Advertisement
Published: April 7th 2011
Edit Blog Post
After you get settled in and used to the novelty, living abroad isn't much different from living in your home country. Most days you go to work, watch some TV, cook dinner, go to bed. Sure, there may be things about your environment that you prefer, but human behavior is human behavior anywhere... it's just as easy to fall into a rut abroad as anywhere else.
Which is why we constantly have to remind ourselves to take advantage of our surroundings. But in many ways, this is no different from Chicago. The number of times we actually went for Mexican food in Pilsen, or went to the beach on a sunny weekend day, or checked out an exhibit at the Art Institute paled in comparison to the number of times we talked about it. And while the stuff around Cuenca might be a bit more exciting (given that we haven't done much of it even once), it's still hard to motivate after chasing 5-year-olds around all morning.
Which is why we try to take advantage of weekend trips as much as possible. This weekend was the half-life (35th) birthday for Justin, so we decided to head down to Vilcabamba.
A picturesque valley best known for a long-ago bullshit article in Reader's Digest about how everyone there lives to be over 100, it has attracted nature-lovers ever since. Small and calming, it has a plethora of hiking trails and massage parlors. So we jumped on the van offered by the
Hosteria Izhcayluma and headed out.
We shared the van with Tiffany, who is spending a few months traveling in South America and is also a Northwestern grad. Unfortunately, she is also extremely prone to motion sickness. Each time she filled up a plastic bag, she would try to get the driver to pull over... he would indicate it wasn't a good place to stop and speed up. Needless to say, this didn't help her problem.
After getting there and helping Tiffany to the check-in desk, we headed to our room. Outside on our porch were a couple of hammocks, so we were able to relax and read for a while. We went for the dinner in the Izhcayluma restaurant. The hotel is owned by Germans, and they had exceptional spaetzle and honest-to-god currywurst (we've mentioned before how bad the sausage is here). We relaxed afterwards with a couple of
beers and headed to bed early.
Saturday, we woke up to the gentle patter of rain on our roof... thankfully the hammocks were covered. After partaking in the Izhcayluma's hearty, free breakfast, we sat outside and read and listened to the rain. Around mid-day it let up, so we decided to take advantage of the easiest hiking trail. Wandering over and around the hills, we got a great view of the magnificent valley. We were supposed to end up at a small town nearby, but we ran into a barbed wire fence we didn't feel like climbing, so we doubled back and found a dry riverbed that led us down. After navigating the roads back into town, we found La Terraza, a place on the square with good flautas and tacos, and grabbed some ice cream for the walk back.
While we were enjoying our Mexican food, we were treated to the sounds of five hippies playing woodwinds and horns. The promise of longevity and the ability to commune with nature has attracted hippies of every (white) nationality and age. We're not sure what the secret to a long life is, but it apparently has to do with
smoking weed, not showering, and juggling various objects.
Back at Izhcayluma, we thought we would be remiss if we didn't try out their massages. For $21, we got a 90-minute full body massage, topped off by a bit of reiki. We'd never done reiki before, and while it didn't hold up to the rest of it, it was pretty amazing that their hands stayed that warm for that long.
After a brief siesta back in the room, we headed into town for some dinner. We caught the end of Butler/VCU at Timothy's Bar, a nice little spot on the main square, and then walked up to Shanta's Cafe Bar for some food. The small western-themed bar was filled with Ecuadorian parties, all being tended to by the namesake Shanta. A warm, friendly presence, he looked like the Ecuadorian version of Sam Elliott's cowboy from The Big Lebowski. After heaping plates of Spaghetti Carbonara and Cecina y Papas, he brought over complimentary shots of his Snake Juice, sugar-cane liquor (aguardiente) culled from a jar containing a large fermenting snake. It went down smooth.
It was raining outside (we are definitely entering the rainy season here in Ecuador), so
we decided to head back to the hotel. There, we had a couple of beers with the now-recovered Tiffany and some Germans and Scandinavians. After dropping it was Justin's birthday, he was given some whiskey that was meant to be a drink... let's just say it was quickly turned into a shot.
On our way up to Vilcabamba, we passed through Loja, a medium-sized city about an hour away. Justin really liked the vibe it gave off, so we made sure to head back there for a bit on Sunday. After we shared a cab there with an Ecuadorian and his rooster (for $1.50 each!), we walked down the old Colonial street of Lourdes, where we ran into a large outdoor Sunday market. Walking around, we continued to be charmed by Loja. It has a calm, friendly vibe, and is much less bustling than even Cuenca. At the same time, it has a decent-sized downtown and plenty of amenities. It is definitely at the top of our list for if (when) we get fed up with all the Baby Boomers that infest Cuenca.
After grabbing a great Sunday lunch at Casa del Sol of Gallena Cuyana (chicken cooked
in the cuy style), we headed out to the bus station. Our taxi driver was eager to practice his English, so we obliged, at least for as much as we could understand. We ran to catch the bus at the last minute, jumping on as it was pulling out. We fought our way through the people in the aisles to claim our already-claimed seats, plopped down and napped all the way to Cuenca.
The rest wasn't enough though... Justin missed work on Tuesday with a stomach virus, and Chris missed today with the grippe (flu).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0672s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb