'Stoy en Loja, de nuevo

Buenas tardes novia, amigos varios y famila mios ...

I'm in Loja. It's actually the second time I've been in Loja this trip, but I am only here on transfer to Vilcabamba, which I'm promised will be Gringolandia. I feel a little out of touch with other tourists, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm heading down to the Valley of Longevity anyway to recharge my batteries, which feel a little worn down today.

Last Saturday, the day after I blogged last, I spent almost a whole day travelling from Machala to Puyango where there's supposedly the world's largest petrified wood. There was indeed a lot of petrified wood lying around, but also on my 10km walk from the main road to the village there were more butterflies and things scampering in the foliage than I could name, count or even photograph. Lovely place.

Whilst I was there I met a few other English-speakers, no less than three English teachers from Loja who were kind enough to take me under their wing and chat with until what seemed like very late at night. It actually wasn't, but when I'm getting up at 7am everyday even 11:30pm feels ludicrously late, especially in Ecuador where the sun sets at about 6pm - so by 8 or 9 it's pitch-black outside. No street lights in Puyango, either. Oh no. Spent that night in a cabin at Puyango which was ... interesting. It did have running water and electricity, but not necessarily as we know it. 'Nuff said.

The next day I left quite late with the three teachers from Loja in the back of a pick-up truck to the tiny town in the clouds of Alamor. Beautiful - and somewhat interesting - place, but I didn't get to see any of it as I was being taken by bus to Loja that afternoon, which was a shame as it's obviously way off the beaten track. The busride to Loja was quite horrendous, with some rather rude Ecuadorians lying their seats almost completely flat in front of me. I felt a little stiff after 6 hours of the same cramped conditions, but fortunately once I'd arrived in Loja it wasn't too difficult to locate accomodation for the night in the form of the rather attractive Hostel Londres, which is actually about a block away from where I am now.

Monday saw me looking around Loja for quite a long time. It's a lovely city, rather reminiscent of Cuenca in some of its architecture but quieter and with more focus. Not really very easy to explain, but it's a rather delightful place. Unfortunately by lunchtime I was so stiff from the day before that I could barely walk, and I decided to call it a day and sit in the hostel reading. Rather dull, I know, but they hadn't even opened the museum for the afternoon.

The next day I left Loja for another city in the clouds, Zaruma, which is a long way off the tourist track but inexplicably so, except that it's devilishly challenging to get there from Loja. It's an old gold mining town and apparently mining carries on there even today, but I saw no trace of that. Instead I stayed at a lovely hotel with an amazing view over the valley below, as well as a swimming pool and other general mod-cons. Too nice for the likes of me, really, but I needed a bit of a rest after the journey.

I probably stayed too long in Zaruma but it's a nice town, if a little high up in the mountains. Very steep roads leading through wonderful narrow streets retaining their original colonial architectural charms. Weird but quite nice museums. A beautiful church. If I'm going on it's because it actually is a very nice place, and I really want to tell everyone to go there!

Then this morning ... aye aye aye. Had to get up before 6am to get the bus to Loja which was not much fun, but at least the bus was basically empty and I could sleep for a while. Yay.

So here I am in Loja, sitting in an internet café having some contact with the northern hemisphere. Today I'm off to Vilcabamba, will probably spend tomorrow resting a little bit ... then maybe so short day hikes etc. And meeting other tourists! Hurray.

Can't get my photos on this time, but I did try and make the last batch public. Hope that worked.

Ya estoy en Machala ...

Hola novia, familia y amigos mios ...

I'm in Machala tonight. I like this town. It's pretty crazy; it feels all poor and everything until you see the main square surrounded by stuff and you kinda remember that actually, it's probably not too bad to live here ...

Machala describes itself as the world banana capital. I can see the association. On my way here I saw pretty much nothing but banana plantations, which was awesome but kinda weird. There don't seem to be that many bananas for sale here, but I guess I'm not looking in the wholesale markets where apparently there are prodigal amounts of bananas on offer. Thanks, Rough Guide.

What did I do today? Well, I caught a two and a half hour bus from Machala to the Reserva Ecológica Manglares de Churute. It's a mangrove reserve, for those I've not told about it, although I didn't succeed in seeing any mangrove trees today as I couldn't arrange a boat trip in advance as finding the Ministry for the Environment in Guayaquil proved a little difficult. Actually, it proved impossible. Anyway, I digress - instead, I took a walk through a dry forest. I don't want to ruin the photos which I'm sure you'll check out when I can upload them, but I saw lots of cool stuff. And nearly got lost! And nearly drowned, but only in sweat. It was HOT today.

Anyway, afterwards I had to get the coach back. Needless to say, the people sitting next to me were none too pleased about the smell, but it couldn't be helped. Next time I'll have to douse myself more in insect repellent.

Yesterday I spent most of the day travelling from Guayaquil to Machala (a route, incidentally, I basically made twice today) but I did get around to seeing the famous Guayaquileño districts of Las Peñas and Cerro Santa Ana. The latter is set about (and above) 444 steps at the northern end of Guayaquil's downtown. It's very, very pretty architecturally, but the downside to both districts is the heavy presence of armed guards, which kinda detracts from the place and makes it so no Ecuadorianos can set up street stalls ... which they would do otherwise, and which makes the place feel more like Ecuador.

Actually, from my promenades up and down el Malecón 2000 on Wednesday and Thursday, I've come to the conclusion that Guayaquil is really very like a European city, just a little bit more dirty in parts, and perhaps a bit more enterprising. And yes, maybe a little more dangerous, but it's nothing as can't be sorted by keeping your wits about you. In particular, the Malecón put me in mind of Geneva, but the rest of downtown Guayaquil reminded me more of either Wien or maybe the bits of Zürich that I ventured through.

Yeah, Ecuador is nice. It's pretty nice to be here. I've seen some pretty cool stuff so far. Tomorrow, with a bit of luck, I should be going to a petrified forest a little further down south, near the Peruvian border. In the event of my failing to locate the bus station, or their refusal to drop me off at Puyango, I'm off to Zaruma which is almost in the Andean Sierra. I think.

Anyway, that's it. Hope it didn't make you feel TOO jealous. It would me.