Over the Cajas Mountains to the Sierra Highlands and Cuenca

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Today we had the hostel staff call for a van to take us, our two pets and 13 bags to Cuenca. The first van that arrived might have been able to get 6 bags in it. I told them to not even try. About 30 minutes later they sent a much larger van, and we got everything in it except for the two animal crates, which we had to tie to the roof of the van. I did not like this idea as it made us targets.

When we stopped for gas before hitting the major road we saw that the crates on the roof were not going to last for long, so we wound up re-arranging everything inside and made room for them.

When we were traveling up into the Cajas Mountains I was really amazed at what we saw. Our previous trip to Ecuador we spent all of the time in Cuenca, the cultural center of the country. Our first three days this time were in Guayaquil, the largest city in the country. I was not prepared for the sights of the homes on stilts, bicycle carts, banana plants, etc.

The height of the Cajas (12,800 feet - 3,900 meters) put us above the clouds in many places. At one point our van broke down because it overheated. We used the little water we had in the van, then I heard the sound of water and walked back about 25 yards and found a small trickle of water coming down. We filled up the bottles and were able to get started again.

The views were great, but we didn't see any llamas. We hope to get back up to see them soon.

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