ECUADOR - My June/July 2003 Trip Journal -- by Donna R. Carter
Page Twenty-Four
~^~ To Quito from Shell - My Last Night in Ecuador ~^~ Sunday ~^~ July 20, 2003
Sunday morning I was scheduled to go home with the Howards back to Quito. We wanted to head out at 9:00. I had made my breakfast and decided perhaps I could just take all my stuff across the foot bridge and meet them at the house instead of them driving down to pick me up.
I left my key in my room, checking out... closed the front door behind me, and walked with my stuff out to and over the foot bridge, having completely forgotten that I needed the key to get through the gate on the other side of the bridge!
So I stood at the other side of the bridge, loaded down with my stuff, waiting for someone to show up. Nobody did for long enough that I just walked back.
I saw someone standing on their porch and asked if they might have a guest house key. They did, fortunately. She let me back in and I picked up my key. She invited me to breakfast at her house.
I helped her set the table for 8, and who would show up for breakfast as a guest at their house that morning, but Jim Allen ... and during breakfast I find out that he and his wife knew my in-laws from when they were with CBI. Go figure. Small world.
Anita came to get me. The car was down the road. Nobody had notified us that there was to be a bicycle race that day from Shell to Baños. We would have to follow the race. The road was temporarily closed until they got far enough ahead.
We got out of town, only to be stopped later on in Río Negro by another race road block where we waited for about half an hour. Then in Río Verde... then somewhere else down the road. This was along the dirt/mud road.
Finally on our way, we saw a couple of busses pulled over to the side, snug up against the mud wall of the mountainside. We passed them by on the left (barely making it - the road had washed partly away and there was a small stone-covered edge and a sheer drop on the driver's side) but when we started around the corner, we were met face to face with a semi carrying a heavy, tall load of lumber.
There was NO room for both of us. A car had snuck in behind us and snugged back up against the busses. Everyone was standing outside the van and telling us we had to back up and get behind the buses to let this semi go by. Chuck argued that the little car should go back and not us. Anita and I didn't like the notion of backing up over that tiny space between the busses and the sheer drop, but finally it was evident that was the only way the situation was going to get resolved.
Anita and I bailed out of the van. I didn't want to go over the side. She wanted to help guide Chuck if he needed help. He inched backward between the busses and the edge of the cliff, and finally Anita and I climbed back in and we followed the buses as they, and the semi, did a gentle dance, each edging past the other to make it around the bend. The semi seriously filled the whole road at one point... I got a picture. I hope it turned out well.
After finally getting through and around the bend, the police stopped the van and asked Chuck for his license and registration. He scolded Chuck for being unwilling to move and then took off with the license and registration, motioning for Chuck to follow. Of course, the risk you run with following is that they could use it against you and accuse you of driving without a license and then ... well, this guy just seemed to be trying to show off his policeman power or machismo or some such. he showed another officer the license and registration and then scolded Chuck again. Chuck just said, "You weren't even there to know what was going on at the time..." and the other officer gave back the paperwork and motioned us along, kind of rolling his eyes regarding the first officer.
Between there and Shell, we came upon those officers again a few times here and there along the road. When I'd stop and take pictures, there they were, driving by... and that one officer just glared at me. LOL... silly.
We arrived in Banos and stopped where we saw someone making the typical melcocha (taffy) and we asked how much.... and got 25 pieces (4" x 2" x 1/4") for $2. Fresh as you could get! I was excited to have it to take to the reunion and share with the family while it was still soft, before it sugared!
I also got a large bag of fresh-cut sugar cane to chew on on the ride home, and filled another film canister with Baños dirt (yes, I did get Shell dirt) The Baños dirt was quite obviously filled with ash from Tungurahua.
We drove through Ambato and I got some dirt there - you could see the Tungurahua ash in it as well - and we went on through Latacunga to stop at a pretty restaurant at the side of the road for lunch.
Shrimp Ceviche and Arroz con Camarones (shrimp rice) was my menu choice, with tostados and a bottle of Fioravanti Manzana (green apple flavored soda pop). Positively delicious.
We went from there into Quito, noticing on the way how very low the snow was dropping down from the cone area of Cotopaxi. We stopped at La Avelina for some ice cream bars for old time's sake, and I picked up a little woven basket outside the door of the shop.
Further down the road, we stopped at a basket market and I found a couple of other nested woven baskets and some tiny pottery to put in the village atop my upright piano. I got a few pot holders as well.
We drove into Quito around 5:00, ate some papaya and cheese for supper and I had to seriously figure out how to pack everything for my trip home. Monday morning I planned to do some last minute purchases and then I had to be at the airport by noon.
Bless Anita. She packed my duffel bag - and did an excellent job. I chose what I needed for the family reunion and packed all that into a suitcase so I would not need to unpack anything else until I got all the way home.
Chuck took a shower and the plumbing started glubbing.... we decided perhaps we should all use the upstairs bathroom until the downstairs one was figured out. Anita gave me a flashlight to use in the middle of the night.
After getting the duffel packed and the larger suitcase, and setting up my carry-on as well as the vase in the shigra, I called it a night as well, and left the curtains open to look out on Pichincha and the lighted towers atop the parking lot near the summit of the first peak... the familiar peak I had grown up with all my young life.
"Goodnight" I said .... and I wondered when I would be seeing it again in the future after I left. I fell asleep pretty quickly.
Page Twenty-Four Picture Gallery I apologize that haven't figured out how to get the last gallery picture to bring you back here, so please, when you finish with the gallery, use your browser's "back" button to bring yourself back to this page, and the link below to go on to the next. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience!