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Mandango, Vilcabamba
Looking from my cabin across to Mandango, the mountain we climbed, which is the top of the Grand Canyony type thing you can see. Yes, I walked ALL that way!! Greetings again, this time from Antigua, Guatemala!
Actually right now I'm in Guatemala City, somewhere which def wasn't on my itinerary. Am trying to sort out flights and the sheer incompetence of a particular Spanish airline has driven me to desperation, hence having to hang around in one of the world's most dangerous cities while they eat their lunch and prob take a little nap... ggrrrr!!!
Anyway, onto nicer things... Since my last post have been doing some serious relaxing. If the Galapagos was Paradise on Earth, then Vilcabamba in the South of Ecuador must surely be the garden of Eden!
Mountains, cloud forest, lush green valleys, hummingbirds, more butterflies than you could shake a net at and stunning, stunning views. Spent much of my time admiring it all from the comfort of my own personal hammock, strung up on my own personal deck outside my own personal cabin, ah bliss!! All this, plus breakfast at any time of day, swimming pool, free DVD's, bikes and a bar which never closed! Seriously, this is the stuff that people pay thousands of dollars for in the Caribbean! So a big shout to Peter and Dieter, the owners of the
The Panama Canal - Pacific side
Seen from the plane on the way to Guatemala. In the bay outside were at least 60 big ships waiting to pass through. Each one pays a toll according to weight, the average cost is apparently $20,000! wonderful Izchayluma in Vilcabamba for laying it all on for the princely sum of just $15 per night (yep, one-five)!
Ended up staying for 6 days. Climbed a pretty impressive mountain; unlike Imbaburra this was a nice one, two hours steep climb to get up and full on 360ยท views right down to Peru from the top! We had brekky at the summit and one of the guys brewed up some hot apple tea with rum. Lovely!
From there, took a couple of days to travel up to Guayaquil for the flght to Guatemala. And here I am - first stop, Antigua!
First stop Antigua because everyone lands in Guat City and gets straight out again as quickly as possible, and Antigua is close and impossibly pretty! The tiny cobbled streets are lined with tiny candy coloured houses, each with flower filled courtyards, there are beautiful churches and ancient ruins. Three giant volcanos look down on the town, one still bubbling away to itself. There's also a huge number of American tourists, a Burger King and a McDonalds (with discreet little bronze signage to comply with planning regs), which makes the whole thing feel a little like
Spotted at Cuenca bus station
No access to... says it all really! a Guatemalan Disneyland. But I can't knock it, it's a very sweet town. And for my Bangalorean friends - guess, what! They have autorickshaws here! But they charge about ten times the price.
I had been hoping to do some more teaching through the same project team as in Otovalo, but that's fallen through, so have been pootling about the town instead, tomorrow hoping to head up to Lake Atitlan, reportedly the world's most beautiful lake, although I think it'll be hard to be Titicaca in Peru. Will let you know!
Yesterday visited Guatemala's biggest market, at Chichicastenango. Highlight of the day was my first ride on a 'chickenbus' which are the old US school buses which are painted up and used for public transport here. Brilliantly reckless, chokingly filthy, packed to bursting with people and still room for one more, I thought it was wonderful! Desperately resisted the urge to break into a chorus of 'Hail to the bus driver!' I'm sure the novelty will wear off pretty quickly, but yesterday I didn't stop smiling the whole rickety three hour journey!
On my seat made for two there was a family of four, me and a
little indigenous girl on my lap who fell asleep in my arms! It was so jampacked that you literally had to climb over bodies to get out, there was even someone sharing the driver's seat with a leg either side of the gearstick. The front window had what looked suspiciously like a bullet hole right in front of the driver with spidery cracks reaching out in every direction.
The driving would give even an Indian bus driver a run for his money! At one point we stopped for roadworks, waiting in a fumefilled queue of traffic. The driver's assistant got off the bus and as soon as the lights turned he whistled at the driver who floored it, racing out of the line, jostling against the other vehicles in an F1 grid styley!
Everyone was very good-natured though, and at one point the whole bus seemed to be asleep, people piled up against their neighbours, heads nodding gently in time.
Have uploaded a couple of pics, but sadly don't have one of the bus yet. OK gotta go.
Adios!
Ali
x
(PS, since writnig this you'll be glad to know I made it back to Antigua without being robbed or murdered, which is quite an accomplishment I'm told!) ;-)
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mary apte
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look of luxury
Yours was the only item from Ecuador when I googled Mandango. I only wished there were more photas of Ecuador.