Is it Wednesday? ... we must be in Lima
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2007
1
29
35
Trip End
May 29, 2008
Vilcabamba,
Ecuador
Friday, April 4, 2008
From Santa Cruz to La Paz on an overnight bus (it was about 35ºC when we boarded at 5pm and when we woke the next morning on the altiplano the condensation on the inside of the bus windows had frozen), then a night in La Paz, then overnight to Lima (Peru) via Deseguadero, a night in Lima, overnight to Piura, a night there, a day/evening bus to Loja, a bit over the Ecuadorian border, then today a quick bus to Vilcabamba in the ´Valley of Longevity´, where we will stay a few days. We´ve been very hot, very cold, been up and down repeatedly, but mainly we´ve gone north a long, long way. We´ve spent about 70 hours in the last 7 days on buses, and more time in bus stations waiting, and in taxis to and from stations. None of the buses actually arrived on time (after all, this is South America), but the journeys were relatively incident-free, apart from a blown inside tyre in the desert south of Lima, a certain amount of homocidal driving, a lot of minor landslips since we entered Ecuador, and me discovering a cockroach party down the back of my seat when I foolishly went fishing for the seatbelt
Amiria in St Basil´s Cathedral, Loja
. Oh, and I failed to follow my own advice about looking away when you see a dog eating something, and saw a stray eating another dog on the outskirts of La Paz. Definitely time for a breather, anyway. We´ve got about 160 hours more to spend on buses before we get back to Buenos Aires for the flight home, and that´s if they all run on time.Peru went by in a flash, and suddenly we are in Ecuador, where US dollars are the currency (they still mint their own coins, which also say ´United States of America´, but are made of thinly coated copper). It´s just a little bigger than NZ and has 12 million people. From what little we´ve seen, the pace of life is a little more laid back, there are fewer beggars, more privately owned cars, slightly bigger houses and generally tidier streets and buildings, although we are still looking for decent coffee.
Vilcabamba is at 1500m, and because of the latitude that gives it a
balmy, 20ºC climate most of the year. It´s set in a lush, beautiful
valley, and is the kind of place where nothing much happens and there´s
plenty of time for good food and exploring the surrounding area, which
will be nice.
