OUR GEOGRAPHICAL AREA

When our Division was first formed we were called the Prince George and Area RCMP Veterans'Association.  The organizers and those responsible for the formation of our Association were largely from the Prince George area and that seemed like an appropriate name at the time.

Since then the RCMP Sub Divisions have ceased to exist and the Province was split into four Districts.  The largest District being NORTH DISTRICT which encompasses all of the old Prince George Sub Division, Prince Rupert Sub Division and parts of the Kamloops Sub Division.  Essentially the same boundaries as noted in the above picture exist but are now all NORTH DISTRICT.

In order to reflect this change and make all members feel more welcome and also to recognize their unique geographic location we are proposing a name change to the Division.  If approved by the Membership our Divsion will change its name to

B.C. North District Division

Stay tuned to your email for messages related to the proposed change and excersise your right to provide imput in this important decision making process.  More to follow on the website and your inbox of your email. 

Vilcabamba to Cuenca and Beyond - Equador Travel Log Part II

After breakfast with our new found friends, including a couple from Germany, Elke and Walter, who were visiting their daughter, her husband, and their kids who live in Cuenca and a dentist from the US, Denis Malloy, who was travelling on his own, we paid our bill (cash only please) and we departed Izhcayluma. We arrived in Loja at 1025, just in time to catch a 1030 bus bound for Cuenca.

Again, the bus wound it`s way up the steep mountain roads, through small villages, aften stopping to pick up or drop off a passenger or two, past small farms clinging to the steep hillsides where they were growing tubers, grains, and other crops.

    Hilly country near Saraguro

At Saraguro, a town of about 4000 people, perched on the side of a mountain at 2500 meters (8200 feet), about a third of the way back to Cuenca, we stopped for about ten minutes.  Long enough to off load some passengers and their belogings and for some of the local hawkers to get on board to sell food and drinks. The small plastic bags of fresh popcorn are delicious.

The majoriy of the local inhabitants are Peruvian or Bolivian in origin, having come from near Lake Titcaca. They were moved to Saraguro in the 1470s by the Inca who had a resettlement policy where they moved the local tribes out and moved in other folks.

Many of the people there wear traditional dress; the women in broad brimmed white hats or black fedoras, long pleated skirts, colorful tops with ornate pins called tupus, holding macanas or shawls wrapped on their shoulders.

The men wear black fedora hats, their long hair pulled into a ponytail sticking out from underneath. A colored shirt covered by a black poncho, black pants that cover to just below the knees, black ankle socks and black shoes complete their ensemble.

    Saraguro man and woman

Within their community, they tend to be self sufficient with people from the community in all vocations, trades, and profesions. As result the community the community is a fairly prosperous one.

The bus driver who had been driving fairly slowly up to this point, now picked up speed as we wound our way through the mountains, climbing up into mountain passes and then rushing down the other side into the deep river valleys below. Guard rails are not a common commodity in Ecuador and at times we were really glad our driver was very good at his job.

     The highway across the valley heads up towards the high mountain pass capped with clouds.

As we crossed back over the highest pass on the highway, (3100 meters or 10,000 feet high) we suddenly entered a thick mountain fog bank which reduced visibility to about 40 feet. The driver knew obviously knew the road well as we didn't seem to slow down that much. After three quarters of an hour of nervous riding we finally started dropping off the high plateau and the fog finally lifted.

We were back in Cuenca four and a half hours after leaving Loja. To our pleasant surprise, the driver let us off right across the street from our apartment, saving us the cost of a taxi back from the bus terminal.

On December 18th, Sunday morning, we teamed up with Juan again, this time for a trip to Chordeleg and Gualaceo, two smaller communities to the east of Cuenca about an hours drive. Both have weekend markets although the main attractions, I found out much to the detriment of my wallet, was handcrafted silver and gold filigree jewelry in Chordeleg and leather shoes locally maid in Gualaceo.

After arriving in Chordeleg and checking out the main square with it's lovely old commercial buildings and church, Juan and I retired to a local coffee shop to talk while Betsey checked out the many jewelry stores.  The good news was that the shop owners will barter on the prices so there wasn't too much damage done to our supply of cash.

     Chordeleg town square

At Gualaceo Juan took to the local food market where we had lunch. There were a few hundred merchants, all under one big roof, busily cooked up a variety of foods including chickens, whole roasted pigs, cuy (guinea pig roasted on a stake), Tortilla de choclo (grilled corn flour pancake), humitas (corn dumplings steamed in corn husks), maduros (grilled sweet plantain), empanadas, french fies served with sausage, and numerous other dishes. We ate roasted pig served with salad and delicious fried potatoe pancakes. Lunch for 3: $9.50.

The food was delicious. We then indulged and tried a tortilla de choclo which was so tasty we bought some more to take home with us. Unfortunately the feeding frenzy took some time and alas it was time to head home. No time left to go shoe shopping. Darn. :-) Little did I know it would cost me later on.

     Roasted Cuy and chickens at the food market being readied to eat.

On the road back to Cuenca we stopped at a family run business of weaving in the traditional way using natural dyes to color the fabric, a traditional backstrap loom to weave. The mother and her son put on a demonstration of the various processes required to take the raw materials through to the finished product. Ikat weaving is one of oldest forms of weaving. The material is tie dyed, then woven with the dyed sections forming the intricate patterns.

    Young weaver using a backstrap loom.

We spent the rest of the days leading up to Christmas exploring Cuenca, it`s shops, museums, and restaurants. We walked everywhere, walking 3 to 6 miles per day. This was not highspeed walking mind you, due to one of us having to check out the many craft, jewellery, and shoe shops that line the streets. :-) Poca a poca, little by little.

Christmas Eve is a big day in the lives of the Cuencans. It starts early with the participants in Pase del Nina Viajero parade starting to assemble at first light. People from the surrounding communities come to Cuenca to participatein the parade. It is the celebration of the passing (going by) of the travelling Christ child. Many years ago, a life sized doll depicting the Christ child was sent to Rome to be blessed. On it`s return, crowds of people came out to celebrate it`s passing. Since then on every Christmas eve the people gather to re-enact the "passing of the travelling child."

The parade  consists of people dressed up in various costumes; Joseph

and Mary, Roman soldiers, local traditional clothing, dancers, cowboys, marching bands, dancers, religeous figures, and many other costumes. Most of the participants were children from babes in arms through to teens, the younger ones accompanied by their parents. There were horses, donkeys, lambs, sheep, dogs, and various floats, mostly cars and trucks draped in colorful fabrics.

     Kids in the parade.

Some of the vehicles and animals were festooned with food and drink, breads, candies, cakes, fruit, pop, beer, whiskey (Johnney Walker Red was popular), whole roasted pigs and chickens. We were told that at the end of the parade the food and drink would all be consumed.

     Some of the thousands of participants in the parade.

We arrived at the parade route around 9:00 AM in order to get a good view point. It turned out we could have slept in, although the parade started right on time at 1000, there were far more participants than there were viewers. The official estimate was 50,000 participants.

The parade moved slowly, often stopping for long periods of time. We went for coffee for half an hour and still the parade came on. Christmas Eve is the big meal event of Christmas for the Ecuadorians. We joined up with Denis Malloy and his family, who had flown into Cuenca two days before, at El Chorral, a Argentinian restaurant specializing in meats from Argentina, for our Christmas feast at 1 PM. After a great meal which took over an hour, it was back downtown to the parade, still going on. By 4:30 PM there was no sign of the end, we were tired, and called it a day, heading back to our apartment. We are not sure when it actually ended.

     Float covered in fruit, bread, liquor.

Christmas day was a low key affair with champagne and orange juice with breakfast, Skyping with family back in Canada, going for a walk to Iglesia San Blas to check an area of town we hadn't been to yet, and then back home to watch a couple of movies on dvds. Christmas dinner was chicken breasts with potatos and yams. We could have bought a turkey but there was not much point in doing that for just the two of us. All in all a good day which of course ended in the usual multiple fireworks displays around the city.

     Part of one of the many fireworks displays Christmas night in Cuenca.

After Christmas, we joined a tour to the Cajas, a national park that rises sharply to the west of Cuenca, the highway that runs through it crosses the mountains at 13,654 feet before dropping down towards Guayaquil on the coast. The area is dotted with hundreds of small lakes, the ones on the east slopes being the water source for Cuenca.

    The remains of an abandoned brewery on one of the lower and larger lakes in the Cajas Park.

The area has wild Llamas and Alpacas that roam the mountains. There are plants unique to the damp cool climate including small forests of polylepis trees that grow at the highest altitudes of any trees in the world. Guide books liken wandering into one of these small forests to entering the world of one of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. They are not far wrong.

    Wild Llamas (or are they Alpacas?) grazing near one of the higher lakes.

Our guide, Adrian, was very knowledgeable in the flaura and fauna, even giving us some a small piece of wild grass that the natives chew to help with the high altitude. Whether it was psyochosomatic or not it seemed to help us.

We went for about a three kilometer hike, thank goodness from a highpoint near the summit on a trail that lead us downwards, past several of the lakes and then back to the highway and our waiting van. Getting enough oxygen, even going downhill was a challenge. This was followed by a delicious fresh trout lunch at a roadside restaurant that grew their own trout in pools near the establishment.

     A high mountain lake at around 12,000 feet.

The next day, Betsey realized that we had not spent enough time in Gualaceo as she had not been able to look in any of the shoe stores so back to Gualeceo we went, this time in a taxi as we had to get their before the shops shut down for their afternoon siesta. When we got there we quickly found the street where all the shoe stores were and Betsey checked them out while I wandered around seeing the sites of the town, getting a 50 cent shoe shine, and taking photos. After checking out several stores she found a pair of loafers she liked, we had lunch, and then took a $1.20 bus back to Cuenca.

     One of the many shoe shops in Gualeceo.

Our time in Cuenca was fast coming to a close. While we packed and prepared for our move to Quito, the locals were busy readying themselves for their New Years celebrations. In addition to fireworks (of coarse), they also prepared hundreds of lifesize effigies which are burnt in the streets at midnight on New Years eve. This represents destroying all the bad things from the past year so they can start the New Year afresh.

Every neighborhood had vendors with fully clothed effigies for sale, many with paper mache faces brighly painted in bright colors.

     Effigies and masks for sale on the roadside.

As we flew northwards to Quito on the afternoon of New Years Eve, we eagerly awaited to see what sort of celebrations were about to happen in Quito.