Mar. 21 - Good Friday Procession

The main reason I wanted to stay in Ecuador for Samana Santa was to be in Quito for the Good Friday procession. It was supposed to be the best Easter celebration in Ecuador. So Anna and I joined some people from the hostel and headed down to the historic centre of Quito with what appeared to be everyone else in the city.

Even though we arrived early for the procession, we were quite nervous that we woudl be late, because when we arrived the street was already filled with people in the parade. It turns out there isn't enough space in the old city for a staging area, instead everyone is forced to set up for the parade in the street. This takes up a sizeable amount of space as there were easily more than 2,000 people in the procession.

Not long after noon the parade started. The vast majority of the participants were Cucurachos, people dressed in purple from head to foot and wearing a cone like cap that covered their faces. They were all participating in order to absolve their sins from the past year and most were carrying a picture or statue of either Jesus or the Virgin Mary. There were literally thousands of them; men, women, young and old.

The other participants in the procession were dressed as Jesus and carried crosses, some of which were so heavy they needed help from other people in the parade. Some of these men were even being lightly whipped to symbolize the suffering of Christ.

We were so taken by the procession that Joe and I decided to find the front of the procession and join it. Armed with our cameras we knew that we would have no problem breaking through the ranks of spectators (estimated to be more than 500,000 people) to actually join the procession.

We were right. The police and people had no problem with us being around with the procession (we actually were ignored by the police when we were in the middle of the parade, but when we were on the side we were asked to step back). We were able to take so many great pictures, especially of a man who against the advice of the paramedics surrounding him, insisted on carrying his cross. Later that night when I transferred the pictures to my hard drive, I didn't notice that only a handful had transferred before I deleted them all .... I won't make that mistake again.

That night, all of us went out to the Coffee Tree for one final night in Ecuador before my flight to Lima the next day.

Mar. 18-20 - Too tall for a mule, too heavy for a llama

After leaving Baños we headed to the town of Tigua on the Quilotoa loop (the Quilotoa loop is a popular circuit through the mountains that allows you to visit many different small indigenous communities and provides unparalled hikes through mountains, canyons and volcanic lakes. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas in the Ecuadorian Andes). Tigua is less of a town and more of a collection of houses on the side of the road ... population 14. When we got off the bus we found the only place to stay in town was closed for a month, and the next place to stay was 6km away (the closest one for about 50km). The girl on the side of the road with whom we were talking offered to get her father to drive us down to the next hacienda. When he came down, it turned out he was Alfredo Toaquiza, the famous Tigua artist who has had shows all over the world and is imitated by artists throughout Ecuador (Tigua art is painted on sheep skin and portrays images of the Tigua culture). After dropping us off at Posada de Tigua, we assured him we would stop by his gallery the next day.

We happened to get the last room available in the hacienda. The Posada de Tigua, like most places along the Quilotoa Loop is an ecolodge. Before it turned into an ecolodge, this 125 year old farm was a dairy farm that no longer was profitable after the dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy (the price of one gallon of milk dropped by more than 80%). In order to keep the farm open, the family has converted it into an ecolodge. All the meals consist of food from the farm and they have created a lovely homey feel within the old farmhouse, complete with a large dinning room table aroudn which all the guests eat and mingle during meal times.

In the morning we had the most amazing breakfast (I’ve never had food as good as they provided at this hacienda) and then started on our way to Laguna Quilotoa. As bus service on the Quilotoa loop is limited, we were forced to start off on foot until we found a bus or car that would give us a lift. An hour and a half later we managed to find a bus (the third vehicle to pass us on the road) that took us to Zumbahua where we caught a cambioneta to the lake.

The Laguna Quilotoa is a volcanic lake that formed inside the rim of a volcano’s crater. Since there is no water entering or leaving the lake it creates a beautiful blue colour surrounded by jagged cliffs (don’t drink the water since it is full of dangerous minerals). There is a trail from the rim to the bottom and another that goes around the rim. We opted to go down to the lake. The hike down was fantastic but rather steep, so I opted to take a mule back to the top. This proved rather difficult as I was a little too tall for the mule and my feet kept dragging on the ground. At one point my guide asked me to get off the mule to let it rest. The ride up was rather interesting as the mule kept walking to the edge of the cliff before it turned around ... so close that I was actually hanging over the edge ... and the only thing I had to hold onto was the mane of the animal.

After getting off the mules, we started our walk back to Zumbahua. This walk followed the road as it wandered through farms, small towns and eventually around ravines. It was a magnificent walk that was enjoyed by all. Once back in Zumbahua we caught a bus back to our hacienda, but I got off early in Tigua to visit the art gallery.

It turned out that the gallery was closed, so I walked around town to see if Alfredo was around to open it up for me. In the whole town I could only find one person, who told me to go to the house next door to visit another artist. This house happened to belong to Julio Toaquiza, the father of Alfredo and the person who started the Tigua art form. After talking to him for a while I bought a painting and started walking back to the hacienda. Luckily I happened upon two of the family members who drove by and gave me a lift. They informed me that before dinner I would be able to try and ride a llama.

The hotel owns a few llamas ... some for protecting the sheep, and others for guests to ride. They put a blanket on some llamas and I climbed on the back of one and went for a ride, only to find out that the llama kept buckling and falling down. We thought this was because they were tired, but it turns out it was because I was too heavy. I had to walk back beside my llama. I was so tall that riding it was more like walking with a llama between my legs.


The next morning we left early in hopes of making it to Saquisilí, a town just north of Latatunga. (Interesting fact, Cotopaxi’s eruptions wiped out Latacunga completely, three different times over 150 years, and the town kept rebuilding itself at the same spot. You would think that after the second time they would move the town a little bit.) Saquisilí market is one of the most important in Ecuador from an economic standpoint. While you walk the streets you can tell how important it is as the market is everywhere you look. There are six main markets (one of which is only for potatoes) and the streets are filled with other shops. After we had our fill of the markets, we headed off to Quito for the afternoon and evening.

Mar. 16-18 - Beautiful Baños

The bus ride from Riobamba to Baños was interesting. As we left Riobamba we were able to catch a good look at Chimborazo as we drove by, but lost site of it as we turned off the highway onto a secondary road. From there it appeared as if each road we turned onto diminished in quality until we were on probably the smallest country road in the world. Anna and I were starting to wonder if this bus was even heading to Baños when we caught sight of Volcán Tungurahua puffing away in the distance, before arriving in Baños.

Baños is a small town situated in a valley at the base of Tungurahua (there is a small hill between the town and the volcano that protects the town from eruptions ... but the tourist maps still outline evacuation routes and eruption meeting points). It is the entry point for the Amazon and an adventure sport paradise with hiking, climbing, rafting, bungee jumping and even repelling down waterfalls.

Our first night in town we opted to do some looking around and get a feeling for the town. Baños is a rather small town with some very lovely parks and a cathedral that lights up beautifully at night. After dinner Anna and I headed to the roof of the hostel to enjoy the beautiful night, stars and cool air.

The next morning we slept in before heading out on a biking adventure. From Baños we started on our bike ride down towards Puyo, over 60km of downhill (road) biking. I think that by the time we reached the end of our ride, there were maybe three uphill stretches, but they were so minimal they very well might have been flat stretches. This bike ride is along on of the most beautiful stretches in Ecuador. Clinging on to the side of the cliffs of a ravine you wind your way around the hills from the sierra to the jungle. Along the way there are numerous tunnels for the cars to go through, but since there are no lights in the tunnels, they suggest that bikes take detours around the tunnels on the secondary road (except for the first tunnel ... there is no detour so you have to just giv’er and pray there are no cars). These detours were the best part of the ride since they were on the most precarious of cliffs. One of these detours actually required we bike under a waterfall…but none of us complained about a little shower to help cool off.

Aside from the scenery, waterfalls were the main attraction for the ride. As we had seen so many waterfalls, we were a little tired of them so decided to skip most of them and head directly to Pailón del Diablo. These are the most spectacular waterfalls around Baños and are the site of a photo that inspired me to come to South America. These waterfalls are located at the bottom of a ravine where you have to cross a wooden suspension bridge that hangs over the river below. From there you are able to see the magnificent Pailón del Diablo. I must have taken about 100 pictures of that waterfall as I wanted to capture the feeling I saw in that picture while still in Canada. On the other side of the bridge was a cabana with a restaurant that provided a wonderful view of the waterfall, where we ate lunch and watched the condor pass by.

We decided to take a cambioneta back to Baños instead of a bus so as to better enjoy the views, and in this particular one we were able to stand up for a better view (I did keep in mind the story about the Japanese tourists in Riobamba). Once back in Baños I treated myself to a relaxing massage before heading to the hot springs for a wonderful evening.

In the morning I opted to stay in town, instead of going for a hike with the rest, as I was feeling a little under the weather. Once they all returned we got a bus to our next stop, the Quilotoa Loop.

Mar. 15-16 - Return to Riobamba

Today we started our week long, Semana Santa trip around the area just south of Quito. Even though we were never more than four hours away from Quito, we still weren't able to exhaust the possibilities available to us. Our first stop on our journey was in Riobamba, and since Kat was running late (as usual) Anna and I headed down first to find a place to stay and make sure we got tickets for the train the next day. Kat and Lee would follow along later, we weren't surprised when that meant 6 hours later!!

Anna and I arrived around 4:00pm in the afternoon and after no time at all we were able to find a great place to stay and headed off to the train station to buy the tickets. The ticket master was very quick to inform us that, sadly, there had been a landslide so the train was departing from Alausí, two hours to the south. If we stil wanted to ride on the train we would have to take a bus at six in the morning. We figured that since we had come this far, six wasn't too early.

As I had warned Anna, there wasn't much to do in Riobamba, so it didn't take long before we had walked the strip. By 5:00pm we had run out of things to do (one hour ... that's all it took to get a hotel, buy train tickets and see everything in the town), and by that time I had already slid down a statue with the local kids. We opted to sit at a cafe and wait for Kat and Lee, but when they called to inform us they would be 6 hours late, we decided to dine without them. After dinner, Anna and I stumbled upon a performance by the local indigenous people at the train station. This performance consisted of many traditional dances, in a multitude of different costumes, all to the local folk music.

The next morning we all got up quite early for breakfast and caught the bus at the train station to head down to Alausí. We were lucky as our bus took the road that followed the train tracks, so we were able to see the same beautiful scenery that we would have seen from the train. When we arrived in Alausí we went upstairs to try and get a ticket only to find out that the person in front of us in line got the last ticket (the price for being a nice guy and letting everyone off the bus first). We were informed that there was a 1:00pm train and there was also a chance a tour group wouldn't show up and we would be able to ride on the 9:45 train.

While we waited we started exploring the Sunday morning market. This was the first authentic Ecuadorian market that I had visited (the others were touristy; this one was just for the town and the people in it). The stalls were pretty much non-existent and everything was sold in the market. Some stalls sold pots and pans while others were just selling potatoes or bananas. They appeared to all be manned by the family that produced the crops. They even had a stand that was cooking cui for people to eat later.


When we got back to the train station we found out that the tour group wasn't coming so we were able to make it on the 9:45 train. When it finally arrived we were able to see that the train wasn't actually a train, but a bus that had been refurbished to fit on the train tracks. In the past you were able to sit on the roof of the bus/train in order to better see the scenery, but after an unfortunate accident involving two Japanese tourists and a telephone wire, this isn't allowed anymore. Instead we sat inside the train/bus to observe the scenery.

Not far outside Alausí is La Nariz del Diable (Devil's Nose), a hill where the train descends 1,000m. This was the hardest stretch to build when they built the train from the coast to Quito (hence the name) and the decent is accomplished through a series of switchbacks. We didn't understand that the train doesn't actually turn around at these switchbacks but instead descends backwards down the track. This brought along with it a different sensation and makes for a nerve-racking ride, especially when you look over the cliff (the train actually leans into the hill at about a 15 degree angle to make sure it doesn't fall over).

When we reached the bottom we noticed that, currently, there is no where else to go. Due to neglect, the track ends in the middle of nowhere so there's nothing else to do but turn around and head back up. After I had talked to the tour guides, they agreed to let me hop off the train at one of the switchbacks so that I could take some pictures. It was tons of fun jumping off a moving train and running alongside while it changed directions. If the scenery wasn't enough, this certainly was.

When we ended our train journey, we hopped on a bus and headed to Baños after making a quick stop in Riobamba to pick up our bags.