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The Lips Don´t Lie…..

Thursday, August 10th, 2006

RIOBAMBA….RIOBAMBA….RIOBAMBA…….

That is what we heard as we pulled up to the bus station in Quito. Quite funny for us at the time but as we will come to know over our adventures in South America this is how efficient bus travel operates. Before our adventures begin we must explain these intriguing factors of South American local bus travel…..They don´t believe in bus stops, official pickups, and last but not least coming to a complete stop. As they pass by and yell Riobamba, or Quito, or Cuenca (wherever you are going) you wave your arm and start scampering for the bus. If you are lucky enough to be lugging a 15kg backpack they will actually stop and pack it away. BUT if you aren´t carrying stuff, get ready for a 5mph rolling stop where women and children are whisked by the arm onto the first step and men must fend for themselves. It´s really entertaining to watch once you are riding the bus and is commonplace for the many local bus travellers in Ecuador and all of South America.

Okay…now back to our journey. The bus ride south from Quito to Riobamba took us through Volcano Alley or what they call part of the Ring of Fire. No, it´s not an Ecuadorian Johnny Cash themepark, its the name of the string of volcanos that run through most of Ecuador, Peru and out into the Pacific Ocean. The ride is filled with sights of green lush farms and valleys while volcanoes and huge Andean mountains loom in the background. As we make our way into Riobamba we find it is one of these picturesque villages (or towns) you picture when thinking of Andean South America. Quaint streets lined with pollerias, barbershops, and (of course) churches that all sit at the bottom of the Andes Mountain and, more ominously, only a few kilometers away from Tunguruhua….the currently active volcano!! Now not to fear as we are three towns away and none of those town have evacuated yet but still we are less than 30kms from a REAL volcano. Is this safe?!!! Probably not but it seems to be a part of everyday life (just like the buses) for the locals here so we will adjust. The city of Riobamba is primarily used as a launching pad for hikes up the tallest mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo, as well as the starting point for the crazy train, Nariz del Diablo. This train is reknown with tourists visiting Ecuador for the unique engineering it employs to descend through the Andes as well as the fact that all tourists can ride on the roof. Initially we were excited to take the tourist rite-of-passage but after waking up at 4:30AM (yep that´s when you have to stake a claim to a roof seat) and hearing the heavy rains and snuggled away in the most comfortable beds of our six months on the road we both looked at each other and said “So…the bus it is!” After six months of 24/7 interaction at least we are both on the same page!! The bus ride to Cuenca was much faster than the train and included the enticing option of Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in the Latin American version of Commando….they love him here!! Of course by using local bus transport we were also entitled to riding with the indigenous locals and their crates and crates of guinea pigs. Yes, they are a delicacy here and favored for soups, BBQs and everything else by the indigenous cultures that live in the mountainous communities.

Once we arrived in Cuenca we could tell it would be to our liking. The city is moderately sized and includes an old town with cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings; multiple local markets for shopping and perusing; a new town with a cool museum and nice internet cafes and finally an endless supply of pastelerias filled with every bread and pastry product you can imagine. We took our first full day to research our Spanish language class options and coincidentally came away with a decision to study for a week at the Abraham Lincoln Cultural Center. No…its not because it´s American but because the cirriculum seemed adult-education oriented and the school was filled with Spanish speakers learning English. Obviously this has got to be a good place to learn a language. Well, we weren´t disappointed when we met our instructor, Raul, for our first afternoon of learning fun! Over the next week and 20 hours of intense 2 on 1 instruction we got an EDU-MACATION in Espanol. We learned everything from conjugating verbs to names of foods to everyday questions and answers we would need for our next 50 days in Latin America. It was extremely intense and we have to thank Raul for his patience as Becca adjusted her French “es” to a Spanish “es” and Jeff forgot the two words of Japanese he had studied and adjusted to learn a new language at the ripe old age of 31. We studied (maybe not learned) in one week what Raul normally takes 4 weeks to teach. All we can say is we wish we could just stay in Cuenca and study for three more weeks. We both agree it is the perfect type of place for a student studying Spanish in college to stow away in for a semester or three!!

Not only does Cuenca have great learning centers but the sights are rich as well. Our home for the week was Hostal Santa Fe, a new budding family owned place on a quiet (very important) street with delicious fresh juice breakfasts (yumm…jugo de Papaya) and a friendly family atmosphere. It is located in the old city which gave us quick access to many of the fun sights and sounds of Cuenca. We took the weekend (no school) to venture around the local flower market, in and out of the New and Old cathedrals, down the cobblestone streets passed the Panama hat makers, and along the river where many of the locals still partake in the free laundry service. On our last few days before heading south to Peru we figured we better bone up on some of the local culture as well as learn a bit about the city since it was home to Huayna Capac, one of the strongest Inca leaders. Again, we weren´t disappointed! After months of travels and quite a few museums we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and diversity of the Cuenca Cultural Museum……they even had an exhibit on the head-shrinkers of the Amazon, complete with real shrunken heads!!! The museum, not only, provided us with a fun-filled afternoon but their attached auditorium was offering a free (we like that!) Cuenca Symphony performance that night. Well we gotta hit that up! For a small country and even smaller city this symphony was impressive complete with featured hometown pianist that had studied in Paris and Italy. Yea…we know…who would have thunk!

After our extremely relaxing, educational and enjoyable time in Cuenca we figured we better start heading south to Peru in order to see Machu Picchu before our world tour is over….Yep that´s right after four continents and twenty countries we are down to 40 days left in our journey. By the way in explanation of the title to this blog over those four continents and 20 countries every other song we have heard playing is “The Hips Don´t Lie” by Shakira. Is it popular in the States because it seems to be the International Anthem worldwide?

Off to Peru….talk to you all soon.