Ecuador Favorites

The attitude that you can see in this dogs relaxed state pretty much reflects your own once you adjust to the pace of life in Ecuador. The Ecuadorians work hard, play hard and even rest hard. You have to be open to a different kind of schedule in Ecuador. There is a daily respite from commerce in the smaller towns from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM and resume at full pace. Ecuadorians work through the cooler evening hours and streets can be full of people as late as 11:00 PM except on weekends and holidays when no one seems to sleep.

The boy and the pigeon went around and around the fountain in Quito. Ultimately the boy tired first.

I find the role of children to be puzzling. They play on the streets in the evening hours, laughing, screaming, shouting and seemingly carefree. They are shamelessly spoiled or ignored or abused just like in the states. Many of them work from an early age doing everything from construction to participating in micro business. Yet most of them seem to be genuinely happy.

Most get by without Xbox, Walkman, Nike and Reebok and don't consider it any great hardship.

Older children attend younger children and seem to be very protective and indulgent.

I am going to have to keep my eyes pealed and my radar up to begin to understand the family relationships as they play out in Ecuador.

In New Mexico we live at 7,500 feet and thoufht we were prepared for the altitude in Quito. We were  wrong.

The altitude in Quito is about 9,300 feet high. The first couple of days you may tire quickly. We made it about three blocks and decided to look at the view for a while. Then it seemed to be a good idea to go back to our room and nap a little.

Ganesh is one of my patron saints, well I'm not Catholic and neither is Ganesh, but I often see him active in my life. We sat down at a table in Cafe Hood in Banos on a beautiful day when my heart was so overflowing with joy that I could barely contain myself and when I looked up there he was. It gave me pause and I found myself indulging in a prayer of thanksgiving.

This mural is in one of our favorite restaurants in Banos. Cafe Hood serves some good vegetarian dishes.

We returned to this plaza every evening after a meal in one of the many good restaurants nearby.

Banos sits at 5,905 feet so plan your days accordingly. We are adapted to 7,500 so this left us with plenty of energy for daily shopping and evening strolls, plus a dune buggy ride and sightseeing.

The people are friendly and you find more English spoken here than in many parts of Ecuador.

The people in Ecuador don't speak Spanish out of stubbornness or ignorance. For most of its history Ecuador has not been easily accessible to English speaking tourists so until this generation.

We don't usually during beer at home but walking around Banos always seemed to culminate with a cold bottle of beer and two glasses. Alright, two beers and two glasses.

A Pilsner beer is 22 ounces and usually sells for about $1.25 in a nice establishment. This was our favorite until we discovered Brahma beer (19.25 oz.) which has less of an aftertaste.  But we will still drink a Pilsner under duress. 

There are a thousand ways to satisfy a sweet tooth in Ecuador!

The consumption of sugar amont the young concerns me. The prevelance of diabites among native populations in the US doesn't bode well for the future generations of Ecuadorians.

You are never far from a church or shrine in Ecuador.

It seems disrestectful to me to photograph a shrine but I am going to have to get over it. THey are everywhere in Ecuador. There are chaples on the very edge of the Pacific and shrines in front of private houses, on roadsides, and in stores. Prayers are hung over cash registers and hospital beds. Ecuador is a very Catholic country so I guess this is to be expected.

To me every plant in Ecuador is an exotic.

Even the dustiest little village is filled with blooming plants. THey are planted in almost any kind of vessle and wired to the sides of bmboo houses, in elaborate concrete planters, or just plain stuck in the ground. No adverse condition seems to be able to restrain their exhuberant colors.

The beautifully lit churches are invitations and land marks in every city we visited.

This is Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Agua Santa is known as a center of miricales throughout Ecuador and is the centerpiece of a thriving tourist industry. Don't leave Ecuador without entering and sitting in contemplation for at least a few moments.

The interior of the church is lined with huge paintings depicting miricales attributed to the Senora de Agua.

Cats snuggle on a bench in Vilacabamba.

I don't even like cats but who could resist a shot like this.

All right, I like them a little.

Cats, dogs and hibiscus are everywhere. In Quito we saw trees of hibiscus with blooms as large as salad plates.

Zaruma is a gold mining town in northern Ecuador. I think it is a beautiful small city. The sweep of these steps leading to a church just off the main square was just too graceful and beautiful to pass without taking a quick photo.

I don't remember what town this building was in but I was enchanted. It is an act of courage to paint a building this large with so many bright colors but I think it really worked.

Jipijapa (hippi-hoppa) is said to be one of the uglist cities in South America but I found many beautiful sights from the window of a run down hostal. We arrived late on a carnival night and we did not think we would be able to find a place to stay. We finally found a hostal that had room for us at the outrageous rate of $5.00 per person.

This house harbored one of the noisest roosters in Ecuador. I never did get a shot of it but then I didn't have a gun either.

Jipijapa again. No ledge is safe from becoming a garden.

The beach at Puerta Lopez is wide and white and lined with bars and civiche shops.

It seems the fleet is in at Puerta Lopez.

All you need to build a house is a little bamboo and a few palm leaves.

All this scene lacks is footprints.

Spohie, the Coco Bongo resident cat.

Sadly, Sophie has dissappeared from Coco Bongo.

As luck would have it someone has since turned up with a black kitten, now Nina rules the roost at Coco Bongo..

Otavalo is beautiful after dark. I love the way they light things up here.

Engraved gourds in the Otavalo market.

Vivid colors reflect a vivid country.

Otavalo does unusual things with street lights.

I don't know anything about this flower. We were walking a back street in Bahia de Caraquez and the combination of white clapboard and bi colored flowers struck a note.

Another Otavalo street light. This one reflects the design of a festival headresses worn during a procession.

He can keep an eye on everything from here. 

The clouds seldom clear from the top of this vulcano. 

I can't pass a cave without at least a peek inside. This one was cluttered with driftwood, shells, and (sadly) trash.

I firmly believe that every tidal pool holds at least one treasure!

When we decided to take a back road out of Otovalo heading for Santo Domingo we got more than we bargined for. It was a spectacular ride that took us through some of the most beautiful scenry we have ever seen and then through some of the ugliest. The road went from bad to worse and back again many times on this trip. At times we could no more that 7mph.

The scar on this mountain was vivible for a very long time before we reached it. It seemed to be a strip mining operation for gypsum. The entire countryside was coated with gray dust. It was so prevelent that the school uniform consisted of a grey sweat suit. Now that is a sad comment on the environment!

An orchid in the Orquidario at the university in Cuenca. If you like flowers or photography you need to make this stop. The $1.00 to get a guided tour is quiet reasonable.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Healing-in-Ecuador to see the lovely town of Baños

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecotour-Otavalo-and-Cotacachi for a look at Cotacachi.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Vilcabamba gives you a look at the Valley of Longevity

http://hubpages.com/hub/Bahia-de-Caraquez for a look at Bahia de Caráquez, a beautiful and peaceful (except for the parades) beach city.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Otavalo-Shopping-Therapy-for-the-Craft-Obsessed for a comprehensive view of Otavalo’s famous indigenous market

http://hubpages.com/hub/Zaruma for a look at this famous gold mining city. This one is a work in progress as we will be returning to Zaruma to explore the possibilities of using it as a permanent base.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecuador-Favorites to see many of my favorite photos taken in Ecuador with commentary.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecuador-Favorite-Photos for pictures of some of my favorite places in Ecuador with commentary.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecuador-Folklore to see some interesting talismans I have come across in Ecuador.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Bahia-de-Caraquez-the-Malecon to take a closer look at the Malecon during a holiday.

http://hubpages.com/hub/San-Clemente-to-Bahia to discover the beach that becomes a road at low tide.