Ecuador

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After our three months in Central America and before we headed out to the Galapagos we spent two days in Quito, the capital of Ecuador situated at 2600m high and only10Km away from the equator. The city has a great blend of old colonial and a modern bar culture and is a nice place to hang out for a couple of days. Unfortunately we were mainly occupied with arranging our Galapagos trip, which took up a bit more time then expected. But the nice bars came in very handy after running around for three hours between three different banks to get enough money out in time to leave the next morning. In serious need of a drink we ended up drinking a row of mojito´s at 4 in the afternoon! (very easy when they are only 1,50 dollar each!)

Much more to see, but enough seen to be ok with it, we arranged for us to return to Gauyaguil (southwest in Ecuador) after the Galapagos.
Gauyaguil is a big port and after reading up on it, we decided that it wasn´t worth staying there and took the first bus (a beautiful busride through the national park) out to Cuenca. So this was our first real stop on mainland Ecuador, and definitely one that was worth it. We ended up staying in this absolutely beautiful little city a bit longer then planned and even joined in with the local crowd at the football stadium to cheer on Cuenca team. Never seen such a bad game of football (the locals even started appologizing), but still a good night out.
We also went on a fantastic horsride through the surrounding mountains. Together with Gustavo, our guide. We couldn´t have wished for a better person to show us around. Living in the area all his life, having his father teaching him about the different plants for as long as he remembered and riding horses since he was four. With such a knowledgable guy who took great care of us (taking a little picknick, making some sandwiches back at the farm) and the horses it is not a surprise it was an extremely enjoyable day. Although sometimes it was pretty tough (especially for the horses); going up steep hills, through the bushes and ploughing through the muddy terrain. The horses were very well trained and unbelievable strong, but also had to think of themselves sometimes. Whilst looking for the most passable routes, they seemed to forget at some points we were sitting on their backs, which resulted in us having to manouevre ourselves in the right positions not to hit a branch or get stuck with our feet behind a tree.... I swear I started with just a little treebranch, but ended up dragging a whole tree trunk behind me!
We went as high up as 3000 metre, with incredible views and crossed through open lands, lava fields and dense primary forest. We also followed part of the inca trail. A small path crossing the mountains, used by the Inca´s about 500 years ago as a trade route all the way from Cuzco (peru) to Quito.

Our last stop in Ecuador, before heading further south into Peru was Vilcabamba. Set in a gorgeous valley, with a perfect climate year round, it´s not a bad place to hang around for a bit. It´s also called the valley of longevity, as the locals are known to live until an incredible age (although we found it surprisingly hard to spot any old people) We spent our time relaxing, walking through some stunning scenery, enjoying the peace and quiet, catching up on some sleep on the most comfortable bed ever, waking up with the sun on our window and the view of the mountains whilst our breakfast was being served on our own little terrace and then....we did it all over again.

If this doesn´t add at least a couple more years to our lives, I don´t know what will!!!




(Sorry we are having some difficulties uploading our pictures.... So only from the horseride this time...more to come!)

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Comments

[Os&Meer]

still thinking of you
Hey! Still think it's great that we can see those pictures of you an read about how you're doing and thinking about the things you do. There's not much to tell about here. Another two weeks of work and then 3 weeks off! That's a big contrast with you both, but I'm still very Happy! =D Not going on vacation but two short weekends in a hotel. One of them is right beside the beach so I already began to cross my fingers for a shining sun. O, please don't mind my mistakes in English... Just read the message and not the words... ;-) And thanks for your email, it was a nice surprise! very big kiss from both of us!