South America: Cuenca Fireworks & Parque Cajas

Hola todas mis amigos,
>
>Last Friday evening after a pleasant dinner in a nice restaurant we
>decided to walk home. During the evening we had heard fireworks and
>saw several fireworks in the sky. But as we approached the Central
>Square we heard more and saw many people. When we were a block away
>we looked down a side street and saw a fiesta in progress in front
>of one of the churches. We decided to see what was going on.
>
>Almost immediately after we made the turn down the block we saw a
>man with a papier mache woman held above his head start walking
>through the crowd. Within a few minutes we knew we were not in the
>U.S. because sparklers start illuminating from the woman. In
>another minute or two, fireworks started exploding and or launching
>from the woman. Remember people are standing within 5 feet of the
>firework woman. We watched the crowd run in every direction and
>stood there laughing in amazement. About this time one of the roman
>candle like fireworks was headed toward us about head high! We both
>thought the better part of valor was to retreat and retreat quickly.
>
>Next up is a papier mache man. Same thing: sparklers, fireworks,
>people getting the heck out of the way, the fireworks going straight
>up - head high bouncing off the walls of the churches or buildings -
>bouncing along the street at about ankle high height - and every
>once in a while hitting someone! During this time we kept at least
>one or two people in front of us. Better the natives get hit than
>the tourists.
>
>Now it gets interesting: a bull comes out on the shoulders of a
>teenage boy. The bull has many more fireworks and the teenager
>actively seeks out the crowd. We had been standing on top of some
>steps on another church across the street from the church with the
>festival. All of a sudden we realize no one is between us and the
>fireworks. In the same instant we realize we have no natives
>protecting us and one of the fireworks is headed at my head. I duck
>in time for it to hit the church door and ricochet back into the
>street. We leave the steps and try and get out in front of the
>bull!
>
>When we arrived at the church we noticed a wooden tower in the
>middle of the street, let's say it is about 30 feet high with a
>large pin wheel on each of its four sides and the pin wheels are in
>four rows in height. We along with a lot of other people -- the not
>so bright people it turns out -- have all wandered back into the
>square. I see a young man walk over to the tower with a flame. The
>pin wheels start spinning with sparklers. Really cool. But oh no
>we can not leave well enough alone. The spinning pin wheels start
>shooting the roman candle like fireworks. These fireworks go over
>the top of church, bounce off the church wall into the crowd, follow
>the sidewalk and street into the crowd, etc. A lot of backtracking
>by a lot of people. It takes about 10 minutes before the top layer
>of pin wheels have been lit and are going off. Nancy being smart
>has moved about 10 feet back from me. I have had to only duck once
>and I truly believe the firework was higher than my head. As the
>last fireworks bounces off a church wall to my right I turn and see
>Nancy doing the two step as high as she can with a firework going
>under her feet!
>
>Do not know if anyone got hurt. I do know that at least two people
>got hit. One had a small black spot on the back of his jacket. Now
>this was a Friday night's entertainment.
>
>Saturday morning we were up at 4:45 am for our trip to the National
>Park. Long story short our guide gets the trots, doesn't show until
>after 7:00 and therefore we go on Sunday.
>
>With nothing to do on Saturday we head for the bus station. I knew
>where we wanted to go and thought getting a ticket would be no
>problem -- wrong! Like any bus or mass transit system you need to
>know the end of the line in order to get on the right bus with the
>correct stops for you to get where you want to go. A mild panic
>attach! But eventually we are led to a bus, sit down, watch others
>board, and with all the seats full plus a few standing we start off.
>
>This is a local bus. Not the nice buses we have taken but not bad
>or uncomfortable. The scenery is great. The bus stops for anyone
>who flags it down from the side of the road and others get off where
>ever they want. The bus conductor announces our stop, Chordeleg,
>and points at us to get off. The trip was much less exciting than
>purchasing the ticket but the trip had better scenery than the bus
>station.
>
>Its now lunch time but the small town we are now standing in has no
>restaurants open until the evening we find out from a shop keeper.
>Someday I would like to return and explore this town but today we
>start for our one hour hike down the hill to the next and larger
>town, Gualaceo.
>
>It was a great walk. You meet people, see the houses up close, the
>crops, the animals, the children, the flowers, etc. and always in
>the background are the mountains, terraced crop land, colorful
>buildings, church steeples, and clouds. You also get to keep an eye
>out for vehicles since there is no sidewalk and the street or
>highway is the easiest place to walk. It was a very enjoyable walk,
>especially after about 20 minutes when we found a small shop that
>sold ice cream -- a partially full stomach is better than an empty
>stomach. Ice cream sandwiches may not be nutritionally good but
>they taste great! Ah yes, they also had a restroom: an empty
>bladder is easier to hike with than a full bladder.
>
>We explored the larger town for about a half hour and finally found
>a restaurant that looked good. And the meal was good, especially
>the beer. After lunch we took a walk across the square to the
>church. Not as large as the churches or cathedrals in Quito or
>Cuenca but a large church with very pretty stained glass windows.
>
>A quick walk through the market in a mist or light rain and to the
>bus station. Saw a bus with a sign stating -- Cuenca -- and we got
>on. We are not the first on, the bus is almost full and we end up a
>couple of rows from the back. This bus is not as good as the one we
>came down on but again for an hour ride at a cost of $0.65 per
>person it was a good bus. We pull out of the station, cross the
>street and make our first stop to pick up more passengers! We both
>must be getting used to buses because we both dozed off on the trip
>home.
>
>Just a few quick words about Parque Nacional Cajas -- it is
>fantastic. The park elevation ranges from a little over 11,000 ft
>to over 13,600 for us. We did some light one hour hikes (with stops
>and or drives in between) and had no problem with the altitude. The
>park is stunning. Very unlike our mountains, there is lots of
>vegetation including a tree that grows in Ecuador and Peru at
>elevations of 13,000 plus. But what is really interesting is all
>the small plants and flowers. A great walk even though we were cold
>-- walking in a mist or clouds and always with a cloudy overhead
>does not lead to hot walk.
>
>Our guide knew some of the park rangers and talked them into brewing
>some hot water for tea. It took a good ten and probably 15 minutes
>for the water to boil -- we were at an elevation of over 12,000
>feet. (Martha, you only though cooking in Denver was different than
>Marshall -- do not even think about Ecuador.) I do not know which
>was better the tea or the hot cup warming my hands.
>
>Sidelight: I have seen a lot of New York Yankee ball caps -- maybe
>20. Thought it strange that there were so many Yankee fans in
>Ecuador; especially since at least a dozen caps were on the heads of
>the native women in village costume. (Tony Combs, I did see one
>Denver Bronco's cap on a gentleman's head on the bus from Quito to
>Cuenca.) Then the other day when I saw one it all made since --
>there are several neighborhoods in Cuenca (and Quito, etc.) where
>there are no men. The men are all working in another county and New
>York City is the 3rd largest concentration of Ecuadorians in the
>world. The men send money home -- and apparently Yankee baseball
>caps.
>
>Update: Grant wrote to say that he wanted to know if our roommate
>lizard was "the very well known poisonous and man or women eating
>lizard" that Ecuador is so famous for. I hope the Doctor in
>Tropical Biology is pulling our leg(s)! But when previously
>discussing the size of the lizard I did not give all the
>information. I gave the size of the lizard as a foot but forgot to
>say this did not include the tail. And after further discussions
>with Nancy the lizard may have been closer to 18 inches than 12 with
>another 12 inches in tail. I will back Nancy's estimate up based on
>the thud I heard when it hit the floor the second time.
>
>Sidelight: As I have previously written, the central park square in
>Cuenca is absolutely wonderful. This past Sunday evening about
>eight o'clock we got hungary and I volunteered to go find food. I
>found some desserts and on the way back heard and found a band
>playing in the park. I wish I could adequately describe the scene
>but here goes anyway.
>
>The band is an army band, dressed in combat boots, fatigues, and
>berets. It has 4 percussion pieces, an electric guitar, and 17
>horns -- they made good sound but I would not call it music. The
>two drums are front and center with everyone else forming a semi
>circle around them. Are they playing martial music -- no. They are
>playing salsa music and the two drummers are dancing in combat boots
>while playing. What I saw would not register on my brain!
>
>Best to everyone,
>
>South America Nancy and Tom
>