Ecuador - Guayaquil and Cuenca
Goodbye, Argentina! We’ve had a lot of fun, but it was time to move on and catch up with our originally scheduled route. Covid had us reroute within Argentina instead of touring Chile. Our tickets to Ecuador originated from Santiago, Chile. Changing that leg was neither easy nor cheap, so we kept it. Unfortunately, it left early in the morning and staying even a day in Chile would have introduced complications and costs with Covid testing and the works. Instead, we took a late night flight from Mendoza and got a few hours of sleep in the international transit terminal of Santiago airport to get us back on track. The kids did remarkably well sleeping on some benches with the fluorescent bulbs burning bright.
The whole ordeal to get from Mendoza, Argentina, to Guayaquil, Ecuador, took over 24 hours, including 8 hours in the air split between 4 airports. We were all happy to be at our final destination and in much better shape than we anticipated… until we got to the car rental counter and they said they did not have a car for us.
Jon’s stern side came out and after an hour and a half they found us a car. Even though we packed light, it was quite a feat to get it all loaded into our tiny Chevy Spark. We managed and by now, the moods had shifted from grateful to be in town to exhausted and ready for bed.
We could tell immediately that driving in Guayaquil was not for the meek and Jon’s driving skills were put to the test. Weaving motorcycles, the disregard for road signage, and seemingly meaningless road striping was a stressful affair at first, but soon became natural. Driving in Guayaquil felt like a one endless game of chicken. Jon credits his skills to the many years of witnessing Bangkok traffic in his youth. The residual anger at the rental car company could have also aided in his ability to drive aggressively, while the size of Sparky helped us squeeze in anywhere.
By night, Guayaquil was intimidating. The traffic was terrible, the road geometry was completely alien (including on Google Maps), the pedestrians were fearless, and the streets seemed dark and scary. We arrived at our AirBnb for the night and were thankful that we had a safe place to rest for the night.
After a good night’s sleep, we ventured out to brunch and received a new view of the city. Our impressions of Guayaquil had flipped overnight as we woke up to a vibrant and colorful town. Music was blaring, the smells of good food wafted through the air, and the flurry of activity in the town brought a charm to the city. Near our apartment were many sewing and cloth shops, quaint and rich with color. Lauren was impressed by the wares and how well-stocked they were compared to the options she had available at home. Our mission for the morning was to find breakfast and our first, hot meal in Ecuador. We found a corner bakery with dine-in service, and we had a delicious brunch with our first taste of bolónes. Bolónes are a traditional Ecuadorian dish of fried and mashed plantains, typically paired with a thick, hearty stew of beef or goat, and a fried egg. YUM.
We were very near the Catedral Católica Metropolitana de Guayaquil (Guayaquil Cathedral) and Parque Seminario (Seminary Park). A friend of a friend (Thanks, Jim!) had told us about Parque Seminario and we knew the kids would get a kick out of it. We walked into the park making nothing of it, and soon the kids got very excited. At first we just saw one, and then we realized they were everywhere. Iguanas. Take a look at the tree picture below and see how many you can count.
Still not quite over our exhausting travel day, we were not sad to have some afternoon downtime in the way of a long drive to our next stop, a farm stay outside the city of Cuenca. After escaping the crazy city traffic, we began the ascend the Andes Mountains. Along the way, fruit stands lined the roadside. They were gorgeous and plentiful with plump, colorful fruit carefully arranged at the front of their stands to attract the impulsive driver to pull over. As we drove on, we began to see the trees that provided the papaya, guava, mango, and others. Then we passed many banana farms. A little farther up the mountain, we began seeing another sort of fruit growing we could not identify. After a few minutes, Lauren recognized it from a book she had read with Louise. It was cacao trees! We were surprised to see the size of the bean pods and how they grew tight against the trunks and major branches of the trees.
Cacao Trees
Harry Potter and The Scorcerer’s Stone kept the kids quiet and engaged as we continued climbing the mountain, but eventually the girls couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. When they woke up hungry, we stopped by a fruit stand and asked the vendor what the round, brown fruit was and how to eat it. They gladfully sliced it open and we discovered a new fruit, sapodilla. Larson declared it’s one of his new favorites.
The drive was better paved than our mountain road through Salta, Argentina, but the grades were so steep at times that we wondered whether our car, Sparky, would make it up the mountain! As the altimeter continued to rise, we entered the thick clouds that blanketed the mountains and 30m of visibility, which added to our adventure. Most of the time, large boulders that had fallen down from the mountain were marked with construction pylons and warning signs, but we had to be on the lookout for the more recent debris. Several times, Jon would abruptly have to hit the brakes and throw on the hazard lights until we knew that we could safely avoid the fresh obstacles. Add to it, the local drivers did not seem to worry about passing in heavy traffic with little to no sight distance! For Jon, the drive through Guayaquil and through the Andes Mountains of Ecuador had turned into a rite of passage for becoming a Latin American driver; a badge that he proudly claims today!
We skirted the city of Cuenca and climbed farther up until we reached our Airbnb, nearing 10,000 feet in elevation. We were concerned with Sparky making the trip and it was only in the last steep driveway up to the rental that we needed another run to make it; three attempted runs to get to the top of the gravel driveway, in fact, but we made it.
We were charmed with our lodgings immediately. It was rustic and cozy with a wood burning stove and hammock on the front deck. An irrigation stream trickled next to the house. We walked down to the owners’ house and they introduced us to their newest addition, a calf born that morning, as well as two other recently born calves.
After getting settled in to our new digs, they brought us fresh, raw milk with a home-cooked dinner. Between the meal and cozying up next to the wood stove, we were fully satisfied and looked forward to our stay after a long few days of travel.
The next day we ventured back down the mountain to Cuenca to tour the city and stock up on food for the next days at the farm. Our first stop set us back a few bucks as we couldn’t resist the fashionable Pancho and stuffed guinea pig doll made of alpaca wool. Fun fact: Guinea pig is a delicacy in Ecuador! We walked all over town stopping to check out a street market, some pigeons being fed, Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, and the plaza next to it.
We also stopped into a cocoa museum. The museum was not open for tours, but we were able to get some chocolate to sample anyway. The salesperson was very friendly and told us a bit more about cocoa and the process they use to refine it. We also got a hands on look at the cacao pods.
Throughout the day, we had seen what looked like gelato in unrefrigerated clear boxes being served on the street in Cuenca. As we were heading back to our farm, we saw another street vendor surrounded by kids in their school uniforms, and the curiosity got the best of us. The dessert is named espumilla and was served in an ice cream cone with sprinkles, coconut shavings, and a touch of jelly. Espumilla is a traditional Ecuadorian meringue cream dessert made of fruit pulp, egg whites, and sugar. The fluffy, sweet treat was well-received by the Murberts and gave a much needed sugar boost!
Every morning at our farmstay started out with the most hearty breakfast consisting of eggs, yogurt, cheese, butter, and raw milk all produced by the farm. Served with fruit, cinnamon rolls, and fresh loaves of homemade bread, this rich breakfast kept us full until dinner!
Milking happened twice a day on the farm and we checked it out a few times. The kids helped out by putting the feed in the trough for the cows. They each got the opportunity to milk a cow by hand and drink the fresh milk they gathered. Viola even let them hop on her back for a photo op.
The property had a few marked trails that we took the time to explore. There was a lot of elevation change, and as we were already at 10,000 ft, the hikes were slow and we were winded. The vistas at the top were well worth the effort as we could see the peaks that surrounded the entire area with Cuenca nestled in the bottom of the bowl.
We had a chance to take it slow and easy, and marvel at the open space that was all around us. We had fun finding nature items. Colette first found a pinecone as big as her head. Then we found a really little one. Then we decided we needed to find all of the sizes in between.
The last book Lauren read before the trip was Miss Benson’s Beetle. The book is about a lady who leaves home to go across the world on an adventure in search of a golden beetle. It was fun to read as we were packing up for the start of our big trip as Miss Benson described some of our own worries in the novel. What a big surprise it was when what looked like a bedazzled gem on Louise’s shirt turned out to be a golden beetle!
One of the best parts of this stay was the playmates that the kids found along the way. The owners of this farm were from the US and had children similar in age, who also spoke English. The kids quickly made friends and spent many hours playing outside. They built dams in the stream and played a game of trying to float a ball down the mountain. They played Risk and Chess and Tag, and Night at the Museum. By nightfall, we would have to call them all in for dinner and made sure that they took thorough showers before cuddling up to bed.
Some poor planning on Lauren’s part had us driving back to Guayaquil on her birthday [Really it was because she was excited to get to one of her most anticipated destinations of our trip]. Jon and the kids woke her with wildflowers and a poem, then it was off to packing and hitting the road. On the drive back we stopped by Cajas National Park, but no one had a hike in them. Since we were at the top of a mountain peak, Jon insisted on Lauren doing an instagrammable pose for our non-existent social media accounts. We snapped some photos and got back on the road.
Skipping the hike turned out to be a good decision as we got back to the city later than expected and had major confusion with the AirBnB host about our car parking situation. Fortunately, we got some help from a nice businessman that sensed our quandary and spent over an hour ensuring our car was securely parked for the night. He said that this was his way of paying forward all the times that he had visited the US and received helped from strangers in navigating his way around. We were so grateful for the aid from this gentleman and we encourage all our friends reading this blog to pay forward the same generosity to all the lost travelers of the world.
We took a short walk on the Malecón 2000, a river walk near our apartment. Dinner was leftovers, but the internet was good and the kids watched a movie while mom and dad enjoyed a bottle of wine to celebrate Lauren’s 40th.
Next stop…The Galápagos Islands!