Banos and Cuenca

I’m afraid the Oregon weather has followed us. Since we left Latacunga after travelling the Loop we’ve been plagued by rain.
Our next stop was Baños, a smallish city in a gorgeous, lush area with tons of waterfalls. It’s pretty touristy, and lots of people end up spending quite a bit of time there doing all t he fun adventure tourism there is there- bungee jumping off bridges, rapelling down waterfalls, ziplining, horseback riding, etc. We thought we’d do the stuff on the ground first, and got in one really beautiful hike on the mountain above the city. Along the way, an ancient woman with a bundle of sticks on her back came along us on the path, gave Ace a huge grin, and said something along the line of “well hello gorgeous, where are you from?” We spent the evening in the very popular outdoor thermal baths that the city is famous for. Glorious.
The next day we went for a bike ride along bright green mountains and above a river in a canyon with tons of waterfalls dropping in to meet it. The rain caught up with us about half way, though, so we caught a bus back. The rain was showing no signs of letting up for a day of ziplining or canyoning , so the next day we caught a 6 hour bus ride South to Cuenca.

We’ve seen a lot of lovely villages so far, but Cuenca is definitely our favorite city. It’s charming in a very colonial way- lots of old cobbled streets, restored historical buildings, etc. Unfortunately our first evening there, I got a pretty brutal bout of what must have been food poisoning. I had a pretty rough night and woke up with a fever the next morning. Fortunately the hostel had a lounge and movie room, so I spend most of the next day watching movies while Ace took care of me :) The next day I felt much better, so Ace took me to a museum he’d seen the day before where we got to scope out shrunken heads. Cool. There was also a beautiful garden and bird area and the most adorable little baby llama in the world. The rain continued, so we took a bus to another outdoor thermal pool- who cares when it’s cold and rainy if you’re ear-deep in a swimming pool full of perfectly toasty bathwater?

Today we said goodbye to Cuenca and took the 5 hour bus ride to Loja, then caught our connection to Vilcabamba, our home for the next few weeks. One thing that continues to amaze us is that although we’re travelling between major cities right down the center of the country, we’re still winding about mist-shrouded volcanoes, bouncing through remote villages on unpaved section of road, and hurling around the most unbelievably curvy roads we’ve ever ridden. I spend the entire ride today with my eyes closed trying to sleep as I knew I’d throw up if I looked out the window- a shame, as I’m sure the scenery was stunning. Vilcabamba greeted us with a classic tropical downpour, which actually felt pretty good as we were still pretty woozy from the ride. We found a room at the lovely Rendez-vous hostel, a French-run place with gorgeous gardens and a cute pudgy cat. We got our groceries to take up to the farm, including such essentials as wine and dark chocolate, and we’re ready and excited to make the trek to El Condor, our first WWoofing farm, tomorrow. We’re really glad we’ll be staying in this area for a while- it ‘s small, laid-back, and fairly tropical here- absolutely lovely. We’ll be away from the internet on the farm, but will fill you all in as soon as we get back!