A little here, a little there ... then back ...

Danny had a hankering to return to Vilcabamba. He found a really cool B&B/hostal on the side of the mountain just outside of town - just far enough that walking into town was not always an option. Again, as a followup to Danny's blog ...

This B&B/hostal, Montesueños, was the brain child of one of the US's first astronauts from the late 60's - the Mars' program. Never heard of it? I hadn't either but that is what his bio states. I even googled it: this is but one of the entries that turned up:  http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Road_to_Mars.html His name? Dr. Brian O'Leary. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O'Learyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O'Leary A very eclectic place, one that requests quiet and relaxation of it's guest. The B&B itself is reminiscent of Gaudi's various works in Barcelona.

His life-long partner, wife, is an artist of different mediums and has utilized what is found in nature as well as scavenging to decorate. In the photo upper left, the open door on the main floor is the door to our room. 

From the overlooking patio, we had a perfect view of Mondango, the sleeping Inca.

We were far enough up the mountainside that we had an awesome 270' view of the valley spreading out before us. Behind us was the mountain.

 

We limited ourselves to four more days here as we probably would have continued to stay and spend the rest of our time in one place.

Packing our bags, looking fondly backward, our taxi took us down for the last time. We caught a bus for our next adventure. 

As we rode the bus north towards Cuenca, our stopping point for the night, we passed through one of the more traditional towns. It was a place worth visiting but without hotels near the bus stop we felt that we would not take the chance of having to ride standing up all the way to Cuenca once we got off the bus. The bus was full and people were standing, a very usual occurrence. 

 the old and the new - these are school students "hanging around" after school.

 The men wear "highwater" pants and the women  long skirts, both wear the felted hats. The sandals are interesting as well, as they are of the same making as centuries past, only with newer fibers. The clothes are mostly black, with legend saying it is because they are in mourning from the Conquistidors' arrival and the loss of their identity and culture. Modern anthropologists poo-poo this however.

And so we arrived back in Cuenca, 

our stopping point for the night and with a last minute decision to stop for a couple more days. We wanted to see a museum that we missed while here before.

Another tour bus ride: 

 we are becoming quite the "selfless" with our new smartphones

hidden treasures yet to be seen:


And more roasted pig:

A car trip to Cajas National Park for Danny. He tried to go by bus but couldn't find one that went at the time that he wanted. As he wanted a day trip, not an overnight trip, he needed to be able to get back and therein was the problem. The PanAmerican highway goes right through Cajas and larger trucks and vehicles travel mainly at night through it. It appears that buses are somewhat limited as well, at least the ones that woulds top and pick someone up in the park. So taxi it was ... 

 a wild beautiful place renown for it's hiking

We made it to the museum


and then on to the hat museum and shop. Here we found our hats to take home with us. In fact, they mailed them home for us.

 sewing Danny's hat band on to his new hat

Finally came the time to once again hit the road. One of the things that we had wanted to see was the large archeological park just NNW of Cuenca. Reservations were made and off we went ...

Danny and Vilcabamba 2 ...

A few days ago I took a local bus from Vilcabamba to Quinara. This was way off the tourist trail. In fact, most of the road was gravel. Before I got on I asked the conductor if I could get back to Vilcabamba the same day. He said sure. The ride was beautiful. We passes through a narrow valley that had tall mountains on each side. Along the way, we passed Escuela Cuerpo de Paz or Peace Corps School. When I got off in Quinara, the conductor said that the bus would return at 4:00pm, which was two and one half hours later. I wandered through the town and met the English teacher for the school. We practiced English and he showed me around the school. Later I stopped at a small store to get a bottle of water and kill some time. I met the owner's 14-year-old son and he showed me his schoolbooks. He asked me to read from his English book. I did. He was amazed that I could read English out loud. He told me that he had five one-hour English classes per week and had been studying English since he started school. He didn't like studying English. Unlike his etcher, he did not practice with me. As small as the town was, it didn't have any kind of restaurant, it was the center for even smaller towns further up the mountains. While I was there a bus left to go further in on a narrow gravel road. As I was leaving a group of five donkeys passed with their packsaddles followed by their owner. They spoke Spanish with an unusual accent. Many words had guttural, almost Dutch-like sounds. Some words, although they were Spanish, sounded almost indigenous. What a great place for a Peace Corps volunteer. If I had stayed much longer I might have volunteered to help teach English. I am sure that they would have welcomed me and found me a place to stay ; it really would have been fun ...but...

... unfortunately there will be none of his fabulous photos as his camera has become the property of someone new. So now he will use only his cell phone ... (Shirley)

Danny and Vilcabamba 1...

October 29:

We are staying in Vilcabamba, which is in southern Ecuador near the Peruvian border. We are staying in a lovely hotel with a view of Mandango Mountain. 
Our guidebook said that a trail went to the top, but recommended getting a guide and not to hike alone, to deter potential robbers. The owner of the hotel said that one of his nephews would probably guide me. Sure enough Remy who is sixteen years old agreed to lead me.  We got a taxi to take us close to the trailhead. The trailhead was an unmarked gate, which I would have never recognized as a trailhead. Without Remy my hike would have ended there. My guidebook said most people turned around at this point, but we decided to continue along the narrow edge of the mountain until we got to the top.  

The view as all views from tops of mountains was awesome.  

October 31:
Yesterday I went on a combination horseback ride on Medianoche and a hike to two waterfalls in Podocarpus National Park, which was developed with help from Peace Corps, according to Moon Handbook Ecuador. The cool guy with the machete is my guide Jaime. We traveled to way above Vilcabamba. Off in the distance you can see Cerro Mandango, the mountain I walked up a few days ago and Vilcabamba. After nearing the top of the mountains. We left the horses and hiked to two waterfalls.  We had an awesome lunch of whole grain bread, homemade cheese, guacamole, mangoes and tea made from leaves from thirty different plants. Unlike any guided horse trip that I have done in the past, these horses could and did run. We flew through the streets of Vilcabamba both coming and going. To add to the mystery of the place, we rode on an old Inca trail that was as deep at times as Medianoche was tall.