The Southern Ecuadorian Highlands

We have truly found that traveling with a group is so much more convenient sometimes. In addition to the comradery, it just makes the hassle of lengthy bus trips more tolerable, instances that could be somewhat nerve-racking straight up comical, and- with our classic four person tag-team Spanish-conversations more comprehendable. 

Riding our state of nirvana after being pampered in Banos, the crew threw on our packs and headed south for Cuenca. The bus ride was about 7 hours total, but unfortunately included some backtracking and a layover in a small town called Ambato. The first leg of the trip went quite swimmingly, but let us off in a sea of chaos at our terminal in Ambato. By terminal I really just mean the side of a busy road, where we were rushed across the street in a terrifying backpacker version of frogger, very loudly and hurriedly assisted in purchasing bus tickets for the remainder of the ride, then told we had a few hours before the bus would arrive. Although we were a little confused we took the time to eat some lunch (chicken foot soup that helped Mason overcome some stomach sickness that he had incurred) and chill out on the side of the road chatting with some bus vendors. 

I really enjoy how everybody here can sell whatever they want.  I really do.  Some people may think that this sounds annoying and that folks would constantly hassle-or potentially hussle-you, but I look at it as embracing the entrepreneurial spirit in everyone.  Seriously, in the United States we have so many rules and restrictions that even to open a street corner hot dog cart entails taking out a loan, getting a food vending license, jumping through hoops, paying fees and all the like.  Here people make some delicious homemade empanas, or pick some fruit from a tree and then hop on the busses at the stops and walk up and down the aisles selling their goodies.  Then when the bus is beginning to depart they hop off (often when the bus is moving, that doesn´t seem to frighten people for some reason). And you know what, as someone who has been frequenting the busses, I often get hungry and it´s nice to have some options.  The folks we were hanging out with were so sweet too.  Just trying to make an honest living in whatever way they can.  They also saved our asses as we had our bags loaded and were ready to board the incorrect bus, and even gave us some food for the ride-just genuinely kind people.  We finally make it to Cuenca quite late at night (after nearly getting off in the wrong city) hungry, tired and with nowhere to stay.  Our trusty Lonely Planet lead us to a few hostels-all full-but luckily third times a charm and we found a place that could fit five haggard travelers.
Cuenca was a charming little city, that had a bit of a Europoean feel to me.  There were lots of plazas, cobble stone streets and we found the residents to be helpful-at least more so than Quito.  The weather was pretty wet for our duration, so a lot of our activities were in done during spirts of sun, and we found ourselfs ducking under canopies quite often.  Our traveling companions truly make us feel like a walking REI commercial.  We-having researched and prepared for rain and cold-came down geared up with waterproof boots, rain pants and coats, covers for our packs and quick dry clothes.  Neither Erik or Sandra, both traveling for multiple months, even have coats and Sandra´s only pair of shoes are an old pair of Chuck Taylors!  But we found a solution in some extra grocery bags as you can see in the photo....worked like a charm!  There were some great museums around the city and we visited a local modern art display (it´s just weird everywhere) and a cultural display of pre-Inca life which included Shrunken Heads!  The tradition of severing and shrinking heads is unique to the Amazon rain forest tribes known as the Jivaroan people of Ecuador and Peru.  It´s quite a ellaborate process as you may imagine, and the heads were commonly of enemies that caused harm to the tribe and were used as trophies or for ritual purposes. 

Here, Nadine met up with some of her friends the tiny Canadian Island she lives on.  They were renting an apartment for a month and invited us over for a dinner.  What an interesting bunch!  Willy and Leslie, her friends, met 40 plus years ago while traveling in India and have lived all over the world.  It was great to converse with them and really  feel a true sense of the traveling spirit.  We spend all night laughing and talking and truly pissing off the other residents of the complex with consisted mostly of older retired Americans that-as Nadine so delicately puts it-are just coming to Ecuador to die. 

Our crew split up in Cuenca with Erik, Sandra and us heading down to Loja for a night and then ready to cross over into Peru.  Knowing we were not going to be in the town long, we opted for a bit of a dumpy hostel with a bit of a hospital feel, but only costing us $5 a night.  Our time primarily consisted of wondering around and getting a feel for the bar scene, however as the night progressed we happened to stumble on a very random beauty pageant that was taking place in the main plaza.  Although this seemed quite weird and very random to us, everyone in town seemed to be out for the festivities and we were able to see some fabulous fire works.  Later we met a group of younger locals that informed us the celebration was for Saint Sebastion, and then proceeded to fill us full of hot fermented sugar cane juice that just so happens to be very good and very alcoholic.  The group really enjoyed their new gringo friends and had great conversations until the police kindly informed us, that pretty much everyone else had cleared the plaza and we should probably do the same.  On our way home we-almost literally-ran into a great little dive bar with a Black Keys-esque duo that just jammed!  We all immediately flocked to the dance floor and, as the only ones dancing, humored the band and added to the entertainment of the locals.  I couldn´t think of a better way to spend our last night in Ecuador.