Goodbye to Ecuador, and almost my life

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Kyle

We went out with a bang - that bang being my shoulder and back crashing in to a steep, rocky trail after being thrown forward off a horse. Luckily I came away with only cuts, bruises and ripped clothing. Even this frightening experience to round off the Ecuador leg of our trip couldn’t diminish our overall impression of this fun, beautiful, and culturally rich country.

Our two final destinations in Ecuador were Cuenca and Vilcabamba - with our intentions being to relax and take it easy after the physical exertions of the Quilotoa Loop.

From Latacunga we needed to get a nine hour bus south along the Pan-American highway to reach Cuenca. It was quite a stunning trip through Volcano Alley, passing Chimborazo - the highest mountain in Ecuador. The buses in Ecuador are far more uncomfortable and dirtier than their Colombian and Peruvian counterparts. The seats hardly recline and the local indigineous people not only leave rubbish strewn all over the bus, but sometimes spit on the floor.

At least you can still get cheap, quality food on the buses. The possibility of buying food and drinks from local people is something they should really introduce on to Australian buses and trains. The trip is so much more enjoyable when someone is walking down the aisles selling choclito con quesito or papitas. Every time we heard someone speak like this, using the diminutive form of -ito or -ita, we had to laugh as in Colombia they warned us that all Ecuadorian people speak in this way. They were right.

We hopped off the bus in the late afternoon and made our way to Hotel Pichincha, which is one of cheapest place we have stayed in - $12 for a double room. We had a nice, large double room over looking the street and the staff were very helpful and friendly. The hotel also has cheap, fast internet where we wasted four hours that afternoon writing our last blog entry.

Cuenca is a lovely colonial town and claims to be the most beatiful city in Ecuador, which wouldn’t surprise me after seeing Quito. It has a very cosmopolitan feel, and appears to be much safer than Quito. It has beautifully maintained colonial architecture and a big leafy plaza in the centre of the old town. We only had one full day to explore the town so we woke up early and had a big brekky to set us up for the day. Breakfast in Ecuador constitutes of an egg (fried or scrambled), a breadroll, a juice, and something that is supposed to resemble coffee. When you order a coffee here, you are given a cup of hot water and a little jug of a thick, black sludge which you pour into your cup of water. The result is a very weak, very crappy coffee.

We spent the day strolling along one of the rivers surrounding the old town, and visiting a couple of museums. The pick of them was the Museum of Indigineous Cultures - it was full pre-Colombian artifacts and had a cheap gift shop where we bought our first gift of the trip. But who is it for?

From Cuenca we made our way even further south to what would be our last stop in Ecuador - Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba is a small-ish village in the Valley of Longevity - so called because of the high number of residents who live beyond 100 years old. The locals say this is due to the great climate, healthy diet and overall tranquility of the place - that is if you can find a true local. We heard there is over 800 foreign ex-pats living in Vilcabamba - which can only have a total population of a few thousand. This takes away from the authenticity of the village - and to make matters worse the majority of these ex-pats are hippies. I hate hippies with a passion.

No matter which hostal/hotel/alojamiento/albergue/camping you stay in around Ecuador, you will definitely find an advertisement for Izhcayluma - a popular and renowned backpackers resort in the hills above Vilcabamba. They have taken blanket marketing to a new level. We decided to stay there to see what all the buzz is about. And it was a wise decision - the place is excellent.

The first two nights we stayed in a bungalow, which meant we had a private balcony with your token hammock and a spectacular view of the mountains. The resort had a bar with a pool table, a ping pong table and more hammocks. There was a lagoon-style pool where we spent a whole day getting severely burnt. However, the piece de resistance was most certainly the restaurant. They had the widest range of dishes we had encountered in South America. Not only that, the meals were cheap, large, and really good quality. Since the place is German owned, the Bavarian food was top-notch. While the lunches and dinners were amazing, the breakfasts weren’t quite to the same standard. If we hadn’t stayed here at Izhcayluma, I think my overall impression of Vilcabamba wouldn’t be great - This place definitely made our stay.

Apart from the day of rest and relaxation by the pool, we had another full day in Vilcabamba. We’d heard that there were several good trail-rides you could do on horseback. Some of them went for days, but we decided on the shortest of them - 4hrs to a waterfall a few kms out of town. Again, a good decision. After my positive first experience on a horse in Salento, Colombia, I was champing at the bit to go again. I was full of confidence and the horses we hired seemed fit and healthy. My horse looked albino - he was aptly named Leche. Tahlei’s horse was Potro, he didn’t like being overtaken - if you tried to manouvre your horse around Potro he would pin his ears back and barge you off the road.

We went on the ride with a young English couple from the hotel - Joel and Mindy. Joel also had limited experience on horses which made me feel better again. The ride started out easy enough along dirt roads out of the town - except one dip in the rode where the guide told us the horses always gallop as fast they can. He was right - it was like Melbourne Cup day; they went for it.

Once we were out of town we started the trail proper, and the ascent. The trail was steep, quite narrow and covered in loose rocks. The horses hated it. We found out half way up the mountain that they weren’t so fit - they were struggling! What made it even scarier for us was that from the trail the mountain just dropped away. Once the trail had plateaued we came across a couple who were on a hike - here Joel found out that his horse was afraid of backpacks; an odd fear for a horse to have, particularly in a town like Vilcabamba that is overrun with backpackers. His horse got really spooked, turned around and started to run the other way. I think Joel would have liked to pack it in there and then, but there was no space to dismount on the narrow trail so he was forced to soldier on.

The waterfall was nice, if not slightly spoiled by the three dirty Australian hippies camping nearby. We had to get off the horses and walk down to it, that was easy enough, but the walk back up to the horses was tough.
The first part of the return journey was really exciting, our guide and his 10 year old friend Miguel would get their horses into a full gallop, with our horses following suit. We were bouncing all over the place - fun, but a bit scary. It was when the descent began that the problems really started.

Going up the steep rocky slope was tough on the horses, so they were a bit tired on the descent. My horse was so tired he was dragging his feet, not really, but he was tired. He hit his front left hoof on a rock and tripped forward over it. When he hit the ground I was thrown a couple of metres in front of him, landing only a few feet from a barbed wire fence and beyond that a cliff. I hit my shoulder and arm pretty badly, I’m still nursing a few cuts that haven’t fully healed up until now. I also ripped my favourite shirt - this was the most shattering part of the fall for me. The horse was fine except for a big chip out of his hoof.

I didn’t immediately get back on the horse - I let the 10 year old Miguel lead it down the steepest bit with his own horse. He was a good vaquero. However I did get back on soon after - a little shaken and bloody, but determined to finish what I’d started. Everyone else had a great time, especially Tahlei since her horse was much better behaved than in Salento.

From Vilcabamba we headed to Loja, where it’s possible to get a bus that takes you over the border in to Peru. You don’t have to worry about getting off one bus at the Ecuador border town, getting a colectivo to the border, crossing the border, getting another colectivo to the Peruvian border town, then getting on another bus to your final destination. It prevents a lot of headaches. Having said this we got on the bus and it went straight to a mechanic where they changed a wheel for an hour - no joke. Couldn’t they have done this before we got on?

The border crossing was really easy and stress-free. However we did get eaten alive by mosquitoes and sand flies in the 5 minutes we were off the bus to get our passports stamped. Tahlei is still bearing the scars 2 weeks later.

It was sad leaving Ecuador - people said if you come directly from Colombia you might be a bit disappointed. We didn’t find this at all. We had a great time, saw lots of interesting things and met some really nice people. We were hoping that we’d get our budget back on track after spending a bit too much in Colombia. Sadly this didn’t happen thanks to all the activities we did like mountain biking, kayaking and hiking. It was worth it though. We’ll see what we can do about it in Peru.

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Photos

Me and Milky
Before our falling out

Cuenca
Flower market in front of church