Vilcabamba and goodbye Ecuador

´There is no choice in what I must do, nothing is greater than to be with you´Mellow Doubt by Teenage Fanclub

Hola all

It has been ten days since last wrote so stand by for a quick update about our final days in Ecuador.

Monday March 10th
We caught the 9am bus from Cuenca to Vilcabamba, a beautiful town in South Ecuador, set among a stunning valley. The bus journey took most of the day, starting with a 5 hour bus ride to Loja along a very bumpy road with steep falls into the valley below. We then switched to a local bus for a 1 hour drive to Vilcabamba that was only $1.

We were delighted to arrive at our hostel Izhcayluma www.izhacayluma.com and discover it lppked exactly like the pictures on the flyer we had. Set 2km out of town it offered stunning views across the valley, a swimming pool, a restaurant and hammocks outside our room.

We read our books on our hammocks and then had dinner in the restaurant and started to plan our route through Peru.With only 3months left we want to make the most of our time.

Tuesday March 11th
After breakfast we decided to do one of the many treks available in the Vilcabamba area. We set off down the road from the hostel and cut on to a dirt road that led up the valley and offered stunning views of the countryside. It was nice to be out stretching our legs after considerable time soent in cities recently. The air was fresh and clean and we could see why the average local in this area lives to be over 100!

The hike took us around 4 hours. It wasn´t particularly tough and we enjoyed the walk and the views. We had lunch in the tiny town centre and then walked back up the hill to our hostel for a swim and a bit of reading time in the hammocks. We had dinner at 7om and went to bed at 10.

Wednesday 12th March
We got up for breakfast at 9am and decided to hire bikes for the day. We didn´t actually cycle much as the 2km into town was all downhill! We found a book exchange and changed a couple of books we had finished with for 2 new ones. We then had lunch in town and found an internet cafe and priced some internal flights in Peru, booking fliights from Piura-Lima and Lima to Arequipa. The first flight was $102 each, only $40 more than the bus which took 16 hours compared to the 16 hour bus! The second flight was $79 each and again saved us valuable hours.

Our plan is to go down to Arequipa then work our way back by bus to Lima where we meet our friend Craig on March 25th and then fly to Cusco for the Inca Trail.

We had to push our bikes most of the way back to the hostel and we discovered that the old Danish couple we had met in Cuenca on our Inca Oirca tour had checked in. We had dinner with them and loved hearing about all the places they have visited over the years and their outrageous plans to travel around the world in a jeep for 10 years when Erik retires next April.

Thursday March 13th
We got up at 9am for breakfast and then packed our bags and read in the hammocks until check out at mid-day. We then walked downhill into town and wandered around the small shops and had lunch before wandering back to the hostel to read for a bit before dinner.

We chatted to Erik and Marianne and then got a taxi at 7pm It was actually a oickup truck, so we threw our bags in the back and climbed in beside them and sped down to the bus stop. The bus to Loja left at 7.45pm and cost a dollar. We then waited at Loja for an hour or so before our overnight bus into Peru.

CONTINUED ON NEXT BLOG