#oyacachi

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Retomando ritmo y confianza 🚵‍♂️ siempre en la mejor compañía ❤@andretapia27❤ Ruta #cangahua #oyacachi (en Oyacachi, Napo, Ecuador)

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Lagunas de Oyacachi / Reserva Ecológica Cayambe Coca / ECUADOR

Lagunas de Oyacachi / Reserva Ecológica Cayambe Coca / ECUADOR

Las lagunas de Oyacachi están situadas en la parte suroeste de la Reserva Ecológica Cayambe Coca, en las estribaciones de la cordillera oriental de los Andes de Ecuador.

Valle del río Papallacta

Se encuentran en territorios de la Comuna Quichua Oyacachi, en los páramos entre Oyacachi y Papallacta, en la provincia del Napo, con altitudes que van desde los 3.500 hasta los 4.300 msnm. Son parte del…

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El Páramo.

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Much has happened, happened much.

First we went to the Páramo. cold. and warm. and sunny and rainy and cloudy. We got to hike up this volcano (Cayambe), to the base camp where we were able to see the massive glacier pretty close up. Let me be clear a volcano, with a glacier on top. The pictures that I took could not do it justice, it was bright and white and cold looking and totally wack. I have attached a wonderfully ridiculous foto of me striking a pose (sort of) with the glacier at about 4,800 meters above sea level. I was so cold and so excited! (ok I tried to attach a photo but did not work on this post I will try to add one later) To get to the part of the road where we were supposed to be hiking it took much effort on the part of our bus driver and the parts of our program coordinators. We were first told "we have a tragedy" the roads are sorta washed out and the bus is unable to get to the point where we could walk up to the base camp. We were then shooed from the bus to walk a bit and observe the scenery, the bus (like hugh-ass tour bus- bus) was supposed to try and turn around on a basically single lane road on the side of a hill...we were told that maybe they could call for trucks to take us up but not to count on it. we walked down the road a bit... one instructor joined us to chat about rocks, then out of the blue a truck comes with our other instructor, he gets out and the truck rides away up the road to disappear in the distance. Confusion abounded. he then begins to run back to the bus, a good 15-20 min walk away. Apparently the bus was now able to climb to the place in the road where we could start to hike. The roads miraculously got better? who's to say really. So the bus comes and we continue on and the roads are fine and we see more sites. That's really the end of the story. from there we huffed and puffed our way up to the base camp to take in the view and the cold and to eat lunch. I just wanted to tell this little story to show how unpredictable SIT can be and how we must be ready for anything, and that plans are fluid and ever-changing, that is how ecuador works. With SIT you never really know what is going to happen, the only sure thing is that you will be home before dark, whatever that means. After our climb we continued on to spend a short few days in the indigenous village of Oyacachi. It was nice there, we ate a lot of rainbow trout (hey hey dad!) and drank loads of tea. there were also thermal baths. Oh man they were nice. of course we also learned about the Páramo ecosystem. I will attach a few fotos. We were only there a few days. When I got back to Quito I had plans to leave directly the next morning to travel the Baños a town in which I would spend the holiday of Carnaval. If anyone who does not know what carnaval is look it up. It is big in Brazil and really is a part of the holidays all over the world except really in the U.S. Mardi Gras in Louisiana is it basically though... So parades, dancing, drinking, partying. Where I went it was less 24-hour party as it is in other places of the world and Ecuador but of course it still was fun. In Ecuador the tradition in some places is throwing water and eggs at people in the street basically anytime you step outside. In Baños people sprayed people with foam, manufactured especially for carnaval, it dries faster than water and eggs and also smells weird (not as wierd as eggs) but that is besides the point. As gringos in the street we got foam sprayed a lot. not always fun but I liked the festiveness of it mostly. So some things I did in list form: • ate so much food • ate empanadas (different than real food) • rode on the famous swing (la casa de arbol) • danced • ate more • roamed the quaint gringo-geared town • more dancing • went canynoning (look it up) So fun fun fun and more fun and then I came home and made all the homework in the world. I am still making all the homework in the world. but it is ok. so that basically sums up my time. I have not done this very eloquently, which is always what I strive for, but I almost always end up being all over the place and things and stuff. I am using tumblr as a place to relaxedly write in a form that I would be reamed out for by many an english teacher. think of it as amateur stream-of-consious-ness although it it nowhere near that cool. alas. At least I have loving support from by biggest fans. you determine who you are. ok. now I really should get back to making homework, I have an oral presentation about the impacts of tourism on society and the environment in the galapagos islands that I have to prepare en español. Oh yeah, did I mention that I am going to the Galapagos this coming sunday? too excellent, no? till another tumblr time.

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(Mark): End of the Project

The Pambamarca Achaeology Project ended yesterday. At 10:00, all of the students hopped on a bus to leave Cangahua, some of them forever. I wasn't on the bus because officially Jen is staff, and I wasn't about to head off to Quito without her, while she helped pack up the lab. So we both went there, and found out that our job was to spend the next seven hours scanning 2009 archaeology packets into computers. Not the most glamorous end to the project, but one of the monotonous "lab" jobs that needs to be done, and takes up about 80% of any archaeologists time (or should, anyhow)

It was a stormy day. It wasn't supposed to be. Apparently, the residents of Cangahua told one of the project directors that the reason for the rain was the sky's sorrow at us leaving. Which sort of brought a tear to my eye.

Until I discovered later that the storm had been much worse in Quito. I guess the capital was pissed that we were coming. ;)

The final week of the project didn't disappoint.

On the 23rd we went to the Parque Archaeologico Cochasqui, a complex of pre-inka tolas (flat-topped pyramids, many with long ramps). It was one of the best existing examples of above-ground tolas we could see, although weathering and overgrowth has made them generally less than impressive to the average person, I was suitably impressed.

On the 26th, we went to a local community called "Buena Esperanza" and visited a local organic farm cooperative. Organic produce is not overrun by the corporate interests that it is in the US and is generally grown strictly for health reasons, especially after the problems in the past few decades from pesticide use. We went to one of the farms of the cooperative (the one run by the cooperative founder). They raise cuy, chickens, pigs, and grow a large variety of vegetables and fruits there. Every member of the cooperative is a former flower plantation worker.

On the 27th, we went to the middle of the world, "Mitad Del Mundo", the highland location of and monument to the Equator. Sure enough, my GPS read 000.00.00.00 and probably a few more zeroes when it came to the latitude. A local (who spoke english) gave us a very interesting presentation on the astronomical significance of the various sites in the area and how they related to the equator. I bought a DVD from him.

Interestingly, there seem to be at least three separate monuments for the equator, two of those are off by quite a bit. (the most famous Ecuadorian monument is in Quito, and is the most wrong one.) The one I went to was actually at 0 latitude and is also known as the Quitsato solar clock (the monument doubles as a giant sundial that casts specific shadows at equinoxes and whatnot) It's run by an organization whose website appears to be down right now.

The 28th was more or less our last day of work, and we spent it by going to Oyacachi a small town in a valley in the cloud forest east of Quito near the edge of the Oriente (Amazon). It was among the most beautiful places I've ever seen (so far) with natural waterfalls covering nearly every hillside, and a community run hot springs which was completely awesome. Interestingly, apparently the hot springs was a USAid project that essentially failed. It went through all the processes of planning and building but never got to the marketing phase. So basically, they have this lovely natural volcanic hot springs facility, which no one really knows about except the locals (though it's apparently in the Lonely Planet travel guides... briefly) It's run by the community and is moderately well kept, though some parts are in a bit of disprepair. Still, there was a localy sulfurous hot pool right next to a cold fast-flowing river, which made it an adventure to dip in one, then the other. Also, I learned that UV raditation is not stopped by clouds. Not even in a cloud forest. Ow.

The rest of the week was filled with basically finishing up work until yesterday, when the project ended and everyone mostly said their goodbyes. We got to Quito last night, and are taking a couple of well-deserved days off.

From this point, I'll basically be doing travelogue vacation style updates if and when we do anything interesting. (We plan on it.) Unfortunately, no Galapagos because it would have doubled the cost of our trip.

We'll just have to make that it's own vacation. :)

Here are the latest batch of photos!

Videos to follow! Although, you probably know that because they'll appear above this post!