language skills

Hablo mucho. Every day. And it hurts my brain. But after ten (?) days on the road, I can feel the cobwebs lifting. I can speak some Spanish. Today while driving to these strange towns between Mindo and the coast, my driver Jairon helped me figure out a few past tense verbs. I`m tired of talking in the present tense all the time. It makes me feel tongue tied.

I bought a silly Spanish phrase book that was published in 1958. No internet terms there, but I do know how to be demanding and non-gracious in a restaurant. There´s a serious lack of politeness in this book, but I liked the type and some of the phrases still seem to apply.

Between hanging out with British Sophie and speaking Spanish all day, my English is getting strange. Vale la pena?

on the move

Today Sophie and I caught a bus out of the ever-celebrating Otavalo and landed ourselves in a gorgeous hacienda to the north. We´ve been seeing a lot of pretty, crumbling Spanish architecture, much of which has been turned into nice hideouts for tourists.

We took a standing room only bus with the locals to this little town...me squatting on my backpack while Sophie helped a little girl tie her bracelet.

Heading back into the weaving villages this afternoon, and I´m wishing I had time to shop for some piece of cloth. Alas, I´ll just keep shopping for food...I may turn into a giant empanada by the time I got home. Tried chica yesterday straight from huge roiling cauldrons heated by wood fires. Still digesting like a normal person, but you always wonder when eating what will put you over the edge. It´s a weird hypochondria that plagues travelers...never ending attention to the gut.

i´m working!

I´m in Otavalo during what must be one of the craziest weekends of the year. It´s the fiesta del yamor, a celebration of a local beverage made of corn. No, I haven´t tried any yet, but it´s on my to do list, don´t worry. Tonight there´s a parade, the crowning of a yamor queen and other celebrations.

I´ve been running around town like mad today, learning the ropes as a new author. I´m getting it down, from the hotel visit to plying other tourists for info. I can see that I´m going to have little time for lounging around.

It´s lovely to be here. You can see three volcanos from town and the people are friendly and used to dealing with tourists. I took a break from research and perused the local food market...chicken feet, more kinds of beans and grains than I´ve ever seen. Some vats of spices and plenty of legumes. I coffeed inside the market with a traveler named Don, who is retired and doesn´t have a home. He arrived yesterday after a harrowing bus ride through Colombia. I´m happy I don´t have to make any border crossings on this trip.

Anyway, must get back to it. Looking forward to seeing Sophie tonight at our cute hotel.

ｓｏｍｅｐｌａｃｅ ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ

I'm finally in Ecuador. After much planning and a growing packing pile in the corner of my office, I arrived last night on a late flight. Once we touched down, I realized, hey, this is Quito. I know this place.

It's so invigorating to be someplace foreign, to be a strange looking, tall white/pink person with puffy blond hair. I love knowing that my little daily reality is not the only reality, and with some time in a plane seat, you can suddenly become an outsider.

I spent the morning visiting a few tour companies. Of course, they're excited to learn I'm with LP. I discovered a new jungle lodge not listed in my territory, and am wishing I had more time to escape into the jungle and see strange floating plants and dolphins.

For now I'm happy with things like my lunch, a huge plate of delicately spiced lentils, rice and pieces of fried fish for $3. Of course, I doused the food with aji, the tart/spicy side sauce that you see on most Ecuadorian tables. The altitude has been making me quite winded, especially while hiking up the huge hills in Old Town. Tomorrow, as I feel normal, I may move on. Time to hit my territory．

cycling misfits

Last weekend Tony and I packed up a rented mini van and headed to Napa for the Single Speed World Championships. Haven't heard of the international event? It was my first time attending (as a spectator...have yet to try single speeding except on my 1968 Schwinn with coaster brakes), which put me in prime position to record the details for The New York Times.

Here's the story, complete with a fantastic slideshow by photographer Peter DaSilva.

whetting my appetite

People keep asking: "What kind of food will you eat in Ecuador?" I never know exactly what to say. Over a dozen varieties of corn? Brothy stews made with mysterious meats? Tripe in peanut sauce? Lo mein from chifas? The famous cuy, or guinea pig, roasted on a spit? Fruit fruit and more fruit? Ecuadorian food is a delicious hodgepodge.

This recent piece in The New York Times reminded me of what will soon hit my palate, and that Ecuadorian buses are comfortable-bordering-on-luxurious. AC and reclining seats? Bring on the overnight rides.

I remember one lovely overnight from Quito to the coast. The driver steered through fog for hours and I slept deeply. I woke to a hazy sunrise and fishermen delivering their morning catches by bicycle.

hitting the road

I'm happy to announce that I'm heading to Ecuador this fall for six weeks. The trip feels official today because 1) I've signed a contract with Lonely Planet guidebooks to write two chapters of the country's guidebook and 2) I just booked my plane ticket.

As my first foreign assignment for Lonely Planet, I've been noticing telling reactions from the people I tell about the adventure. They range from, "I'll start saving the ransom money for the Colombian drug runners," to "I hate you. How can I get that kind of job?"

I'm sure I'll experience an equal range of emotions while I'm there, but of course, I consider the trip an amazing opportunity. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Right now, I'm diving into my two regions, both of which I visited four years ago, as much as one can do from a desk.

I was particularly taken with this impressive piece of reportage in Vanity Fair about Texaco's sordid history in Ecuador (think about the publication's legal department picking over the text). When I spent a few days in the cloud forests outside of Quito, I saw the famous pipeline that pumps crude through the rain forest, across many mountains and to the ocean. It's still pumping, and for a good portion of my trip, I'll be in the jungle, where oil has ruled the local landscape since 1972.

On a lighter note, I'm already thinking about the food. Ecuador is not a country known for its cuisine, but it does have regional impressive specialties, as Calvin Trillin remembers in The New Yorker.