Our final hike was to one of the more fascinating places I’ve yet been: a true desert oasis, complete with flowing water and fan palms. Once we arrived, I sat on a rock, hot from the desert sun, and listened to birds singing and frogs croaking…I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Throughout our exploration of the park, I was struck by the strange beauty of the Joshua Trees, but more so the bizarre landscapes in which they endemically thrive. Set through the park are massive fields of boulders, scattered and stacked into impossible piles. I could not help but think of an image of ancient giants stacking the square stones like a child stacks blocks, only to leave their masterpieces unfinished, to wither and wear for untold centuries.

I’ve collected below some of my favorite shots from our days in the park, I hope you enjoy them.

Joshua Trees along the Boy Scout trail, with Mt. San Gorgonio in the distance

An honest to goodness Roadrunner…I’m sad to say I didn’t see the Coyote

A red Barrel Cactus, hiding in among dry scrub

Monzogranite formations below Arch Rock

“Jumping” Cholla Cactus. Nasty buggers…my curiosity got the best of me and I had to touch.

Joshua Trees

Fortynine Palms Oasis

Monzogranite in the Jumbo Rocks formations

And finally, my favorite, taken during our last few moments in the park

Now, we should have guessed something was up when we had to pay our own entrance fee into the preserve, as all activities were supposed to included, but we shrugged it off as it was going towards a good cause. When we returned to the launch, Jorge then informed us that we owed the boat driver $25 (Ecuador uses US currency) for the ride. Despite five members of his family tagging along, he had no willingness to split the cost. When we finally returned to Tena, he informed us it was too late to be taken to the jungle, so we would have to stay in the city. He left us at the Kichwa families lot, informing us that we owed him $30 for his services…he forgot to mention he was not part of the package. We grudgingly paid, then were led to a room  in the building, given our key, and told that breakfast was at 8 AM. 

Given that we had just been taken for a couple of larks by Jorge, and given the state of the room (pictured right) we had a very long discussion as to exactly how we were going to leave without being noticed. In the end we decided, despite being incredibly uncomfortable, we would suck it up and stay…it was their family home after all.

As it turned out, the Kichwa family was wonderful, both kind and accommodating. They spoke fluent Spanish, but Kichwa was their first language and was fascinating to listen to their conversations in their native tongue. After a good breakfast they took us out to their working cacao farm nearly an hour into the jungle. After being provided a very necessary pair of rubber boots, it was a kilometer walk to the cabin where we would be staying the night.

After settling into our room, the dad (we never actually got his name) informed us that he would be our guide on a hike to see some waterfalls, and that it would take three to four hours. It had been raining all morning, and there was no indication it was going to stop, so we grabbed our raincoats and set out. The “trail” to the waterfalls was not so much a trail as the bed of the large stream which contained the three falls. We worked our way up the bottom of the very steeply walled ravine, scrambling through muddy remains of recent landslides, but were rewarded with three quite pretty falls. Just before the final falls, as we walked in the stream, we heard a loud crack and rumbling above us. Sheena and the dad ran upstream, and I bolted up the opposite bank. When nothing happened, we ventured back, and saw a massive limb had broken and fell, but nothing worse than that. The hike was concluded by a climb up to the top of a ridge and a viewpoint, somewhere around 1,300 feet of gain, then back down and home…another 8 kilometer hike under our belts.

That afternoon, the dad took us out into the farm, showing us a plethora of plants used by the Kichwa for medicinal purposes. He picked a ripe cacao pod, and we tasted the flesh around the seed (it tasted nothing like cacao)

and we helped harvest yuccafor the evening meal. The morning brought the opportunity to help in the preparation of chocolate, from raw pod to finished product, and another hike to a set of refreshingly cold natural pools along a river.

We made the decision to stay only one night, but still partake in a few activities that second day. Before we headed out, the dad gave us a lesson in gold panning…Sheena found enough to finance our next trip!Click to view slideshow.

Once we got settled, we went out in search of food, and stumbled across Stray Dog Cerveceria, at which, for the first time in two months, we drank beer that was not pilsner.  The food was excellent as well, and we found ourselves here both of our nights in town, and sampled all five of their taps…but, I digress. We were traveling with Sheena’s cousin Marvín, and wanted to make the most of our short time there, so the following day we woke and headed out for a morning hike. We began by ascending to Mirador la Virgin, a penitent climb of 676 steps to the statue above the city. From there, we continued up another 1,000 feet to the ridge top, circling back around and down to town, roughly eight kilometers in total.

A quick lunch followed, then we met up with our guide for an afternoon excursion canyoning in a nearby river. after a short drive we disembarked from the van, changed into our wetsuits and harnesses, and hiked uphill 30 minutes to the first falls. After a quick how-to on rappelling, we roped in and went over the first falls, roughly 30 feet. There were an additional three falls below, the tallest being 60 feet. Each went off without a hitch…except once when Sheena lost her footing and was momentarily pummeled by the third falls. The canyon ended with two natural rock water slides before we headed back to town, tired but happy.

Baños literally means baths, and the city gets its name from the four very hot, volcano-fueled mineral springs in town. By this point, the three of us were in desperate need for a soak to help our tired muscles. We ended our day at Termas La Virgin, sitting at the foot of a 100 foot misty waterfall, aptly named “Hair of the Virgin.” The water contained such a concentration of minerals that it was opaque and brown, and one pool was so hot it was difficult to even enter, but was a needed and welcome respite from the long day.

The following morning, just before Marvín boarded the bus home, we spontaneously made the decision to jump from the 300 foot San Francisco bridge in a “pendulum swing,”wherein you jump from a platform on one side of the bridge, free fall, then swing in a wide arc as you are lowered to the ground. Needless to say, willingly throwing ourselves off of a bridge was one of the more terrifying things either of us have ever done.

That afternoon we headed east to Rio Verde to a new hostel for a night before descending into the western Amazon jungle. Rio Verde’s claim to fame is El Pailon del Diablo: a massive, 80 meter waterfall which falls into a punchbowl and then is bisected by a boulder the size of a house. Around and below the falls has been constructed a series of viewing platforms and a suspension bridge, along with a “path” through a natural crevice of rock which you can crawl and climb to get directly behind the rushing water. It proved to be one of the more spectacular falls we have seen, in Ecuador or elsewhere.

Our plan from here was to spend a few days in the Oriente, Ecuador’s portion of the Amazon jungle. The owner of the hostel in Rio Verde had a contact in Tena, about three hours by bus into the jungle, and made arrangements for us to arrive and head to the house of an indigenous family in the jungle for a night or two. It sounded easy, and relatively inexpensive, so we agreed. But, as does happen, it did not go exactly as we planned…

For the first ten days in Ecuador, we visited with several members of Sheena’s family, living and traveling with them during that time. Initially, we stayed with Aunts and Uncles in Guayllabamba, an hour north of Quito. The family has quite a few hectares of farm left of the several hundred they once had, much of which was sold or lost to squatters. Primarily an avocado plantation,

the land and the surrounding area is beautiful. Sheena’s family was kind and gracious as only Latino families can be, housing us and feeding us and taking us to see the surrounding area.

After traveling together for ten weeks, and doing so generally off the cuff, being completely at the whim of others proved to be somewhat challenging. The first full day, we were driven to Cayambe in order to see the town square and surrounding colonial architecture. Sheena, her mom, an aunt, an uncle, and myself loaded up into a truck and made the hour drive. Along the way,

we made a quick stop at a marker indicating 0.00 degrees latitude, and snapped a photo of the middle of the world. We continued to Cayambe, but when we arrived it started to rain so everyone decided that we should be getting back; we circled the square and left, never actually having exited the truck.

We broke up the visit with three days in Quito and a visit to Las Tolas de Cochasquí,the site of fifteen pre-Incan pyramids built around A.D. 700, which was quite beautiful.

Otherwise, the time spent on the farm was spent chatting, (Sheena more than I, as I have very limited Spanish skills) walking the land, and enjoying the company of family.

On what was to be our last day in Guayllabamba, we decided to go Otavalo, so that we could experience the Saturday market there. The indigenous people there, the Otavalaños,  are known throughout the world for their skill with wool, and Otavalo hosts one of their largest indigenous markets in Ecuador. We piled into the truck, this time with Sheena, her mom,  an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, and me. What should have been a 90 minute drive took nearly three hours due to traffic (we forgot to factor in that in Ecuador, nearly everyone has Easter weekend off), and due to the fact that in Ecuador, police seem to love to either randomly close lanes, entire roads, or set up checkpoints in which they stop every car on the road. When we arrived in Otavalo, we began to explore the massive market, but soon food was needed so we sought out a restaurant for lunch. We apparently chose the slowest one in town, because what should have been a very quick, typical lunch took over two hours. By this point, it was nearly three in the afternoon, and a consensus was made to head back to avoid driving in the dark, so we headed home having spent less than an hour in the market. However, everyone else in Otavalo seemed to have made the same decision so along with more checkpoints and road closures, we didn’t arrive home until well past seven.

From Guayllabamba, we headed to Santo Domingo de los Colorados, where the majority of the family lives, and where Sheena’s mother was raised. Before I continue, l need to describe this city so it can be fully appreciated. Santo Domingo sits on the main crossroads from Quito to entire western section of Ecuador. As such, it has grown exponentially, from a small farming community to over 500,000 in twenty or so years. There is no center, no soul, to Santo Domingo. It is one big, unplanned sprawl. The farm of 27 hectares that Sheena’s family once owned has been reduced to little more than a few trees and a house, boxed in by the crush of the city. There was once a river running through the land, but it has long since dried up due to overdevelopment.

We arrived and were treated incredibly well, again shown the kind of hospitality that only a Latin American family can provide. One morning, a decision was made that they wanted us to see Mindo, as it was supposed to be beautiful and not too far from us, so we went to the bus station and caught the next bus there. It turned out the “next bus” was not a direct one, so three and a half hours later we finally arrived. Mindo was beautiful, a small hamlet tucked into a valley surrounded by peaks and rivers.  After a bite at a not-so-good restaurant, we decided to check out the aquarium in town. We paid our $3 entry, and walked into a dimly lit room full of mildewy fish tanks and empty display ponds. As we exited a few minutes later it began to rain, so the majority was set on leaving, after maybe two hours in town. At least this time we paid the extra for a taxi, and 90 minutes later we were back in Santo Domingo.

Family is wonderful, and I am grateful to have finally met Sheena’s family after so many years together. We were treated with the utmost hospitality and kindness by everyone. But when we boarded a bus bound for Baños with Sheena’s cousin, we were ready to start our trek towards the Amazon.

Sheena's cousin Marvín on his jump from a 100 meter bridge in Baños, Ecuador