It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought an update would be good.
I'm getting used to being back at home-- actually, I got used to being home almost as soon as I got back. The trip was great, but the whole time I was wishing that Skip was there with me. I suppose that's a good thing, though, huh? At least I wasn't feeling awesome that I was gone from my hubby for 17 days! Here's a little recap as to what we did for all that time:
Ecuador: We had a long couple of days of travelling, going from O'Hare to Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica to Quito, Ecuador to Loja, Ecuador (that flight was CRAZY! Flying into the mountains of Ecuador was even scarier than flying into Cusco!). Somewhere in the midst of all that flying, Sarah pointed out that we had not realized the Loja airport was actually about 30 miles outside of Loja (why call it Loja airport, then, huh?), and we already knew that Loja was about an hour from Vilcabamba (our ultimate destination). So when we got there, we had to negotiate a ride to our hotel/resort. Hmm... Looks like it was time to jump into that speaking spanish thing. After negotiating with a couple of taxi drivers, we figured out two cabs to Vilc. (and continued to negotiate price between Sarah and I via the drivers' cell phones once we were on the road). The ride was super dark and scary, the two cabs got separated, we saw a donkey sleeping in the middle of the road, we almost fell off the side of the road, but we ended up at Izhcayluma safely.
Our two days in Vilcabamba were spent just hanging around, taking pictures, drinking,
horseback riding (and me horseback falling-- I've got the scars to prove it!), and generally just relaxing with the beautiful backdrop of Vilcabamba surrounding us. We had much more reliable transportation back to Loja in a private taxi, and then we had to negotiate the crowded Loja bus station in order to get to Cuenca. Stressfully, we figured it out, and managed to get our gringo butts on a bus. Yet another dark and scary ride, this time 5 hours long through rain-damaged roads and villages, but we got to Cuenca finally by about 11 pm, and crashed at Hotel Crespo.
We spent our 4 days in Cuenca exploring the city, buying gifts, trying to stay dry from the rain, and taking more pictures, of course. We had the opportunity to visit with Sarah's homestay family from when she was down there for school, and that was great. They were so kind and accomodating (they fed us!), and it was great to see Sarah so happy (yet sentimental at the same time!). We had some amazing Italian food, drank a lot of Pilsener (the local beer), and Andy, Michael and I even tried cuy (guinea pig). Very interesting taste, much more interesting presentation :). Homesickness crept in a little bit for me a couple of times, but phone calls and emails home kept me connected.
I'm getting used to being back at home-- actually, I got used to being home almost as soon as I got back. The trip was great, but the whole time I was wishing that Skip was there with me. I suppose that's a good thing, though, huh? At least I wasn't feeling awesome that I was gone from my hubby for 17 days! Here's a little recap as to what we did for all that time:
Ecuador: We had a long couple of days of travelling, going from O'Hare to Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica to Quito, Ecuador to Loja, Ecuador (that flight was CRAZY! Flying into the mountains of Ecuador was even scarier than flying into Cusco!). Somewhere in the midst of all that flying, Sarah pointed out that we had not realized the Loja airport was actually about 30 miles outside of Loja (why call it Loja airport, then, huh?), and we already knew that Loja was about an hour from Vilcabamba (our ultimate destination). So when we got there, we had to negotiate a ride to our hotel/resort. Hmm... Looks like it was time to jump into that speaking spanish thing. After negotiating with a couple of taxi drivers, we figured out two cabs to Vilc. (and continued to negotiate price between Sarah and I via the drivers' cell phones once we were on the road). The ride was super dark and scary, the two cabs got separated, we saw a donkey sleeping in the middle of the road, we almost fell off the side of the road, but we ended up at Izhcayluma safely.
Our two days in Vilcabamba were spent just hanging around, taking pictures, drinking,
horseback riding (and me horseback falling-- I've got the scars to prove it!), and generally just relaxing with the beautiful backdrop of Vilcabamba surrounding us. We had much more reliable transportation back to Loja in a private taxi, and then we had to negotiate the crowded Loja bus station in order to get to Cuenca. Stressfully, we figured it out, and managed to get our gringo butts on a bus. Yet another dark and scary ride, this time 5 hours long through rain-damaged roads and villages, but we got to Cuenca finally by about 11 pm, and crashed at Hotel Crespo.We spent our 4 days in Cuenca exploring the city, buying gifts, trying to stay dry from the rain, and taking more pictures, of course. We had the opportunity to visit with Sarah's homestay family from when she was down there for school, and that was great. They were so kind and accomodating (they fed us!), and it was great to see Sarah so happy (yet sentimental at the same time!). We had some amazing Italian food, drank a lot of Pilsener (the local beer), and Andy, Michael and I even tried cuy (guinea pig). Very interesting taste, much more interesting presentation :). Homesickness crept in a little bit for me a couple of times, but phone calls and emails home kept me connected.
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