Snow, Trout, & Parades

Verse of the day: “Enjoy serving the Lord and he will give you what you want. Depend on the Lord; trust him and he will take care of you.” Psalm 37:4-5

Snowing at Antisana!

Of course it would snow while hiking in only capri’s and a long sleeve t-shirt.  Today we went to the Antisana ecological preserve which is a mountain between Antisana and La Mica where you can hike up and see good views of both on either side—assuming it’s not raining, sleeting, or snowing, haha!  Antisana is a volcano that violently erupted many years ago and erupted so strongly that there are valleys for miles around that were filled with lava that is now volcanic rock.  These valleys have now become huge stone quarries for various things like paving roads.  La Mica is a large lake that supplies water to the capital of Quito as well as the Chillos valley where we have been staying.  We hiked for about 3 miles including up, along the ridge, then back down.  At the summit of 15,000 feet, it was very windy and rainy and unfortunately could not see much of the volcano, but the lake was uniquely surrounded with clouds.  Once we got to the other end it suddenly got very cold and started sleeting and snowing so we quickly grabbed a couple of pics and rapidly made our way off the mountain and found a side trail that wasn’t as cold and it eventually stopped precipitating—but by that point we were soaked! All in a good days adventure though! ;-) 

Fishing for Trout

We had the pleasure of eating lunch at a small family owned trout restaurant.  Their 2 children welcomed us from the road, clothed in aprons, and quickly handed us fishing poles and bait to fish for trout while ours were being served up for lunch.  If we caught an extra, we got to keep it.  Only our driver Hector was so successful.  Lunch was deliciously fresh and included fresh squeezed strawberry juice.

Heading off to elect their Queen

Backing up a little, we encountered over 100 horses on the streets of Pintag on the way to Antisana today.  All of their riders were traditionally dressed and ranged from young to old.  They were gearing up for a customary ride into the mountains to elect a new queen of their indigenous group, Chagra.  We passed through just in time to see them all before they took off!

Parade in La Merced

The celebration of its foundation in the local town of La Merced keeps getting bigger!  Tonight there was more food and craft vendors as well as more and more people coming out of the woodwork to the town square.  A main event of tonight was a traditional parade.  It started out how we would think of traditional with a marching band but it quickly became Ecuadorian.  There were many groups of people all donned in cowboy hats with cheeks painted black and carrying swords and tree branches.  Each group represented a neighborhood. There would be 1-2 leaders in the center of a circle with musical instruments leading others that danced in circles around them.  Eventually all the tree branches ended up in 1 large pile which I assume will later burned.  Others carried a large wooden structure through the parade as well and it was then placed upright in the center of the town square, which I assume will also be burned.

And thus closes my first week here!  Thanks for tuning into my Ecuadorian adventures! The next 4 members of the team arrive tonight for week dos! J

Sunset from my room!