Baños - Riobamba - Cuenca - Loja

On Thursday I reluctantly left Baños, & started a fairly intensive period of travel, pretty much doing a city a day. I really enjoyed my time in Baños, it was my kind of place, very relaxed & chilled, even if it was where I first came across roasted guinea pig! From Baños it was a couple of hours on a bus to Riobamba.

Riobamba didn't really grab me, it was basically just a busy, fairly anonymous city. My only reason for going there was to ride the famous Nariz del Diablo (Devil's nose) train. The train was meant to leave at 7am on Friday, but unfortunately it was on strike. Apparently you aren't allowed to ride on the roof any more after a Japanese tourist was killed a couple of months ago, so it wouldn't quite have been the same anyway... There was rumour that a private train where you could ride the roof was going to be leaving at 6:30am instead, so I was at the train station at 6 in case, but it didn't eventuate. Because I was already up & about I decided to carry straight onto the bus station & caught a 7:30am bus to Cuenca.

Cuenca was nice, it is Ecuador's 3rd largest city, but it really didn't seem like it. It was very quiet when I was there, with a sleepy sort of feel to it. It was full of narrow cobbled streets, nice plazas & colonial buildings. Because I arrived much earlier than expected (early afternoon, as opposed to late evening if I'd taken the train) I spent the afternoon having a really good wander around. I went for a nice long walk along the banks of the Río Tomebamba river, before retiring for an early night.

My hostel was the very best thing about Cuenca. I was staying at Hostal Macondo & it was by far the best place I've stayed at yet. It was also the most expensive, but by that I'm talking 10USD, so about 5 pounds! It was a beautifully converted old house with lovely indoor & outdoor courtyards & hammocks to chill out in. I was even able to exchange my finished book (John Irving's "Fourth Hand", very very good) for a trashy Danielle Steele that should keep me occupied for a few days. I cooked a standard dinner of pasta, tuna & sauce in the well-stocked kitchen, then was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow...

Today was also an early start. After a fantastic breakfast in the hostel I was on the 7:45 bus for the 5 hour trip to Loja. Arriving at midday I got talking to a nice Canadian girl who was the only other gringo on my bus. We were both heading for Peru, & at the bus station we noticed that there was an 11pm overnight bus heading for Piura in Peru. On a whim we decided to take it. I hadn't sorted any accommodation in advance in Loja, & we were able to leave our big packs with the bus company for the day. That gave us 11 hours to kill in Loja! We've been having a lovely leisurely day... Loja is a nice enough place to while away a bit of time... We found a really nice cafe for lunch, have pounded the streets & markets relentlessly, & are currently killing a couple of hours in an internet cafe!After this we'll have about 3 hours still to go, so will find another restaurant for dinner, then will probably head back to the bus station. The bus is supposed to take about 8 or 9 hours, & we'll cross the border some time in the middle of the night! It's quite nice that the Canadian girl is majoring in Spanish at University, considering my grasp of the language is still almost non-existent. I did however manage to check into my hotel in Riobamba in Spanish, I didn't have a choice really, the receptionist didn't speak a single word of English!

Tomorrow night I'll spend in Piura, then Monday evening I'll catch another overnight bus to Lima. That one is 12-13 hours, so could be a killer, but there are several companies that run luxury camo-buses which have seats that fold out to almost flat beds, & serve meals airline-style. The one I'll try to get on leaves 6pm on Monday. I was trying to book a first-class seat online but it wasn't accepting my card. There were only a few first-class seats left so I don't rate my chances... They are only about 20 pounds, I love the fact I can afford to travel first-class in South America! I'll have 1 night by myself in the hostel in Lima on Tuesday, then Will arrives on Wednesday night. I'm starting to get very excited about seeing my lovely man!!!