Lower 1/3 of Ecuador in 3 days!

While in Cuenca, we had run into some melted asphalt. Next destination--Saraguro! The night that we were in Saraguro, it was wet and it was very easy to slip. Mrs. Brumbarger in return said, “We are sliding around in our asphalt impregnated boots.” Nice I know, lol! In Saraguro we stayed at the Achik Wasi Hotel, which was cool! We all played a few rounds of rummy. Tanner and I watched about 45min of Fast Five because of the stupid barking dogs. Our clock had the wrong time so instead of waking up at 7:00am we woke up at 8:00am. Breakfast was at 8:10! I didn’t know that everyone was waiting on Amanda and I so instead of taking a shower I went straight to Breakfast, and instead took a freezing cold shower that was about 5min long. I will tell you that I will not complain about cool to warm water again because my shower had to be around 25-30˚F. That’s cold!

We then went into the middle of nowhere in Saraguro to see how they make the traditional sombreros that are waterproof! This process was awesome! The guy that we watched had been doing this for 15 years, and as a young kid was helping his dad do it. It is such a long process that takes about 2 days for each hat! First they have to collect the wool which is taken from a year old sheep, then the clean it with a steam bath, next they clean all the extra “junk” from the wool. As soon as this is done, he starts separating the different strands. He then presses the wool into a “hat” type shape which he then rolls up and steams to make the wool intertwine. Easy, right? No, not so much! He has to steam it as much times as it takes for the wool to intertwine! Oh, and let me remind you this steaming process is very hot! So much so that I could feel the heat waves coming off of the machine. After this he puts it in a mixture of all natural bees wax and tree gum. The bees wax is not amber or golden, but rather black! It comes from a special bee that we don’t see in the states! Can you imagine if your job is to collect bees wax? I couldn’t! I can’t remember the name for this mixture so I will call it wax. The wax is what ends up making the hats waterproof. The more wax the more waterproof. However, the more wax the heavier! There is a fine line between waterproofing and weight! As the wax is melting onto the wool he put a second layer of wool onto the hat. Then they paint them with a type of acrylic paint. The paint though is all natural! They have two colors, white and black! The white paint is made from white corn which grows a lot in Ecuador! I can’t remember what the black paint was made from, however, I will post it in a later post if I remember!

After the hats we went into downtown Saraguro where there was a mini market. The bead work that they do is spectacular! Oh, and the work they do with the wool thread! I bought some interesting things that you are just going to have to wait to see! I’ll tell you it’s all from a traditional dance they do. You would think that my day was over and we were going to stay another night in Saraguro. Well, that’s wrong because when were we’re done in Saraguro, it was only about 12:30pm! Crazy right! 

Our next destination, Loja, where we ate lunch! Lunch was great, as Juan Pablo picked a very delicious restaurant! My lunch consisted of yuca(u-ca), potatoes, and pork! Mr. Brumbarger knowing that they served Guinea Pig, played a joke on Amanda and Mrs. Brumbarger. He said that he had secretly ordered guinea pig so that they could eat it without knowing! It was funny to see their faces when they really believed that they had eaten the animal that in the United States we call a “pet!” 

After a very good and filling lunch we headed over to the downtown area of Loja where we saw two churches. Both had beautiful, elaborate designs that were just eye opening! They were Catholic churches, the most common in Ecuador. They were missing one thing though, Bibles! In both churches I didn’t see one person carrying a Bible. Not even one bench had a Bible sitting on it. That was sad for me to see. I don’t know how I could live without a Bible. For a lot, however, it’s all they have ever known. After, Juan Pablo took us to a college that one of his friends works at as a professor to see the Botanical Gardens! There are so much plants you could technically call it the “Rainforest.” Even more so because it was raining, we were outside, and in the mountains. We got soaked because it rained almost the whole time we were walking through the gardens. There were so many plants and I even heard frogs! There are little to no snakes, and it was too cold and rainy for lizards, but just perfect for frogs, even though I didn’t see any.

After what seemed like an eternity in Loja, we headed for Vilcabamba. Even though we left for Vilcabamba at around 3:30pm, it seemed much later. On our way to Vilcabamba we saw lots of beautiful mountains. However, what I saw next was even more incredible then the mountains that are 3000meters high. There was a 6-7 year old boy and his little brother who was probably 3-4 barefoot, soaked, and in the freezing rain that was poring down, hard. The 3sec. it took us to pass them left me thinking how thankful I need to be for all in my life. Their clothes even had a couple holes. I was immediately thankful to God for letting me see this because, as sad as it is, it was an extreme eye opener that I think a lot of people including myself need in the US. I then immediately thanked God for shoes and a car to travel in while in Ecuador and at home. 

When we arrived in Vilcabamba we went to our hotel and stayed there for about 1hr and 30min before going to get pizza. I know, pizza! Some American food! We had trouble finding the place so we drove around for about 30min. When we finally found the place we were so hungry that we ordered 3 pizzas. A Margarita, Hawaiian, and Vegetarian pizza! By the time we were done Tanner had eaten 10 pieces, Hudson ate 8 pieces, I ate 7 pieces, and Mr. and Mrs. Brumbarger and Amanda had what was left! That’s a lot!

What happened next was not so fun! We got back to the hotel room and Amanda had already not been feeling so well, but within the hour Hudson got really sick. He ended up puking in the UN-air-conditioned room. It ended up smelling so wonderful that Tanner slept in the outside hammock and Mr. Brumbarger slept in a chair outside of our room while Mrs. Brumbarger was tending to Hudson. Then at about 3:00am Mr. Brumbarger woke me up and told me to take some medicine. (Pepto Bismo and Cipro) Because I was so tired I said, “But I don’t need medicine, I am not sick!” I took them anyway. 

This morning when we left Vilcabamba both Amanda and Hudson were feeling way better so we headed off for Malacatos where I bought a pound of fresh, hot, Ecuadorian coffee for my dad! It smells and tastes so good! Oh, and it’s only $3 a pound! While in Malacatos I also saw what started a part of the Triangular Trade. The process of sugar cane grinding and boiling to make “sugar water.” When the slaves worked, however, they didn’t have machines. Instead they had to do it all with their hands. It was so hot I started sweating and it was 50˚F outside. We got into the car and I put the coffee in my backpack. All I am going to say is that when I opened my bag to get some power bars it smelled really good!

After our quick stop in Malacatos, we went up to Podocardus National Park where our van barely made it up the mountain road. Yeah, I said road, one road up and same road down. Thankfully our driver has 16 years of experience! Mrs. Brumbarger, however, was so sick she didn’t go with us into the mountains at 10,000ft high! It was so beautiful! Honestly I thought that the Andes would be harder to hike then Brown County, but I was wrong! Brown County was so hot and humid, but Ecuador was cool and perfect temperature! The trails were the same so it was the weather that really made a difference! I will say though that Ecuador is so much more beautiful! It doesn’t compare to anything I have ever seen. 

Once back down the mountains we went to Loja to eat and refresh. We decided we would eat at the mall. Americana Burger from TropiBurger was what I had. I didn’t know how it would taste, as I have never seen a TropiBurger restaurant before. It was surprisingly good though. 

Our drive up to Zamora was pretty awesome! On the way, Juan Pablo said that we could stop and look at a waterfall and river. While there were two other waterfalls there was only one that we could climb. When we climbed the waterfall there was only a rope to hold onto for 1/3 of the way up. The only thing keeping you from falling down was that rope that was tied to a small tree! After taking a few pictures I climbed down, but I half repelled! Dare devils visiting Ecuador: Tanner, Hudson, and I. We all, including the cautious Amanda went to the other side where there was no rope or safety! So we all went ahead and climbed about 40ft high! Keep in mind the rocks were slick because of the water from the waterfall! We took a couple of pictures and climbed instead all the way down. However, this was with a ladder since the rocks go straight down! Once we got down I took a “shower” and Mrs. Brumbarger took a picture! By the time we were in the car my boots were dry, but my clothes were wet! 

When we arrived in Zamora I didn’t know what to expect. Apparently there was a Herpetology building there! Juan our guide wanted to take me in there but it was closed.   So we then continued over the Bombuscaro River on a bridge. The bridge was about 150ft above the river. When I saw kids that were 5-8 years old jumping off the bridge into the river, I was amazed. Tanner and I then started talking and we came to the conclusion that if we had jumped we would have broken something. We weigh a lot more than those kids, one, and two, we didn’t know how deep the river was. If is was 20ft then maybe, but what if it was only 3-4ft deep? We just saw it as a death sentence! Not to mention our moms who would have been freaked!

Juan Pablo then took us down to the river where Hudson, Tanner, and I took pleasure in breaking rocks. In the middle of the river were huge rocks, so we took the smaller rocks on the shore of the river and broke them open against the bigger rocks. We then all climbed onto a rock in the river and Mrs. Brumbarger took a picture. The background was the sun shining over the mountains! Then Hudson and I had a stick fight. Our goal was to break the other’s stick first, however, since the sticks were so thick we just gave up because no one was winning.

Once we all got into the car we headed to our hotel. We were so hot that we decided to hit the pool! The pool was unheated, but why bother when it’s 70˚F all the time! It was later at night though so the water was a little cold. At 8:00pm it was still not pitch black! In Indiana it gets dark at 6:00pm! All of us got out of the pool and changed for dinner where I tried Bull Frog. The bull frog was awesome and doesn’t taste like chicken like most people say! It instead tasted like full frog! Oh my gosh, who would have guessed! After dinner we played multiple rounds of rummy and Hudson and I both had vanilla ice-cream! This is not your typical ice-cream though as it is an Ecuadorian type of which I cannot remember the name.

I have so many pictures that I will upload a post with just a few words and a ton of pictures! Please keep us in your prayers! It has been and continues to be an awesome experience of a lifetime.