Day 23 to 29 – making progress

After my more or less stable destinations, I’m finally on the move. Unfortunately this isn’t necessary a good thing… The first part of the journey brought me from Quito to Cuenca, a nice old town in the south. I boarded the 10h long ride at 9:00 in Quito which meant I should be in Cuenca at 19:00 if everything follows the plan.

As it turned out, it didn’t. After about 1.5h, our bus was stopped by the military and I experienced firsthand what an Ecuadorian security controlled looked like – we had to leave the bus with our carry on luggage. The instruction should have been easy, but as I still have troubles understanding people talking in their normal speed, I just joined all the others in their choreography of security.

After a few minutes everybody was declared secure and we could continue. I found out that bus rides like that are the perfect possibility to memories your ipod playlist and to perfect your napping position. After about 6h it was time for me to give back some of natures fluids and so I left the bus at the next stop. After the nice feeling one who just got rid of 1.5l of processed water and cola has, I noticed a gaping hole in my backpack. I quickly checked the content of my pack and saw that one important thing was gone – my brand new camera!

Already knowing that nothing I’m going to do right now would change a thing, I explained the bus driver in my best Spanish what just happened. He then stopped a patrolling officer who looked kind of disinterested while I repeated the whole story. He then checked the bus and doodled my name on a piece of paper. That whole thing took about 1h and the other passengers started to get pissed (which I could totally understand – everybody knew that the police wouldn't make any difference in this situation). They then refused the only important thing, and told me I need to go to a police station in Cuenca to get a report – whatever…

My first day in Cuenca started with the search for a police station to get the report for the robbery. This turned out as a difficult task, but not for the reasons I thought of. The first officer told me he isn’t responsible and nobody in this station can help me. So he gave me the direction (his finger on a map) to another station where I can get my report. Naively I tried to follow his vague explanations and ended up somewhere in the dodgy outskirts of the city – luckily I hadn’t a lot of valuables left ;)

Fortunately a nice security guard helped me and so I found the police station. Surprise, it wasn’t the right one! Kind of pissed, I stopped the next taxi and told the driver to bring me to the police station at the airport, which handles those kinds of things. Finally there, I didn’t even bother to leave the taxi – I opened the window and friendly but distinctly asked the nearby officer if I could be helped here. He then had a longer discussion with my taxi driver (I zoned out) and he then knew where to go. Fulfilled with optimism, I paid the taxi and went into the station…

And yes, I finally found someone who wrote me the report - nothing special, all went smoothly after my 4h journey (that’s not at all what I expected)

After I called my insurance and the police station scavancher hunt, it was already 2pm and i wasn’t in the mood to explore the city. So I sat down in the hostel, ordered some food and made some new friends. By 9pm I had my first jar of candelazo on the table and the 2 shot of red label was on its way – proper ending for the day I guess.

Completely rested I was ready to explore the city the next day. And because all the interesting people I met the night before, I finally knew where to go :)

Next stop Vilcabamba. Known for nice hikes and complete loneliness, this far southern village was the perfect place to refuel over the next 2 days. On the bus to Vilcabamba I met Stephan, a Swedish guy, who was also travelling alone. In the hostel we had dinner and planed the hike we were about to conquer.

After a great breakfast in the German owned hostel, we set off to explore the mountains. Not a lot to tell actually – just check out the pictures (taken with my 5 year old point and shot -.-)

We had a great time and were about to gain more friends, the Dutch barkeeper Martijn, Frans and Erin ;)

After all this relaxation, I was keen to go on to Peru. So I left Vilcabamba Saturday afternoon with the idea to score a night bus to Piura (which is supposed to be impossible without a ticket reservation).

What can I say; They all have been right ;) I had to spent the night in Loja and take the bus at 7am.

The next day was about travelling south – i wanted to get to Trujillo, or more precisely to Huanchaco

But after the arrival in Piura, which actually looked like a South East Asian country I forgot about that rather quickly. Not because the place is so amazing though, just because all the confusion made a fast connection impossible. After a 9h bus ride we arrived in a with taxis, tok toks (don’t know how to call them in this part of the world) and street vendors filled city. Actually it is more a bee hive than a city. The bus dropped us of at an office, that was the moment I realized, that there is no main bus terminal and I have to find my way to Trujillo on my one. Wandering around and playing Jehovah witness (I really admire them for their patience to knock at every single door), I checked out every single bus company listed in my travel guide. Just 3 of them had buses to Trujillo and none of them had free seats for the afternoon or the night. So that’s another speed bump on my way to Caro, Eva and Lukas. While searching for a cheap place to stay, I swore myself to buy tickets for long distance buses one day in advance from now on!

Next time you hear from me, I hope I’m on a nice beach, or have even already been there – depending on speed and motivation to blog ;)

alex