sv evi

We like to spend time in nature as a family. In the States this often means car camping with family or friends, with our annual 2.6 mile roundtrip backpacking trip to Third Beach at La Push added in. Often when we car camp, we do it in Leavenworth or Vantage because we are really there to rock climb.

Here in Ecuador, we don’t have a car. So for us, our car camping equivalent is backpacking. We take a $1.50 taxi to the bus terminal, then take a $2 bus for an hour to Cajas National Park, where we get dropped off on the side of the road. Then we hike in however far, pitch our tents, explore around, eat Mac n’ cheese with tuna for dinner… Riki and I both have huge packs on, and Riki wears Luz in the Ergo on the front. I usually go slowly with Jade, coaxing her along, holding her hand, etc. while Riki, Tomu and Luz are hiking up ahead.

The trail blazers

The trip home is the exciting part, because we hike back to the road, and wait for a bus to come by. However, not all buses stop. We also are not above flagging down private cars or empty tourist vans, if they will stop.

So far we’ve been camping (backpacking) 4 times at different spots in Cajas. For Mother’s Day we went to a place called Laguna Luspa, which was so gorgeous. We were right by a little waterfall, at the edge of a polyepsis (“paper tree”) grove, next to a meadow. And it was brilliantly sunny all day Saturday. We had the place to ourselves, and it felt like true wilderness. What a magnificent Mothers Day gift! Tomu and Jade sang me a song Sunday morning: Las Mañanitas, which they had learned at school.

Our private meadow

The kids found lots of cow bones and assembled them into a skeleton.

On Sunday we hiked out in clouds, fog that gets you wet, rain, and it was a literal downpour when we got to the highway. Luckily there was a restaurant there that was open, so we went in and warmed up and had lunch.

The Ecuadorians think we are crazy when we go hiking in Cajas with our crew of small people, and especially crazy when we tell them we camp there. Unfortunately our buddies the McVans moved back to Alaska, so we don’t have another family to share Cajas camping adventures with anymore.