Carnaval en Peguche- por finnnn

So I've been having some major problems with the photo uploader of my blog, but I finally got it to work out (only after switching browsers though!). So here's the never-ending series of photos of activities that I did several weeks (months!) ago that I know you're dying to see.

First, photos from our trip out to Peguche for Carnaval. I wrote up the blog post several weeks ago, but I've been saving it for the accompanying photos. Here it is.

Almost immediately upon returning from Vinces (editor's note: that was forever ago! does anyone even remember that I went to Vinces?), I got horribly sick. Thankfully, Alvaro was ready and willing to take care of me, making sure that I never had to get out of bed. I was pretty much bed-ridden for 2.5 days, at which point we were in the middle of Ecuador's Carnaval weekend celebration. We had plans originally to go to an ecological reserve with some friends, but in a bizarrely lucky coincidence, those fell through when rental car plans didn't work out. Instead, we had talked about going on a road trip with two of Alvaro's friends from work that I know well, and we were able to push the trip back a little bit later than expected so that I had more time to recover. 

This is how I spent most of the trip- sneezing

I wasn't feeling 100% better when we left for the trip, but leaving Quito (just leaving my bed!) was a nice break.

Leaving Quito

Corn fields just outside of Quito

We went to Peguche, in the Imbabura province, near Otavalo which is famous for having the largest indigenous market in South America. Because of some Carnaval celebrations, the main road up to the hostel was closed when we arrived, so we took a detour, heading to San Antonio de Ibarra, which is famous for its hand carved wood handicrafts. After admiring the crafts there, we hopped back in our friend's car and headed to Ibarra, or more specifically, Yaguarcocha which is a lake outside of Ibarra.

You can see the lake in the background- these are hooligans with foam

Seriously every little kid had foam or water

Carnaval in Ecuador is the longest consecutive national holiday, and it's a big deal. Lots of people try to travel somewhere else, so even small hole-in-the-wall restaurants are busy with tourists wherever you go. The other major thing is that everyone walks around with bottles of spray foam, trying to spray other people with foam. Kids join up in groups to attack other groups, and even adults join in the action. Other people throw water balloons, prepare their water guns, or even drive around in the back of a pickup truck with buckets and a huge barrel of water, soaking anyone walking by or driving by. Kids (and adults!) camp out on roof tops to throw water balloons and soak unsuspecting passersby. The good thing is that this is all mostly done in fun, and people have remarkably good attitudes. I was trying not to get any sicker, and since it was cold out, I was trying desperately (and uselessly) to not be sprayed or soaked. I found that a serious, angry face usually did the trick, although when we were walking along the streets when a pickup truck with kids in the back passed, no one was safe.

La Casa del Sol, our hostel in Peguche

Alvi and me outside of our hostel

After eating fish (everyone else) and chochos (me) in Yaguarcocha, we drove back to Peguche to find the road open. To avoid getting soaked at night, we stayed in and drank canelazos in the hostel instead. The next morning after breakfast, we embarked upon our big adventure. 

The waterfall in Peguche

The trails were PACKED!

Amparito, María Esther, and me in front of a make-shift foam vendor's stand

We wanted to hike to see Peguche's waterfall, and then we planned on continuing to climb above the waterfall, where we could walk through a town to reach another lake, Lago San Pablo. The waterfall trail was packed, but once we (daringly) climbed up further, it was pretty empty. Unfortunately, as we walked through the more vacant small towns, we realized that we were prime targets for pickup trucks filled with water to dump water on us! (We learned this after being soaked- the kids literally jumped out of the truck to pour water on us, they were so excited.) 

Strawberries! We saw lots of more rural aspects since we ditched the roads

Chanchito!

To avoid being targets, we cut off of the main road and walked through cornfields to get to the lake.

Lago San Pablo

Lake

At the lake, we took a boat tour around and then caught a bus back to Peguche. Unfortunately, no one knew their way around well, and we became victims of another pickup truck drive-by soaking. 

Cutting through cornfields

Crossing the water filled bridge, trying not to look backwards

We headed back to the cornfields and the forest, hoping to find out brightly colored hostel. We meandered around for a looooong time, and eventually got home, after crossing a water filled bridge and cutting through more fields!

View of Peguche and Otavalo

We eventually found our hostel (incredibly thankful that it was so colorful on the inside and outside so that we could locate it through the woods!) and treated ourselves to Italian food in Otavalo. Despite sneezing all the time, it was a great trip!