Floresta:

- Ocho y Medio - http://www.ochoymedio.net/ - this is a fab art-house cinema which also has a small café / restaurant attached called "Que Dios le pague". During this month they were about to start a "European Film Season", which we were a bit gutted about, but we did see an Ecuadorian production called "A tus espaldas" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN8kiZReubc, which we enjoyed. The acting was rather poor, but the subject covered (Quito's society and the difference between the poor and the rich) was quite well depicted in a funny sort of way.

- El Pobre Diablo - http://www.elpobrediablo.com/ - an excellent venue for live music (mainly jazz, blues, rhythm & blues, etc.).

- Naranjilla Mecánica - http://lanaranjillamecanica.blogspot.com/ - we found it during a walk with Grinet and we had a mini tour of the place (the staff is lovely). We've decided to go back to this restaurant / bar / gallery / event space. It looked fab and it's only a few minutes' walk from our place!

Four seasons in one day

Literally. Don't be tricked by the gorgeous mornings in Quito. It is more than likely that you will need a few layers of clothing throughout the day. Check out the photos...



Good Morning Sunshine!



  















Afternoon showers

Building my own little Empire

Yesterday was a competitive day and a day of victories. After having got up early-ish to watch the Roland Garros final (and seeing Rafa Nadal win his 6th French title), I felt inspired to play my own game. Though one not as exhausting as tennis, Monopoli.

Stu didn't know how competitive I can get at this particular game and he only realised once he was paying a lot of (Monopoli) money to stay in my "lovely houses" and "hotels"....

The fun bit was that it was an Ecuador version of the game, which I would love to buy if it wasn't for the fact that it's a bulky box to carry around.

Relaxing in Papallacta

If there is one thing I could take back with me from this country (apart from the Galapagos Islands) it would be the therapeutic waters of Papallacta. After climbing volcanoes in the snow, walking up and down the Andes and trekking in the cloud-forest, we thought a couple of days in Papallacta would do us some good. And we were right.

Papallacta is famous for its thermal waters which sooth sore muscles and relax the mind & body. Despite the chilly and cloudy weather (the village is at 3300m above sea level) we made the most out of the thermal pools. Weather temperature isn’t really an issue as once you are in the (very hot) water you feel as if you've got an electric blanket on top of you.   

Note the steam coming out of the
water!

We decided to treat ourselves and stay at "Termas de Papallacta" (http://www.termaspapallacta.com/ ), a hotel spa about 1.5 km from the village. It is a great place for relaxation at prices that in the UK would not even get you past the front door of a dodgy massage parlour on the Holloway Road.

There is also the opportunity to do some walking along the river and observe some of the local fauna, but we were too lazy to venture too far from the pools and spa. The highlight was the full body relaxation massage only comparable to the treatment I got at The Grove back in the UK.  

From the pools, on a clear day, you should be able to see the Volcán Antisana, but all we saw were clouds. It was surprising though that we did catch the sun and even got a tan. That reminded us how careful we have to be with the sun in this country!

Back to Uni

Student life... sometimes I have to admit I do miss it. Not the essays, exams and all the stresses that went with it, but the constant brain exercise and learning, the atmosphere and the social side to it. Today I had a trip back to memory lane.

Cumbayá is a "parish", as they call it here, in the Metropolitan District of Quito (located east of Quito, less than half an hour drive). It is mainly a resident area for the more affluent "quiteños" and a very nice place to live indeed. I visited it today for the first time and went to have a look at the university campus there.

Universidad San Francisco Quito (USFQ) is a private university with very high standards of education. I have to admit that I was somewhat jealous to see the facilities and the beauty of these buildings. I'm guessing this must be the Ecuadorian equivalent of going to Oxford or Cambridge.

Walking around the campus you can tell that students must come from quite comfortable backgrounds. Everyone had a BlackBerry or iPhone, the cars were all shiny and new, and rucksack brands were North Face or Jansport.... Not what I'm used to see in downtown Quito!

The coolest thing was that there was a beach volley-ball court. I sat down for a little while and watched a training session and a bit of a match. For a minute I thought I was in LA or Rio! "Just" like my days back at Middlesex Uni...

As term is coming to an end the place was somewhat empty and a lot of the teachers were offering advice sessions and consultations. As I wandered the corridors and read people's names on their doors I couldn't help but notice that the majority of the lecturers were foreign, I spotted quite a lot of German and English sounding names.

But the most surprising fact of all is that down the road from the uni, they are building a massive shopping centre, something similar to Westfield in London. This shopping centre, it turns out, is owned by the uni and will be open in 2012!

If I was a student again, I definitely wouldn't mind joining USFQ!