Welsh David's South America

The road to Quito (altitude 2,280 metres/9,250 feet) and the capital of Ecuador.seemed endless with twists and turns every few metres, mud slides, (one major one in Quito itself necessitating a huge detour round the city) and to beat them all the truck drove off (only a little distance) leaving me behind at a petrol station. The person who was counting the number on board after stopping for any reason has been demoted! He’s now in-charge of the rubbish bins.

I went up to the local hospital in the afternoon to have my back looked at and after hitting me a few time where I was sore the doctor decided that there was nothing broken but that I was only badly bruised. A dose of tablets to take and no charge for the hospital visit. An hour later I was on my way back to the Hotel Fuente De Piedra. We had been told to be careful where we went in Quito (and all of Columbia) especially after dark but in the area of the hotel there were numerous police and security people all the time so it was relatively safe to be about most of the time. I think that most care should be taken in the Old Town in the evenings; we were in an up-market part of the New Town where security was stepped up for residents and tourists.

The next day four of us decided to go on the free walking tour of the Old City, one we left half way through because the guide spent too much time talking about the politics of the country, forcing it down my throat I thought, when I wanted to know about the city not his political views.

It was a good day to do the walking tour as it was the day the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace was to happen with the President there at the same time. The guide told us to behave while the ceremony was to take place and respect their President, flag and people (I would have anyway). There were a lot of people there, all in a good mood and quite happy for me to go to the front and take photos. Even the policeman nearest me smiled and moved out of the way to give me a better look at what was going on.

Marching In

The President of Ecuador to the left of the lady in the stripped jacket

The main part of the band

The band at the memorial

The mounted guardsmen

Shortly after this and when the politics became too much the four of us went off by ourselves to look at the Convent and Basilica.

Views of the Basilica

The nave

The clock tower

The roof from the clock tower

The nave

Fantastic stained glass windows

Other scenes of Quito

Preparing vegetables for sale

Only two for $5

Policeman

Oranges for sale

Reels of cotton for sale

Have baby, will still work.

Comparing sales

A short drive of four hours took us to the Huasquila Ecuador Amazon Lodge, a lodge set up by the local people to earn money and show visitors what the Amazon really looks like while protecting the environment at the same time. There was one thing in their favour to start with, that being the quantity and quality of the food we were given. It was all local produce and all very good with the staff in the lodge being cheerful and helpful all the time I was there. The accommodation was in comfortable bungalows in the grounds.

Views of the Lodge

The afternoon of our arrival I went on a forest walk as an introduction to what could be seen and was shown plants that could be used for medicine and fibre. It seemed that just about every plant and bush could be used for one thing or another. It was hot, humid and slippery and because of this I decided not to go on the night walk By now my ribs were very sore and I was having trouble finding a comfortable position when sitting or lying down.

Views in the forest

Waterfall

A 'mango' tree

The plant was identified by the brown tip underneath the leaf

Dense forest

On a longer walk the following day we were shown a ‘tea tree’ which could be used for a drink or medicine and as a drug that can keep people awake for extended hours. During the walk we crawled through a cave with supposedly a small stream running through it only the small stream turned out to be waist deep in part and the cave had bat and scorpion spiders which did not please some people though they did manage to crawl through the cave in the end. It was just as well we were wet now as it started to rain.

Under the waterfall

Caving

A scorpion spider

There were bats to be seen here

Waist height water

In the afternoon we went to a larger cave, something having a special meaning locally, but due to the rain in the morning the river flowing through the cave was running very high so no-one ws allowed inside. On the way back to the lodge we walked round a local village, one of eight in the lodge co-operative and each having about 200 people living in them.

Village views

The following morning we went by boat from Punta De Ahuano on the Napa River, a tributary of the Amazon River, to a wildlife sanctuary called Amazoonico. This is a privately run concern that takes in what would have been wild animals that people had as pets or people find hurt in the wild, where they are nursed back to health and released, or, if not possible to be released because they had lost the ability to look after themselves, then kept in the sanctuary.

Passenger boats

Views on the river

Ferry

Wild monkey on the river bank

Wild monkeys on the river bank

In the Sanctuary

I have been asked to describe the making of the ceramics (it was never called pottery in my hearing) in the blog so here goes. The clay is found in creeks in the forest and is grey in colour. Pieces are rolled out like thin sausages, joined into rings then built up one on another. After two or three have been built up they are pinched together and flattened into the sides and base of the pot. More clay sausages are added and flattened until the bowl height is achieved. Noticeably the sides of the bowl was thinner than I expected. The inside and outside was then smoothed with a specially shaped piece of wood root, all done with eye and hand co-ordination. The lip of the bowl was then shaped using another piece of wood. The pot is then left to dry naturally for three days.

The brushes were very fine with hairs taken from the woman's head with only a few hairs in the brush. The pot I saw panted did not have the design drawn onto the surface beforehand and the design was painted completely freehand.