This is more like it......

We took a two stage approach to our trip from Cuenca to Vilcabamba, a shared taxi (which is a really common way to travel) to Loja bus terminal and then a local bus to Vilcabamba.

Izhcayluma (or Ichacanicha as we called it) was our accommodation of choice for night one. It was 2k out of the town and there are two reasons to stay here, the views and the toasted sandwiches - whilst I would have to concede that the views could be equalled in other parts of Ecuador, the bread could not!

The view from the restaurant at Izhcayluma

The following morning we checked in to Hostel Rendezvous in the town. After checking in we went for a walk, it was a hot day and so we put on our shorts and with a look of 'Happy Hikers' about us we headed off. The walk wasn't well marked but we worked it out and got to the village of San Jose where we bought an ice cold coke. As we were trying to navigate our way back we met some Ozzie ex-pats who told us two things, firstly it was a difficult walk back and we should share a cab with them and secondly that you should never wear shorts in Vilcabamba - when I looked down at my legs I saw that there were small drops of blood all over them - we were warned to expect to feel like we wanted to 'rip our legs off' overnight - why did no one warn us about the sand flies....?

In spite of the bastard sand flies I'm glad we stopped off in Vilcabamba but I'm ready to leave Ecuador now, I'm looking forward to finding out what Peru has in store for us.

Raine x

Cuenca

Having made the decision to ditch the train ride in Alausi, we caught the first bus out of town, we were the only people to board the bus at 06:30 but by the time we were 20 minutes into the journey the bus was full. The four hour journey takes in some beautiful scenery, some unimaginably tight bends and some pretty scary overtaking manoeuvres but the journey ends well and we arrive in Cuenca at about 10:30.

Cuenca is a colonial city and we arrive in the midst of the residents celebrating their independence.

There were some beautiful buildings

I sat in La Merced, the central plaza which is full of people watching a procession of beauty queens, cars and bands - it was very noisy, but as soon as the last car passes by everyone leaves and I'm left sitting in the sun with only a handful of other people. 

I'm sorry to say that I didn't particularly enjoy Cuenca, it lacked soul and I was grateful that we were only spending two days there before heading to Vilcabamba.

Raine x