Carnavale in Ambato has been fun, the experience enhanced by staying at the Roka Plaza hotel. This small hotel has only six rooms, but I suspect it earns as much or more from the lovely dining room and good-sized conference room. The king-sized bed in our room has been comfortable. The staff of the hotel is delightful and after five days they feel a little like family.
We leave Ambato on Fat Tuesday at 9:30 AM. The streets are virtually deserted, perhaps everyone is recovering from last night's partying or spending the day with family. We have heard that the town of Guano is home to skilled rug craftsmen. Since it is somewhat "on the way" we decide to make a stop, even though we have been warned that it is a little hard to find. As we are traveling south on 35 we see a sign for Guano. The small road takes us to the small village of San Isidoro, where we ask directions from the locals two times, not being confident we understood the first set of instructions.
The road between San Isidoro and Guano becomes even smaller and in spots is virtually a dirt road. It twists and turns with small farms and areas of native vegetation on each side. The small road dumps out onto a major road about five kilometers from Guano. If we would have continued south on 35 we would have run into this road to Guano! Lesson learned, but it certainly is more of an adventure following the backroad.
The road between San Isidoro and Guano becomes even smaller and in spots is virtually a dirt road. It twists and turns with small farms and areas of native vegetation on each side. The small road dumps out onto a major road about five kilometers from Guano. If we would have continued south on 35 we would have run into this road to Guano! Lesson learned, but it certainly is more of an adventure following the backroad.
 | The Guano town center has perhaps 30 small stores and several tents near one of the churches. All seem to be specializing in either leather products or textiles. We don't find any high quality rugs. However some children in the town find Burt and William with their super-soakers and buckets of water, a Carnavale tradition in some Ecuadorian towns. After taking a look at the church exteriors we jump back in the car and leave Guano (via the good road). |
A little south of Riobamba we want to stop to see the oldest church in Ecuador which is located in the town of Colta, since it is also "on the way". We see the cutoff on 35 for Colta and have great views of Chimborazo. Today there view of the mountain is clear. Carnavale is in full swing in Colta and we spend 30 minutes trying to find a parking place. Eventually Burt pulls into a dirt area and Evelyn and I jump out to go grab some photo's. I'm pleased I am able to get one of the church with Chimborazo in the background.
After getting a little lost we are back on 35 headed to Cuenca. Burt has a positive outlook; given our delays he will not have to battle rush hour traffic in Cuenca. Burt and Evelyn drop us off in front of our apartment at ~ 6:30PM. Burt has done all the driving on the trip and on a scale of 1 to 10 of adopting Ecuadorian driving habits I think he's now a 7. Not a crazy Ecuadorian, but he's now passing on the double yellow line around curves, however usually only when he can see the oncoming traffic. I have greatly enjoyed the trip, but am happy to be "home". William has mostly recovered from his flu and has the same sentiment.
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