Activity

It´s really amazing the strength of people. I rode one of those four wheel moto whatevers today and on the way down the mountain, this man was carrying a huge barrel on his back. I´m not sure what was in it, but it wasn´t empty. Women here strap 2 and 3 children to their backs with scarves, blankets. The indigenous women who wear fidoras carry the heaviest of loads, it seems. Up the sinuous curves of mountains, across streams, through city streets. I´m humbled. Carrying 3 full bags of groceries 14 blocks is a workout for me.

Even the pigeons are lean here.

After the moto ride, I went into the mountains with a group for a little camping. We were seven in total: 2 from Baños, an Italian, a Swiss, an American (me), one from Quito and a Colombian. As for names, I´ve met so many people in the last month, my head´s aswim but I´ll give it a go. Luis & Malvado, Juliette, Manuelita, Anne, Chami and Alejandro. Chami´s real names is Edison. Malvado´s first name is Enrique, I think. We camped on the top of a mountain, built a fire, sang songs and laughed into the night. Wild horses ran through the camp site on occasion, and if all were quiet, you could hear cows chomping on grasses in the near distance. I couldn´t sleep at all. If my feet are cold, I can´t sleep. And I couldn´t seem to warm them up. So I drifted in and out of naps, waking from time to time, fearing a mountain lion, stray panther, even bear, although I don´t think they have those here.

The volcano Tungurahua is active, contrary to my previous report. From our campsite, we had a spectacular view of it. It spouted dust twice about 5 am. How cool is that?! I´ve been living in close proximity to an active volcano for almost a week. Of late, the people of Baños shush any mention of volcanic activity. Carnaval starts Friday and is a huge money-maker for the town. Only any sign of volcanic activity will scare the weekenders to another location. Several of those camping witnessed the most recent eruption. Last August, Baños was evacuated. Malvado described a black sky raining ash with a huge tunnel of fire rising from the volcano up to the sky. Manuelita fled into the mountains not far from where we set up camp. When visiting people´s homes, you see volcano preparednes kits--several masks, safety goggles, and blankets at least.