Reflections of Ecuador

We arrived in Cusco on Friday - it's a wonderful city and as I write this update we are sat having lunch on the balcony of really good organic restaurant called Green's, it's just off the main square which in Inka times was known as Huacayapta (warriors square), and is now known as Plaza de Armas.

Before I start enthusing about Cusco a quick summary my memories of Ecuador.

Bus journeys were novel for a number of reasons, the hawkers selling CD's, crips, ice lollies, fruit and hot banana loaves (so good and only $1). On the overnight buses we think we worked out the usage policy of the on board toilet, women can request the key from the conductor and men can pee at the side of the road when the bus stops which it did frequently. 

There are no prams or pushchairs in Ecuador, none. Children are either strapped across the back with a sheet or carried in arms - often being breast-fed on the move.

Almost everything is closed on Sundays and it's illegal to buy/sell alcohol - we were told that in restaurants they can sell alcohol with food but this seems open to interpretation, in Quito we could in Cuenca we couldn't.

The sun sets on Ecuador

Highlights: The Travellers Inn Hostel; Learning Spanish; Maracuya Juice; Cotapaxi; Otavalo; Friendship bracelets and the ever present smell of Eucalyptus on bus journeys.

Lowlights: Banos; Spiders and Learning Spanish.

Brace yourself for Cusco - it's a great city and I already have lots to tell you about it.

Raine x

LGSO Christmas Concert

The LGSO will be playing their Christmas concert on Sunday 9th December - if you're going to be in London and need something to help get you in the Christmas spirit you can buy tickets online now (www.lgso.org.uk)

They will be playing:

Slavonic Dances
Snow Maiden Suite
Suite from The Nutcracker

At:

St Suplchre-without-Newgate
10 Giltspur St
London
EC1A 9DE

Raine x

Raine x

Border crossing

On Thursday a taxi picked us up at 05:30 to take us to Loja, the bus terminal from where we caught the bus for the five hour journey to the border followed by a further three hours on to Piura where we were staying for the night before flying via Lima to Cusco.

We met up with Steve who we'd originally met in Quito and shared what was a completely uneventful bus journey.

Ab's and Raine arrive in Peru

The change in scenery is dramatic as we cross the border, the mountains disappear, replaced by vast open plains and a lot of litter! 

We pass numerous huts at the side of the road, hives of activity with Peruvians bagging up limes (for the ceviche and not the G&T's I imagine).

Our hostel in Piura is very basic but we're leaving for Cusco at 6am so it's not a big deal. We dump our bags and head out for a bottle of Cristal - no, for those of you that know me well, unfortunately not the champagne but a Peruvian beer, which was very good and considerably cheaper.

After a very nice dinner of a pineapple, avocado and corn timbale followed by a traditional beef and banana chip dish it was off to bed in readiness for our 8am flight to Cusco.

Expectations are low following the relative disappointments of Banos, Alausi and Cuenca but my fingers are crossed.

Raine x

They shall not grow old......

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Raine x

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

La nariz del Diablo

On Saturday morning we took the bus from Banos to Riobamba (it was at Banos bus terminal where a group of women tried to distract me and steal one of the backpacks - unsuccessfully) then we caught another bus to Alausi.

Alausi is a very small town famous only for the train ride, we dumped our bags at the hotel and walked to the train station to book our tickets to ride down the 'devils nose' on Sunday, only to find that all three trips on Sunday were fully booked. The man agreed that it was possible that some people may not turn up for the 11am trip and that we could try our luck - we agreed to do this and walked to the bus station to book our tickets to Cuenca for Sunday but when we get there we're told that there are only two buses leaving Alausi, one at 6:30am and the other at 9am! 

Hotel Europa at 06:15 on Sunday morning

Abs and I decide to cut our losses and get the 6:30am bus to Cuenca - this was clearly not our week.

See you in Cuenca!

Raine x