You might think that going to waterfalls is the only thing we do here in Ecuador -- but "we do lots of other things," Sylvia says. Still, on Sunday we completed the Otavalo area waterfall bi-fecta by going back up to Cascada Taxopamba, and it was great.
Cascada, obviously, means waterfall. The common Kichwa suffix pamba, or sometimes bamba, means "place of" -- and taxo- is a fruit bearing bush common here (though I don't know which bush it is, yet).
Taxopamba is about 5K in up in the hills outside of Otavalo. Four bucks in a taxi to the trail-head. After 1K the road turns from handmade tiles to hand-set stones. (Besides stone and tile, the only other surface is dirt and dust -- along with the much more rare blacktop.) The stones are all black, fist-sized, smooth and angular. If you look down, you don't really see any difference in size, but if you look up the road, there are three stripes of slightly larger stones that mark the centerline and quarters -- a really cool effect. This seems to be the standard way of laying out the nicer roads roads in smaller towns.
The road to the trail-head climbs, either steep or steeper with few breaks. If it's clear you can catch sight of Volcan Cayambe (5790m), a flat-topped glaciated peak, a big profile contrast to the iconic cone shape of its cousin, Cotopaxi farther south. I've sampled the incline by bike, and it's tolerable if you ride in the concrete drainage for smoothness. The descent is smoother with more speed, though you have to watch for missing stones, potholes, and the odd speed bump -- as well as the occasional pig or lamb.
The hike in is maybe 1 or 2K. The trail drops into one drainage and climbs out along the contour until you drop into the second. It's laced with bamboo -- and maybe a bunch of taxo bushes. With kids, and stops, the tour was about a half an hour. All the trails here -- as far as I can tell -- are footpaths for both livestock and people... very bike unfriendly.
The first people to the falls, we make ourselves at home and settled in for the stay. The kids go for the water immediately, this being the one place we've let them swim in the Otavalo area. The water is frigid, so I put my Coca-cola brand soft-drink into the water to chill for lunch. (I know how bad Coke is, but I figure it's better than cigarettes.) I boulder around the rocks. Kerry meditates, later does some drawing. The kids frolic in the water, insanely. I head up the trail to find birds (encounter the Piculus Rivolii, the crimson-mantled woodpecker - oh baby!). It is a fine idyll indeed.
A German couple wanders up -- at least I assume they're German because the man is pale and wears a scarf. I can't help thinking how they must have thought they were headed to a calm isolated scene -- only to be greeted by shrieking children, the family having claimed all of the awesome rocks. They don't stay long. A group of Ecuadorians -- three guys, one of whom sports a Ramones shirt -- and a woman are not likewise deterred by the kids' shenanigans. One guy climbs the rocks, another takes pictures. Later they make a fire, using a lighter after the two stones fail, and roast marshmallows.
We eat lunch of sandwiches and awesome papi's papas fritas (chips), worry about the kids' exposure to the equatorial sun, finally leave after a couple of hours of not worrying about much beyond the immediate surroundings. Finally we head back out the trail. I am baffled by some yellow bird that won't give up his location except for fleeting backlit moments. K and the kids move on to Casa Mojandas, a great hostel, where I later catch up to them.
After some confusion regarding whether of not she is really around, we find Betty, and she immediately invites us in out of the heat for some refreshment. Her campus in beautiful, and we spend an hour and a half talking and touring. K -- in her inimitable way -- ends up being offered a massage table for loan. Eventually, Oakes falls into the fish pond (from the screams, we though bee-stings for sure), and we commence the midwestern goodbye (which by definition takes no less than half an hour, but may consume up to two) and head back down the hill.
Oakes is soggy, both he and Sylvia are ragamuffin dirty, but we know these as signs of a good day. Both hiked and held up well. We all crash early.
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