Just what you need after a hard days mule ride

Hi Blog

So its been a while since the last post, we have been busy this week moving to some new digs to the north. We are now staying in a self catered flat more to style of living to which we are accustomed. I´ll miss having someone to do my washing and cooking but independence is a sweet dish. We share the new house with 7 others, who are mostly travellers staying for a few months. Its a nice big house with a sunny roof area.

Last week we splashed out on a fancy dinner in town at a restaurante called Mama Clorindas. The famous local dish served here is deep fried cuy (known elsewhere as guinea pig) and after I realised no one else would order it, I stepped up. It came on a plate in sections complete with stubby little legs and a whole deep fied head. He was a bit scrawny and I had a mission to chew through the bones but he made for quite a delectible treat. I didn´t chew the ears off the head though, that seemed to be taking it a bit far.

We got a reasonably fine day last week and took the opportunity with Tessa´s housemate Douglas, to scoot up the teleferico (gondola) which climbs Volcan Pichincha to overlook Quito. It was a pretty cruisy trip topped off with a few sneak glimpses of some of the surrounding volcanoes.

On the weekend we headed out with Tessa´s host mum to her home town of Chantel. Chantel is a tiny wee town located about 3 hours north west of Quito. We had little idea of what we would be doing, all we knew was that we needed gumboots. The road out passes through a highland forest park and several rural towns on a sketchy gravel road. We pulled into a farm, chucked on our gummies and piled onto the back of a tractor-trailer. We soon found ourselves trekking down through the forest towards a set of waterfalls that had carved a cave into the earth. As we walked, we discovered Rosa´s bushman side as she pointed out local flora and its medicinal uses. We descended cane ladders down the waterfalls to find nests of Tuyo birds peering at us.

After returning from the caves we piled back into the Jeep and completed our journey to Chantel. We were told that we would spend the night in some cabañas that belong to Rosa´s friend. We met up with our hosts and had started the arduous walk up the hill when we were ushered towards a pack of mules tied to the fence. It seemed that this would be no ordinary trip. As we mounted the wooden saddles of our mules we were wondering how it is one actually controls a mule. The trip took about two hours for which our asses (no OUR asses not the animals) were not appreciative. It began to rain about 30 minutes into the trip and we got soaked. The cabañas were located overlooking a smallish river and waterfall in the forest and miles from any other civilisation, a very tranquil spot.

The evening was passed in true ecuadorian style with a huge dinner of soup, meat and rice and finished up with cane alcohol. While a local played ecuadorian folk songs on the guitar, our host attempted to teach us a dance from Otavalo, which I think was quite funny for everyone who was watching. We were the only non ecuadorians at the cabaña which made me realise that this would probably be one of the least touristy experiences of our trip.

The next day, after a hearty breakfast of smoked cachama (river fish), we mounted our trusty mules for another foray into the forest. It turns out the mules have done the trip so many times that they know (or think they know) where they are going. There were a few instances where the mules decided that they knew best and we discovered the true meaning of the saying about stubborn mules.

Our trip took us to another much larger waterfall which was truly magnificent. We scaled down a rope for a closer look and some cheesy photos. After we returned to the cabañas we went for a dip in the river and climbed under the small waterfall for a natural massage to ease our aching, mule inflicted bones. Theres nothing quite like being pummelled by litres of water to wear away the worries of the day.

At the moment we are trying to decide where the next part of our trip will take us. There are a few options on the table but as always it comes down to how much we are able to spend this early in the trip. Anyway I´ll let you know what we decide to do as it happens.