Bus Tours In The Ecuadorian Countryside

Jan 27, 2011
Cuencan, Ecuador

Tourism has unfortunately been down in Ecuador, so finding a tour quarum of at least four people with the same destination or objective has been difficult. Consequently I have had to pass on the ` Inca Pile of rocks ´to the south or the regional National Park and settle for local bus trips to Gualaceo ( Wall-a say-oe) and Chordeleg ( Chor-da-lay). I understood these to be indigenous communities, and I suppose in the broadest sense they are, although certainly not in any architectural way. The scenery is hilly- bordered by mountains- lush, green and quite beautiful, particularly between Gualaceo and Chordeleg. The bus snaked its way up in elevation, passing rivers and ravines and farms and fincas sectioned off with a fine textured pyrimidal willow trees- quite like a Lombardy Poplar- and groves of Blue Gum Eucalyptus. Black and white Holstein cows graze in the fields and rustic adobe and mud structures with ` living` tile roofs were intersperced with large foreign owned modern suburban houses. The multi-gabled chalet houses of the Swiss immigrants were the easiest to spot. My favorite structure was a humble tiled and umber-colored, mudded-adobe house, with orange, trumpet-shaped flowers of a Brugmansia shrub growing against it, and a grove of trees behind it.

The river in Gualaceo is forded by a covered rustic wood bridge, and bordered with a lush greenbelt on the town side. Several indigenous women in bright dresses, pigtails and hats were stooping, doing laundry in the river. Basket to the side. Wet clothes on the rocks. Uptown, only the area around the nice little plaza had a historic feel and scale. Most of the buildings in town were three stories and ` modern`, but somehow instantly dated and without any sense of style or proportion. When I asked groups of old men, or younger guys about where to buy a panama hat, they all directed me to Chordeleg. So off to the bus stop.

Chordeleg is a hill town maybe twenty minutes up the road, and it also has a nicely landscaped plaza, with cheery beds of bright Peruvian Lilies, hibiscus shrubs and palms. The school kids, adults, sales ladies in the craft shops and restaraunt owners all looked of indigenous heritage. The small restaraunt I ate at had a plastic pan on the floor, filled with brightly colored baloons filled with water and sitting in water. The owner explained these were `bombas` or bombs, to be thrown at people as a pre-carnival activity. I explained to the friendly owner that we did the same thing as kids, but we usually threw them at cars, and only to be brats, not to celebrate Carnival. He thought that was funny. (`Bad Gringo. Bad`) I was told in Medallin by some Columbian guys, that in the south of Columbia flour or talcum powder are thrown by groups of kids or young adults- a festive mob-dusting with the additional intent to picking ones pocket while down on the ground and vulnerable. On the coast of Belize in Livingston this `mob-dusting` happens on `Dia De Las Cenizas`, (day of the ashes) or I believe Ash Wednesday. Young adults and kids ran, chased and shouted and the energy level reached mob levels at times.

I bartered for a Panama hat in several `Artesenia` craft shops on the main plaza , and bought one for twelve US dollars, the currency of Ecuador. Jewelry, gold and silver smithing were a pre-columbian craft in this same town. Fine filigree work is the local specialty, as are the `Ikat` intricate cotton shawls with macreme`fringe , although I wasn`t in the market for either.


My favorite local indigenous woman wore a dark grey Fedora hat, yellow blouse, dark blue shawl over one shoulder, red sweater , cerise pink embroidered dress, and on her back a baby-blue pack with Goofy smiling on the side. The tenticles of pop-culture extend far.
``Inca-sminka, I am for Goofy.``

Abrazos
Esteban