QueenPuya

I was relieved to find that my backpack made the haul from Loja to Saraguro with minimal grossness, as it was packed in under the bus with several boxes of live baby chickens. I was a bit sad to leave Loja, as it was quite the nice city. The ride there, though, certainly was not. We took the twelve hour overnight bus from Quito, and the seats were a bit more comfortable than on the small commute buses, but that meant you could lean them back and so there literally was a person laying in your lap! Luckily, it wasn´t full, so I moved to the back and had two seats to myself. I couldn´t bear to watch or listen to ¨Big Mama´s House¨ dubbed into Spanish, so I started my iPod in alphabetical order by artist and dug in for the long haul. I refused to allow myself to skip any songs or albums, no matter how bad ¨Jagged Little Pill¨ is ten years later or how dearly I wanted to hear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I couldn´t really sleep, as the road was so twisty and bumpy that my head kept flopping around every time I nodded off. It would have been maddening without the iPod, but with the iPod I got into kind of this weird trance like state and just waited it out. I kind of got the idea that maybe I should write a play about riding buses in Ecuador. We´ll see. I´m feeling very creative these days, which never happens in the States (except when the newest Martha Stewart Living comes out). Maybe I should roll with it.

Believe it or not, I only made it to Ben Harper when the sun came up and we rolled into Loja. It is the fourth largest city in Ecuador, but is quite a bit smaller and cleaner than Quito. Spotless, actually. Edwin hadn´t slept either (or the night before as he was tending to Monica in the hospital...she´s fine now), so we were both kind of cranky and had to haul all our stuff around town trying to find a hotel. I thought they were full for dia de los Muertos, but I guess there was one of about ten holidays to the Virgen of Cisne going on (this doll of the Virgen that lives in a beautiful house up in the hills and inspires visions. The largest pilgrimage every year is to carry her to Loja), so many were full. Finally we settled in and had our first of many tasty, tasty meals in Loja. I ate so well! They make this great drink called Orchata...it is purple and has about eleven plants in it and makes me feel healthy and strong. Ate a lot of chicken and drank heavenly tomato tree and pineapple juices too.

That first day we took a cab over the hills down to the desert of Catamayo. Found a couple species there, but it was kind of depressing seeing how the cows had eaten this area down to about nothing. I´ll have to upload a picture of the weird zig zag patterns the cows make on the mountainsides here as they walk up and down looking for food. Everywhere I saw people burning the forests, to maybe encourage grazing or the rain. It is so depressing and so prevelent. They plant these crazy Eucalyptus and pine trees here, because they grow really fast for timber, but there is virtually no biodiversity in these new ¨forests¨. Then, they even burn these forests, which I certainly can´t understand!. I really don´t know what the solution is...education, maybe? Edwin says most people have no idea how biodiverse Ecuador is (one of the richest countries on earth, despite its size) and there are just so few resources for conservation.

The next day we went to Podocarpus National Park (named for the giant, endemic gymnosperms that used to cover the Andes. I got to see a virgin remnant of one in Bolivia...impressive). There are literally just a handful of rangers for a park the size of connecticut, and very few roads (which is good, or it would get logged and burned more than it already is!). That day, we first took a military road up, up, up to this crazy antennae high in the paramo. We got to cut through so many different habitat types, including real rainforest. Orchids, epiphytic bromeliads, birds, ferns, the whole bit. Saw cute, cute, cute little Puya cuevae high on the cold paramos and lots of other nice plants. I could photograph them all day (be prepared for the slideshow!!). This guy we hired had a nice, two cabin truck and hauled us all around through some pretty sketchy places with ease...all for seventy bucks, which isn´t too bad.

We then went in the main entrance of the park and the lone ranger at the entrance was all to glad to abandon his post and jump in the car to come with us! We drove way up, and then hiked straight up the mountain to a gorgeous view of the continental divide and mile after mile of forest. We heard parrots and saw all kinds of lovely birds soaring about. Such a magical experience, even if the hike was brutal. Seriously, they don´t believe in switchbacks here..its straight up or nothing. Good thing the giant biting flies motivated us to keep moving! Found a couple of nice species up there and what might be the first registered hybrid of the two...I promised Edwin I´d name it after him, if it is! It was such an amazing place. I gave the ranger a pretty hefty (by Ecuadorian standards) donation to the park. I like to give money to the Nature Conservancy, and they help fund this park, so I figured I´d cut out the middleman and help at the source. I hope to do likewise in other parks we visit...I think you get a lot of bang for your buck out here.

Spent a pretty brutal morning pressing all the plants. It takes hours and the spines and bulkiness of the plants makes it ever so hard. You go through a ton of newspaper and the plant press gets high really fast. Then there is the ever present worry about mold. You can treat the whole plant with alcohol to disinfect it, but this discolors it and would be a real pain. So, we bundled them all up when they were flat, put them in a bag, addressed it to Edwin´s brother and put in on the next night bus to Quito. Apparently this is totally standard, but it makes me very nervous. He will take them and get them in the drier at Quito before the mold sets in, hopefully. It is hard to part with my hard won plants, but necessary.

Now we are in Saraguro, which has a very distinctive indigenous population. They dress mostly in black, men and women wear long braids and black felt hats and the men wear short cutoff pants. Supposedly they wear black as mourning for Atahualpa, the Incan king who founded Quito and was murdered by the Spanish. (perhaps more cool Incan facts later). We´ve got our car hired for tomorrow and we should hit the record of six species. Tonight we are eating at Mama Cuchara, a cooperative run by indigenous women to benefit its members and keep them from being abused. I was adventurous and ate a few bites of cow stomach stew for breakfast this morning, but I think i´ll stick to good old chicken tonight!

Happy trails, all, and more later!

Love,
Rachel