Guaranda, the land where the gringos stick out

We've arrived in Guaranda, safe and sound after a four hour trip on Sunday. The girls are getting quite good at arranging ourselves; the puzzle of the backseat fits better now than it did.

Before that however, Jessica and I decided we would have a preemptive stretch and wandered down the street, only to be lucky enough to witness the first runners reaching the finish line of the 15k going on in Quito: an estimated 15,000 runners participated. Spectacle was the operative word, with many Quiteños out to witness the runners as well as the associated circus characters; the opportunistic street vendors were out in force as well. It was a pleasant adieu. 

The journey to Guaranda was tolerable enough; Moazir always has the music pumping and there was lots to see in between naps. We stopped halfway to have lunch with a former VT AgEcon student turned Peace Corps volunteer who was in the first generation of students to come on this trip; she took us to a delicious pizza place. Then it was an onward march, passing two volcanoes, Tungurahua (a recent trouble maker, erupting in the past few months and disrupting flights) and Chimborazo, which we'll see often in the next few weeks while we are working in the upper watershed. I defer to the facebooks of fellow travelers Lauren Moore and Robert Gaffney for pictures. 

The hotel here in Guaranda is quite nice, perched on a hill above the town. Fluffy pillows and ample space to spread out and unpack make it feel like home base for now. The INIAP office is right next door, separated only by a parking lot and a couple of resident vicuñas, one of which is only 10 days old!

The town itself is very inviting, but we stick out here like nobody's business. A large group of gringos attracts lots of stares, smiles, and whistles, especially when we are hiking back up the hill to the hotel. There are more than a few restaurants to adventure to; we had coffee this afternoon at a place called Los Siete Santos; not much to look at from the outside, but it was like entering the jungle on the inside, complete with several large trees.

Central Plaza in Guaranda

Ready for a photo-op (I have no clue who these guys are)

View of Guaranda from our hotel window

We also had our first glimpse at what the work is going to be like on Monday, venturing to several agrochemical stores and getting a rough idea of what inputs cost. It was a test of my listening skills; writing down pesticide names en español may not be my most valuable skill. Tuesday we are heading up to the upper watershed (a 45 minute drive) to test-drive our surveys and re-work the questions that the farmers don't understand. ¿Ya veremos, no?