Mark's Llama Drama

Howdy all,

Just spent 2 great weeks in Ecuador, a superb country indeed.

The scenery here was just awesome, as the Andes run straight down the centre of the country, every bus ride held spectacular views through giant valleys, 50m waterfalls, and mountains in every direction our heads turned. The countryside is coloured with the indigenous folk, who have all the time in the world to chill on the grassy banks in colourful ponchos and slick top hats, beside their tiny houses and straw huts, occasionally strolling out to check on their llamas, hoe a potato or two, or even just to a scratch their ass, while taking in the scerenities. Ahh, the scerenity.....

The carnival fiestas had us saturated in everytown, with every brat kid hurling waterbombs in all directions, especially in particular, at gringos like myself, always a priority. After recieving this royal treatment on several occasions, even running out of dry clothes with my limited stocks, this activity quickly got to me pretty quick, prompting me to hose every bastard I could get from my second floor hotel balcony with sawn off coke bottles, which I did with great pleasure, pardoning only the indigenous, and those over 60, the only ones with maturity it seemed.

Spent some lazy days down the south too, trading the usual dog box room for a mini resort type hotel, with pool, hot spa, TVs and stereos everywhere. The town of Villacabamba is set in the valley of longevity, where people easily live to 100years. I belive it too, after taking a very ball-chaffing horse ride for 4 hrs up and down the mountains, through streams, rivers, even through the middle of a volleyball game, all led by a 75 yr old Ecuadorian on his own horse, his daily income. He even got off the horse a couple of times to slash through some trees with his machette to clear the path, full Rambo style, a real Trojan.

The local bar was a great craic, set in a bamboo shack run by a cowboy styled guy with stetson and huge moustache, who breaks out a glass for himself under any excuse to drink with locals, and his wife. The bar was equipped with a hammock, and nik-naks over every wall, from horse shoes to voodoo sticks, a big hairy tarrantula spider in an equarium, and the house specialty was a tequilla, poured from a huge jar with a venemos looking snake coiled up inside it. As much as I hate snakes, gotta say, it was pretty good tequilla.

Have now crossed into Peru, where I danced in front of the border guard sitting serious and comfortable behind his window, while being mawled by 10,000 mosquitos while trying to fill in my particulars on the waiver at 1am. Peru has more of a crazy feel compared to the well conducted Ecuador, taxis and motorised rickshaws buzzing aroung every corner, the northern landscape very desert like, with large shanty towns of mud brick housing, but all interesting again indeed.

Till the credit card crumbles, further south we go.

Mark _ _ ______________________________________________________ _ _

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