Blogs from South, Ecuador, South America - page 63

Welcome to Cuenca, Ecuador! We made the move. We purchased a great little condo on the road up to Las Cajas National Recreation Area. We enjoy a terrific view through the windows and patio into the Andean Foothills. Cuenca is a picturesque colonial city located in the Southern Ecuadorian Andean Highlands at an altitude of 8335 ft. It sits along the sparkling Tomebamba river which rushes out of the surrounding mountains. Stunning walks along the river and down the cobble stoned streets abound here. Cathedrals are numerous and colonial architecture is around every corner. The weather here is in the 70's most days with the nights in the 50's. It rains frequently, but seldom very hard or for very long. It would be hard to order up weather that was any more pleasant. Cristie and I ... read more

This being my first Australia Day outside of my country, I became particularly patriotic and began to wear little koalas and kangaroos on my clothing, and telling people about the wonders of dancing the 'Heel and Toe'. This all culminated in my first Triple J Hottest 100 party, hosted in the hostel where I am currently living called 'Mama Latina', in Cuenca. We managed to hook up the broadcast (until the internet died, thanks anyway Paul) and the four Aussie girls who teach here at CEDEI: Lea, Gretel, Rachel and myself, revelled in hearing Aussie accents live on radio and a bunch of music that we have no idea about because we've been here for most of last year! So we roped in a bunch of other extranjeros and Ecuadorian friends, to share in our love ... read more

It was a grueling 37hrs to reach Quito, yikes and to think I need to do that trip twice more when I return to NZ in March. Although I was rather shattered on arrival I managed to book a trip the following day, and thank goodness I did because it was a real highlight. It was a trip to the Otavalo markets, very famous market of the region. My private tour guide was from Belgium had been living in Quito for many years and very widely traveled so we had much to chat about. We stop at various places; Calderon to see little hand made figures, the side of the road to try some local fruit called Chirimoya, and at Cayamge to try a local biscuit (Bizcochos) eaten with cheese, they were piping hot from the ... read more

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Vilcabamba We had to take a bus from Guayaquil to Loja, and then transfer onto another bus that would take us to this little colonial town in Southern Ecuador, Vilacbamba; our final stop in Ecuador. We got there in the afternoon and found this hostel owned by a Canadian! His name is Marcel and he was excited to see other Canadians because Vilacabamba doesn’t see as many tourists as other places. The hostel was dope! It had a pool, comfortable beds, and a great restaurant. We checked in then hit town. We were sauntering through the main square when we looked in a shop and couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the classic red bandana and black beard. Geoff and Kelly ended in the town at the exact same time as us! Haha. We thought ... read more