Surroundings

The mud held me back and the rubber boots felt awkward but necessary. We were walking behind the city of Baños, a small town that I have visited since I was a child. Whole Saturday afternoons would be spent next to the jukebox-perhaps the reason why I can sing along to old cumbias and lambadas that my mother loves- while my little sister and I would splash each other with the water in the bathtub we kept in the garden and pretended was our pool.

Baños from Illuchi-Los Sauces

I had been to Baños so often that I had stopped questioning what activities were available; the trek to Illuchi-Los Sauces was the first eye-opener. My students were eager to show me each plant and its properties, reed and putzos, llantén and tree tomatoes. Initially, we strolled by San Francisco bridge, a beautiful viewpoint for the Pastaza river and the cliff that separates the town from its surroundings. As we were walking uphill, we encountered a little lodge named ´Las Granadillas´ after an endemic sweet and citrus fruit that has chewable seeds (I only started chewing them a year ago when Shashwat convinced me it would be safe).

Unripe granadillas and some tree tomatoes

There, we met Alfonso, the owner of a handicap-accessible lodging. While he was telling us about the upgrades he is implementing, we heard the growls of the Tungurahua volcano. Suddenly, a tower of ash was taking over the sky far from us. It was beautiful to see, yet unfortunate for those in the direction of the westerly winds.

The erupting volcano was no distraction for my students, we moved along the trail and saw several types of orchids; most of them only bloom every 6 months. Past the ´love bench´, another viewpoint for the city, I was captivated by the bright bougainvilleas in a violet full bloom. The prairie below us was filled with pensamientos or ´thoughts´ the name for a yellow flower similar in shape to a daisy.

Pensamiento

After we crossed the river, improvising a small bridge with two wood planks, we were in Los Sauces- The Willows-. I asked my students to show me all the willows they could see (my favourite tree is the weeping willow). Sadly, we could only find one of them. Eucalyptuses though, were everywhere to see, we even witnessed the chopping down of one. Alisos were also visible, another covetable tree for its good-quality wood. Most of this area and the surroundings have been planted with trees for wood but despite this, the forest continues to have its grace. The endemic plants have just begun producing fruits again where the soil was left back alone to regain its strength.

People say leprechauns live under these leaves.

As we were walking down the trail, one of my students took a small mushroom, known as an ear, and told me I could have it with some lemon. Texture and flavour-wise it was delicious. These only grow in rotting trees.

The walk down to the hanging bridge uncovered a path of guaba and guava trees. These two are completely different. The guaba tree produces a fruit inside of a pod and is white inside. The guava tree, on the other hand, is known in Ecuador as guayaba, and produces a rounded sweet fruit that is used traditionally to prepare a spreadable yet firm jam. From the orange branches of the guava tree, white moss was hanging and swaying with the wind, reminding us of the unforgiving passage of time. I could not stop seeing these trees as the manes of old age. Guaba trees, instead, had caught the flying bromeliads that were now hanging with great elegance in a deep red colour.

After playing on the bridge and getting to the other side we found another exotic fruit called míspero, a very acidic and sour fruit. I had a bite of one and saved the seed, which looked so much like the gold covered chocolates I got from Denmark.

We walked back to the main road and in an unquestionable fatigue we headed to the rejuvenating hot springs by the Virgin waterfall.

Perhaps these words cannot do justice to the beauty of this trail but I will continue trying. This is just the beginning of recounting my Monday and Tuesday adventures of the past two months walking and learning with the tour guides from Baños. 

Here they are, some of my little munchkins. 

And Washington making friends :)

Mel.