Call Me Nacho

That's what I tell some people my name is because when I say "Nigel", they end up pronouncing it nacho anyway. It's possibly my favourite nickname so far.

Ecuador has elections tomorrow (Sunday). Alcohol ceased to be served or sold everywhere starting at noon on Friday. Everyone of voting age is required to vote. According to my shakey understanding of Spanish, if you don't vote you face some type of fines.

It's getting on for 2 weeks that I've been in Cuenca. Ahora yo peudo hablar un poco español. Learning the language has been more fun than I ever imagined. Frustrating, when I realise how much I don't know how to say, and how much I don't understand, but fun all the same. It's so immediately rewarding because as soon as you learn something, you get the feedback of people understanding you. The host family that Anne and I are staying with are very friendly, and Ruth (the mother) has a great way of explaining things with her hands and simple words when we don't understand.

Anne and I spent our first weekend camping at Ingapirca, a small set of old Incan ruins. Apparently the Cañari people, who were there before the Incans conquered the area, had a society where the men cooked and washed and the women worked the fields. When we packed up and headed out after one night, a dog informed us by way of chasing us off the land that the place we camped on belonged to a farmer.

Today I went horseback riding for the first time in my life. It was good fun - got to ride in some hills which gave great views of the countryside. At a couple points we had the horses break out into a full on gallop. They go amazingly fast. I'm not used to having an animal carry me at high speed, and when I went around a corner I had to remind myself that I wasn't in a car that would spin out of control because of the deep bumps in the dirt path. After 4 hours of riding I'm feeling somewhat bruised.

We had a great guide (Fernando), which made a nice change from our Cotopaxi experience. He was very knowledgeable, and has started a farming cooperative that aims to be 80% self sufficient in a few years. They sell some nice dried fruit & meat which will go well on a hiking trip next weekend.

Fernando told us about a trip he made during the past week. He had a horse which wasn't doing so well in the high mountain altitudes, so decided to take it to his friend's ranch on the coast. Him and his friend made the 4 day journey on horseback, sleeping a couple nights under the stars. Sounded fantastic, and also made me realise that there probably aren't many areas in the US or Europe where you can still do that.

That's all for now. Pictures to follow in a few days. For some reason the computer at my host family's house won't let me upload any.