We stayed at Hostel Folklore (Bernardo's Hostel) for about two weeks. You can see that the entrance was guarded by Snoopy, the very intimidating folklore mascot.
The common room inside the hostel was a great place to relax, read, listen to music and watch tourist videos!
An adjacent cafeteria served breakfasts of muesli of yogurt & fruit, along with freshly warmed bread with jam. mmmm.
And you can always rest on the terrace on the ever so popular hammocks.
Finally, this was our room. Spacious, quiet, clean, no bugs, and hot showers (yay!).
While I had headed off early to the Galapagos, Dave joined Bernardo and his family to a local Bullfight (not a tourist event here like in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!).
The toreador fought and wounded the bull on foot and on horse.
Of course, they weren't always lucky!
And that is when their "toreador assistants" came to help distract the bull until the toreador caught his breath.
In the end, the bull fell over and died from blood loss and exhaustion. Blinded horses were used to drag the dead bull away.
Then the toreador threw the bull's ears to the crowd (who was eager to catch this prize!) and then paraded around the ring (while the crowd threw him flowers and canteens from which to drink and then throw back!). Quite the show!
The Rumicucho Fort... an ancient pre-inca fort in the middle of nowhere (actually is is said to be aligned with the sun (along the equator) and to provide strong magnetic energy!
While it is impressive because of the history, the walls are no more than a few feet talls. Many of the people from the nearby community have used stones from this ancient edifice because no one ever bothered to protected it. (It is still not protected and in need of excavation because a large part of it is believed to be below ground!).
Here is what the fort is supposed to have looked like.
I was shocked to see that some of the trees here look like trees in Africa, with their branches and leaves spread out horizontally.
A traditional ecuadorian grass hut at the Cochasqui Park.
Various traditional plants were growing at the Park. But, in particular, our eye caught the plant surnamed "Cancel". Not a good name for its ego!
Now what the Cochasqui Park is really known for is its pre-Inca pyramids in capital "T" and box shapes. There are about 15 of them in the park!
However, these are the Egyptian pyramids. They are much lower, and mostly not yet uncovered, as you can see by this T-shaped hill.
More pyramids.
This box-shaped one had collapsed.
