Greetings from Chugchilan (there should be an accent on the last a, but internet here costs five bucks and hour and I'm not about to mess around until I find it.) The Black Sheep Inn, where I'm staying, bills itself as home of the world's highest-altitude frisbee golf course. I did my nine holes this afternoon--actually, eight and a half, because I defaulted after a particularly wayward throw sent my frisbee sailing over the hostel, off a little cliff, and into the grasslands below. Other hazards of the course: another of my less sucessful tosses had us all scrambling into a cornfield and one guy almost hit a pig.
The Black Sheep Inn is a very nice ecolodge with gorgeous views, decent coffee, friendly people and possibly the world's finest banana bread. Last night's dinner was also apparently fabulous: I can't say for sure, as I was holed up with altitude sickness. Nothing like throwing up into a composting toilet to really make a girl feel glad about travelling.
The Black Sheep Inn is a very nice ecolodge with gorgeous views, decent coffee, friendly people and possibly the world's finest banana bread. Last night's dinner was also apparently fabulous: I can't say for sure, as I was holed up with altitude sickness. Nothing like throwing up into a composting toilet to really make a girl feel glad about travelling.
Much better today, thankfully. I even felt well enough to do a horseback ride into the cloudforest above Chugchilan, which is really stunningly beautiful. We also visited a local cooperative cheese factory, which evidently used to be a friendly and welcoming place where the locals offered samples and enjoyed explaining the process to tourists. It made all the guidebooks as a fun place to visit, so the horse tour people added it to their route. Alas, it recently changed hands, and is now staffed by surly people who grudgingly open their doors and show visible disappointment when the tourists refuse to buy huge wheels of cheese. Fortunately, my group included a Peace Corps volunteer who's making pizza tonight with her host family.
Speaking of dinner, it's just about time, so I'll sign off for now. Next stop: hopefully a visit to Laguna Quilotoa, and then off to Latacunga. Most likely, via the trailer in the back of the local milk truck (I'm just not up for the 3 am bus.) Hell, it's gotta be better than flying to Panama.
Speaking of dinner, it's just about time, so I'll sign off for now. Next stop: hopefully a visit to Laguna Quilotoa, and then off to Latacunga. Most likely, via the trailer in the back of the local milk truck (I'm just not up for the 3 am bus.) Hell, it's gotta be better than flying to Panama.
1 comment:
Um, yikes. What elevation are you at? Altitude sickness is one of those lovely pleasures that I had conveniently forgotten about. (I am going to a mountain resort in Colorado next weekend. Fingers crossed for no vomit.)
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