as of yesterday, i have officially been in ecuador for three whole months. in some ways, it seems like three months and in other regards it feels like i just got here. my friends and i have definitely noticed how the time is whizzing by and we know the next few and final weeks will go by even faster. soooo we have and will continue to follow a strict schedule to make sure we get to see and do everything before our time in ecuador is up. so get ready for some crazy, fun-filled weeks!!!
last weekend, a small group of friends and i went to cuenca. cuenca is an adorable town known for its rich history and art and culture. its actually the third largest city in ecuador by population but it doesnt feel like that when you are there. we left thursday night on the over night bus thinking it would take about 10 hours. well, two popped tires and 13 hours later, we finally arrived! we found a cute hostal for $7 a night that had a balcony that overlooked the restaurant-filled streets and the beautiful river. we had an awesome lunch at an italian restaurant then spent the day touring the city. we went in the New Cathedral of Cuenca, Parque Calderon, Museum of Aboriginal Cultures, and saw Incan ruins. we even stumbled upon a mini-bird zoo that had the most parrots and parakeets and eagles that i have ever seen in my life! after hardly getting any sleep on the over night bus and spending the entire day walking, we took a well-deserved afternoon nap. we finally woke up just in time to get some delicious mexican food and celebrate my friend molly's birthday!
the next day we got up early and caught a 2 hour bus to the incan ruins, called Ingapirca. oh before i tell more about the ruins, let me just say that the bus ride was one of the weirdest i have ever taken. first of all, we bought our tickets and were told to catch the bus outside. after asking ever person in the bus terminal which bus we were supposed to take, we realized that everyone was just trying to get us to come on their bus - no matter if they were headed towards the ruins or not. finally, we were told to follow this man, sprint outside the gates of the terminal and down six blocks to catch the bus. oh and if this werent crazy enough, we got on the bus to find out they had given our seats away to other people so we had to stand the entire time. but this was fate! i was standing next to a girl and said something funny and she started laughing. and i said "what?" ...she responded "oh its just i havent heard jokes in english in a while because ive been traveling around here for 6 months." well we got to talking and discovered that she goes to UNC and is a public health major as well!! what are the chances? this world really is uber small. she was really cool and we ended up going to her crepe restaurant for dinner in cuenca later that night! anyway, so back to Ingapirca... they are the largest Incan ruins in all of ecuador and the place has one of the most beautiful views i have ever seen! we spent the day there, shopped at the little markets, grabbed some cheap food at an almuerzo place and then headed back to the city. see the pictures below to see how cool this place was!
on our last day in cuenca, we got a delicious breakfast for $2 and then decided we wanted to see el cajas - a national park with rivers, lakes, and streams that everyone told me i needed to visit while in cuenca. the bus to el cajas was full but we convinced the bus driver to let us stand the entire way. but only under one condition he told us: we had to squat down in the aisles as we exited the terminal and had to duck if we saw a policeman or police car anywhere in sight hahaha... so ecuador! but anyway, el cajas was amazing! it was super cold but the view was absolutely worth it. rolling hills, a beautiful lagoon - i couldnt have imagined anything prettier! after an awesome day, a great dinner in cuenca, some more sightseeing around the city, we caught the night bus back to quito and arrived at about 7am dead tired :(
and what got me through this past week, was the fact that i knew i would be spending the weekend in canoa... and you all know how i love my time at the beach! so thursday night, my friends and i caught the night bus to canoa but once again, it wouldnt be ecuador without the transportation trouble. apparently a few months back, the bus company got in an accident and was supposed to fire all of its employees. so as we are driving through ecuador, we got stopped by the police, had to wait two hours while our bus drivers fought with the police, had to wait for another bus company to come and pick us up, got all of our stuff and got on the other bus. we thought we were settled in for good, but after an hour the bus stopped again and made us get back on the bus we were just on - i guess we had lost the cops by this time so they thought it was okay. how secure i felt riding illegally in on a bus operated by a suspended bus company! we got to canoa early friday morning and headed straight for a hostal recommended by lonely planet. it was a blessing in disguise that the hostal was fully booked because we found another one just down the road that turned out to be amazing. actually two dreadheads yelled down from the balcony of the hostal asking if we wanted to stay there, we checked it out, agreed on $7/night with breakfast included and threw our stuff on our bunkbeds. we quickly realized we were this hostal's first guests... some of the beds still had plastics wrappers on them, the dreadheads had to call the owner and ask if $7/night was okay, and the electricity and light was not quite up and functioning. anyway, we thought it would be a fun hostal to stay at since it was beachfront and right in the mix of things. AND WE WERE RIGHT! i absolutely loved montañita with all of my heart, and i think i loved canoa just as much - if that gives you a sense of how cool of a place it was. the owner of the hostal was an ex-professor from the states who has 5 masters degrees and a PhD and decided to travel ecuador for a year. he stopped in canoa, fell in love, and decided to turn this run down bar into a new bar with a hostal on top called "el caracol". AKA HE IS LIVING MY DREAM LIFE! we spent every day at the beach, ate delicious street foods and batidos or at the surf shak next door, and spent the evenings in the bar in the bottom of our hostal hanging out with the locals. we even got free surf lessons one day! we were super sad to go home on sunday because we had had such a good time and met so many cool people, and it was then that we decided we would return in a few weeks. its only a 6.5 hour bus ride and the hostal is so cheap and fun - my friends and i decided it would be worth it to return. we hope our second trip lives up to our expectations!
i leave for a trip with my school to a biodiversity station in the rainforest this friday! so so so stoked for that trip and all the amazing trips in my future :) SOY UNA CHICA CON SUERTE thats for sure.
paz, amor, y gozo
-shannon
cuenca
girls in cuenca plaza
cuenca at night
ruinas de ingapirca
el cajas
lagoon at el cajas
we are spelling UNC if you cant tell!
river in cuenca
canoa!
beautiful beach
cliffs of canoa
back to us at el cajas
and the ruins once again
one more from canoa!
last weekend, a small group of friends and i went to cuenca. cuenca is an adorable town known for its rich history and art and culture. its actually the third largest city in ecuador by population but it doesnt feel like that when you are there. we left thursday night on the over night bus thinking it would take about 10 hours. well, two popped tires and 13 hours later, we finally arrived! we found a cute hostal for $7 a night that had a balcony that overlooked the restaurant-filled streets and the beautiful river. we had an awesome lunch at an italian restaurant then spent the day touring the city. we went in the New Cathedral of Cuenca, Parque Calderon, Museum of Aboriginal Cultures, and saw Incan ruins. we even stumbled upon a mini-bird zoo that had the most parrots and parakeets and eagles that i have ever seen in my life! after hardly getting any sleep on the over night bus and spending the entire day walking, we took a well-deserved afternoon nap. we finally woke up just in time to get some delicious mexican food and celebrate my friend molly's birthday!
the next day we got up early and caught a 2 hour bus to the incan ruins, called Ingapirca. oh before i tell more about the ruins, let me just say that the bus ride was one of the weirdest i have ever taken. first of all, we bought our tickets and were told to catch the bus outside. after asking ever person in the bus terminal which bus we were supposed to take, we realized that everyone was just trying to get us to come on their bus - no matter if they were headed towards the ruins or not. finally, we were told to follow this man, sprint outside the gates of the terminal and down six blocks to catch the bus. oh and if this werent crazy enough, we got on the bus to find out they had given our seats away to other people so we had to stand the entire time. but this was fate! i was standing next to a girl and said something funny and she started laughing. and i said "what?" ...she responded "oh its just i havent heard jokes in english in a while because ive been traveling around here for 6 months." well we got to talking and discovered that she goes to UNC and is a public health major as well!! what are the chances? this world really is uber small. she was really cool and we ended up going to her crepe restaurant for dinner in cuenca later that night! anyway, so back to Ingapirca... they are the largest Incan ruins in all of ecuador and the place has one of the most beautiful views i have ever seen! we spent the day there, shopped at the little markets, grabbed some cheap food at an almuerzo place and then headed back to the city. see the pictures below to see how cool this place was!
on our last day in cuenca, we got a delicious breakfast for $2 and then decided we wanted to see el cajas - a national park with rivers, lakes, and streams that everyone told me i needed to visit while in cuenca. the bus to el cajas was full but we convinced the bus driver to let us stand the entire way. but only under one condition he told us: we had to squat down in the aisles as we exited the terminal and had to duck if we saw a policeman or police car anywhere in sight hahaha... so ecuador! but anyway, el cajas was amazing! it was super cold but the view was absolutely worth it. rolling hills, a beautiful lagoon - i couldnt have imagined anything prettier! after an awesome day, a great dinner in cuenca, some more sightseeing around the city, we caught the night bus back to quito and arrived at about 7am dead tired :(
and what got me through this past week, was the fact that i knew i would be spending the weekend in canoa... and you all know how i love my time at the beach! so thursday night, my friends and i caught the night bus to canoa but once again, it wouldnt be ecuador without the transportation trouble. apparently a few months back, the bus company got in an accident and was supposed to fire all of its employees. so as we are driving through ecuador, we got stopped by the police, had to wait two hours while our bus drivers fought with the police, had to wait for another bus company to come and pick us up, got all of our stuff and got on the other bus. we thought we were settled in for good, but after an hour the bus stopped again and made us get back on the bus we were just on - i guess we had lost the cops by this time so they thought it was okay. how secure i felt riding illegally in on a bus operated by a suspended bus company! we got to canoa early friday morning and headed straight for a hostal recommended by lonely planet. it was a blessing in disguise that the hostal was fully booked because we found another one just down the road that turned out to be amazing. actually two dreadheads yelled down from the balcony of the hostal asking if we wanted to stay there, we checked it out, agreed on $7/night with breakfast included and threw our stuff on our bunkbeds. we quickly realized we were this hostal's first guests... some of the beds still had plastics wrappers on them, the dreadheads had to call the owner and ask if $7/night was okay, and the electricity and light was not quite up and functioning. anyway, we thought it would be a fun hostal to stay at since it was beachfront and right in the mix of things. AND WE WERE RIGHT! i absolutely loved montañita with all of my heart, and i think i loved canoa just as much - if that gives you a sense of how cool of a place it was. the owner of the hostal was an ex-professor from the states who has 5 masters degrees and a PhD and decided to travel ecuador for a year. he stopped in canoa, fell in love, and decided to turn this run down bar into a new bar with a hostal on top called "el caracol". AKA HE IS LIVING MY DREAM LIFE! we spent every day at the beach, ate delicious street foods and batidos or at the surf shak next door, and spent the evenings in the bar in the bottom of our hostal hanging out with the locals. we even got free surf lessons one day! we were super sad to go home on sunday because we had had such a good time and met so many cool people, and it was then that we decided we would return in a few weeks. its only a 6.5 hour bus ride and the hostal is so cheap and fun - my friends and i decided it would be worth it to return. we hope our second trip lives up to our expectations!
i leave for a trip with my school to a biodiversity station in the rainforest this friday! so so so stoked for that trip and all the amazing trips in my future :) SOY UNA CHICA CON SUERTE thats for sure.
paz, amor, y gozo
-shannon
Can I tell you how jealous I am right now!?!?! Your trip looks amazing! And you are obviously taking full advantage of the adventure. Have some extra fun this weekend for Colin and I. We can't wait to see you in person and hear all about it!
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