Chugchilan - Black Sheep Inn

August 14th-17th

We arrived in Chugchilan around 4pm on the 14th. We are staying at a world renowned hostal called the Black Sheep In. It is very lovely. It is very "American" as Hannah described it. The owners are from the US. So its very easy in that way, they help you figure out hikes, horseback riding or whatever activity you are interested in. It is $35 dollars a night for the bunk house where we are staying. We are staying on the 3rd floor which is really nice because it is the top floor and just two beds so Hannah and I basically have a room to ourselves. The $35 includes 3 vegetarian meals a day. There is a yoga studio and a deck outside the studio which overlooks the town and mountains. Its a stunning view. It is absolutely amazing at night. The clouds come in over the mountains and you can see the stars and the moon. I've tried very hard to take pictures of it but my camera is just not that great for night time photos.

August 15th
We woke up, had breakfast, and headed off on a truck for an hour long ride up the mountains to the Quilotoa Lake. The truck ride was amazing, the view was stunning I took many pictures. Then we hiked around the ridge of the lake, down through an indigenous town and back to our hostel. We left at 9 and got back around 4. We had a guide. The total cost of the hike with the truck was $10. We hiked with 3 other people from the hostel, one was from Quito but had lived in the US for 20 years and had just returned to his "roots". The other two were americans, both professors. One of the professors moved to Quito 6 months ago to teach here because there was not many opportunities for a job in the US. The woman that came with was a friend of the other American guy and had come to visit them. So it was nice to hike with them. Our guide was born in Chugchilan, he was 19, one of 8 children, had never been to Quito, he didn't speak English but that was fine. He said that most people in the town were married at age 17 and then he didnt want to get married yet. He wanted to go to college in Latacunga.

The hike has been one of the highlights of the trip so far. The lake and scenery were beautiful.

Lake Quilotoa

Hannah and I at the top of Lake Quilotoa

Another picture of the Lake

Me looking stylish with my sunglasses and scarf to keep the dust out of my eyes and nose!

One of the houses in the indigenous village.

Mama horse and baby horse, in the village we passed through on our hike.

Me and some of the fellow hikers taking a break.

After our hike we got back to our hostel and showered. We were covered in dust/dirt. Up high in the mountains there is a fair amount of wind which blows dust around everywhere. Much of the time I wore my sunglasses and wrapped a scarf around my face so I didnt get dust in my eyes and nose. I imagine people who live here all their lives probably have respiratory problems, I remember an older woman on the bus who I could tell had problems breathing, she would weeze everytime she took a breath. We get our dinners, family style, every night at 7pm. We always end up socializing with the people at dinner for an hour or two after. This day we met a family, an middle aged couple with two teenage boys. They were very interesting, the couple had done a lot of traveling. We also met a young couple from South Africa, both doctors, who were leaving South Africa for awhile, traveling for a bit in Ecuador and then the UK and then they hoped to get employed in Sweden. The husband, Simon, spoke fluent Sweedish and he had family in Sweden, and the wife - Anika I think was her name - was hoping to learn to speak Swedish. They were both very nice.

August 16th
Hannah went horse back riding with the family we met at dinner the previous night, and I decided to save $15 and take the day off. I had lots on my agenda for my day off but only accomplished a few things! I started the day off after eating breakfast, doing laundry. It was .90 cents a pound but they also had a place where you could hand wash laundry. The place to handwash laundry had a beautiful view over Chugchilan and the mountains. So I got to work on Hannah and my laundry (I thought I would be nice and do hers as well) looking back I think it would have been a better idea to pay .90 cents a pound for a machine wash! It took me about 2 hours to do laundry! I suppose it was fine "back to the basics", but from now on I think Ill just pay to have our laundry done! So for the rest of the day I did some trip planning and worked on my Spanish a bit with a book I bought in Quito. Later in the afternoon after Hannah and others had returned from their day time activities, a group of girls, I think ages 6-12 did a traditional dance for us (and then made us dance with them). I got a few pictures before my camera died. You could tell this was probably one of the highlights of the girls week. They took donations at the end and I was happy to give them a few dollars.

I think one of things I really enjoy about traveling in Latin American is to see the interactions and lifestyles of the children. The children are so much more independent than they are in the US and help take care of themselves their families. Watching the girls dance and looking at the different faces made me wonder what their life stories were. What these girls would grow up to do. Would they stay in Chugchilan their whole lives, get married at 17 and have children shortly there after? What were their families like, how many brothers and sisters did they have?

Girls from Chugchilan putting on a traditional dance for the hostel.

Girls dancing again.