Cuy, an Andean delicacy

My wife was visiting North Carolina and was invited to speak to our granddaughter's 4th grade class about life and work in Ecuador among the Quichua people. All that was fun but on the way home our grandson made clear that she couldn't come to his class to speak. She thought that the children had really enjoyed the information and the activities she provided so she was surprised by his comment. Then he told her that they had a pet guinea pig in their class and that if she came to speak to his class he was sure she would eat the pet guinea pig. Not to worry, she didn't and she doesn't like "cuy", the Spanish name for guinea pig. Yet this is one of the delicacies of Ecuador and other Andean countries. We have Quichua friends even in the city who raise cuy on their roof tops and in closets within their homes. Cuy is a favorite dish and pretty easy to raise. This animal reproduces about as quickly as rabbits do. In one of the communities where we have worked a friend of ours has developed what we call "Cuy Hotels". He takes a 55 gallon drum and cuts it lengthwise. With screen wire he covers the open half as well as cutting out a portion of the remaining barrel and screening it in. Then he places as many as eight cuy inside, sets the screened side on the ground and instantly has protection for the cuy (from dogs mainly), containment for them and they have food. Every day he moves the cage over to more new grass and doesn't have to forage for food for the cuy daily. At the same time he is fertilizing the ground. If you visit an Quichua home you are likely to be offered cuy for a meal if you are a special guest or if it is a special occasion. What does it taste like? Well.... I think it is like greasy chicken myself. There just isn't much meat to be found on this little animals. In many parts of Ecuador you can order cuy in restaurants. It is a little more expensive than other dishes. In many parts of the country you can see open grills on the street where cuy are prepared and served. Remember, it is a specialty here and if you are offered it in a home, best dig in. Don't offend your host. I might add that it taste good so enjoy! In honor of the famous cuy of Ecuador I've place a cache by the same name. Be sure to come looking for it. Yes, they even make little cuy from gourds that they paint up. Cuy (GC2MHJY)

Baños, Ecuador

Going to be visiting Ecuador for vacation? If so a must experience is Baños, a fun town nestled between two worlds, the highlands with their soring peaks and Quichua culture and the high jungle with their many waterfalls. Baños has many hotels and hostels for the tourist. In town alone there are many things to do. Start by taking a ride on a chiva, an open-air touring party bus. Often these are made up from old bus bodies affixed to the bed of a large truck. The chivas are there to take you on a city tour complete with guide, music and fun. You can also take a ride around town in an all terrain vehicle (ATV) or a go cart. The kids like this one at night. See the old Catholic church on the main square or stroll through along the sidewalks and stop in at sidewalk cafes, candy stores stretching taffy (called melchor) or visit one of the main restaurants. The town is full of tour agencies ready to provide you fun activities just outside of town. Go by chiva or horseback with a guide to the Chamana Waterfall, take a long horseback ride up the mountain overlooking the city or a long chiva ride to see many of the waterfalls along the Waterfall Route to the east. There is plenty to do. Sign up for hang gliding, zip lining, canyoning, bungy jumping, hiking .... the list just goes on. In the evening settle down for a canela drink made with hot passion fruit juice and cinnamon. If you are a geocacher, this sport is growing among tourist coming to Baños too. Due to the good work of jimnet2005, a resident in Riobamba who frequents the Pastaza River valley, there are a growing number of geocaches that can be found. jimnet2005 likes to place his caches in places of interest, places you will want to see. For example, visit Cruz de Runtun TB Hotel (GC28NNE) and get a great view of the city of Baños and possibly a view of Tungurahua volcano above you. Or take off down the Pastaza River valley to the east to find a series of caches up the Machay River or even further down at a spectacular overlook of the widening Pastaza River. You'll love the family fun in Baños. Come check it out!

Zamora Knows the Time

While visiting the high jungle town of Zamora, Ecuador I had the chance to get out and hide a geocache. I've spent time in the jungle before and am accustomed to the heat. I really like the cool mornings and evenings we have here. It just isn't as hot as most jungle locations. The town has a beautiful park and river running through it. I made my way to the upper reaches of the town where there is a large clock embedded in the mountain. You can look up from almost anywhere in town and see the time. I thought this was a great place to place a geocache, Zamora's first! I had to watch out for muggles but was able to find a place for a micro near the clock. Due to bad signal I give instructions on how to find the cache by walking a certain distance from ground zero. It should be pretty easy. Congratulations to luzian from Switzerland for the FTF on Zamora Knows the Time (GC2FJZD)? If you get the chance to visit Zamora, it is the entrance to Podocarpus national park and is situated near a beautiful waterfall.

Tracking Ryan's Arrival TB

This past summer I released a travel bug, my first and only so far, called Ryan's Arrival (TB33FDM) . It was to celebrate the birth of our third grandson on 21 June 2010. I released it in a TB hotel near the RDU (Raleigh-Durham) airport in central North Carolina. It didn't take long to realize that one can wait a while for TBs to move. Folks were discovering it but for their own good reasons were not moving it along. Finally after a month and a half (yeah, I know; that's really not long) it was picked up and within the month was placed in Nevada. Now as far as we know it is in southern California. Each time it moves I send a note to my daughter so they can track its movement too. It's destination is to come to Quito, Ecuador. We had hoped that it would make it here before little Ryan came to visit with his parents. Earlier this month his parents, his other grandfather and he spent 14 days with us! We had a great time. I see a future geocacher coming up! Maybe this TB will make its way to our beautiful adoptive country soon. Ryan got to meet all our friends. It wasn't uncommon for him to go from arm to arm. One of my favorite photos is of him with Marie Perugachi, one of our best friends. Like any grandfather I'm proud of the boy. Check out the new born and present-day photo of the little man!

Oh Canada, EH!

Several months ago I received an email from Doogerd saying he and his family were coming down from Canada for a month and wondering if we could meet up to go geocaching. One Saturday we met up in Parque Metropolitano. Doggerd brought his family, the pastor of the English Fellowship Church in Quito, his wife (who happened to know my youngest daughter from when she was a student at the school where she works) and an Ecuadorian friend. We were nine geocachers making our way through the park from cache to cache. Each person took turns with the GPSr hunting an finding the caches. It was great to meet these folks and get to know them. Doogerd presented me with a hat badge from his medic unit and several Canadian pins. I collect these types of things so this was a very thoughtful gift. We've had a lot of rain over the last month so this also served as chance to check on the caches. Many of the caches were wet. The worst of it was that over half the caches we visited were muggled and gone. This was an abnormally high rate of mugglings. Probably we geocachers need to take better care and not let others see us finding the caches. Doogerd also hid the Oh Canada EH (GC2PBAK) in the park. It was well stoked with Canada pins and a Canada geocoin. I really enjoyed the outing a hope that Doogerd's friends enjoyed it as well. If you get a chance to visit be sure and visit the Metropolitan Park and find the numerous caches hidden there.

Chamana Waterfalls, Baños, Ecuador

I finally got to combine geocaching with horseback riding! Along with Sumajhuarmi and Rubialoca I set out from the tourist and spa town of Baños, Ecuador on horseback to ride out to the Chamana Waterfalls, just east of town. The ride took about an hour or so as we wound down the valley beside the Pastaza River. Yes, that's a picture of a teenager addicted to her text messages, even from horseback! At Ulba we crossed the main highway and began a short climb up the Chamana valley along side the Chamana River. For most of our climb we had a spectacular view of the active volcano Tungurahua above us. The snowcapped volcano was impressive, particularly with the knowledge that it frequently sends off puffs of smoke and flowing lava out the other direction from where we were. We climbed past tourist hostels and small restaurants until we arrived at the base of the waterfalls. There was a large tour group there that was canyoning. They were roped in similar to those who rapel down the mountain except for they were doing it down the canyon stream that led off of the waterfalls. It looked interesting but not interesting enough. That water had to be cold! We dismounted and secured the horses before starting up the path that takes you to the a small pool of water at the base of the first of seven waterfalls that make up Chamana Waterfall. Here people come to relax in the water on hot days. This seemed like the perfect place for a geocache so I back tracked down the path until I found a perfect location to hide the cache. The finder can step off the trail and look for the cache without being seen if he or she takes care. If you get a chance to visit Baños I suggest that you rent horses for this trip and that you check out my cache there. It is Cascadas Chamana (GC2M45Z).

Ecuador has its Cracker Barrel!!!!!

Well, maybe that is saying a little too much. On a recent trip into the southern part of Ecuador I came across a welcome sight. As we were traveling through some beautiful but somewhat lonely territory we came up on a nice looking cafe/store set back off the road a little. It had a country look to it. We couldn't help but pull off the road. Two things were going through my mind. First, this looks like a nice place to stop. Second, this looks like a nice place for a geocache hide. Upon entering the place we found that it was much more. While the food isn't what we would call Cracker Barrel food the store was a close approximation to the famous North American Interstate favorite stopover. My wife had a great time looking through the store. The prices were a little higher than we like but, hey, the stuff was imported. We talked to the owner. He said that his daughter accused him of getting the idea from the Cracker Barrel chain. He denied it. Nonetheless, it is a nice place and the gentleman was very friendly. He gave me permission to hide Ecuador has its Cracker Barrel (GC2FN1C). Be sure and stop in for a visit. See if you can find the cache too! By the way, this photo, taken from the creative commons, is of the real thing, not the Ecuadorian version.