But the old guy can dance! 

Ok, can't wait anymore.  I've been trying to upload pics and videos, but the signal is just bad.  Doesn't look like I can find a better one either.

March 20, cloudy, cool and it finds me more in a mood to add to my blog than traipsing around town.  I owe myself a respite after really outdoing myself yesterday.  The feast of St. Joseph's found me taking a great adventure riding a train through the Andes to a little town called Selinas.

It started inocently enough with a $0.35 bus ride to Ibarra, about a half hour from "home".  Then a $1 cab ride to the train station.  I was told I had to make a reservation and didn't expect to travel yesterday.  When I asked for a reservation at the ticket desk the little lady asked, "Hoy?".  Well sure, why not?  $20 round trip ticket but because I'm old I received a discount of $10.  Huh!

The regular train was down for maintenance so a "trolley" was my iron horse for the day.

 There were 20 of us or so which gave me the chance to move around to any of the glassless windows for viewing and pictures.  We traveled at about 20 mph so it was easy to move around.  Holy smoke!  Riding on the edge of the Andes, overlooking bottomless ravines and into immense valleys, slipping through long black tunnels and over really rickety tressles I don't know how high up, it was a real kick.  The following video shows a great shot of the bridge we were about to cross.

After 2.5 hours we arrived at the very tiny town of Salinas.  It has a Negro history and the people there are much darker than others in Ecuador.  We were greeted by a number of pretty ladies all decked out in traditional garb and they danced their traditional "Bomba".  After a couple of dances they grabbed the hands of a number of tourists and dragged them up to join the dance.  Oh yeah,  I was one of them.  For twenty minutes yours truly did the white man's version of the "Bomba".  Hey, this old man can dance.  No videos of me dancing, sadly...  However here are the young ladies strutting and some of the real Ecuadoreans.

 

We went on a walking tour of the town and a visit to their museum.  This town is hundreds of years old and as I said it has a Black history.  Guess whose picture is hung prominently...

After a soup and porkchop lunch it was off on the return trip.  Such a great experience.  Hopped a cab and a bus and arrived back home after an eight hour day.  Well spent.

Stopped at my gellato spot and the owner gave me a beautiful book of a guide to the traditional parishes of Quito.  I told you how friendly these Ecuadorean people are.

What I have learned:

- Met several people living here and scooped their email adresses for future resourcing.
- Streets are all named and houses have numbers.  Don't think they deliver mail though.
- Hooked up with an immigration guy who also manages shipping containers.
- Solid Rock Restaurant is the Gringo hangout similar to Grecia's and the best thing is they use real blueberries in their pancakes.
- Blueberries grow in abundance in the mountains and they are all organic and found in the markets.
- I did find a gringo that knows it all, will tell you it all, made and lost fortunes, fought in VN and has PTSD and blames everybody for it.  He tried to advise me on investing money, finding women, buying silver and building condos.  Cheesh, sometimes I wonder if I have a target on my back.  He's the only one though and everyone else I've met could be good friends.
-Only really good art supplies store is in Quito, many hours away.
-Chuck and Gayle, a couple I met a few times and who were staying in my b and b left for home yesterday and gave me a lasoo for my camera so I can hang it around my neck and a bunch of handy things like clothes pins and clothes line.  See, most of the ones I've met are amazingly nice.
-I'm really missing my friends in Grecia

Cotacachi as of today:   8 out of 10

8,000+ feet

It didn't occur to me till yesterday that I settled in to a little town that sits at better than 8,000 feet altitude.  All the reading I had done and the chats I've had with friends who have been here to Cotacachi cautioned about the possible effects of the high altitude.  I was prepared for the worst having bags of tea available that were given to me specifically for treating altitude sickness and also armed with the name of a medication that would make it all better.  Having walked this town extensively now, spending many hours touring, I realized this morning that being way up high in the Andes has had no effect on me.  None.  Then again my appetite is way off.  Don't think it's because of the altitude.

We are in the middle of the cool season here which goes from December to April.  It's jacket weather.  68 degrees for the high daytime and in the 50s at night.  I don't think it's too cool for my friend Gloria.  If it is, there's tons of beautiful jackets and sweaters and gloves and anything else that might help.  This really is a shoppers heaven and I think one day I may sport a leather jacket.  They have my size!

I've met a number of Gringos, all friendly and helpful, but yesterday was a banner day.  Dennis and Priscilla live here and own an apartment and also one for rent.  These folks are from North Kingston, Rhode Island.  How cool is that?  They took me on an insider's tour of the town and then asked me over to their apt. complex.  I could live there today, it's that nice.  They live on the fourth floor and have a beautiful place with a rooftop patio overlooking two volcanoes and the town.

However, apt. number two on the second floor is even nicer.  Two bedroom, big airy living room, granite top counter and island, great appliances and all furnished with great comfortable furniture.  Best of all it has a big sun room that would be perfect for a painting studio. 
 
The four building complex is very secure, mostly gringos and has spectacular gardens.  It is one  half block from leather street and actually on the edge of town.  Very, very convenient for someone that does not want to own another car.

Went to my favorite breakfast place and encountered the "fly" guy for the second time.  He's my buddy Jimito in another form.  This fellow, Bob, wanders into the restaurant, walks to the back, grabs a fly swatter, walks around and kills a couple of flies and then leaves.  Nope, no breakfast and no hellos to anyone.  Jimito is not the only one in this world that hunts down those little critters.  There are no bugs in Cotacachi.  Only the occasional house fly, but nothing else.  Not an ant, no bees, nothing.  Fewer dogs than in Grecia, but they are common.

Met another couple, from Alabama, and the wife was treated twice here at the hospital and was charged nothing.  They were impressed with the cleanliness and the attentive staff.

Today is an easy day.  I've been walking so much, more than I would in a month, and I'm tired.  I still have a lot to do so I've decided to rest on St. Paddy's Day.  However there are a number of bars having SPD celebrations later today and I'm not against tossing a couple.

What I've learned:
-  Cotacachi is what Grecia probably was fifteen to twenty years ago.
- Not much traffic, regular buses, not many motor cycles.  The picture      
     below is on a Sunday morning at about 8 AM.

- Grocery stores are small, but have all the daily necessities
      Found chicken and hamburg all shrink wrapped in styro containers.

- Major shopping is done in Otavalo, a town that I have not visited as yet.
- People, including construction workers, are very neatly dressed,                
     many in indigenous garb. Yes Jake, cowboy stuff is available too...

 

- The gellato store is going to be a once a day stop.
- Most I've spent on a meal is $6 and that's because I had two batidos.
- It's still weird spending American Dollars.
- My bad Spannish works well in Cotacachi.

Cotacachi as of 3/18:  9 out of 10

It's twelve hours before leaving Costa Rica for Ecuador and I'm sure I'm not the first to feel the proverbial butterflies about this new adventure.  Didn't sleep last night and I'm not optimistic about tonight.  It's not like I could use a good night's sleep before the trip.

I said my goodbyes with lots of hugs and good wishes and now it's just a matter of passing the time.  Ten o'clock departure with a nine pm arrival and then an hour and a half to Cotacachi and the b and b.  My layover is in Bogata, Columbia.  I don't expect any delays at customs, it's not the US after all.  I also got a haircut from Joyce today and she made me look harmless.  My next entry will be from the middle of the world...

Cruised right on through Bogata and then Quito airports only to have the ride of my life in a taxi.  Traffic laws are nonexistant for taxi drivers in Ecuador also.  Possibly even worse than Costa Rica.  Passing on double yellow lines on curves, racing through redlights and who knows what else went on while I had my eyes shut.  Then again, safe and sound at the
b and b right on time.

Today, Saturday, I have walked a few of the streets of Cotacachi, first to find a coffee and breakfast.  Now that I know nothing opens before 8 am I won't be heading out again at 6 am like I did today.  It is so quiet in town.  Hardly a car and but for an occasional bus, nothing. 

Eventually the kids headed for school, the locals, many dressed in traditional garb, started turning the streets into a busy morning of people going to work.  What beautiful clothing these folk wear. 

Things I learned the first couple of days:
- Avianca gives good flight service
- Avianca's in flight food sucks
- Avianca's movies are free and I finally watched "Gravity" on a teeny  weeny screen.
- There are a lot of very beautiful women in the Bogota, Columbia airport.
- My room is a bit noisy at night (I was greeted at 5:30 this morning by the Costa Rican national anthem being played.  For those not in the know, that's a car alarm playing for an ungodly amount of time.)

- Rubbish trucks play music as they pick up their goods.
- Serendipity is the place for breakfast.

Gloria, the Ecuadorean waitress, is a sweetheart.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have the chocolate chip pancakes.
- Needed a jacket at 6 am and removed it at 8:30 because of a bright and warming sun overhead.
- The enclosed Mercado had outstanding choices of fruit and vegetables.  

 Didn't see any meats.  Don't know yet where that is sold. 
- There's a food court at the Mercado and an example of one of the booths, "La Parrilla", has dishes: hamburger with fries, $2.50, BBQ wings and fries, $2.25, chicken nuggets, $2.00.
- It is very strange using the American Dollar here.  What do I do with these pennies.  Hmmm, use em for tips...

Just had a downpour lasting about 30 minutes.  Sun is back out.  Time to start thinking about lunch.  Walking is tiring.  Solid Rock Cafe dished up a great waffle with bacon.  Yes, that was my lunch. 

Cotacachi as of 3/15   Overall my rating is 8 out of 10.

The excitement of the trip

I leave for Ecuador on March 14th. 

Why have a plan?  Serendipity is more fun than planning and getting nervous and worked up over what comes next.  So goes my pending trip to a little country in South America.  What?  Even I think that.  But why not go with the whim?

Ecuador, on the West coast of SA, just south of Columbia, is right smack dab on the equator. 

If I looked a little further south I would be moving closer to a snowy country.  Ecuador is in the middle of the North Pole and the South Pole.  As far as I can get from frozen ground.

I'm still almost two weeks from leaving and I've started packing.  Excited, oh yeah.  You know the excitement of going on vacation.  I'm a little lightheaded, actually shaking in my boots.  I just can't read any more about my destination, I'm on overload.

This blog is more a journal of my trip.  It's designed to inform my little family of what's happening in the strange life of Gramp and for my friends in Costa Rica, especially those that are also considering a move to Ecuador.  I have sworn to post religiously and both the positive and negative of my stay.  I hope to post pics as well, mostly with me not being in them.
 

Feel free to follow my adventure. 

Tico Joe