Entre Baños et la frontière péruvienne, nous ne savions pas trop où nous arreté.. Après avoir étudiés la carte, nous avons décidé de faire un arret à Riobamba et Cuenca. Le seul attrait pour nous à Riobamba, c'était sa proximité avec le parc national de Chimborazo (6310m), montagne la plus hate d'Equateur. Nous voulions faire une excursion dans le parc et peut etre meme monté jusqu'au glacier. Un circuit qui nous avait été recommendé, c'était la descente depuis le refuge jusqu'à Riobamba en vélo. L'agence de location de VTT nous proposait un prix trop élevé (env $40 par pers.), surtout qu'i [View Full Entry]

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We were up at 7am for breakfast at 730, for our car ride at 8. Breakfast was uneventful and the taxi came by at around 815. We hopped in the car and made the long trip across the island to Baltra. On the way I told my mom I was going to pull a local "no gracias" when it came to paying the ferry guy 80 cents...she saw it done on her ride last week, so now I am going to try it. We made it to the ferry to cross the canal...very cramped. The guy started working his way around [View Full Entry]

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After a quick breakfast I took a taxi and asked to be dropped off at Puente San Felipe where apparently I can catch a bus at the Pan American highway to Cuenca. I was there at nearly 8:30am and waited for a good hour! Such luck! When I paid the $8 fare the bus conductor tried to stiff me, I gave him a $20 and gave me $2 change and quickly moved on to another passenger, I wasn't born yesterday I am aware of the "oh i did not notice how much bill you gave me " trick, I pursued him [View Full Entry]

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So after Banos we took the bus down to Cuenca...officially the worst bus ride yet. The farmers are still striking over plans to privatise water so buses are avoiding certain parts of the country. This means that getting enywhere involves long complex routes scaling mountainsides. This would have been fine if the ecuadorians were skilled road builders. Unfortunately they are not. Even more unfortunately I managed to get a seat not only over a wheel for ultimate bump-sensitivity - but also opposite the toilet which appeared to use its own cess pit to flush..mmm. 12 hours later i stumbled from th [View Full Entry]

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Baños is a cool little town where we went white water rafting on Grade III-IV rapids (very fun) and went in the hot springs in the evening to relax. There were 3 pools - cold, hot, and hotter. The hot pool was like a hot bath, and the hotter pool was really hot. Too hot to sit in for more than a few mins! But for only $2, a fun experience. We went out for a drink and dance with Fernando that night as well, but just as Fernando started teaching us how to Salsa, the music in the club changed [View Full Entry]

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(Warning: This may be a yawner for those not curious about how much it might cost to live in Cuenca. Do not read while driving). On the other hand... We have this compulsion to look at almost every interesting place we go with the question: "Could we live here?" Sometimes that question is answered at first glance, as in yuk, argh, no way. Other times — like with Vilcabamba or Cotacachi or Cuenca — it takes more thought and delving into. One of the considerations, of course, is always the cost of living, as in "can we afford to live here?" [View Full Entry]

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Yes, Cuenca has some great nightlife. Unfortunately, most of it has passed us by... We missed a jazz concert and haven't heard or read about any symphonic performances. We were also prevented from enjoying a six-play theater festival due to our language handicap. That kind of cultural involvement, requiring a fluent understanding of the language, is light years away. Right now, we'd be happy just to be able to communicate better with the cab drivers, business people, and the terrific locals we run into every day. There were also a few pop music concerts with Latin American performers w [View Full Entry]

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When your city mouse self needs a country mouse fix, that's no problem in Cuenca. Just hop on a bus and in just a few minutes you're out of town. South is a great direction to go in because in less than an hour you'll be in the Yunguilla Valley, an east-west stretch of Andean majesty that reaches all the way to the coast. The Yunguilla Valley is a great alternative to Vilcabamba for those who want to live closer to a major city with all the implied benefits—cultural, medical care, and shopping. We jumped aboard the bus thinking Yunguilla was [View Full Entry]

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Cuenca's a great town to get lost in. That's just what we did the other day when we played "let's hop on a bus and see where it goes," aka "bus roulette." Buses cost 25-cents and go almost everywhere, so it's a great way to see places you'd never see otherwise. On this junket, we passed through the industrial section, around town, and up into the mountains. Since we had no idea where we were or how to get back on our own, we rode the bus to the end of the line, up, up, up the hills on the north [View Full Entry]

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We're now in Cuenca, where the architecture is amazing! As far as the cities go, this is definately my favourite in Ecuador. It is so pretty, for a city anyway! You can really see the Spanish influence here. The buildings are so intricate and all have quant little balconies overlooking the fairly narrow streets. We've only got two nights here, so we havn't seen a great deal but today we took a trip to the nearby villages of Gualaceo and Chordeleg where we visited the infamous markets. The fruit market was like my dream come true. I sampled at least my [View Full Entry]

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