The Green Moutains

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In the surfy hippy town of Montanita we tried to get some more sunshine but to no avail. Of course being the fun-loving gals we are we managed to have enjoy ourselves. We picked up a local surfy hippy stoner called John who obligingly became our guide. Our first tour was of a lovely church up on the headland looking over the Pacific Ocean where we were hoping to see some humpback whales splashing by. No such luck, however during our tour Cazz got given a holy cross from the missionary and i got shat on by a bird. Some devine intervention. That night our tour guide picked up the pace a little and took us to the funniest night club we've ever encountered (and you know between us we've encountered many). It was right on the beach and came with a bonfire and a collection of stray dogs strolling around the dancefloor sniffing the dancers and hoping to score a bite or two. Quite bizarre to have them looking up at you while you're boogying away.

Tired of waiting for the sun to come out we advanced to the lovely city of Cuenca. Found ourselves more local guides, Bernardo & co. Bernardo and his brothers have just established a new brand and opened a store to sell their line of clothes and jewellery. Very funky stuff that we would love to send back home. Bernardo welcomed us into his store for pre-club drinking and then we spent the night dancing until dawn at a very packed club - The Loft. Our first real taste of South American night life. Of course the boys were all in love with us so we decided best move on so we didn't break any hearts, and we felt like death after our night out so liked the idea of the very tranquil hills of Vilcabamba.

Horse riding was the order of the day and took us up a gorgeous valley to a 150m waterfall within the Podocarpus National Park. It was a glorious day riding through lush green rolling hills (and don't forget hills over here are more like mountains) spotting falcons circling the sky and millions of colourful butterflies flittering around us. On the way back into town we were such accomplished riders the young guy leading us had us galloping/holding on for dear life. Was awesome! Wooohhooooo!! I have to mention also that our guide would have been no more than 14. He doesn't go to school anymore, he spends his days taking tourists on horse-rides and will eventually take over his dad's business. I guess he's one of the lucky ones. The afternoon found us in a very tranquil hostel set high on a hill relaxing by the pool and enjoying a delicious meal (well Cazz's looked good, i had a dodgy tummy so had dry bread). This was also our first dorm room. Up until now we've managed to avoid them and have luxuriated in private twin rooms and most with private bathrooms too. Now we're really backpacking...

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Photos

Green Mountains
View from our hostel.

Recovery
These are a few of the dogs we partied with.

Bernardo & Co.
Our pre-party at Bernardo's shop - Llama.

Mountain Ride
Notice the sheer drop that requires skilled horse-womanship.

Comments

[Cass]

Hello!
So good to hear from you girls - the blogs are great and the pics are awesome! Soooo very jealous - sounds like amazing times.... All good here - love Canberra (l.o.l). Miss you! Keep safe x.o.x.o.x

[CazB]

bird doo doo
Rachoo, some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue. Just be glad it wasn't a condor. Nice work girls. Couple of blogs ago you had boobies, now you've got puppies....whatever will we see next!? xxx

[Dan]

Good times....
Hey strangers, It sounds like you're havin the best time - I'm so jealous !!! 2 hot Aussie chickys travelling the world, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind them - you could make a movie about that. Keep havin fun, talk soon ;-)