TheExpatJournals.com

(Note: First…at the end is a link to photos that you absolutely should not miss!)

There is a valley outside Cuenca that has become my dream.  Nestled between mountains, yes, a river runs through it. I have been out that valley about 8 times now, each time going a bit further. The further you go, the more the landscape changes…from lush green to paramo where the handful of residents plant bushes around an area to use as a garden because otherwise, the wind is too harsh and the nights too cool to grow anything.

Finally made it out to a town called Soldados. On the way are these rock faced mountains. The first time I saw them, I could have sworn faces were carved in  them, but then the rains came, the fog settled in and I could no longer see. The next time, the faces were clear, but again, then came the rain and clouds. I still don’t know if the faces are the result of time and wind or if, like others between here and Peru, they are the mystical result of ancient indigenous tribes. And of course, some of the myths attribute them more to galactic travellers.

Soldados (soldiers) has one church, one restaurant, one store and about 10 houses. It is on a back road to the Cajas in the paramo at about 12,000 ft.  Traveler accounts say the Cajas remind them of the moors of western Scotland or Ireland. The ragged peaks rise to 14,000 ft there. Wild llamas roam and lakes abound, roughly 270 of them. And somewhere I still need to seek out, an ancient Incan road still exists mostly intact.

Each time I have driven through the Cajas, all of the creeks seem to end in a milky white waterfall. I have always been surprised by how very white all the running water appears. The pristine lakes reflect whatever color the sky is that day. It’s a landscape of gold, olive, and greys with spots of color here and there. Some indigenous white plant growing there always stands in stark contrast. The sparse, small, gnarly, wind twisted trees seem like Tolkien characters.

In any event, this time I learned that Soldados was actually named after the faces on the rock mountains…as in ’soldiers’ watching over us. While there, I met a 28 year old doctor who chose to work in this area for a foundation for two years. Not because he is paying anything back, but because he chose to.  Noble.  His territory is 20 communities spread out in this isolated area. He visits one community per week, rotating every two months. It usually takes a day to trek to each community via horse and/or on foot.

So there in Soldados, he sat at the restaurant with his computer. No internet, of course, not even cell a signal, but they do have electricity. His base is about 1.5 hours beyond Soldados in a community called Chaucha. Even though Soldados is only about 30 kilometers from a Cuenca highway, it takes about 1.5 hours to get there because the dirt road is so full of potholes…especially in the rainy season. He showed me photos on his computer of the communities he serves. Amazing, amazing photos. He also showed me how this dirt road goes all the way through the Cajas and down to the coast. But again, in rainy season, it’s not unusual for the road to cease to exist on certain treacherous curves due to landslides. Can you imagine going along those muddy edges with those abysses beside you for hours only to arrive at a point the road no longer exist and worse, no way to turn around?

Well, on this day, I happened to have my memory stick, so there in Soldados, just about the least likely spot for technology where we probably possessed the only two pieces of the modern world, he downloaded all his photos onto my memory stick.

Finally, I took the time to edit the photos and get them up on a flickr album. Absolutely amazing!  I order them something akin to the following:

1. Magnificant and rare scenery
2. The treacherous treks he takes to get to the communities he serves. (note: Look at the S curve on a photo called ‘roadfall’.  That is where the road just dropped away during rainy season.
3. The isolated communities he serves
4. The people in those communities.

Don’t miss these photos!!!

And before you go (to see Dr. Pablo’s incredible journey), below are a few I took of Soldados…must qualify…it was with a cheap borrowed camera.

Below: One shot of the valley I like so much, though a bit further out than I would want to live. Look how black that dirt is!

Below: Do you see faces? The times I’ve had a camera, inevitably the rain comes to guard their privacy.

Below: Soldados (borrowed from Dr. Pablo)

Below: Meeting Dr. Pablo at the Soldados restaurant

Below: The Soldados Store.  Neat as a pin, huh?  And ps…though there is meat to the right, there was no nasty smell as you so often find in country stores. Friendly owner’s name is Blanca:

Below: A Soldados Senora digesting the daily news while her dog uses her foot as a pillow.