From Loja to Vilcabamba

We spent yesterday morning in Loja visiting the Music Museum and the Arts University. We listened to a live orchestra practicing and were able to see many paitings by local artists. We caught a bus from the city of Loja to the the valley of Vilcabamba in the early afternoon for $1 each. The drive was lovely. Upon arrving at our hostal we were amazed at the view and immediately felt as though we had arrived in paradise. We must admit that we both feel a bit spoiled to live this luxuriously. We met an interesting fellow from Stirling, Scotland who was swaying in a hammock in front of our rooms. We chatted for a while and then all walked up to the restaurant for dinner. The three of us had a lovely meal together and watched the sunset behind the mountains. Today was beautiful. We swam in the pool, hiked on dirt roads through local homestays & farms, and learned how to play backgammon. Mary and I are looking forward to the next couple of days here in Vilcabamba and are also excited to travel north to Cuenca afterwards to study spanish (which we really need to work on).

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

Tomorrow we are heading to Vilcabamba and staying at the Hosteria Izhcayluma for two or three nights. They have horseback riding, bicycles, hiking, book exchange, camfires, hammocks, and ping-pong (Mary sure is excited about ping-pong). It sounds like it will be a lovely place.

Hosteria Izhcayluma

Vilcabamba, Loja

Ecuador

Tel: 00593 7 2 64 00 95

Email: izhcayluma@yahoo.de

Website: http://www.izhcayluma.com/

Another day in Loja, Ecuador

Today was a slow day. We decided to spend an extra night in Loja to give us some time to see the city (It is considered Ecuador´s cleanest city - so we had to stay). For breakfast we ate at a restaurant that was in a run-down old colonial building, that appeared to have been quite a structure at one time. The service was interesting; it took the waitress almost 10 minutes to round up $1.75 in change when we were paying our bill. Afterwards, we booked a room over the telephone at a very nice looking place in Vilcabamba and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering about. We had lunch at a small vegetarian restaurant and chatted with the owner for a while. She seemed happy to give us a few spanish instructions, showing us different types of fruit and describing basic items on the walls and tables. We had plans to visit the Museum of Music in town, but it was closed for the day (I think we'll try to see it tomorrow before we leave instead), many stores were closed, including the tourist and post offices. We walked through the city, over the Rio Zamora and up a hill to the Virgen de Loja Statue. The location offered a panoramic view of the city and we took several pictures. Just before arriving at the statue, we visited a small store and bought a beer to drink on the hill (pretty civilized). We walked to the Plaza San Francisco and to the Parque Simon Bolivar. This evening we are seeing a bit of rain, our first time since arriving in South America.

Loja, Ecuador

This evening we arrived in Loja, Ecuador. Our bus ride was a little different than other buses that we have travelled on so far. Firstly, it was a service that seemed to be provided more to the local Peruvians and Ecuadorians. Secondly, it was our first taste of the Andes. The scenery slowly turned from dry flat desert to lush mountainous terrain. We spent 8 hours on the bus and much of our time was on switch-backs up and down mountains. We made a stop in a small town before reaching the border and a young boy came on the bus selling mangos. We bought five for $0.50 and had a messy mango feast during our ride. The Peru/Ecuador border was located at a bridge in a small town and we had to get off the bus on the Peru side, check-out, walk across the bridge to Ecuador, check-in and then get back on the bus. Crossing the border went very smoothly compared to other stories we have heard about, especially via the coastal border crossing. We also saw some enormous and intriguing green trees. They seemed very capable of withstanding the harsh weather of the desert without any problem; they are everywhere. Now we are in Loja, generally much cleaner than places we have seen in Peru. We have heard that the city is famous for its musicians and its award-winning parks. Our hostal has creaky wooden floors, big white walls, and saggy beds (looks like an old hospital). Tomorrow we are planning to head south to a small place called Vilcabamba, deamed the valley of longevity, to relax before heading north to Cuenca.

Piura, Peru

This morning we took our bus to Piura through the Sechura Desert. The trip took about 3 hrs. We arrived with hopes to catch an overnight bus to Ecuador, but we were unable to find the Loja bus line. We decided to stay the night in Piura instead. We found a clean/friendly hostal.

Hospedaje San Carlos
Ayacucho 627
Piura, Peru
Tel: 20-1059

At the hostal, they provided much help. They showed us where to eat lunch, where the Loja bus terminal was, and helped us reserve a hostal in Loja. The bus company that will take us to Ecuador via the La Tina/Marcara border crossing is as follows:

Loja Internacional
Av. Sanchez Cerro Km. 1 - Zona Industrial Antigua
Piura, Peru
Tel: 305446

The hostal that we will be staying at in Loja, Ecuador is as follows:

Hotal Londres
Sucre 07-51
Loja, Ecuador
(593-07) 256-1936

Exploring Chiclayo

During the afternoon, we spent some time wandering around Chiclayo. Lunch was spent at at very local looking restaurant. We ate chicken soup, fried chicken, peas, rice, and fresh pear juice for about $0.85 CAN / each. Mary and I thought that was a pretty good deal. The waitress was very happy when we tipped her $0.30 (It was the least we could do to show our appreciation). After lunch, we looked for the Mercado Modelo for some time and ended up losing ourselves in the city. We approached two ladies for directions and they eventually decided to walk us to the market. They were lovely. While speaking to them, we found out that we had paid a very high price to have our laundry done. Almost 7X the regular amount (lunch was a great deal though). We finally found the market and within 5 minutes, a friendly man appeared, Alberto. I saw that he had a chess board and asked if we could play. His english was pretty good and he had ¨never played chess with a canadian man before¨. We played a game for over an hour and eventually he put me into check mate. He runs an operating service (lucotario) at the market, and was directing calls throughout the entire game (quite entertaining). His wife even called and Mary spent some time speaking with her. We ended our game, exchanged information, and said good-bye. Hopefully we will see him again.

Chiclayo, Peru

Yestersay afternoon we parted ways with our friends Anna, Nichola, and Mike from South Africa and took the Movil bus line to Chiclayo. Spanish missionaries founded a small rural community here in the 16th century. We are excited to visit the Mercado Modelo which is a market that houses a superstore of herbs, elixers, love potions, witch doctors, bones, claws, hooves, and many other healing curiosities. We are heading that way very soon. Currently, we are staying at the Victoria Hostal. It is about $9.50 CAN/night and has hot showers.

Hostal Victoria

Tel: 22-5642

Izaga 933

Chiclayo, Peru

Tomorrow, we will be taking the Linea long-distance bus to Piura. It is Peru's oldest colonial city and supposedly looks like a mirage on the horizon of the Sechura Desert. The city is a transportation hub and there is not much to see or do there. We may stop in Piura for one night, but if possible, we will take an overnight bus to Ecuador via the La Tina/Macara border to Loja.