Hosteria Ushupud Cuenca

... potatoes.<br><br>Back at the hostal, we were just about to head for showers when the light in our room went off. We soon discovered nearly all the lights were off! The guy running the place brought us and an older French couple, the only people in the place, candles. Strangely the lights in the bathrooms were fine although there was no hot water, so after our sweaty hike I had a cold, dribbly shower!<br><br>There wasn´t enough light to read by so we went to bed at 8.30pm, although we were ...

Vrijdagochtend zijn we om 5u opgestaan om de trein van Riobamba naar Alausi te kunnen nemen. Het was een verassing toen we de trein zagen, 't was meer een bus op treinsporen dan een trein... De rit ging dwars door het Andesgebergte, langs verschillende kleine dorpjes. We hebben dus de kans gekregen om de lokale bevolking van dichterbij te zien. Het was een heel ander Ecuador dan hetgeen we tot nu toe gezien hebben in de steden, een aparte cultuur. De meeste ...

... 2 to 3 metres. Sure enough there were four turtles swimming slowly around the shoreline, pecking at moss attached to rocks. Two of them were huge, almost as big in diameter as Jody was tall. We happily swam with them for a good 30minutes, occasionally interrupted by a sea lion, while Christie and Niamh were baking in the sun on the beach. We stayed at the beach for about 2 hours. The bay was protected by a row of rocks and I noticed that around 3pm that the waves ...

... sees us both dragging our bags across a four lane motorway as our bus edges away....safety first as usual. We jump on the smelliest bus in the world and discover that it must only have 2 gears it´s going so slow. We think that perhaps Phil and Alex may overtake us....... <br><br>We eventually arrive in Cuenca, and it´s a mission to find a hostal. Al and I spend quite a while trudging around trying to locate hostals in our ...

... back. It was quite a trendy little place and popular with locals for post-work drinkies. Coincidentally I bumped into an Aussie guy I had met in Quito who had just spent a month in Montanita... god knows how he managed to survive that long. <br><br>Cuenca is famous for being a centre of panama hat production. Yes, it's a misnomer and the straw-weaved hat actually originates in Ecuador. So, after some initial wandering around the town, myself and a couple ...

... br><br>Learning to live here:<br><br>Q: Where do you get curtain rods?<br><br>A: At the hardware store&#8212;but you have to buy the whole thing&#8212;about 20 feet! They do cut it up for you--AND they have brackets as well.<br><br>Q: Where do you get bread?<br><br>A: Ah, on any given day there are a few stores you might try for &#8220;Pan integral de Vilcabamba": or whole wheat bread. A buddhist fellow and his Ecuadorian wife have a new restaurant and they ...

... to Cuenca among a whole line of desks, the proprietors of which announced their services like market traders, shouting out a bewildering array of destinations and prices. We intended to go and do a quick bit of sightseeing in the town (i.e. hassle some iguanas in the park and have a look at the waterfront) but the only option was leaving our bags with the bus company, which we weren't overly keen on. So we booked tickets for an hour later, kept our bags ...

... I headed back to town for the afternoon to warm up, while the boys toughed it out. They even went back again today, hoping to find even more lifers, but we decided to have a town day, and enjoyed a lazy morning, a proper breakfast, and hours of decadent internet time. <br><br>The best news of all is that my sister Sarah arrived in Quito late last night (see her blog at www.sarahgignac.com) and will be joining us here in Cuenca tomorrow. Can't wait to see her!<br>

... s one more *nd h*s liter*lly become the by line for our tour. I retired to my room to be met by the w*lrus like snores of my new roomm*te, needless to s*y I didn&#8217;t sleep to well. We he*ded the next d*y to some ruins/mud city thingy pl*ce, were I w*s *pp*rently dressed in*ppropri*tely in shorts *nd vest, not * religious thing, more * midd*y sun *nd m*d dogs *nd Englishmen kind of thing. It w*s *ll quite interesting but the wee wom*n tour guide ...

... that bus. <br><br>Aft** cursing a bit und** my breath but surely l*ud en*ugh f*r him t* hear and und**stand, I walked t* the central plaza with full pack f*r a sm*ke. I had already checked *ut *f my h*stel. Returned at 6:30AM f*r a diff**ent p**s*n t* tell me that th**e was n* 6:30AM bus and that she didn't sh*w that I had any res**vati*n at all. Luckily, I had my receipt and quickly sh*wed h** while again mumbling curses und** my breath but ...