With my time here running out (in 1 month´s time I will be sitting on a plane somewhere!) I am now using my weekends to travel about beyond Ambato. This weekend was the turn of the little-visited province of Bolivar where I intended to visit a small village called Salinas which is known (to serious cheese and chocolate experts) for its cheese and chocolates. So I set off friday lunchtime on the 3 hr bus trip, the first 2 hrs of which are supposed to be spectacular as you cross the moors at about 4000m with views of the mighty Chimborazo (6310m, a huge snowy mass) BUT! as the bus made its ascent we hit thick thick fog with visibility of maybe 5m... we chugged along at a snail´s pace and I crossed my fingers a) we wouldn´t hit anything and b) I would get to see the views on the way back. I arrived into the provincial capital Guaranda to change buses at about 15:30, having read there should be the last bus to Salinas at 16:00... shame no-one knew where to catch this bus, I was sent all over town and didn´t find it, toyed with the idea of going back to Ambato but decided to stay the night in Guaranda then try again the next day. So I wandered back into the town centre to look for a hotel, tried about 4 places but they were either full or just didn´t like the look of me... except one place which officially had been closed for some reason and had all the rooms sealed off, but I could stay there if I was willing to climb through the window into the room! Anywhere was considering going back to Ambato where at least I knew I wouldn´t have to sleep on the street, when I heard a "de donde eres?" (where are you from) behind me in a foreign accent and turned round to see a group of blonde girls, who turned out to be on a school exchange year in Guaranda and were curious as to who the foreigner in town was! They proceeded to help me find a delightful hotel room for $7 a night, with assurances that I could stay with them if I couldn´t find anything... then later on invited me to a quinceañera party at a club in town! Though the host was celebrating her 15th the rest of the invitees looked more like 18 so I didn´t feel too old! (A little foolish wearing hike boots in a club though.)
I made it back to the hotel not too late but slept badly due to 1. the cold 2. the noise 3. the light streaming into my curtain-less room (you expect curtains for $7??) 4. THE COLD!!!
Next day I got up bright and early ready for mission impossible 2: finding the bus to Salinas. Fortunately I found it soon enough and was off again on the windy mountain roads. We pulled into Salinas about 11:30 and I wandered up to the only hotel in the village but they were waiting for a big school party to leave, so some locals took me down to visit the salt mines in the meantime. A little bit about Salinas: it was your normal run of the mill highland village until about 1970 when some young Italian priest turned up and set up a load of cooperatives producing cheese, chocolate, salamis, and er, footballs, cooperatives which now involve pretty much the whole village. The chocolate is excellent, the cheese I saw being made but didn´t try, and the footballs... look much like normal footballs. The idea is also that you can visit the various producers to see everything being made, however unfortunately as it was the weekend nothing much seemed to be open. Still it was a nice village to visit and I walked about a bit in the mountains, did some drawing and watched the simultaneous and very entertaining town football and volleyball matches in the main square. And bought some chocolate and a lovely woolly hat which does not look unlike a teacosy. (Ecuador hat purchase running total: 3!)
More photos to follow on the flickr site in a day or two!
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