Blogs from South, Ecuador, South America - page 58

After an arduous journey, in which we travelled by local minibus from Mancora to Tumbes and then by local bus from Tumbes (stopping to change bus in Machala), we finally arrived in Cuenca absolutely exhausted. Having done our research on the town prior to our arrival we knew where to stay - Posada del Angel - which didn´t disappoint - a great place in the heart of town. With not much daylight left we dropped our things and headed out to get our bearings and for dinner. It wasn´t long before we were back in the hostal with Av suffering mildly with altitude sickness - nothing a good night´s sleep didn´t fix. With only two nights in Cuenca we wasted no time in seeing the sights. Apart from being a lively, colourful city, Cuenca is ... read more

I just can´t believe my luck. My journey just keeps getting better and better. I mean, how can you top my Galapagos adventure? I left you in Guayaquil, right? In order to search for Horse Heaven. Well, I found it in Vilcabamba! A friend looked up a description of Vilcabamba and sent it to me. I can´t describe it any better. It is described as a small corner of paradise, where the mountains hold a magical mystical quality with their arid ridges and lush ravines, dramatic skies and rich colours and the only sounds are those of nature. It is also called the Valley of Longevity. I should tell you that the 'sounds of nature´ include roosters that begin crowing at 4am in the morning! But, it is true. This is one of the most ... read more

We stayed at a nice Hostel called the Secret Garden Hotel. It did have a secret garden with a banana tree, also lemon and grapefruit trees with fruit on them. Hammock for resting on and completely surrounded by a wall that you would not know there was such a garden inside. We were surprised at how clean the countryside and towns are and how modern the cars are, to the rest of South America. As we traveled here we thought the countryside looked very much like New Zealand and the local National Park is called Podocarpus after the trees that are Kauri, also toitoi and tree ferns and other ferns. We felt like we were at home except for the different architecture, roading, horses and donkeys. The weather was cooler but the sun was hot. This ... read more

Getting over the border to Ecuador was not much fun. There is this really dodgy town sitting in no mans lands where we had to wait while the truck immigration was sorted. For security were did not get off the truck, kept the door locked and windows up. And it was a very hot day. There was some definite melting going on inside. There were people everywhere outside selling dresses to puppies, and carts full of garlic or potatoes. Some had luggage in them as buses would generally turn around at the border, forcing people to walk through the dodgy town to the immigration office on the other side. Cuenca is a lovely town. Not too touristy, a working town. The tourist information office couldn´t even be bothered to open. The main square is filled ... read more

Good day at school and I got to see the video of the kid's performance for Dia de la Madre that I missed last week. Lou's ballet actually looked very good despite her worrying. Met all the others after school randomly at the side of a road where Charo was going to pick us up. The boys went with her while the rest of us piled into her brother's truck for a very windy ride through Cuenca and then an equally bumpy ride up dirt tracks in the hills to Charo's hacienda. Not quite sure why she calls it a farm when the only sign of farming are a few cows behind her house who actually belong to someone else. Chilled out in the most gigantic double hammock ever before most of us (me not ... read more