Ecuador 2015

[Philip]

Wow. Great scene, and wonderful picture.

[PFMcFarland]

Man, something's burning! Great shot of the volcano, and a Merry Christmas to you and the family, Pablo.

PF

[titrisol]

Thanks Guys.... shot yesterday with the (almost full) moon over the eastern sierra.
The peak on the left is called cayambe and is the highest point crossed by the Equator
Cordillera Oriental

[titrisol]

A closer look at the beautiful moon rising in Xmas eve!
Cayambe and Moon

[Madrigalrose]

Managed to miss this whole thread from August. Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your trips with us!
I spent some time in Bolivia in the '80s and I will never forget the friendly people or the wonderful food.

[titrisol]

This has been a busy long weekend!
On Saturday, I took the family to a trip on the restored railroad of the north, between Ibarra and Salinas;
Sunday, took a breather and spent the day in Papallacta (hot water springs)
Monday took the trip to the Quilotoa Lagoon and came back to Cotopaxipungo
Today went to hike to the waterfalls of Rio Pita... however I twisted my ankle about 1/3 of the way
Pictures to come... lots of editing still pending
I will upload them here and write sort of a blog posts with explanations

[Julio1fer]

That panorama is pretty impressive - what a country for landscape photography!! Thanks for sharing these, and we all hope your ankle gets well soon.

[titrisol]

Let's start with Xmas Eve....
A beautiful moon greeted us as we went to Xmas Eve mass.


The mass was in the wonderful Guapulo Church (I could only manage to sneak a shot of the altar)

[titrisol]

On the 26th we went to take a tour on the old train that was built by hand betwen 1925 and 1945 to join Ibarra (in the Sierra) and San Lorenzo (in the coast); after the Quito-Ibarra part was finished. My great uncle was a civil engineer and worked in the construction of this part. He later worked in the RR for a few years and then was "drafted" to build roads.
I took that train the 80s and 90s, as it was the only wat to reach San Lorenzo. However in the 90s a road was built to reach San Lorenzo and the train schedule was erratic at best, and the trains were old and were abandoned.
Now a small portion has been restored by the government as a tourist attraction to join Otavalo and Salinas in Imbabura.

First the town of (San MIguel) Ibarra where my grandma was born, one of the few towns in Ecuador that was bult on purpose, with wide roads that are laid down in sqaures after the earthquake of 1868 that devastated the town killing 85% of the population. My great-gradnfather was one of the few survivors and was later a lawyer, and a judge. My grandfather was leading the anti-malaria campaign in the 1930s and 40s and he landed in 1943 in Ibarra, where he met my grandma, and they married a couple of years later.
The house of that family was across the street from the cathedral and is the third house on the right. However it is now falling apart

Then across the street the cathedral with the main altar devoted to St.Michael, and the side altars to the sacred heart of Jesus, and St. Mariana (Ecuadorian saint).




We took the kids to the square to have some "Helado de Paila" (similar to gelatto) which is very typical of this city and as they were playing with the doves all of them took flight... this pic was too funny not to share


Then to the train station, surrounded by all this bric-a-brac!

[titrisol]

The train ride was fun, they had taken a couple of cars and made them really fancy.... at $20 for a 20mi ride they should be making a good profit... it used to be less than $1 for a 150mi ride in the old times



Most of the ride was built by hand, and the terrain is mostly "cangahua" and sandy rocks

Even the tunnels were opened with shovels and pick-axes


And the landscape is fascinating



A arriving in Salinas we were greeted by a group of "bomba" dancers. Salinas is one of the few places were Afro-slaves were intorduced in the Andes of Ecuador. They came from Colombia in the late 1700s for the sugar cane industry.




Salinas used to be a place for salt-mining (thus its name) because of a very dry and saline soil. Salt is extracted from the soil by using water and filtration. There was very little goiter (bocio) because the amount if iodine in the soil is also high, making the salt yellowish.