We made up some peanut butter sandwiches and drank on more pineapple juice then started for our bus to another bus to another bus to arrive at Santa Domingo de Los Colorado...about undefined hour bus ride on really good roads. The first bus had pretty dirty windows...and right away the symbolism hit me....only if you look beyond the dirt will you see the true beauty. This lesson we have felt in all our travels. As always, we get to see many scenes that in USA are hid behind closed doors: tossing wash water, brushing teeth, butchering chickens & pigs, kids riding sticks as horses, a lady riding the bus with two live chicks on her lap, locals peering out the openings in their homes as we pass, laundry being hung and some cute little piggies eating the scraps outside a restaurant. We pass many homes we would consider shacks but with breathtaking views or right on the beach. Location, location, location! Most villages are about the same as the last...with very few autos but lots of horses as the terrain is very mountainous... and all are plastered with election posters. Here and there...seems like in no where land...there are little restrurants with big steaming pots and a table or two...they too are plastered with election posters. Lots of cows around and since we see milk cans by the road and being carried by horses, guess they are dairy cows. The bus is a constant flow of people as it seems to stop where ever people want on or off. Quite often, a vendor or two will hop on the bus selling various food items...and hop off at the next stop. When we got into the area with lots of banana and cocoa farms, the houses were better constructed...with cement and blue glass in the windows and we saw more and more autos. Obviously more money. The only part that bugs me is when they are showing a movie as it is usually very violent or full of sex...why do we feed minds with such junk? But overall, we have really enjoyed our many bus rides. And the price is right...from 25 cents for short ones, $1 or $2 for 2or 3 hours to $10 for our 9 hour ride. Wish it was this easy and cheap to travel by bus in USA!
Templor
While in Santo Domingo de Los Colorados we were traveling by taxi to visit a local indigenous village when we heard some girls shriek alongside the road, then our driver stopped the car and we noticed that the car was still moving as if it were being buffeted by strong winds. I opened the window to see if it was windy and then noticed telephone wires and poles swaying back and forth and finally realized that we were experiencing our first tremor (temblor- in Spanish). It lasted about 10 to 20 seconds and later we spoke with a local tourist guide who told us that it was centered in Colombia and was a 7.0 earthquake there. It was the strongest tremor that she had felt in Santo Domingo de Los Colorados in ten years. What luck! We hope there were no bad effects of the earthquake elsewhere.
Santa Domingo & Mucho Help
When we got off the bus at Santa Domingo, we noticed an info center so we went in. What luck! An extremely helpful, English speaking girl not only got us lined up for a visit to a nearby Tsachitas Village, but also loaded all our photos onto a flash drive, directed us to the local Flora celebration, helped us get the next bus tickets we needed and gave us a map of Quito marking the bus station we will need to find there!
Tsachitas Village
The Tsachitas are the indigious people in the are around Santa Domingo de Los Colorados. We think Colorado might mean color as this tribe's custom includes wearing skirts with many bright colors and head pieces with colored ribbons hanging. The men have red dyed bowl cut hair cuts and wear a ring of sheep wool on top. All have black lines on their faces and black rings on their legs and arms. Our personal guide was none other than the village shaman. She walked us through the forest showing us various plants used for medicine, mood altering and body painting. She also performed various rituals over Rog...so if he acts different when we get home...you will know why. She must be well respected as she is also running for some political position and her face is on several election posters! We were treated to a music and dance demonstration and watched as they prepared a fish meal in banana leaves. A TV crew was there as well...and we got interviewed by them. How do we rate!!!!
