Hi all,

Well, Vilcabamba was definitely what the doctor ordered. Our first day there was all about relaxing after the marathon bus trip. We ate, we wandered, we ate some more, we got facials, a massage (me), and a pedicure (Erika) - our hostel had great Mexican food, which we fully enjoyed. It actually reminded me a lot of the house in Akumal / lots of bright colours, lovely garden in the courtyard, grass roofs on the palapas - very nice. The next morning we headed off moderately early for a walk on the nature reserve. Nothing in the town seems to open before 9, and we needed to get change so that we pay for the walk. This meant buying a bit of jewellery, since all we had was $20 bills, and people seemed to panic if we gave them anything bigger than a $10, running around the town looking for change. Anyhow, I'm always happy for an excuse to buy jewellery.

There's a nature reserve just outside of town, Rumi Wilco, which has trails running along the river, through floodplains, up gullies, and along ridges. It was pretty cool seeing the variety of plants - orange trees, coffee trees, vanilla trees, massive cacti, and a bunch of other flowers and bushes and such that I will never remember the name of (which is why I bought a booklet on the local plants). The view from the ridge was incredible - the valley is really beautiful (pictures will follow). At one point, something large buzzed our heads, and we both ducked and ran, but that was our only run-in with nature. It's quite hot and humid here, although it never really gets sunny. After the walk we explored the town some more, ate some lunch, and sat in the plaza (I have yet to find a town without a main plaza - it's really nice). Erika headed back to the hotel, and I hung out in the plaza for awhile longer. I ended up talking to one of the town's policemen for a couple hours, which was really fun, since he spoke absolutely no English, so it really forced me to dig deep and pull out whatever Spanish I could... when that ran out, we resorted to the phrasebook. It sounds like they do the same thing here as in Canada / once you graduate from the police, you get posted to a tiny town somewhere for a couple months, and then a moderately larger one for 2 years. We went out for drinks later that night, although I brought the dictionary with me this time, and managed a surprisingly detailed conversation. I definitely feel like I'm learning more and more every day here.

This morning, we headed off for Loja to catch a bus to Cuenca. We asked a taxi how much it would cost to get to Loja, and he told us $50.... after which we promptly walked away. I was getting antzy to get going, as there was no bus in site and I'm not so good at sitting around waiting for things, so I found us a cheaper taxi to take us. We tried cashcing travellers' cheques at a few banks, and found one that would cash them, but only with a hotel address in Loja, so no luck, but there was an ATM.

The bus from Loja to Cuenca took about 5 hours, and was some of the prettiest scenery I've seen so far. There are all these wide, fairly shallow valleys, and rolling hills, which we wound up and down. Cuenca and the areas beyond didn't have a paved road to them until the 1960s, and you can definitely tell. The people in the rural towns dress very conservatively - the women wear long black skirts, long-sleeved button-up shirts, and shawls. The men wear long black shorts and button-up shirts. Both wear their hair long and braided, and wear felt hats like bowlers. There are animals everywhere / pigs, chickens, goats, alpacas, cows, horses (I saw a mom and two kids piled onto one horse), donkeys.... and a lot of the houses had small cornfields, with ears of corn hanging out front to dry in the sun. When we got up in the hills, the terrain was fairly rocky, with one type of coniferous tree covering the hills. In the valleys, there were lots of succulents and flowering plant - a big difference for a couple of hundred metres. Bought some tasty grapes from a girl selling them on the bus... on most of the buses we've been on, someone has gotten on at some point and given a spiel about how he has 9 children to feed, and it gets very cold in their home, and one of his children has (insert nasty disease or ailment here), and he's trying to send some of them to school, and so he has resorted to selling chocolates on the buses, although today it was some sort of cream for sore muscles. The buses have been great so far - they're all coaches, and pretty comfortable - I guess in a country where the majority of people don't own their own cars, bus travel has to be easy.

Anyhow, we're in Cuenca now. It's the third largest city in Ecuador, and has 8 universities. We haven't seen much of it, as we've only been here for a couple hours and it's getting dark, but that's what tomorrow is for. Looks like we'll be here for my birthday, too, so I'll have to haul Erika off to do something fun... not sure what yet, but I'm sure there's plenty here.

Love Hil