Luis is going to buy bananas - Note the girl on the left washing hair from rain gutter.
"We sell salt" - with ducks in the back! This is in Valle Hermosa next to Kashama Lodge
Kashama Lodge - Our rooms are all going up the hill
During the red hair dying ceremony
Harvey and a Tschilla tribesman - after he applied the red dye to his hair A leisurely day at Kashama Lodge mostly spent lounging around their pool. I got up in the morning to have a short walk into the town of Valle Hermoso for a quick look around. Got to see small town life as their day was beginning. I found an internet café but didn’t think to bring any $ with me so no go there. I also saw what I didn’t think existed in rural Ecuador. A garbage truck. There seems to be quite a bit of trash everywhere you look in these small towns, and it’s a bit sad to see it strewn everywhere. In this town an effort was being made to dump trash and all the store owners on the main street were out with their bags for the truck.
The school kids were out on the corner with their mom’s waiting for a bus to take them off to school. A few were rough housing in the park, just like kids back home. All the people were nice saying good morning or honking their horns as they passed in cars or motor bikes. Nice to have a peaceful walk and see what goes on in a town early in the morning.
We swam and tubed in the pool actually taking an inner tubes under the waterfall. Pretty cool, but slightly scary at the same time. It was real hard to get the tube up to and through (actually around) the waterfall. Once around it there was about a 6 foot cave behind the falls were the current was perfectly smooth and calm. Then it was time to try to paddle through the falls. Not pretty! The cascade was extremely strong and I couldn’t force my way through it. Eventually I was pushed out of the tube and was way under water and still being pounded by the falls. I got back to the surface and swam out without the tube. I got away from the falls and David Morse pushed my tube back to me and all was well. He actually left his tube in the eddy behind the falls and swam back. After lunch we went back to the room and packed and I didn’t have time to get back to the town for the internet. Tomorrow night I’ll have it for sure in Quito so I’ll update then.
At 4:00 we went left for our visit to an indigenous tribe about an hour away. We got off the highway and bounced our way down some pot holed dirt roads to where the Tschilla tribe has a village. We met the shaman of the village and he told us about his community and their attempts to preserve their way of life. The shaman greeted us in their native tongue, literally “Welcome it’s a rainy day” He explained that unlike Spanish where you say Buenas Dias or Buenas Tardes depending on the time of day they always comment on the day itself. Makes sense to me. This community consists of 88 families with a total of about 880 people. One of the tribe members showed us how they use the dye from seeds to dye their hair bright red. This is really a religious ceremony as 300 years ago they used this seed in a crushed form to treat smallpox and actually save their tribe from extinction. They wear their hair in the red color to honor the cure. All male members of the tribe wear black and red wraps and the women colorful “skirts” that mirror the rainbow. Several others played us some traditional music and some cute little kids danced for a while. After that we purchased some items that they had made and were selling and made a donation to the tribe. I should also mention that we also met and talked with a Peace Corp member names Ryan who has lived with this Tschilla community for the past 2 years. He is attempting to develop a more sophisticated way for eco tourism for the tribe and teach them about diet and farming. He will be leaving the tribe in April and says he’ll miss them.
Back in the bus for a short trip (by Ecuadorian standards) to Tinlandia Eco Resort which is along the way to Quito. We met the owner and heard his story about how his father emigrated from Russia 1n 1935 and started the 1st eco preserve in South America. We took a bag from the bus and hiked up the hill for about 700 meters to our cabins. He’s going to lead those who are interested on a bird watching trip at 6:30 tomorrow. So, it’s off to bed and like I said internet tomorrow for sure. Adios, amigos y amigas….
The school kids were out on the corner with their mom’s waiting for a bus to take them off to school. A few were rough housing in the park, just like kids back home. All the people were nice saying good morning or honking their horns as they passed in cars or motor bikes. Nice to have a peaceful walk and see what goes on in a town early in the morning.
We swam and tubed in the pool actually taking an inner tubes under the waterfall. Pretty cool, but slightly scary at the same time. It was real hard to get the tube up to and through (actually around) the waterfall. Once around it there was about a 6 foot cave behind the falls were the current was perfectly smooth and calm. Then it was time to try to paddle through the falls. Not pretty! The cascade was extremely strong and I couldn’t force my way through it. Eventually I was pushed out of the tube and was way under water and still being pounded by the falls. I got back to the surface and swam out without the tube. I got away from the falls and David Morse pushed my tube back to me and all was well. He actually left his tube in the eddy behind the falls and swam back. After lunch we went back to the room and packed and I didn’t have time to get back to the town for the internet. Tomorrow night I’ll have it for sure in Quito so I’ll update then.
At 4:00 we went left for our visit to an indigenous tribe about an hour away. We got off the highway and bounced our way down some pot holed dirt roads to where the Tschilla tribe has a village. We met the shaman of the village and he told us about his community and their attempts to preserve their way of life. The shaman greeted us in their native tongue, literally “Welcome it’s a rainy day” He explained that unlike Spanish where you say Buenas Dias or Buenas Tardes depending on the time of day they always comment on the day itself. Makes sense to me. This community consists of 88 families with a total of about 880 people. One of the tribe members showed us how they use the dye from seeds to dye their hair bright red. This is really a religious ceremony as 300 years ago they used this seed in a crushed form to treat smallpox and actually save their tribe from extinction. They wear their hair in the red color to honor the cure. All male members of the tribe wear black and red wraps and the women colorful “skirts” that mirror the rainbow. Several others played us some traditional music and some cute little kids danced for a while. After that we purchased some items that they had made and were selling and made a donation to the tribe. I should also mention that we also met and talked with a Peace Corp member names Ryan who has lived with this Tschilla community for the past 2 years. He is attempting to develop a more sophisticated way for eco tourism for the tribe and teach them about diet and farming. He will be leaving the tribe in April and says he’ll miss them.
Back in the bus for a short trip (by Ecuadorian standards) to Tinlandia Eco Resort which is along the way to Quito. We met the owner and heard his story about how his father emigrated from Russia 1n 1935 and started the 1st eco preserve in South America. We took a bag from the bus and hiked up the hill for about 700 meters to our cabins. He’s going to lead those who are interested on a bird watching trip at 6:30 tomorrow. So, it’s off to bed and like I said internet tomorrow for sure. Adios, amigos y amigas….
Sounds wonderful- glad you made it through the waterfall incident okay! And hey, I got to log in this time so I can be me. Continued well wishes for the rest of the trip.
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