Cuenca y Vilcabamba

The past 4 days have been a whirlwind of buses and adventures!  /Brace yourself for a long post--

Anneke and I began with a 10 hour bus ride south from Quito to Cuenca.  We spent a day just exploring and seeing all Cuenca had to offer--some really cool Inca ruins, impressive churches, and a big-city/small-town feel (it makes sense if you've experienced it).  On the main square we found some real ice cream which we ate several times a day!  The first time we were eating in the park and we noticed that all the little kids were staring at us.  I still have no idea why, but we thought maybe we could make it into a show--blond gringas eating ice cream in the park.  Ok it doesn't sound like much, but it'd be a HUGE hit with the kiddos in Cuenca!  One of the kids befriended us.  Her name was Brenda and she was trying to sell us some garbage bags.  When we proposed the idea of buying her an ice cream instead, she didn't complain!  From then on, we were ice cream buds and got to hang out with her several times before we left!

Cuenca

The ruins!

Chasing a llama...I'm so good with animals.

We stayed in an awesome hostel called El Cafecito where we were put in a dorm room off of the cafe.  It had great music playing (almost) all the time, a garden area out back with hammocks, and plenty of coffee!

Also, we ate Cuy (guinea pig)--an Ecua specialty!!!

We ate the WHOLE thing!!!

Our second day there, we met up with Alex and Ben and went to Cajas National Park.  We spent about 4 hours hiking around and seeing some really incredible views.  Cajas is known for its more than 200 lagunas, and the purpose of the park is conservation, not tourism, which made for a really different experience--it was a little like trekking through the wild!  Also in Cajas are pockets of forest filled with paper trees--which personally I think are where JR Tolkien got the idea for LOTR cause those things were creeeeeeepy (and also super cool)!!

Check out our awesome rain boots. You jealous.

Yo soy Frodo.

 The next day we ditched Ben and Alex (just kidding...kinda) and headed to Vilcabamba via Loja.  In Loja we made another mini-friend named Pierce.  He was four years old and found us waiting for a taxi to Vilcabamba.  His dad seemed so tired--this kid was SUPER high energy.  Pierce walked right up to us and said, "Hey kids, can you help me dig for worm eggs?"  So of course, I had (ok, wanted) to dig for worm eggs (in a parking lot of rock and asphalt), and now I've got a best friend fo lyfe!

Anyway, the first night there, we went looking for our hostel in the Rumi Wilco Reserve on the mountain.  We got real confused, but about an hour later, starving and sick of carrying all our stuff, we found it!  On the way we discovered a cool looking restaurant, so we retraced our steps as soon as we got settled in our room.  The food was good, but the ambiance was even better---let's just say the owner/waiter wore a cowboy hat and had a handlebar mustache.  I know.  I found a cowboy in the Dor. What up?

Sunday we got up and walked around the reserve a little, found a great breakfast place with homemade granola, and then headed to our real hostel (we were only at the reserve because there wasn't room for us at our actual hostel the first night).  We spent the day hammocking and reading and just relaxing.  The greatest part of our hostel was that it was nestled up in the mountains, secluded from everything else, with incredible views of the Vilcabamba mountains.  You just have to see these mountains before you die. I love the Apps, but these were the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen!!

View from the dining room of the hostel.

Monday we just had to explore the mountains a bit, so we went for a hike.  We made it to the top of the mountain and had the most spectacular views on the way up.  At the top, we had a little picnic and just took in the splendor of it all.  Got to be in my top 5 favorite moments in the Dor!

About half way up the mountain.

Logramos!!  On the other side of the really green mountain in the
 bottom left corner is where the  other picture was taken.

Eventually, it was time for dinner and a bus home.  We found great Mexican food and then headed back to Loja where we began our 15 hr ride home (it only took 11!!!).  The bus was like an airplane...only better! We got refreshments, the seats reclined, we had leg rests....For the first time I didn't feel like a giant trying to twist into the smallest possible position to sleep!!! We got back at 6 this morning, tired, and ready to start another week.  Vivo la vida!