Ecuador Catch-All

We, the intrepid travelers by car of Ecuador, are near the end of this trip.  This catch-all post is about the interesting things we experienced, stayed in, or otherwise observed but did not get into another post.  Enjoy.

One of many candy shops along the road:

 A soda vendor in Puerto Lopez:

The Potato Market in Otovalo had big bags and piles and piles of potatoes.

Trees are being started, grown, and harvested all over Northwest Ecuador for palm oil that is becoming ubiquitous in many of our processed foods.

Indigenous artifacts from the Agua Blanca Museum outside of Puerto Lopez:

One of many creative entrances advertising No-Tell Motels:

Some great places we stayed:

Hostal Curinan in Otovalo:

Quinta de San Miguel near Lago de Yahuar Cocha:

Isla del Sol in Same (Sah-may):

Hotel Canoa Wonderland in Canoa:

Hotel Victor Hugo in Puerto Lopez:

Zaysant Ecolodge near the Quito Airport:

We stayed on the beach whenever possible.  Puerto Lopez had beautiful sunsets, cool early morning fog, and fishermen who unloaded their catches to sell:

Los Frailes Beach was touted as the best beach in Ecuador: clean, white sand and calm water:

With a wave to a llama, we say goodbye to Ecuador.

Mesa Verde

Ever since I was a young school girl, I wanted to visit Mesa Verde.  It was not to happen until I was making my 70th trip around the sun.  It was early Spring and half of the roads were not open for visitors.  Because the ground has become unstable over the years, no tours to explore the actual dwellings were scheduled.  But I was there, and it was great.

One spot along a hiking trail reveals petroglyphs on a high wall.  They are almost like graffiti.

I was surprised at how many cliff dwellings exist in the area, but the canyons provided a unique, sheltered place for people to live.

The area on top of the dwellings has experienced several forest fires.  In the background are some snow-covered Colorado mountains.  I hope to return to see more of Mesa Verde.

Cross Bay Ferry: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Tampa

We were a group of lucky riders who got to experience the Cross Bay Ferry and the Dali Museum on the same day.  Catching the ferry in Tampa was easy as there was little downtown activity early in the morning.  The ride was smooth, and soon we were in St. Petersburg.  The nearby trolley gave us a free tour of the city area and dropped us off in front of the Dali Museum to view the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

I love this eastern facing roof area.  The photo is ever changing.

Outside were recreations of items in Frida Kahlo's garden outside of Mexico City.

I love Dali's melting clocks.

We timed our visit to include lunch before we caught the return ferry.  It was a most enjoyable day on the Tampa Bay.

Art in Ecuador

Mainland Ecuador displays art everywhere from large to small sculptures, murals on walls and buildings, chalk and tiled images on floors, and a museum.  First is a sampler of sculpture:

Chalk art was created by an Israeli-Ecuadorian:

Tiled art was common near the ocean:

These are some of the many murals we saw:

In Quito we visited the Guayasamin Museum.  Oswaldo Guayasamin was a painter and sculptor who depicted his Ecuadorian heritage.  Here are some images of his sculpture around his home and the museum.  No photography was allowed inside the buildings so you can't see any paintings: