#travelpost - Cuenca, Ecuador

On Wednesday we made it to our final place in Ecuador to the UNESCO city of Cuenca. We arrived late afternoon, a couple of hours before sunset at Bauhouse hostel in the centre of the city. We were deeeesperate for laundry so we wasted no time in sending an entire backpacks worth of clothes over to a place with the fitting name Gringo's Laundry. We picked up an empanada from a Chilean bar on the way back into town and ate it on the main square whilst we people watched and figured out what there was to do over the next two days. For the rest of that night we got some stuff from the supermarket and had pasta back at the hostel but not before we caught some others watching Mad Max in the TV room so took advantage of having an actual sofa and tv and joined them.

We did a lot of eating in Cuenca but more importantly I had my favourite meal of the whole trip so far. Our first morning walking around town we went to a market selling flowers, fruit, veg, meat, fish... All sorts... But on the bottom floor looking up at the third floor, I spotted it. A huge sign that said hornado. Hornado is a dish of roasted pig with plenty of crackling served with mote (a kind of corn), a soft potato and a pickled salad. It wasn't even twelve yet but the place was heaving with people eating it and in our minds we'd convinced ourselves that if we were to go back later it would all be gone. All of the nine pigs worth that was dotted around the room. So we pulled up a seat and ordered a plate each. 

Like I said, we ate a lot of food in Cuenca and it was a lot of great food. We had arepas from a Colombian place with ribs and belly pork, chicken and nachos from a cool brewery whilst watching Ecuador play Argentina (2-0!!), hot chocolate which actually came as melted chocolate, whipped cream and hot milk to add yourself and.... Guinea pig. It's huge in Ecuador and Peru and one of the most traditional of dishes so we had to try... Harry made me. We went to a place famous for it Guajibamba, recommended by my Aussie gal pal Tanya who stayed in Cuenca earlier this year. It took an hour to prepare and we got to see it cooking on the spit in the back and... It really wasn't too bad, in fact it was actually kind of nice! It tasted like a mini roast pig with lots of crackling. Sorry to any of my vegetarian/Guinea pig owning friends. 

Overall I think Cuenca was one of my favourite cities that we've been to so far. It was a good size, had some really good places to eat, the people were really nice and the city was beautiful! It was nice to see actual night life too, we were there over the weekend so there was more than usual but so far in Ecuador we found it really hard to enjoy a drink at night because everywhere is so quiet but this time around there was plenty of people around town late and the bars had a more studenty feel! 

We're currently on the bus to Peru as I'm writing this, fresh from immigration, and today we're travelling to a beach town called Mancora for a few nights. 

Thanks for reading,

Ciao x

#travelpost - Ruta del Sol, Ecuador

Making our way to the coast of Ecuador wasn't difficult but took a couple of bus journeys from Baños to Guayaquil to Puerto Lopez but it turned out to be worth it as we got a short stop off in Guayaquil. We'd been told my numerous people to avoid Guayaquil but that was mostly due to them staying around the bus station and like most cities we all know bus stations aren't  usually placed in the most welcoming of areas. So we went with our instinct and spent a lazy afternoon there. The waterfront is the main area to go to if you're short on time. It's filled with museums, bars and restaurants and if you go a little further you come to the neighbourhood Las Peñas... A hill of winding streets and colourful houses, famous for its array of art galleries. We had a stroll and Harry made it to the lighthouse while I watched some kids play hide and seek and may have been giving the younger, breathless, red faced one a bit of extra help... We happened to stay in one of the nicer hostels we've been in for a while too which was an extra bonus. That night thanks to a treat off my mum and dad we headed to a place on the front that we'd read about, they offered all you can eat crab plus a beer, crab soup and crab rice... I don't think we can look at another crab for a while. 

After a great sleep and recovering from our food coma we got the bus to Puerto Lopez, our first stop on the coast. 

Puerto Lopez isn't big but the bus terminal is a little out of the centre so we grabbed a tuk tuk like car to our hotel. Not even a hostel! We were here for two nights so there was no rush on doing anything for our first afternoon. For a late lunch we found a Colombian place serving our favourite patacon... Flattened plantain topped with cheese and a vegetable salsa, it was the best one we'd had and it wasn't even in Colombia. That night we people watched on the beach and hit up happy hour at the bar next door. 

The next day we had breakfast (there was a choice of three!) and got changed for our whale watching tour. We spent $18 and got a boat ride to see the whales in Machalilla National Park, spotting blue footed boobies (famous in the Galapagos), tortoise watching, snorkelling on the beach in the national park and drinks and snacks before the ride back. It was perfect!! We were lucky to still catch the whales because the season is only July-September but with it being early October the guy said we could still be lucky... And we were! We saw a family mum, dad and baby and it was unreal! The baby was jumping about all over the place and the parents were huuuuge! After the boat trip we remembered that our fave TV guy Anthony Bourdain came to Puerto Lopez and he raved over the ceviche so we had a menu del dia and ordered some.. It was so good! For the rest of the day we had a beer on the beach, went for pizza we'd been craving for days and once again happy houred! All in all we loved Puerto Lopez mostly for the whales but for a dusty, sleepy town we had some great food and saw one of the best experiences we've ever had! 

And my favourite picture.....

On Sunday morning we had breakfast and moved on to a small surf hostel, Viejamar, that we'd booked for the night 15 minutes away down the coast. When we got there Buena Vista Social Club were suitably playing and we had the warmest welcome from the Chilean owner Rodrigo and the bunch of volunteers that were currently staying there. Everyone was super nice and from all over the place... Australia, Finland, Spain, France. Within the first 5 minutes we'd seen two huge, bright green iguanas in the trees, Rodrigo wasn't happy though, he said they eat all of his plants... The hostel was one huge garden on the beach, filled with mango trees, banana trees, herbs, avocado trees, even a tree that had a sign for jasmin on it and tonnes of bright pink flowers. All we saw Rodrigo do that day was potter around in his garden! There was a lounge, a pool and some hammocks up on the beach. We literally did nothing for 24 hours except play in the pool, lie on the beach and eat at Jimmys restaurant.... Some delish shrimp rice and shrimp in peanut sauce which was really good!! I think the hostel was one of the busiest we'd stayed in for ages yet I'm pretty sure we were the only customers! Haha   

Ok, so our final stop down the coast was a party, surf town called Montañita. we didn't know what to expect from the place... Every time we mentioned to someone that's where we were heading they'd give us a small giggle and smirk and tell us to enjoy it. We got there and it really wasn't as bad as what we thought but we stayed on a Monday and Tuesday night so I think it was a little more tame than a weekend. It was about 4 or 5 streets worth of stalls selling Montañita merch, tonnes of bars and restaurants and its own Calle de Los Cockteles... An endless street filled with cocktail stalls, each as cheap as the other. We stayed at a really nice hostel on the beach and spent the two days we had there laying on the sand and on Monday night we had drinks in town and perched ourselves at one of the cocktail shacks. All in all for 48 hours Montañita wasn't that bad and we actually had two of the best meals we've had so far in Ecuador there... One place gave us Chupe de Pescado a creamy fish soup with battered fish in it and a Peruvian place gave us green curried fish which soooo good! 

So that's the coast of Ecuador finished... Today we are going to our final place Cuenca and in 3 days we cross the border to Peru... And surprise, our first stop there will be Mancora, another surfing town on North coast.

#travelpost - Quilotoa and Baños

Getting to Quilotoa took a fair bit of travelling but we arrived just after sunset on Sunday. We stayed at Alpaca hostel which was a big old cosy house with a huge lobby filled with log burners and armchairs. It was like going back in time for the night... The family that run the place were wearing their traditional hats and outfits and there were even two big iron kettles on top of the biggest burners for our coffee and tea. We dropped our bags off in our room and it was freezing! The beds came with 2 blankets and a huge feather duvet and we had our own much needed log burner too. We hurried out for food because someone at the hostel reminded us about the super moon.... I've never seen anything like it. They said it would be best at half nine but  we sneaked out a little earlier. The sky was unreal, it looked fake! I've never seen so many stars in my life and you could even see the dusty shape of the nebula. By half nine the moon was big and had a reddish glow and it was frrreeeezing I'm talking two pairs of socks, two pairs of leggings and walking boots cold so we had one last admire and to bed we went. A few card games later we were tucked up with the fire burning.

The next morning we had breakfast at the huge communal dining table in the lobby... Eggs, pastries, oats, fruit, jam and coffee. After brekkie we got changed and headed to the famous crater lake of Quilotoa, it was an easy 3 minute walk from the hostel as we were greeted good morning by the locals. It was sunny but so so windy! The lake was one of the best things I've ever seen... A huge bowl filled with turquoise water.. The sides were so steep and high. We walked around it for a good 40 minutes, had a sit down and planned a bit of our route through Ecuador and strolled back. It was a strange, cold night in a very, very quiet town but it was so worth it to see the lake. 

At midday the next day we caught the bus back to Latacunga, a town with not much to see or do but it was a useful stop over for our next place and our hostel had a view of Cotopaxi volcano. Active and smoking. We did want to go to Cotopaxi National Park but because of the recent activity it's shut to visitors for safety and the only hostel available cost an arm an a leg so we saw it from afar for a quarter of the price. That night we shared pizza with some other guys staying over and picked up a new card game with the classy name Shithead... It's a lot better than it sounds I promise.

After a stopover night in Latacunga it was time to head to Baños, famous for its volcano heated natural baths and enough activities to last days. 

We stayed in Great Hostel yep that was the actual name and it was actually pretty decent. Both nights we got free dinner and both mornings we got free breakfast. All we need now is free beer. We only had one afternoon and a full day in Baños so for the first afternoon we headed straight to the baths. In the centre of town, next to a waterfall, was the Piscinas de la Virgin... A set of pools  hot, medium and cold... Rumour has it that the water is so full of natural minerals and other things that it has healing properties. After the baths and a bit of a boozy night at the hostel bar we woke up and went on the hunt for bikes to rent. We got some for $5 each for the day and started our ride... We were heading for Pailon del Diablo, a huge waterfall some kilometres away from the town. The views were great and the ride wasn't too bad, a lot of downhill helped me out. After an hour and a half of riding, we made it to the waterfall but not without a walk down the hill to get close enough. Harry was brave enough to crawl through the extra stairway that led behind the waterfall but as usual I waited in a more safer spot and admired the view. As promised before I'd agreed to do the bike ride, we avoided the uphill ride back and jumped in the back of a truck with a few other riders and off we went back to town. We got home around 3ish and with the football being on I made the most of being able to have an afternoon shower and siesta and a quiet night of writing this and repacking my messy backpack. 

So, our plan is... Tomorrow (Thursday) morning we travel to Guayaquil for the night and from there we have 6 days on the coast in a few fishing villages and surfer towns. With my current tan you'd think I hadn't been on a beach for months!