August 10, 2006 - Changing Plans
Well, today is a day of changed plans and a good bit of driving around. We have breakfast at Hotel Tren Dorado in Riobamba and then Walter picks us up after going to the early Mass. We head north from Riobamba and make a quick stop in the town of Mocha, which is famous for the Ecuadorian delicacy of cuy (that guinea pig to us Americans). We stop at a roadside stand where four cuy are roasting on a rotisserie sort of mechanism. Too bad it’s still mid morning so we’re not hungry! We also sample a snack that reminds me a bit of corn nuts.
Ecuadorian countryside
Cuy on the barbie!
Next Walter wants to take us to see the Santa Lucia church in Tisaleo. The first road to the town is blocked by roadwork, but he gets us to Tisaleo via another route. The Santa Lucia church is nice, but I’m really not sure why Walter wanted so much to show it to us. We speculate that maybe because Santa Lucia and Walter have the same birthday, that it has a special significance to Walter? Hard to say.
Santa Lucia church
Now we head to Hacienda Leito, where we plan to stay for the next two nights, and after checking in there, we’ll head to Pillaro to see the running of the bulls and bullfights in celebration of one of Ecuador’s Independence days (they have a few). When we get to Ambato, Walter speaks to someone who tells him that the events in Pillaro won’t happen until tomorrow (Friday), so we decide to check in at the hacienda and then look around Ambato a bit. Well, then we had a bit of difficulty in finding how to get to the hacienda, on top of which it turns out to be quite a distance out of the way. It’s across the Rio Pastaza valley, following a winding road along steep hillsides, the last number of miles being on rough cobblestones. Toward the end there were several spots where it was muddy and some roadwork was taking place and we weren’t totally sure we’d make it to the hacienda. At one spot Walter and John hopped out and moved a few shovel-fulls of dirt to make a way for the car to get through. Well, we made it to the hacienda, but then our rooms weren’t ready and we decided it was too distant to stay there, have Walter drive back and forth, and be able to go see Pillaro, Ambato, etc. Plus there was some construction at the hacienda, which took away from its atmosphere a bit. So we cancelled our rooms at the hacienda and decided to stay in Ambato for the next couple nights. So we headed back to Ambato. We did make a stop at Salasaca, where they are known for their weavings and we picked up some things there.
John and Walter doing a little impromptu road work
Hacienda Leito, the place we didn´t stay at
A view of the Rio Pastaza valley from near Hacienda Leito
Mom shopping in Salasaca
In Ambato, there were a few hotels in the Miraflores suburb that we decided seemed like good places to look at staying. Mom mentioned she’d like the Villa Hilda, mentioned in her book. We found several other places, but apparently the Villa Hilda is no more, so we spent a good bit of time circling around, looking for it. Then we decided to go with the Hotel Florida, which we stopped at. It was a nice place, but then Walter mentioned the Ambato Hotel, which is in downtown Ambato. Mom liked the idea of staying there, so we heading back to downtown and found the hotel. All the driving and changing plans were a bit taxing! Well, we got rooms at the Ambato Hotel, though not before a bit of confusion between Mom and the front desk folks as to what rooms we wanted. Walter then dropped us off at the El Alamo restaurant, where we had a late lunch. Walter then took us back to the hotel and it was decided that we would look around Ambato the next morning before heading to Pillaro around noon. After a rest, John and I took a walk around downtown Ambato, while Mom rested. During our walk we came across the Museo de Ciencias Hector Vasquez Salazar, a museum with a variety of stuff animals, etc. We had some time, so we went in and talked to the guy at the front desk, who it turns out lived in Boston for awhile when he was younger. The museum was interesting. It had one section with mutated animals, including a bull with an extra horn coming out the top of its head and a third eye in its forehead. Very weird! We then walked back to hotel, made use of the free internet (I got my last couple days taken care of) and then the three of us had dinner at the hotel restaurant, though we were still somewhat full from lunch. Mom had some chicken she really liked while I had crème of asparagus soup and John had a sandwich. Time to call it a night and get ready for another busy day tomorrow.
Mom and John in front of Hotel Ambato
Ecuadorian countryside
Cuy on the barbie!
Next Walter wants to take us to see the Santa Lucia church in Tisaleo. The first road to the town is blocked by roadwork, but he gets us to Tisaleo via another route. The Santa Lucia church is nice, but I’m really not sure why Walter wanted so much to show it to us. We speculate that maybe because Santa Lucia and Walter have the same birthday, that it has a special significance to Walter? Hard to say.
Santa Lucia church
Now we head to Hacienda Leito, where we plan to stay for the next two nights, and after checking in there, we’ll head to Pillaro to see the running of the bulls and bullfights in celebration of one of Ecuador’s Independence days (they have a few). When we get to Ambato, Walter speaks to someone who tells him that the events in Pillaro won’t happen until tomorrow (Friday), so we decide to check in at the hacienda and then look around Ambato a bit. Well, then we had a bit of difficulty in finding how to get to the hacienda, on top of which it turns out to be quite a distance out of the way. It’s across the Rio Pastaza valley, following a winding road along steep hillsides, the last number of miles being on rough cobblestones. Toward the end there were several spots where it was muddy and some roadwork was taking place and we weren’t totally sure we’d make it to the hacienda. At one spot Walter and John hopped out and moved a few shovel-fulls of dirt to make a way for the car to get through. Well, we made it to the hacienda, but then our rooms weren’t ready and we decided it was too distant to stay there, have Walter drive back and forth, and be able to go see Pillaro, Ambato, etc. Plus there was some construction at the hacienda, which took away from its atmosphere a bit. So we cancelled our rooms at the hacienda and decided to stay in Ambato for the next couple nights. So we headed back to Ambato. We did make a stop at Salasaca, where they are known for their weavings and we picked up some things there.
John and Walter doing a little impromptu road work
Hacienda Leito, the place we didn´t stay at
A view of the Rio Pastaza valley from near Hacienda Leito
Mom shopping in Salasaca
In Ambato, there were a few hotels in the Miraflores suburb that we decided seemed like good places to look at staying. Mom mentioned she’d like the Villa Hilda, mentioned in her book. We found several other places, but apparently the Villa Hilda is no more, so we spent a good bit of time circling around, looking for it. Then we decided to go with the Hotel Florida, which we stopped at. It was a nice place, but then Walter mentioned the Ambato Hotel, which is in downtown Ambato. Mom liked the idea of staying there, so we heading back to downtown and found the hotel. All the driving and changing plans were a bit taxing! Well, we got rooms at the Ambato Hotel, though not before a bit of confusion between Mom and the front desk folks as to what rooms we wanted. Walter then dropped us off at the El Alamo restaurant, where we had a late lunch. Walter then took us back to the hotel and it was decided that we would look around Ambato the next morning before heading to Pillaro around noon. After a rest, John and I took a walk around downtown Ambato, while Mom rested. During our walk we came across the Museo de Ciencias Hector Vasquez Salazar, a museum with a variety of stuff animals, etc. We had some time, so we went in and talked to the guy at the front desk, who it turns out lived in Boston for awhile when he was younger. The museum was interesting. It had one section with mutated animals, including a bull with an extra horn coming out the top of its head and a third eye in its forehead. Very weird! We then walked back to hotel, made use of the free internet (I got my last couple days taken care of) and then the three of us had dinner at the hotel restaurant, though we were still somewhat full from lunch. Mom had some chicken she really liked while I had crème of asparagus soup and John had a sandwich. Time to call it a night and get ready for another busy day tomorrow.
Mom and John in front of Hotel Ambato
posted by Bob at 5:56 AM
3 Comments:
Keep up the good work, love hearing about what you guys are up to!
Hey Bob...any way you can put up higher resolution pics?
I´ll see what I can do. Some of these connections are rather slow, so even these pics take a little while to upload.
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