Howard Johnson Hotel Loja

... town of Cisne, where the statue resides all the way to Loja- a 2 hours drive away! Roads get closed down. After a 2 hour drive to Catamayo we were stopped about 10 minutes from our destination by a procession of the Virgen. Sigh. Even our taxi driver admitted he has done the walk almost every year! We had to turn around and go home without completing our task for the day, as there was only 1 road!<br>Our second attempt to get to "the bone Doctor" in Catamayo was successful. Not ...

... sadly "unticked" &#8211; namely Oliver! Thus, on the day in question, he was sadly not ready for planned &#8220;amour&#8221; action and was &#8220;green around the gills&#8221; as Ma Oliphant would say i.e. sick.<br><br>As a result, the 8th November was marked by me toasting our 1st anniversary alone whilst watching re-runs of the American series &#8220;Felicity&#8221; (NB the soap drama ...

... the hope that we could find somewhere to stay.<br><br>We headed for Vilcabambe for $1 each on a rather packed Collectivo, the aisles of the van were as full as they could be, and it started to rain, our rucksacks were on the roof. The van pulled over and they covered our bags, we were extremely relieved. When we rolled into Vilcabambe around 6.30pm it was night. Christie investigated a local hotel next to the terminal that was a reasonable price but had no internet. We ...

... then took myself off to bed, already more relaxed!<br><br>Thursday 15th October<br>Up earlish to go hiking with three chicks from the hostel. The hostel has a network of trails and maps they give you around town. We picked a 4 hour hike, marked 4 out of 5 for difficulty that takes you up to walk along the ridges of the mountains with good views of each side of the valley.<br>The trail resembled a goat track in parts, but the views were definately ...

... over the soup!<br><br>The day of the storm:<br>I got inspired to get started working on a commercial space we have. Sanded walls, cleaned off paint, cleaned out window canals. Worked for about 4 hours, then took 2 Advil and grabbed some ice. <br>About 3 pm I complained to Bruce that I could barely see to read my book-- as it was so dark! Ah, then the rain started, and then the wind came. It rained for a long time. Can only compare the rains to those I heard and saw in ...

... one-woman tourist office in Chachapoyas had done the unthinkable: printed out the destinations, method of transport, timings and cost for each of the legs to Vilcabamba. As she passed it over I suppressed my urge to ask whether she could laminate it for me, and we were on our way.<br><br>The first destination was Bagua Grande, a mere 2 hours drive away. We jumped in the shared taxi (with a policeman and his daughter on holiday) and began. It was a fantastic drive as it followed the ...

... We´re not enthralled by Loja but it´s just a pit stop so food, wine and bed is the order of the day. I awake in the middle of the night convinced that we were being broken in to.....I wake Al up thinking that he´ss protect me (?!) or at least make me feel a bit better....he informs me that it´s the wind blowing the gate open and the roof off and subsequently falls straight back to sleep. I lie awake still waiting for the masked gunmen to burst through the door ...

... journeys have been running on time or sometimes a little late. Our driver, who Chief called Cowboy Superted (obviously the journey was taking it{s toll on his eloquency), took us on a thrilling and beautiful roller-coaster ride through the Andes towards Loja. Much better than canyoning to be honest. Four hours later we arrived at our destination- a full 60minutes ahead of schedule.<br><br ...

... he jerked and moved around so much we almost believed he wasn´t dead yet. Pretty freaky, smelly and not sure it would meet your average RSPCA standards! Now that´s one way to get fresh pork to market! The whole market was only a little local affair, but we only saw two other tourists in town and it made a good little break on our way north.

... a cough, and had visions of being turned away from Ecuador as a carrier of deadly porcine diseases, so kept swallowing and answering questions like "Do you have a cough?" without coughing. <br><br>The rest of the journey was fantastic. The dryness of Peru gave way to the most lush rainforest type vegetation, stopping a couple of times for us to jump down off the truck to show our passport to the cops, and we shared fruit with the locals.<br><br>It was ...