Ahh yes time to do some more eating and some great shopping. 

We walked everywhere in the square in Cuenca.  Mejor Amigo even got his shoes shined by a local nice young man.  All he wanted was a quarter, but we gave him a dollar. 

We bought many gifts for our family members this day too.   Photo albums, earrings, I bought a beautiful poncho.  I can't remember all the gifts but when we packed up leaving Cuenca for the next city we had another bag to carry....  

The open markets in Cuenca were awesome too.  Great prices and amazing bargaining to find the perfect gift. 

As we were driving I saw this photo waiting to happen.  I said  'please stop the car now!'   I asked permission to take this photo since not everyone likes there photo taken.  Isn't it a neat one??

It's my birthday! Boy was I surprised when all of Cuenca filled the streets en masse with fireworks and sweet stalls everywhere. All this for me! Well, actually there might have been Corpus Christi celebrations going on but I didn't care, as long as everyone was celebrating!

We went out for a nice dinner and then drank the bottle of Champagne Nicole had given me as a present in our room while watching Top Gun on TV (could this get any better?). Now it was time to hit the town and see how the Cuencenos party.  It was actually past 1am at this point and most people seemed to be heading home. We found a small club that was still playing some music and - following Nicole's famous motto of "Go big or go home" - started the proceedings with a shot of Tequila followed by some drinks. We then met Rafael who first told us that he's a barman and tried to persuade us that we should abandon our drinks and he would make us some fresh Caipirinhas. We tactfully reclined. He later returned telling us that South African women were very beautiful - he knows because his german wife did some anthropological studies in South Africa although he could not recall which city he'd been too. Later on he said something about Congo and Cairo but I can't recall the context now. (Slightly off topic but something I just remembered is that many people we've met along the way seem to think of South Africa as a continent, much like South America. Typical conversations run something like this: Where are you from? South Africa. Qué bueno. What country? South Africa. Where is that? It's the southernmost country of Africa. Oh.  Change of topic.) Anyway, be that as it may, he then got us onto the dance floor and after a Flaming Cucaracha (cool looking cocktail that I fear I didn't down with as much bravado as I would have liked to due to my fear of my eye brows being burned off and the rest of our travel photos showing me with no eye brows) and I actually had some fun on the dancefloor.

When the club closed we tried find out about some after hours clubs but there appeared to be none. However Rafael was leaving with some friends of his and a bottle of Vodka and invited us to come along. They turned out to be American artists who are teaching English here and creating art. They had an awesome flat right on the river and we spent some time with them, looking at their photo collection of Cuenca's street art and stencil graffiti, some of which we had seen that day outside the Museum of Modern Art. Then it was time to call it a night and we headed home.

Did I say 4am yesterday? Well, we moved that to 5am and after waiting for a bus for a while probably left at around 6am or so. While we were waiting we saw the full moon set and the sun rise and as it was a clear sky we saw some smoke puffs coming from the volcano although the crater itself was hidden behind the side of the mountain but the puffs of smoke were unmistakable. I was quite happy to get on that bus and to get out of there. No need to take any chances.

Our first bus took us to Riobamba where we had just missed the 7h30 bus to Cuenca with the next one only leaving at 9h30. With no other choice we bought our tickets and went looking for some breakfast and then getting on the bus.

It turned out to be quite a sunny day and the scenery along the way was stunning. We finally also saw our first volcano, snow covered and majestic, with it's white crown on top of a perfect brown cone rising up behind the lush green fields. What a magnificient sight. That was the nice aspect of the bus ride. The rest was not so great. The first movie was "Snakes on a plane" but as we were in the first row we couldn't see what was happening on the LCD screen. However we could hear the deafining screams constantly emerging from the speakers right in front of us at volumes that probably even a Valkyrie in distress wouldn't have mustered. Oh, and did I mention that these were badly dubbed spanish screams? I can only imagine how ridiculous everyone must have felt in the recording studio. The next movie was "Anaconda" and when this was followed by "Anacondas:The Hund for Blood Orchid" we realised that we were probably in for one of those snake themed pirated DVDs we'd seen them selling everywhere on the streets here. This was confirmed by the next "film" which was "Boa vs Python" but by then we had luckily arrived in Cuenca.

Cuenca seemed to be at the heart of the tourist trail through Ecuador. I suppose that the UNESCO world heritage site designation, agreeable climate, and charming amalgamation of quaint colonial character and upscale modernism are partly to blame. With around 500,000 people Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador, behind Guayaquil and Quito respectively. The city is inundated with churches and museums and appears to have a lot to offer culturally. It is also located about an hour away from Cajas National Park which is supposed to offer great hiking, albeit at high altitudes of around 3,000-4,000 meters. I had a cold so I decided that hiking in the damp cold at high elevation probably wouldn´t be the best thing, and seeing as I had some pretty rough travels ahead in the wilderness of northern Peru, I wanted to be totally recovered and well for that. So I limited myself to walking around town and seeing some of the museums and the major churches.

5h-busfahrt weiter noerdlich erreichen wir cuenca. das kleine staedtchen gehoert dank seinen vielen kolonialbauten zum unesco weltkulturerbe. zudem ist cuenca beruehmt fuer seine panama-strohhuete. diese werden nicht etwa wie der name faelschlicherweise vermuten laesst in panama, sondern traditionell in ecuador hergestellt. denn nur hier waechst die richtige schilfart in der richtigen qualitaet. entsprechend werden die huete hier auch nicht panama hat, sondern nach der beruehmtesten huthersteller-stadt in ecuador "montecristi" genannt. die huette werden von bauern in ganz ecuador geflochten, um dann spaeter in cuenca gebleicht und durch waerme in die richtige form gepresst zu werden.

wir streunen durch die strassen, sehen uns verschieden hut-hersteller an und testen die vielen leckeren kaffeestuben und restaurants aus. nach 1.5 tagen haben wir allerdings alles gesehen und reisen weiter nach quito.

Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador & is well known for its colonial beauty.  It was a beautiful place - a lovely river & wonderful buildings, but Id seen it all in a couple of hours!  So Josie & I decided to take the overnight bus to Peru (total 18hrs!).  Just before we left, Dave told us he'd had his bag stolen from the restaurant we'd just had lunch. 

On the bus we had police checks for drugs!  At the imigration office, the officer gave me a 2 month visa instead of just the one!  I doubt I'll be using it though as Im sure Peru isnt as nice as Ecuador!

Hoping to meet up with the boys in a week as they're doing some ultra energetic trek, which will kill me (which Im not sure if thats their aim ...!).

On the overnight bus I got talking to a couple from Leeds, who had been on the train with Dave & Andy on Friday (small world!).

After an hour on the bus to Ambato & then 5.5hrs from there we finally made it to Cuenca at 7.45pm.  Once again there were some stunning scenery.  I decided to go to sleep after seeing the bus conductor load his gun & put his baseball bat on the dashboard!  Whatever he was expecting to happen, I didnt want to see it!! 

Met a girl from Oz (Josie) at the bus stop who Im now sharing a room with!!

Enjoyed our meal as I hadnt eaten for 13hrs!

make sure you go to the panama hat factory and buy at least one.

Cuenca - written up as the 3rd largest and most attractive of Ecuador´s cities.  Unfortunately, it far from lived up to expectations and sadly left a bitter taste at the end of a superb 3 weeks in Ecuador.

The journey from Baños had been yet again been filled with great views on a lovely clear day starting with the erupting Volcan Tungurahua near Baños, passing Volcan Chimborazo (providing us with the views we wanted on the day we climbed it), through Alausi and passed where the Devils Nose finishes.  The road continues, providing even better views driving across the mountainside looking down on the clouds !! (Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the bus but photos will be traded with Marie so watch this space).

Cuenca itself started well.  Staying near the main plaza, it provides a nice setting for breakfast.  We walked down the riverside which is also very pleasant.  Unfortunately that´s where it ends as the Incan ruins were pitiful and of the much lorded plazas all around the city, 5 have been very wisely dug up at the same time leaving most of the city as a building site.  To muse over whether to cancel our 2nd night in Cuenca and move onto Loja that evening we took lunch in a cafe off San Francisco plaza.  On leaving, Dave´s day bag had vanished including his prized IPod, phone, glasses, sunglasses, waterproof, fleece and guide book.  Give them credit, as they had sneaked it from under him whilst all four of us were sat at the table.  Whilst Marie and an Ozzy girl (Josie) left for Piura, Peru, our next 24 hours were filled with chasing round the cities police stations (3 stations and a lawyers office before we got to the right place), and trying to replace the most urgent equipment stolen.  Dave understandly annoyed at the robbers, but also himself for letting his guard down.  For a slight pick up we treated ourselves to a flash restaurant (Restaurant Eucalyptus) which was top notch with live solo guitarist in a lovely setting.  3 course meal and 2 beers each still only came to $15 each. 

Whilst out shopping for replacements, two stunning latinos pulled up in a car asking if we wanted a lift and asked us to stay for an extra night.  Tempting as it may have been, somethings are just too good to be true and weren´t going to be stung twice.  Left Cuenca and resultantly Ecuador wishing we had stayed longer in Baños :-(

My daypack has been stolen. It contained 300 quids worth of gear and it´s all gone. My Ipod, fleece, sunglasses, swiss army knife, first aid kit,  even my Lonely Planet Guidebook, the lot.

Four of us were sat in a cafe having lunch, the bag was on my right but slightly behind me. I even thought about dragging it forward and wrapping a strap around my leg but decided that it wasn´t necessary. But clearly it was - someone who had been eating in the cafe obviously just pulled the bag towards themselves, picked it up and just waltzed right out of there. All this without any of us seeing them - it´s an astonishing thing to get away with, but they managed it.         

Marie has just left with another traveller, an Australian girl named Josie to catch a bus for Peru. Tomorrow, Andy and I will also cross the border. I don´t want this to cloud my memories of Ecuador too much, the last three weeks has been an astonishing experience, but right now I´m as low as I will hopefully get on this trip, almost as if I´m in a mild state of shock.

I´m angry with the thieving bastards who took the bag but, even worse, I´m furious with myself for letting my guard down. I´ve heard the stories, I´ve been paranoid about constantly hanging onto my stuff and watching the locals closely, even if they seem to be friendly, but I wasn´t vigilant enough.   

So, to other travellers in South America: beware - you are a target and it takes only a second for you to lose a hell of a lot.    

We arrived in Cuenca last night. After trying to pronounce it at the bus station in Banos, and finding out it is actually said ¨Kwenka¨ we finally hit the road for the 8 hour journey! The bus rides aren´t as bad as we had thought, we have gotten used to them now and cranking up the MP3 player always helps (and having a wee snooze of course).

Got to our hostel, which is also a cafe so not a lot of privacy. We changed hostels the next day anyway. Have had a good walk around and Cuenca is the nicest and cleanest city we have ever visited so far in South America. It has gorgeous cobblestone streets, very little rubbish we could see and trees planted everywhere. Whats more is that the plaza is so green with foilage and so lush with the brick work of the old building in the background. Really really nice,... although I wouldn´t want to stay here too long becuse it could easily get boring here. We are all set with our new acquired DVD collection for tonight, so all are pleased!!

Off to Vilcabamba tomorrow, a town where apparently people live to be over 100 years of age.... we will see shall we?!

  So after leaving the Galapogas it was on to Cuenca. We flew into Guayaquil we caught a bus to Cuenca about 5 hours. We had booked a hostal but we arrived a bit late and they had let out the room to a very amouros couple so we dumped our bags and headed for a pub. Finally found one and had a great chat with a local guy who knew less english than we knew spanish. Very interesting. We headed back to the room and lets say we didn´t get a good nights sleep.

We got up the next day with our roomies gone :-) and went for a walk round town. It was Fiesta time as they were celebrating thier independance. So there were jets flying over for an airshow(Hamish was real excited!) they still fly Strikemasters!!! And a parade of their military, they seem a bit more prepared than us.

We found a wee reastaurant where we got a 3 course meal for US$2, nice I like cheap!

Then chilled out for a bit before heading out to a bar where we were told where to go for the Fiesta party. Found this big streetthat had been cordoned off with a Satge at each end and lots of beer tents and heaps of people. So we joined in, didn´t know much of the music but hey was a bit of fun.

Today we´ve just chilled out and done stuff all. Caught up on a few admin things etc. Off to the border tomorrow so this will be it from Ecuador, it´s on to Peru.

Arriving in Cuenca's historic centre, it wasnt the Ecuador we knew. The colonial style buildings with little balconies were all class, there were trendy little cafes everywhere, lots of clothing and shoe stores, some organisation in the road rules, a beautiful river running through the middle....it was definitely a place that had its act together. A student town with a number of Universities, it had a vibe that was different to what we had so far experienced in Ecuador. Not better or worse, just different.

The historic buildings were the main reason for us visiting and they didnt let us down. My only regret being that I didnt get more photos. The narrow cobblestone streets were also a highlight. We stayed in an excellent hostel, 'El Cafecita' I think it was called. For $7 a night the rooms were excellent, the bathrooms in good condition and it had an excellent restaurant/bar attached which seemed to be a main spot for locals to hang out as well (Note: dorm rooms open directly into the restaurant area and could possibly get loud of a night). We also ate at one of the best places I have eaten since leaving Australia and funnily enough it was called 'Cafe Eucalyptus'. Really really good food, moderate prices (still damn cheap for tourists), an excellent setup with upstairs and downstairs eating, and great music which was even better. The flavour of the night was 60's ragtime/swing but I think they also have alot of live music in there as well. A class place.

We pretty much covered the sights in 2 days and with the weather not so flash we decided to head for Vilcabamba...a case of leaving the best to last!!

Hasta luego,
Dave

After our disappointing day in Alausi, the Germans and I continued on to Cuenca together with hopes of green pastures.  The light drizzle could not the hide the beauty of this Spanish feeling colonial town as we walked the streets in the morning.  The Inca ruins in town were a bit of a joke, the whole area was only about 20 meters by 20 meters and the highlight was nothing more and a part of a stone wall.

The morning drizzle turned into an afternoon downpour as we took the 2 hour bus to Ingapirca, Ecuador’s most important Inca site.  I was glad to have my raincoat from MEC which was purchased with my gift certificate from Alliance although as my next entry explains, I have it no longer.  The bus stopped a few hundred meters from the park entrance.  It was as if the sun God was glad to see us because the rain stooped and the sun broke through as soon as we entered the gates.  The site was ok but certainly not breathtaking.  I did get some nice photos with of the lamas grazing in front of the ruins.  The museum was quite small and did not have any English but they did have some interesting pieces. I enjoyed this day and would definitely recommend this day trip for anyone who is travelling Ecuador and will not be making it to the bigger Inca sites in Peru.

I decided to take a night train to Huaquillas rather than staying another night in Cuenca as I had originally planed.  This turned out to be a mistake...

PS - I am not sure why the map is messed up and shows this in Peru.  It is only a few hundred km south of Banos.

Het was een mooie dag in Alausi, zo ´s ochtends tot een uur of tien. Wij lekker in de zon ontbeten en vroeg naar het station om kaartjes te kopen voor de treinrit naar Devils nose. Helaas.. er was (nog steeds) een piepklein onderdeeltje kapot.

*Advertorial* Dat doet de NS toch beter!  *einde advertorial*

Toen hebben we snel de bus naar Cuenca gepakt, die was er een half uur eerder dan gepland.

*Advertorial* Cuenca buslines staan klaar terwijl u wacht! *einde advertorial*

Het werd weer een bijzondere rit: volgens het boekje drie en half uur (hahaha), maar.... na een half uurtje stopte de bus: er waren wegwerkzaamheden en de weg was ruim een uur geblokkeerd. Achteraf bleken er grote rotsblokken op de weg te liggen (de treinrit was veiliger geweest!). Toen we weer reden stopte de bus opnieuw en stapte iedereen uit. Overigens laat de chauffeur de motor dan gewoon draaien. Toen wij ook voorzichtig uitstapten om water te kopen, bleek dat iedereen rustig zat te eten in een restaurantje, samen met de chauffeur.  hahaha. Daarna ging de rit vrij vlot en bijna twee films verder kwamen we aan in Cuenca.

¿Films? Ja: op de lange afstanden worden er vechtfilms gedraaid in de bus, zo hebben we al gezien: Kung-fu met Jacky Chan, Rambo 1 en 2 en JanClaude Vandamme.

Uiteindelijk hebben we er vijf uur over gedaan en kwamen we aan in een grote busterminal in Cuenca, het leek wel een groot vliegveld. Een vlotte taxi bracht ons voor twee dollar naar ons hotel.