Loja

I have finally left Puerto Lopez after 18 days, and I am heading to Peru. My original plan was to fly to Lima or Cusco, I tried to find something in the web by myself but it proved too difficult and unreliable, so I called a travel agency and I was told in the phone that it would cost around 120$ dollars to fly to Cusco, the travel agency was in Manta, which is about 2.5 hours from Puerto Lopez, anyway I took the bus to Manta, to go to the Agency and buy the ticket, but when I got there the lady working there told me that she cannot find that cheap ticket anymore and that the price is actually 270 to fly to LIMA , Anyway I told her I would have to think about as it is more expensive than I thought, and she said she can deliver it to Puerto Lupez if I choose to buy it. Anyway I went back to Puerto Lopez and decided it was to far to go by bus and I called the agency to tell them I want to buy the ticket, only to hear that I can´t buy a one way ticket to Lima, and that a two way ticket costs 370$, which I was not willing to pay, and that point I had enough of this and decided to travel by bus.

There is a direct bus from Guayaquil to Lima, it costs around 50$ and it takes 24+ hours, add to that 4 hour bus ride from Puerto Lopez to Guayaquil and you are looking at an almost 30 hours trip, I decided that was not for me, and that I am going to do it in steps , stopping every evening somewhere to rest, and continuing the next morning.

Doing it this way has it´s advantages and disadvantages, on the plus side, I can enjoy the landscape, stop to visit interesting places on the way and I have me more opportunities to meet people. On the down side these long bumpy bus rides tend to kill my appetite and I end up eating almost nothing during or after the bus ride. The first night I made a stop at Cuenca, and the next day continued to Loja, anyway after two days of traveling I decided to make a way day stop at Loja to rest, breathe some fresh air and give my stomach a chance to settle so I can actually eat something.

The women in the South of Ecuador (Cuenca, Loja) are the most beautiful I have seen in Ecuador so far, some of them look of Spanish origin (white skinned), others are darker skinned and probably of Indian origin or Mestas. But in general the people here lack the warmness of the people from the cost region (i.e. Puerto Lopez).

I decided that in my free day I needed a little bit of nature and fresh air, close to Loja lies a small village : Vilacabamba, quite popular with gringos apparently , the village is quite small and lies in a valley surrounded by green mountains (at least in this time of the year), there is not much to do in the village and it is generally used as starting point to explore the surrounding nature. I decided to take a 4 hour hike that my guide recommended that leads to view point on top of one of the surrounding hills. I was expecting a leisurely hike more or less, only to find that path was quite steep, tricky and dangerous at some points, I knew then why they ask people to register at the office at the entrance to the route. But it was worth it , the views on the way were beautiful , and the top point offered a complete panoramic view of the surroundings, and then there is the actual pleasure of making to the top. I managed the whole route in 3 hours , taking my time to rest and take pictures on the way.