Choobie

A blogmate of mine, Zhu, who happens to be traipsing down South America at the moment, escaping the North American winter (I so envy you, by the way), asked several people, including me, to write a travel story. She says it can be three pages long, or just two lines. We'll see with this one.

Even though my most recent travel overseas was to Europe this past summer, where I visited Denmark and Hungary, I will opt not to write about that. I will write about a series of incidents instead, that happened about a year and a half ago, when I was in Quito, Ecuador.

I stayed at this hotel in the old town, next to Plaza Sto. Domingo, where there looms this huge church. I was awaken every morning by the sounds of the city, such as the people chatting nearby, the school children walking, the cars honking, and so on. Watching the buzz of the local citizens was fun, especially when I was at the very top floor of the hotel, where they have the restaurant and breakfast area. The hotel I was staying at had a very nice view of the plaza, and I could see everyone.

I was there, enjoying my breakfast, consisting of eggs, bread, jam, some strong Ecuadorian coffee made with real killer-strong coffee liquid, called essencia, diluted with milk. It was too strong that I think milk took three-fourths of the cup to make it drinkable. Otherwise it was fine.

Breakfast was fine, until someone sat next to me. I suppose I should say I was traveling alone at this point. When I looked next to me to see who sat next to me, there was this rather interesting woman, around late 50's or early 60's perhaps, and she was trying to make conversation.

I have to say though, that I made a mistake in preparing for Spanish when I did this trip. I bought a Teach Yourself Spanish book several months ahead, but it didn't work. I should have just bought a Spanish Phrasebook, which I did a year later, which worked, when I was in Peru. But I digress. When I was in Quito, all I knew was Buenos Dias! and Disculpe, pero mi Castellano es no bien. and Puedo sacar una foto? I cannot believe I got by those few phrases while I was there. Obviously, this woman situation was one in which those phrases did not help.

She asked me what my name was. I got that far. I think I repeated my name twenty-seven thousand times for her, and yet, all she got was Choobie. What the heck was that? It reminded me of blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos. Ah, I could possibly instruct her to do the proper articulations in order to pronounce my name, but she wouldn't understand that anyway.

That was Day 1.

The next morning, I was taking my breakfast again. And then again, she was there. The moment she entered the hall, she shouted Good morning Choobie! It was so loud I really wished I could just vanish and disappear. And somehow, on this morning, I learned that she was a widow, and that she was from Peru. She and a few other middle-aged women are having a vacation in Quito. I also learned that the day after would be their last day.

Somehow, gestures and the fact that Tagalog had plenty of Spanish borrowed words proved helpful.

I didn't see her the next day, since I skipped breakfast to board an early bus heading to Otavalo. However, I saw her when I came back to the hotel. Around late afternoon, I was on the lobby, using the Internet, when someone from behind shouted nothing else but Choobie! Good thing her group's airport shuttle was already there. Before leaving, however, she gave me a keychain, a wooden one, shaped of an owl. To this day, I use it, although the paint on the wood is all chipped and fallen off. She said it is a souvenir from Peru.



(Barren Trees, from my Mount Vernon Series)

Last Post of the Year

Quite some stuff has happened over the past few days, but since I was in the middle of my travelogue, and I didn’t want to interrupt it, I decided to postpone it and instead, blog about it cumulatively afterwards, such as today.

For starters, I am taking this opportunity to give myself a pat in the back for maintaining my GPA the way I wanted it. I wasn’t sure of my grades for this semester, due to the fact that it was the first time I was taking a higher-level math class (remember my Advanced Statistics 1 class?) and I didn’t know whether I can get an A in it.

But, it seems that I still have straight A’s in my transcript. Sweet.

Second, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Ouch. This then threw the whole country into chaos. I better hold off into my travel plans to Islamabad, Peshawar, and Karachi, until the country calms down. I would want to visit the Shalimar Gardens and Mohenjo-Daro, but maybe not in the near future.

Third, I finished reading my novel, and now have started another one, entitled Mambo Peligroso. This is very engaging, so far. This novel is about the lives of different men and women, all immigrants to the United States from Latin countries, and how the dancefloor ties them up together. I am never a dancer (although I took social dance lessons for gym class back in undergrad), but the way the novel was written, it felt like I could see and experience the bodies moving on the dancefloor. It was so picturesque and vivid. I like novels that are like this, although the previous novel I was reading was too much. The previous one was switching back and forth from reality to dream sequences, that sometimes it was hard to tell which was which, but I guess that was the point of the novel.

Fourth, I am currently entrenched into world music, or should I say, still entrenched into this art form. I guess, ever since I started teaching the class I teach in the department, I was made aware of the extremely diverse music available outside of the Western realm. And when I was in the Smithsonian Asian art museums, I bought quite some CDs from different parts of the world. I bought a CD of a Mali artist; I bought a CD of compilations of the music of Iran; a CD of compilations of the music of Central Asia; and finally, a CD of compilations of arabesque. The last one I specially like, since I just love the way Middle Eastern tunes and rhythms mix with electronica. Listening to hip-hop from the Maghreb region is just amazing.

Fifth, I played travel agent again, this time to my best customer, the patriarch and the matriarch. They are thinking of a vacation in the spring of next year, and they have some conditions. They want one week of vacation time. They also want somewhere near, not really an 8-hour flight away. They also don’t want to bring their coats in May. And they don’t want to travel within the destination, instead, they just want to stay put in one location for the whole duration of the trip.

So, I was discussing their options. I gave them a number of cities that can sustain their interest for one week. I guess the no-coat requirement nailed it to the destination that they are currently thinking: Istanbul, Turkey. Due to the circumstances of my customers, I believe that they can gain entry without a visa for one month. And Istanbul has plenty of things to see that would suffice for a week of exploration.

In the meantime, I here am jealous, because that is one of my dream destinations as well, and I am not going. Oh well, I cannot complain, I already have my next disappearing act arranged.

Speaking of my disappearing act, I have now booked all the necessary things that needs to be booked. If one looks at the list, it can be mind-boggling. Good thing I did not opt to go to this destination early this year, and instead I went to Quito, Ecuador. That was my first solo trip, and I figured it would be too complicated as a first solo trip. So Ecuador was my practice session. And since I got out scratch-free, I am putting it one notch up.

So, I have made three different flight bookings: 1) Buffalo-US international gateway; 2) US international gateway – gateway of destination country via a third country (where I have a 9-hour lay-over, providing me a chance to get out of the airport and see the city even for a little while); and 3) gateway of destination country – domestic city in destination country. Three airlines, all in all. And guess what? Ignoring daylight savings time, all of these are in one timezone!

I also made railway reservations. I am doing some extensive internal travel for this trip. And in order to reach the cherry on the top, I needed to ride one of the highest railways in the world. So I made a booking for a round-trip ticket from one town to the other town.

Finally, I have made four different hotel reservations. I will be staying in four different locations all in all, and some are even non-contiguous. I will be staying in Town A for the first two days and the eighth day; in Town B for the next two days, in Town C for the fifth day and the seventh day; and in Town D for the sixth day. Eight days of sleeping in foreign beds. But if one counts the days when I am not staying in hotels (but instead, sleeping in mid-air, holing up in the airport, staying with a friend overnight to catch an early-morning flight, etc), then the total amount of days in my trip would be 12.

And yesterday was when I finally made the reservation for the last of the four hotels. I was talking to the agent over the phone, when I realized that she was from the Philippines, working in a call center. I could tell by her accent.

Anyways, that would be all for now. I guess it really shows that the travel bug has had me big time. I just finished doing a travelogue of a trip, and now I am planning for another one. In my defense, this next destination is a rather tricky one; it needs serious advance planning. It’s not like one can just think of going there for the weekend. I guess that means once I do this stint, I’ll have plenty of bragging rights for the time being.

I guess some people have an idea where it is, but I am not disclosing it, yet. But if you remember my previous template in my blog, then that was a very big hint. Yes, I’m talking about the one with the rotating birds.



(Brooklyn Bridge from afar, from my Pier 17 Series)

Day 6

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

On to the last day of festivities. For this day, I just planned the climb to Rucu Pichincha. The closest volcano to Quito was Pichincha, and it has two peaks. The lower one is Rucu Pichincha, and this is easily climbed from the top of Cruz Loma. The other one is Guagua Pichincha, and this is an active peak, and is closely monitored by Ecuadorian volcanologists.

So, after eating breakfast in the hotel, I rode the trolleybus to the nearest bus station. Upon reaching the bus station, I flagged a taxi to take me to the station of the cable car that would take me to Cruz Loma. The cable car is TeleferiQo, and this apparently is Quito's newest attraction. At the complex, there are plenty of amusement areas, restaurants, and other establishments that apparently would provide you some sort of high, especially when it is done in high altitude. Who would think that riding the roller coaster in a high-altitude city is not fun?

Anyway, I bought my ticket to go up the cable car, and so I found myself in Cruz Loma after about 30 minutes.



This was the scene at the bottom, right before I would board the cable car. The scenery is still clear, but later on as we gain altitude, the clouds would be all over us.



Upon reaching Cruz Loma, there was a warning. Cruz Loma is at 4,100 meters above sea level, and thus the air is pretty thin compared to downtown. That is why the guidebook explicitly warns us never to attempt in climbing the volcano when you just arrived in Quito. Here, the warning sign advises those who are advanced in age, those who have heart and respiratory ailments, and those babies to take things slowly. There is actually a medical base in Cruz Loma for those needing medical assistance.

So, I started the hike up. This would take me three hours, one way. I was behind some supposedly high school students on a field trip. We would all go up to the summit.

The following are some shots along the way. These remind me of a number of things, such as Bates Hotel in Psycho, and other surreal surroundings.











After three hours, you get to the top. It is rather serene, and the feeling that you're 4,680 meters above sea level gives you a different sense of freedom. No wonder people climb the Everest. It definitely is exhilarating. Unfortunately, the clouds are all over the place and there isn't an opportunity to take a good shot of the view. Perhaps the following photo is the best one.



I ate my packed lunch (a couple of sandwiches and bottled water) at the summit, and by the time that I got back down, it was already around 4:00 PM. Anyway, the descent was also interesting. Interesting in the sense that I was interviewed by a local radio reporter for Radio Universal. Apparently he was making a piece about the TeleferiQo, and we somehow ended up on the same cable car on the way down. So, seeing that I am a foreigner and not a Quiteno, he pulled out his tape recorder and a microphone, asked me a few questions (in Spanish of course), and after I tried my best to answer in Spanish, he permitted me to comment on the "beauty of the city of Quito, seen from the TeleferiQo" in English. So I guess the voice of a solo traveler from the Philippines (which, in Ecuadorian eyes, are very far; of course, why would I mention that I am based in the United States, that's too much for my limited knowledge of Spanish) was heard in 1270 AM frequency in some unspecified time. Hehe. That's my first time to be interviewed by mass media. This is his photo.



So there you go, this ends my trip report, in six parts. Ecuador was awesome, and what I saw in six days was a mere fraction of the beauty the country has to offer. I definitely recommend going there to anyone with an open mind and a sense of adventure.

Finally, let me continue on with my Old Fort Niagara Series. This is a stone found on the viewing platform towards the Canadian shore. Apparently it is commemorating something.

Day 5

Monday, May 21, 2007

Today, I went out to see some sites in the Old and New Town that I haven't seen yet for the past days. So, for starters, I went to see La Virgen de Quito, the big metal statue of Mary, with wings, and stepping on a chained serpent. This huge statue is located on a hill called El Panecillo. If you have watched the Amazing Race All-Stars, then probably you've seen this a few times.

My guidebook tells me never to walk the stairs up on foot leading up the statue, so after eating breakfast in the hotel, I took a cab. Fifteen minutes later, I find myself gazing up to this.



Pretty huge, eh? Apparently, one can climb inside the statue and look at the enormous view of the city. However, I did not do it for a few reasons. First of all, the statue's entrance was closed. Although I could wait till it opened, there wasn't a sign telling me when it would open. Also, I have seen plenty of views already, and surveying the view from the bottom of the statue, I have other views that are better than the one offered by this one. Probably this is due to the clouds that sort of hide the city at the moment.

So, I went around the statue, and took other pictures from other angles. Like this one.



As I said, the city looked hazy at that time. Look at this one.



If you are a fan of the Amazing Race, you may remember that when the teams went to Ecuador, they were instructed to go to Pim's Restaurant. This was apparently a restaurant at the foot of this statue. So when I went there, the restaurant was there! And they had amazing views of the city, but then again, like I said, it was hazy at the moment.

So ok, after 20 minutes in the vicinity of the statue, I had enough of it. I wanted to go to the Basilica de Voto Nacional, which, if you would look closely at the hazy picture, you can see it, where there seems to be two blurry towers near the middle.

So, the guidebook again tells me that I could flag a taxi at the top of the statue. But alas, no taxi! No tourist was coming around that time (perhaps it was too early, it was about 9:30 AM) and the other tourists had their own buses. So I waited there and waited, waited and waited, but nobody came.

After an hour, I had an idea to hitch-hike. I noticed that there were souvenir shops at the top of the hill, near the statue. The vendors who were indigenous people have their vehicles, usually pick-up trucks, where they carry their wares up the top, and go down to the city with an empty vehicle.

So, I flagged down a pick-up truck, driven by an indigenous guy. He later told me his name was Francisco. And yes, he was going downtown again, and so I asked him if he could drop me to the Basilica. Which he did. So, after a few minutes driving with a total stranger, conversing in broken Spanish, I found myself standing in front of this.



The Basilica de Voto Nacional. It is rather new, given the fact that it was just constructed at the beginning of the 20th century. Instead of gargoyles, it has turtles, iguanas, and alligators protruding from its sides.



The front door is immaculately carved, and one can also see the statue of John Paul II in between the two front doors.



Notice the creatures that are protruding from the sides. Apparently, they used animals that are native to Ecuador. Thus, one never sees gargoyles in the walls.

This was also the day when I got trapped inside the elevator for one hour. I wanted to climb the basilica to the clock tower and there were two methods, the elevator or the stairs. I decided to do the elevator going up, and the stairs going down. So I pressed the button, and the elevator opened. I stepped inside, pressed the top floor button, and the elevator closed. But it never went up. I ended up sitting there for one hour, sometimes in the darkness due to the fact that they sometimes turned the electricity off, until the doors opened one hour later.



This is the interior. The woman at the picture was murmuring some unintelligible chant while I was there.



Another interior shot. Notice the political flags that are displayed at the sides.



So, I decided to climb to the top, and since I became afraid of riding the elevator, I took the stairs instead. This church is very dangerous, no wonder the guidebook calls the view that one can see from the top the Most Dangerous View. Look at the wooden rickety plank that I needed to cross in order to reach the tower.



Near the middle of the climb, there is an interior lookout, where one can see the whole church from the inside.



Finally, the views, again. I guess this is what one sees when one does the dangerous climb.

So, that was my Day 5. The rest of my afternoon was spent walking along the walking tour of the guidebook, and I also went to the flea market in the new town to buy some stuff for myself. After that, for supper, I went to a restaurant in a cellar, serving Ecuadorian and Spanish fare. No corn this time.

So, watch out for Day 6. In the meantime, enjoy my Old Fort Niagara Series. This is a lookout where one can see across Lake Ontario and to Canada. Enjoy.

Day 4

Sunday, May 20, 2007

For this day, I also planned another road trip to another location outside of Quito. This time, it would be to La Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World). The reason it is called that way is because it is the site of the equator (no wonder the country is called Ecuador, due to the fact that the equator runs through it). Quito is 22 kilometers south of the equator. Thus, in order to get there, I took a tram, and from there, I rode a regional bus. The whole trip one way costs 0.75 USD.

When I got to the site, I saw this.



This is the main promenade that leads to the trapezoidal monument that marks the site of the equator. The trapezoidal yet smaller statues that line the sides of the walk are the busts of the members of the French Academie of Sciences that took the measurements and thus proved that this is the equator, indeed, the middle of the world.



Upon close examination, one could see that one is approaching from the south-eastern side. The big trapezoid that marks the equator actually is a monument-cum-museum. One can enter it and there are exhibits about the different indigenous peoples of the country. Again, pictures are forbidden inside.



This is a photo of my feet, straddling the equator. My left foot is placed on the Northern Hemisphere and the other on the Southern Hemisphere. So now I can say that I have been in the two hemispheres at one time! Cool fact eh?



The yellow line marks where the equator is. Here I am, standing at Latitude 0°0'0". And as you can see, the name of the country is the term in Spanish for the equator. Thus, the full name of the country, Republica del Ecuador means "Republic of the Equator". I guess it is a fitting name.



This is a view of Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. This is a "village" at the site of the equator. It is filled with souvenir shops, tour offices, and water and energy demonstrations. Interesting place. This is also where I ate lunch, and ordered another plate of Ecuadorian fare. Again, corn and more corn.



This is a shot that encompasses some of the volcanoes around the site. Since this is in the middle of the Andes, there are plenty of volcanoes in the area. I will be climbing one of them, the Vulcan Pululahua, later in the day.



As you can see in this picture, Coriolis Effect is doing work here in the equator. If you get an egg, you can actually put it on top of the head of a nail and it will never tip off and fall. The reason for this is because the gravitational pull of the North is equaled by the gravitational pull of the South. Thus, it cancels out and the egg never falls.



Later in the day, there was a salsa band, and people started dancing, together with these professional dancers that put on a show for the crowds. That's why I decided to go here on a Sunday, to experience a salsa band at the equator. I don't know, somehow, the gravitational pull maybe has put an influence at my head, and the music sounded good to my ears.



This is the salsa band, with the lady singing and shouting Viva Ecuador! every end of one song.



Today was also the day in which I did my first climb. This was the easier one. I climbed Vulcan Pululahua. In order to do this, I signed up with a tour company in the Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, since they have good guides that would lead the way up the volcano. The hike takes about an hour. And the view is great. The picture above is the start of the path. As you can see, the altitude is so high already and the clouds are everywhere, easily reachable by hand.



This is a shot from the path leading up.



Another shot leading up, showing some lower peaks nearby.

Here are the views from the top. There was a time in which I was literally 6 inches from my death, the path at the top was so narrow, and if I didn't cling on to the rocks, then I would find myself rolling down the steep slope and die.









So, after an hour of trekking up the volcano, we came back. It was already around 3:00 PM. And since the sky was getting dark, and a bit scary, I decided to catch the bus to go back to the city. And while in the bus, I experienced an Ecuadorian flash flood. The rain poured so hard, and due to the fact that the city was in a valley, the water flows down the slopes hard and fast. The cars would just stop in the road, because their engines would shut down due to the water flowing inside. So I was stranded in the bus for about 30 minutes, after which the rain stopped and the cars were able to move again.

So I came back to the city, and when the evening came, I ate dinner in one of the restaurants in Palacio Arzobispal again.

So, that was Day 4. Watch out for Day 5, when things start to get a little bit dangerous. It would be LIW's first hitch-hiking experience, and also read about the account of being trapped for one full hour in an elevator in an Ecuadorian church! But for the meantime, enjoy this next photo from my Old Fort Niagara Series. These are some of the barracks that used to store gunpowder, if I remember correctly. Enjoy!

Day 3

Saturday, May 19, 2007

I have planned a day trip for Saturday. The reason is because there is a town north of the equator called Otavalo, and it is famous for its Saturday markets. I know, it is the second most-cliche destination in Ecuador after the Galapagos Islands, but, why not?

Otavalo is situated high in the Andes Mountains. So I needed to take a long-distance bus to get there. Also, it is advisable to get to Otavalo early in the morning, so that I could see the goods first-hand and avoid the crowds of other tourists. So, I decided to skip the hotel's breakfast and head straight to the bus terminal early in the morning, around 6:30 AM. I needed to go to Cumanda Bus Terminal, which is a couple of minutes walk from my hotel.



Here you can see one of the trolley-buses plying Quito. I could have taken that to the terminal, but it is only a stop away, so I decided to walk instead. Besides, the weather was great. At the end of this steep street is the bus terminal.

In the bus terminal, I just bought some bread and bottled water, and some other interesting things to eat, as a substitute for my breakfast.

I love the way Ecuador functions, especially in the transportation sector. I guess other tourists from the first-world countries may find it a bit chaotic (similar to some reactions by Amazing Race contestants in some parts of the world), but for me, it is just very similar to what I have in the Philippines.

Once in the terminal, I needed to find the correct bus company. There are tons of bus companies that sell tickets in the terminal, going to tons of destinations anywhere in the country. A few moments later, I found my desired bus company, and bought a ticket going to Otavalo. I paid the 0.25 USD terminal departure fee, and boarded the bus.

The drive (which took 2 hours) was amazing. We drove through the Panamericana (The Pan-American Highway, that runs through North and South America) and through the Andes Mountains. I was gaping at every view I saw through the window. The following are some of my shots.





I arrived there around 9:00 AM. The bus ride was interesting as well, because you will meet interesting people inside. There would be preachers that would board the bus and preach, there would also be people who sell sexual aids and alternative medicine that supposedly would cure impotence, and other stuff. Very interesting.



This is a shot of the market. They sell spices like these, not in small bottles as in the US. Of course, I did not come here for the spices, but instead, for the ponchos. So I walked around, and surveyed the area, before I made my purchase. After seeing every stall, I bought two ponchos, four feminine scarves (for my family), and two shrunken heads. All of the vendors were indigenous people, and they do wear the traditional garments.



This picture is a shot of the vendor in which I bought the scarves. I asked her Puedo sacar una foto? and she replied in the affirmative. She wears a traditional Otavalo outfit, consisting of a lace white blouse, wrapped by a beige blanket-like cloth (that can be used to wrap the baby to their backs). She also wears the plastic necklaces that everyone wears, and a black long skirt, which is not shown in the picture.

I ate in a Otavaleno restaurant called Mi Otavalito, and ordered the plato tipico. Again, corn and more corn. But the fried pork was good, and so was the ceviche.

After lunch, and with a backpack full of goods, I decided to hike 4 kilometers out of town to find El Lechero, a supposedly magical tree. But then, halfway into the trek, I was the only one hoofing the steep road, and there weren't any signs anymore, and so I decided to turn back. The views were amazing though, but no El Lechero for me, at least for this time.

So around 2:00 PM, I walked to the bus terminal, and caught a bus back to Quito.

Later that night back in Quito, I decided to capture night shots of the old town. This is because the old town is illuminated at night, and so they make good eye candy. So, after dinner, I got my camera out, and took pictures.



This is the Centro Cultural Metropolitano. It makes a good view because the whole building is illuminated.



The Church of El Sagrario. Again, awesome lighting.



The domes of La Compania de Jesus, illuminated in purple.



Finally, the Plaza de Santo Domingo in front of my hotel, albeit in a different light.

That ends my third day in Quito. My next day would be my trip to the middle of the world, and my first volcanic trek.

So again, before I go, enjoy another photo from my Old Fort Niagara Series. This is the powder magazine of the fort, facing Lake Ontario. Enjoy.