I´m starting my last week in Cariamanga, the city in Loja province. My daily routine has been to get up early and meet my coworkers at the municipal building. We then head out to the many small communities around the city. The closest one has been only 15 minutes away, but the farthest was about 2 hours driving. When we get to a community, I mark a point at the school, take a picture, and then we find someone who is home that can give us some information about the community. We usually try to find the president of the community, but sometimes he or she is elsewhere working. I also walk the paths I can with the GPS, or draw them on a topo map. Once I get back to the hotel, I put the GPS tracks and points into the computer and note the driving times to each community. The people are very nice and often give us fruit or frescita, a watered down fruit juice drink. I`ve been eating and drinking everything they give me, and thankfully haven´t gotten sick. One time in between houses, we saw people making panela and gararpo (I don´t know how to spell the second one). Panela is a hard candy made from boiled down sugar cane juice. It is very similar to maple sugar candies, but tastes more like molasses. Gararpo is also the sugar cain juice boiled down, but it is still a liquid. It looked like a bucket of very muddy water, but tasted pretty good. Many of the towns are very close to Peru. I gotten within 3 km or so of Peru now. Last Friday, we went through a military checkpoint, and right behind the checkpoint was a sign that warned of landmines in the fields. They are leftover from a border war in 1996. Poor cows. Last Saturday I went camping on the top of the mountain that looms over Cariamanga. I also saw the squirrel type animal that lives only on this mountain. It was about the size of a cat. Here are pictures of the city, mountain, and squirrel. http://micariamanga.galeon.com/ There is a big metal cross at the top of the mountain, and I climbed to the top of the cross. The people I went camping with sometimes rappel from the arms of the cross.
Interesting Fact: This is a bit of a stretch calling this a fact, but it is the opinion of myself and the people in Loja province that they have the most correct Spanish pronunciation in Ecuador. In the Andean highlands, like Quito, the people pronounce the double L´s like a J sound. For example: ¿Como se llama? sounds more like Como se jama. Also, in the coastal provinces, they often pronounce only half the word. So dos, tres, and seis, (2, 3, 6) sound more like do, tre, and sei. Loja is a really good place to learn and practice Spanish.
Cool pictures, especially the chinchilla thing. Looks like a neat place. But don't, I repeat, DON'T, take up rock climbing (looks scary). Is that the cross you crawled up several years ago?
ReplyDeleteAnd, was the garapo pasteurized? Here's what I found in Wikipedia: "Garapa has been recently involved in a widely publicized episode in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, when at least 49 tourists were infected with Chagas disease by drinking garapa most likely produced at roadside stalls. The sugar cane used for it most probably was contaminated with feces of the insect vector, a Reduviid." Tenga cuidado!!!
Yep, same cross. I guess you could say it was pasteurized. The first cup?(I don´t know what to call it because I drank it out of a gourd like thing but from a tree) was boiling. The second came from a bucket next to the boiling batch, so I assume it was pretty fresh. They were in the process of making it and the panela. Kind of like a sugar shack but with no walls.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your work sounds fascinating & everyday life sure is different! I can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a great time and learning lots....I bet your Spanish is really coming along. The food sounds very interesting, I would try it but Peter wouldn't! I hope you are taking tons of pictures, the ones you have posted so far are beautiful. Travel safe back home to Amber.
ReplyDeleteCuidar de sus egos y nosotros te extrañamos.