American Teacher in Ecuador

Next stop:  Riobamba, a 2 hour busride from Alausi.  The countryside out the window was beautiful, rolling green hills, cows, and steeper green mountains in the background.  Below are pictures of Chimborazo Volcano. And this is Al Altar volcano, extinct since prehistoric times.  There's a lake at the top.  This was taken out of my hotel window.  (Excuse the power lines.) First, I wanted to rappel down Hotel Zeus, which was right near my hotel.  So I went and asked.  They said they need a minimum of 5 people before they'll set it up.  Nobody else in town was interested so I didn't get to go.  This is how high it was!  I asked if I could go in and take pictures from the top floor and they said yes so I ordered a beer.  Five minutes later they said there's a private event so I can't go.  I chugged the beer and went onward. The next day, I decided to go try to find the religious art museum.  It supposedly has some art piece that's pure gold, inl

On Christmas Eve, I took a bus from Loja to Cuenca and stayed at Hotal Yakumama.  I arrived in time to catch the end of the Pase del Nino parade, which is the longest parade in South America (normally taking 8 hours).  There were a million Jesus in the manger floats (which consisted of the back of a trucks with a manger scene).  There were a lot of wise men and people in traditional dress.  All very festive. Back at the hostel, I inquired about a Christmas Eve event.  Unfortunately, the lounge was to close at 8:00, as did most restaurants and bars, and everyone staying at the hostel had evidently found somewhere else to go.  I was basically all alone in my top bunk.  Netflix is my friend, fortunately. The next morning, I went to Alausi, two hours north of Cuenca by bus.  I had read that sometimes the bus will drop you on the highway and I was nervous about carrying all my luggage.  When the bus did drop me on the highway and I couldn't find a taxi, the 1/4 mile downhil

The Christmas Party at my school was quite the event.   The party was to start at 7:30 so we had decided to show up fashionably late, at 8:15.  The doors were just then unlocked at 8:15.  The place was decorated beautifully.  There were speeches, a prince/princess contest, and more speeches.  We sat at our tables patiently. Although the school throws a great party,  there was nothing to eat or drink for 3 hours!  Not even water.  Just before dinner was served at 10:45, we got a glass of wine.  Dinner was fine and I thought we were going home.  But then they brought out the Johnny Walker Red.  We all grabbed one glass, then another, and the whole party changed from a subdued, well-behaved, polite party to a fiendish, crazed, dancing party. We raged on until I think it was 1:30 in the morning?  Suddenly I found myself being whizzed away in a car driven by one of the partygoers. On the way, we stopped in one of those secret places where you can buy booze through

Since I love Hostal Izhcayluma so much, I decided to make one more trip to Vilcabamba.  The hostal is just beautiful.  It's hard to believe that you can get a dorm room for $8.50 a night.  My bed is the one on the left.  There's also an upstairs with 3 more beds. I was praying for sun and not rain (like last time) and after some big clouds blew away, it was beautiful.  Pool time. The dog was chasing a lime, jumping in the pool, then rolling on the grass  The restaurant has the best view.  Breakfast buffet is $3.95 and includes really good granola, fresh fruit, yogurt, juice, 3 kinds of toast, and all the coffee you can drink.  The view is amazing.  And the two resident labs are so friendly. I highly recommend this place if you're ever in southern Ecuador.

This is made of beer bottles! Last weekend, I went to Zamora, an interesting little town about an hour and a half from Loja by bus.  Zamora is at the junction of the rainforest and the Andes mountains, with an altitude about 4,000 feet.  It's home to Podocarpus National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.  It's a birders paradise; there's also lots of other wildlife.    On the busride over the mountain, the landscape changed quickly from trees to ferns and palm trees, with waterfalls everywhere.  From the bus window alone, I saw about 20 waterfalls, some huge, some little trickles.   Getting off the bus, you immediately feel the humidity.  The temperature itself is not that different than Loja (when it's cloudy anyway), but the minute you start moving, you sweat.  When the sun comes out, the temperature increases by about 10 degrees instantly.   The first place I went to in town was the Tzanka Animal Rehab Center.  I paid the $2