Tag / Macas

by earlybird1953

Heaven or Hell? Our Sangay National Park Venture

With our breakfast gulped down, dishes done, bags packed and armed with high hopes and imagination, we sped away from Macas in search of the Sangay National Park road and the opportunity to spot the explosive activity currently coming from the Sangay Volcano.

(Spoiler alert – our hopes were dashed.)

Sadly, we never did have the pleasure of viewing the volcano’s explosive activity. For two days we attempted to find the veiled peak, but unfortunately, the low clouds obscured, like a negligee tease, the glacier from our view. A lamentable loss, yet I never once had a moment to wallow in disappointment.

One might think it was my Pollyanna excitement regarding life’s offerings or the fabulous mountain and valley views that granted us glimpses of the jungle wildlife that overrode any sense of losing out.

But, oh, no, no, no it was not the joy of seeing such an amazing environment. Rather, I was much too overwhelmed by and focused on my instinct for SURVIVAL!  And although my mind had conjured up images of jeopardous spewing lava and falling ash, this was not at all the source of this primal response.

So what caused me such deep anxiety? Well, heck, where do I start?

Landslides:

Close your eyes for a moment and visualize driving on a narrow, two lane road where on one side of the pavement the mountain is rising hundreds of feet and on the other side, cliffs fall away so steeply that all one can see are the flowing clouds, creeping over the road eclipsing an emptiness you do not wish to fill.

Besides crashing into a ravine, what you are seeing in your mind’s eye is the mountain road traversing from Macas to Alausi.

Despite any alarm bells such a road creates, our drive was going smoothly until I began noticing large rocks, 1 to 2 feet in diameter, strewn over the road creating a boulder garden (not unlike those I would encounter when I used to kayak) through which one had to navigate. At first, I was able to ignore the possible dangers, rationalizing that it would take a direct hit to the roof of the truck to cause serious injury. My unfounded reasoning worked well until the “large rocks” morphed into boulders twice the size of our truck! Though more uneasy, I still figured the odds of being directly plowed into was not much different than being eaten by a shark while surfing (which has certainly never dissuaded me from the sport). However, further up the road we were forced to drive around even larger boulders while simultaneously squishing through thick mud, covering both lanes for 100 feet, give or take.

At one point, we had to wait, along with other motorists, about an hour for the highway to be cleared of the debris left behind by a mega landslide that, while on its way to the valley floor, buried the road and anything on it. It began to dawn on me that the odds of not being pushed over the edge by mud, ripped out trees and boulders were becoming more like those of a hot-blooded gambler in Las Vegas taking on the cool headed, house dealer. (In Ecuadorian news just the last two days – a bus crushed by HUGE boulders and a car impaled by a sliding tree. The odds were not in their favor.)

Missing Asphalt:

Until this trip I hadn’t really thought about the fact that landslides do not occur only on the rising walls above the road. Though unseen, they also occur on the underside of the pavement, causing large chunks of the road, 10 to 15 feet in length and 3 to 8 feet in width to fall into an abyss. In some places whole car lanes were missing! I couldn’t help but ponder – was there a motorist with his family, child safely locked in his car seat or bus full of slumbering people on the road when the earth collapsed from beneath the vehicle? Equally as troubling, there is little to no warning of hazards ahead.  No bright, red flags or glaring, flashing lights. Nor are there any yellow vested workmen directing traffic flow. Nope, at best you will see a mound of dirt to alert you. And if your vehicle careens over the edge there’ll be no surviving. For if the fall doesn’t kill you (which, trust me, you’ll hope it does), the boulder-filled landslide tombstone which follows will complete the task. Yet even this was nothing compared to what was to come the next day while heading down the other side of the mountain.

Unrelenting, Dense Fog:

Driving in intense fog is nothing new to me. However, doing so when on unfamiliar, twisting asphalt that hovers over a gorge is a recipe for the worst of nightmares. To add to my discomfort, I was a passenger in the back seat, so consequently had no control over the situation. I was in capable hands, but that only granted my mind free time to cogitate on all the hair-raising possibilities.

Is there another boulder laying in the middle of the road? A stopped car? A wayward cow or donkey? Or worse, is there even a road at all or has it dropped off leaving nothing but an insatiable cavity?

My angst was nearly overwhelming as the hours of blind driving snaked by. Yet, stone boulders, roaming animals, deer in the headlight drivers, collapsed roads and thick fog were not nearly as scary as the dense-headed drivers, those who showed no restraint or reasonable fear of the blinding fog. They could not see one whit better than we could, yet they’d fly by, driving on the oncoming traffic side of the road as if it were a clear day on a 4-lane divided highway where they could see forever. Hairpin curve? No worries for them – it’s not like they could see it coming. And, so, every few moments there’d be a blur on the driver’s side of the truck as something whooshed by with total disregard for what lay ahead. Unfriggen’ (not the word that was actually screeching through my mind) believable.

Thanks to Brent’s skilled driving, Mercy’s navigational use of Google maps giving pre-warning of upcoming curves, and despite Jan’s yelps and my gasps, we arrived in Cuenca safely unscathed.

 Now, one might surmise from my account that I did not have a fabulous time while traveling through Sangay National Park. This deduction, though completely reasonable, would be in error. Honestly, the views, when we had them, were astounding and outweighed my desire for safety. Sadly, my camera’s lens can’t even come close to representing for you what my eyes beheld: towering walls, intimidating cliffs, colorful birds flittering on limbs of unfamiliar trees and countless waterfalls, their sounds calling me to venture off the road to discover their secretive, quiet pools. It was totally worth the risk


(And if you are still drawn (and I hope you are) to the Sangay National Park, make sure your life insurance is paid up and you’ve made amends with anyone you might have offended.)

by earlybird1953

Macas, Ecuador (And Our Airbnb Blunder)

This past week, we decided to take a side-trip from our stay in the beautiful city of Cuenca, Ecuador to the town of Macas, our launch point into the Sangay National Park. (I’ll write about that adventure later.) We spent two nights at a secluded home we discovered on Air B&B.

The lodging was more expensive than we’d planned ($170.00 per night for the four of us), but the lovely photos on the internet were intoxicating. We were all drunk with excitement and decided we would splurge on our exotic little getaway..

The location, which was 15 minutes out of town, was nestled among the jungle’s trees, offering us total protection from the city lights and noises. (And anyone who has visited Ecuador knows that is an issue.) The manicured grounds, which would humble the nicest of golf courses, were spectacular, pulled straight from the pages of Architectural Digest.

Unfortunately though, the “home” was, well, to put it mildly, DREADFUL!

No hot water, no coffee maker to offset the freezing cold showers, a malfunctioning microwave, no fans or air conditioning to cool down the muggy, overheated house. There were no screens on windows which forced us to choose between naturally cooling the house through open windows (which meant being completely mosquito eaten and bug overridden) or no sleep due to profuse sweating. The furniture was ripped and dirty – not at all inviting to one’s behind. Each night before bedtime, I had to clear out the bugs from under the bed (some dead, some not) and hand-sweep from the bed sheets slumbering moths and gnats that earlier were attracted to the bedroom light dangling over our bed. In the living room, while Jan stood tiptoed on the coffee table, Mers and I chased down a speedy cockroach with a napkin which was the only weapon we could find. And yes, as advertised, there was a large screen TV with cable – but no one, not even the caretaker, could figure out how to use it. And NO INTERNET!!!! I have stayed in huts in the Amazon that were better equipped. However, the grounds, as I hope the photos portray, were lovely.

Fortunately though, we were not confined to this rather unpleasant abode.

As we explored Macas, we came across a delightfully quaint zoo. For $2.50 each, the zookeeper ushered us through his park, offering a personal tour with information on each of the very few animals housed there. (Of course, it was all in Spanish, so I won’t try to quote any of the facts he shared.) However, what the zoo lacked in creature numbers was made up by the low cost and close encounters with the critters. And let’s just say one had to be very mindful of fingers and toes.

I fully enjoyed balancing myself on squishy planks, loosely laid and sinking into the muddy pathways while ducking palm leaves as I broke through the last-night’s spider weavings. And best of all, there were no vendors selling stuffed teddy bears, cotton candy, hotdogs nor cokes, all at exorbitant prices. Just the animals I was hoping to meet in the amazon. This rustic, overgrown zoo was my kind of place.


Since the zoo excursion from beginning to end (the zookeeper kept saying “Andale, andale!” when we’d linger) was less than an hour, we decided to finish out the morning by driving up the hill to the viewpoint, Mirador del Quilamo. Crowning the hilltop, watching over the city, is a monument to the Virgin Purisima de Macas which is only outsized by the numerous cell towers only yards away. (Couldn’t they have found a better place to plant those hideous things?)

Anyway, I was told that the view seen from the feet of the statue

is wonderful, but I got totally distracted and spent my time and eyes focused on taking pictures of the moths, birds and, subsequently, the birds munching on the apparently quite tasty moths.

Macas is a great one-night stopping point if you plan to explore the Sangay National Park. (A word of warning though – you might want to check out your accommodations a little more carefully than we did!) The drive through the park is a full day experience, so launching from Macas is the perfect solution. But more about that stunning (not to mention sketchy) drive later.