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Took the 5pm bus to Equador, it left late, so we got to the border at 1.30am half an hour after it closed! So we waited till 3am to get our visas. Then the bus kept stopping for the last few hours in the early morning, so had a very bad night sleep. We arrived in Loja and went for brekkie then hit the sack for a few hours. In the afternoon we went to the park that had a miniture russian style kremlin, a chinese pagoda, paddleboats and flamingos, swans, ponies, ostrich quite a surreal place. That night whilst strolling the streets we came across a plaza with a rock/punk band playing, the kids were loving it, headbanging and moshing. The next morning we left in a colectivo taxi to Vilcabamba a beautiful laid back village with a mountanous backdrop, perfect for a few days hiking. The 1st day we experienced the first rain they had in 6 months, so we read and walked only a little trek. Luckily our accomadation was perfect, we stayed in a newly built chalet with a hammock on the porch. The grounds were beautiful, full of exotic plants and flowers. Day 2 we headed off on what we thought was a 2hr trek to the top of the mountain. Once we were at the top we thought we may as well push on to the next peak. This involved walking along the ridge of the mountain with sheer drops either side and the path was only 2 foot wide yikes! at points we had to clamber on all fours decending the ridge then climbing vertically on rock face, the locals didn`t tell us about these! Added to this it was slightly raining making the climbs a little slippery, it was the most hair raising walk we have ever done. Once at the 2nd peak we had wonderful views for miles and it seemed worth all the effort to get there. However the journey back was also tricky since we went off piste! and instead followed a path used by cows... this meant we were having to walk bent over through dense bramble and foilage with lots of prickly branches, ouch!. Finally when we got back to the road we looked back up from where we had come with a great sense of acheivement, but tired and hungry.
Next day we walked up to a waterfall which started with another steep incline for an hour, then a lovely flat walk across lush fields on the top of the mountain then finally through fields of maze. That day the sun was blazing and the views were stunning.
Our final day we went for yet another beautiful 5hr hike up through villages and great views of vilcabamba. At one point we got lost (again) and ended up having to take off our shoes to cross the river. Also we picked up a nice dog on the way and he followed us all the way back to town, they do that all over S.America. The morning we were leaving, Caroline dragged me out for one last 2hr walk, much to my annoyance, I thought 45kms in three days was sufficient but no!....
We loved Vilcabamba such an unexpected entry to Equador.
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