A Coup in Quito?
After our little rest stop in Vilcabamba, we headed on to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to take in the sites of the country's most famous, if not most populous, city. Indeed, there are many things to see here, where massive whitewashed colonial mansions and elaborate baroque churches (among the most beautiful we have seen) earned the city the first spot on the World Heritage List when UNESCO started keeping it in 1978. For us, however, what will be most memorable about Quito was not the city, but the tumultuous events that took place there during our stay.
Hiking around Vilcabamba
Since resting sometimes seems to be an unsurmountable challenge to us, we broke down and left our little resort for a day hike up a nearby hill. We climbed up to a set of crosses overlooking the town and the green valleys around it, then followed a (very) thin ridge line through dry, barren landscapes, before plunging back down into the lusher valley, coming across some pretty amazing plants and insects on the way. Spectacular as it was, the walk was a little more tiring than what we expected, and it served as a useful reminder that we really need to be heading towards the beach!
Takin’ It Easy in Vilcabamba
Having put our lives on the line to get to Ecuador, we thought we might as well make the trip worthwhile and checked in in a beautiful “backpacker's resort” just outside the town of Vilcabamba. Located in the hills surrounding the so-called "Valley of Longevity", it sounded like the ideal place to recover and rest our weary bones. Nice hotel rooms in little cabins share the grounds with a restaurant catering to European tastes, a bar with pool and ping pong tables, a blue swimming pool, a massage and beauty parlor, and an enormous garden busting with extravagant exotic flowers and affording amazing views of the peaceful surroundings.
From Peru to Ecuador
Legal notice: our mothers should not read this one.
We left the town of Chachapoyas to head north to our next destination on our trip, Ecuador. We did not want to take the night buses all the way back to the coast, and opted instead for the mountain route directly to Vilcabamba over the remote river crossing at Las Balsas. The trip started innocuously enough, with an overnight stop in the Peruvian town of San Ignacio and a couple of rides in over-packed collectivo taxis (did you know that the Toyota Corolla is an 8 passenger vehicle?). Things even went really well at the border crossing; it was one of the few that we have had without any issues. We made our way to Zumba in a truck with remarkably uncomfortable wooden benches in the bed and got there just in time to catch the a bus to our first stop in Ecuador, Vilcabamba.