Bienvenidos a Ecuador! It was a successful crossing from Cajamarca, Peru to Loja, Ecuador. No machine gun hold-ups, no bribes or scams across the border, and no explosive diarrhea (can't say the same for the kid behind us, but he recovered well, and we all thank Dios for the windows which prevented us from vomiting). We'd powered through 19 hours on a bus. Yeah, us!
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| No man's land, the border between Peru and Ecuador |
| Ecuador is beautiful. At the border, we were greeted by green terraced rice fields followed by pink wild-flowers and green ceiba trees. I could kick myself for not getting pictures of them. They were stunners. We rolled along enjoying hours of sunny, green hillsides covered with fat, happy cows. |
| No man's land, the border between Peru and Ecuador |
It's nearly impossible to read while driving through the Andes, so we entertained ourselves with my ipod. Having familiar music keeps me happy.
Occasionally, we'd pass through a town and marvel at the sights. One of my favorite sightings was a lunch section on main street with a showcase of the 3 little piggies. If we hadn't filled up on lentil soup in the town before, we may have stopped in and shaved off a chunk.
Later, in Cuenca, Ecuador, we were in search of supper and found a local super market (supermarkets in the majority world are more like vender stalls, collections of sole proprietors, rather than traditional, Western big box stores). When we saw the fruit stalls, we knew we were on the right track. Then we saw the weiners, followed by the legs of beef and whole chickens. We were getting close. We looked upstairs and found the perfect supper: a big piggy!
We ordered a plate of the good stuff with a side of cheesy potatoes, then asked if it was okay to take a picture of the head. The ladies motioned "go ahead" while a local guy came near and said, in Spanish, "Everybody comes to eat, but the gringos want a picture with the head (insert eye rolling)." Mark and I understood and thus we busted out laughing which caught the guy by surprise. I don't think he anticipated us understanding Spanish :-)
For our night entertainment, we picked up some DVD's at the bargain price of 4 for $5. Surprisingly, they were all in English. We had to laugh a few times during "The Lone Ranger" because dark shadows crossed our screen, just like in the theater, to get their popcorn or use the restroom. Good luck, Hollywood, on collecting royalties for those copies. Our hostel had a rooftop living room, complete with a hammock (which made me really happy- my buns needed a break after sitting on busses for so long). The windows overlooked the lighted riverwalk and river down below which we had scouted earlier in the day. It felt good to finally be somewhere. The city has a lot of historical charm, which is probably why there are so many expats here. It's a pretty town for walking, so I'm sure I'll post pics soon.
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