Things we Found in Cuenca.
A real fellow backpacker friend, well kinda.
His name was Francoise, he was chubby ginger Quebequoise who liked hitchhiking and bear hugs. Oh and he also told us he was nurse........
We also met two Okies that are bicycling down to Patagonia (they started in Vancouver). They are definitely NOT are friends though, mainly because we only talked to them briefly but also because ally and I are bitches that would never admitt that two midwesterners could impress us.
Eucalyptus Cafe, one the finest places in the world.
Really great place, the walls are a deep red with black tiles, and they have cool pictures of Charley Parker and Che everywhere (and not the lame college dorm room type).
The food is really good and they serve really nice wines from Argentina and Chile as well as Cold Cold Cold Brahma (the best beer I`ve had here).
They also play Ray Charles and let you smoke inside.
Another perk is the REAL COFFEE AND REAL MUGS, not the polly pocket nescafe shit most places try to push on you.
Note: ECUADOR does not believe in import substitution, they sell are their coffee abroad and buy powdered shit for their people. The good stuff here all comes from Colombia........
They put Popcorn in the Ceviche, Ally spent a good three minutes throwing popcorn from across the table into the bowl, I had to tell her to stop popcorning me.
We also met Saul a Crimson Rumped Tucan, an immediate connection. We told him to look us up if he ever broke out (he lives in a cage at the Museo de Cuenca)
Yesterday we crossed the border into Peru.
Staying in Mancora, a dirty hippie surfer town, where you ride around in motorized rickshaws. (laura if you read this imagine pascuales just a little bigger and a different accent)
Our hostel room is four cement walls painted pepto bismol pink, we have mosquito nets but no shower curtain. I love it, Ally not so much...
At least we have TV because she`s starting to really like the novelas.
We found an amazing seafood place, but we suspect that they might put MSG in the food, cause it`s seriously addicting.......
Planning on spending the next couple days bumming around the beach and smoking the menthol Yves Saint Laurent cigarettes we just discovered this morning.........
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Fotos
Lizzie forgot the cord to connect the camera to the computer, so while we have taken many a foto, we can´t show them to you. These are some google images I stole similar to pictures we have taken...
Cuenca
View of the cathedral.
the town square where we lounge it.
Baños
this is the view of Baños..
these are the hot springs by the waterfall where we hung with the locals.
Riobamba, quito and Alausi aren´t worth looking at.
Other Ecuador things to note before Peru mañana-
*people don´t really smile here
*everything is dirt cheap
*the car exhaust is out of control
*all the other backpackers are couples over 30 or single weirdos
Cuenca
View of the cathedral.
the town square where we lounge it.
Baños
this is the view of Baños..
these are the hot springs by the waterfall where we hung with the locals.
Riobamba, quito and Alausi aren´t worth looking at.
Other Ecuador things to note before Peru mañana-
*people don´t really smile here
*everything is dirt cheap
*the car exhaust is out of control
*all the other backpackers are couples over 30 or single weirdos
Monday, October 5, 2009
On the move
Post baños we went to Alausi to ride the crazy Devil´s nose train.
Got on the 530am train to get there early enough to get a ticket.
Rode between the driver and the staircase on the bus.
Got to Alausi at 730.
Sat on a bench until 830. Bought tickets. Found out people died on the top of the bus so you can´t ride on top ( the whole reason we were going).
Sat around this tiny town until 1130 when then TRAM came. NOT TRAIN.
30 minute ride around a valley. Very lame. Waste of money.
After this we started our journey to Cuenca.
This is a long story that requires a bottle of bourbon to be told.
This is that crazy story.
I feel like we´ve been gone for weeks.
We talk about you all a lot, and miss you all.
For now, we keep truckin´through Cuenca.
Beautiful city with more adventures, then off to Peru.
Got on the 530am train to get there early enough to get a ticket.
Rode between the driver and the staircase on the bus.
Got to Alausi at 730.
Sat on a bench until 830. Bought tickets. Found out people died on the top of the bus so you can´t ride on top ( the whole reason we were going).
Sat around this tiny town until 1130 when then TRAM came. NOT TRAIN.
30 minute ride around a valley. Very lame. Waste of money.
After this we started our journey to Cuenca.
This is a long story that requires a bottle of bourbon to be told.
This is that crazy story.
I feel like we´ve been gone for weeks.
We talk about you all a lot, and miss you all.
For now, we keep truckin´through Cuenca.
Beautiful city with more adventures, then off to Peru.
george bush and monica lewinsky.
second day in Baños.
ok so this town is all about the outdoor connection.
we decided that a horse ride would be more in line with our level of physical fitness.
i was given a horse named george bush and ally rode on a slut known monica lewinsky.
george was a bastard, he insisted on always being leader of the pack and tried to bite me and monica a couple times.
we rode the horses through the outskirts of Baños looking like fools, trying to avoid getting hit by cars or running over the small children playing.
we finally got to "path" and slowly made it up to the foot of the volcano (george kept trying to snack which made him have to shit a lot; we lost a lot of time).
our guide (who we think was named "vito") was very interesting, he insisted we take pictures of the baby calves while the momma cow gave us terrifying looks and prepared to fucking charge, i´m also pretty sure he offered me 5000 us dollars to marry him for a greencard (he did say we wouldnt have to live together and we could divorce right away, what a gentleman).
then he lead us to a mini spa session, we drank mineral water that bubbled out of the ground and put on what was according to vito iron rich clay on our faces, he loved it.
we had to ride down a hill to a "cafe" which could only be reached by sitting in a metal chair that hung from a rope over a river canyon. for some reason they felt we needed better pictures so i ended getting pushed back and forth and couple times. the "cafe" was a big cement room with two chairs and $3 bottled water. we also had to climb up a tree house that was empty,we sat in there for a while till vito told us to come down.
the whole experience was like when you go to some lame party with people that don´t want to admit it´s lame. so they just keep trying to amp themselves up about anything, like coronas or journey songs............
we finally made it back from the tourist trap with our inner thighs ripped apart. we think it was the saddles, which looked like they were originally used for kid´s pony ride during the 19th century.
so yeah, we´re still sore.
riobamba
alasui
cuenca
ok so this town is all about the outdoor connection.
we decided that a horse ride would be more in line with our level of physical fitness.
i was given a horse named george bush and ally rode on a slut known monica lewinsky.
george was a bastard, he insisted on always being leader of the pack and tried to bite me and monica a couple times.
we rode the horses through the outskirts of Baños looking like fools, trying to avoid getting hit by cars or running over the small children playing.
we finally got to "path" and slowly made it up to the foot of the volcano (george kept trying to snack which made him have to shit a lot; we lost a lot of time).
our guide (who we think was named "vito") was very interesting, he insisted we take pictures of the baby calves while the momma cow gave us terrifying looks and prepared to fucking charge, i´m also pretty sure he offered me 5000 us dollars to marry him for a greencard (he did say we wouldnt have to live together and we could divorce right away, what a gentleman).
then he lead us to a mini spa session, we drank mineral water that bubbled out of the ground and put on what was according to vito iron rich clay on our faces, he loved it.
we had to ride down a hill to a "cafe" which could only be reached by sitting in a metal chair that hung from a rope over a river canyon. for some reason they felt we needed better pictures so i ended getting pushed back and forth and couple times. the "cafe" was a big cement room with two chairs and $3 bottled water. we also had to climb up a tree house that was empty,we sat in there for a while till vito told us to come down.
the whole experience was like when you go to some lame party with people that don´t want to admit it´s lame. so they just keep trying to amp themselves up about anything, like coronas or journey songs............
we finally made it back from the tourist trap with our inner thighs ripped apart. we think it was the saddles, which looked like they were originally used for kid´s pony ride during the 19th century.
so yeah, we´re still sore.
riobamba
alasui
cuenca
Friday, October 2, 2009
I´m in Baños, bitch.
Ok. We´re listening to Led Zeppelin in the internet cafe here. Quito was a nightmare, but Baños is a green valley of mystic wonder. Imagine the coolest green valley with low hanging milky clouds everywhere and cute Ecuadorian children in uniform walking the streets and playing volleyball. Yesterday we settled in our hostel and then found a cool cafe down the street which catered to backpackers. The place was small with candles everywhere and colorful crap on the walls, and postcards galore(send your address if you want one). We had a quaint dinner and lizzie drank a huge beer.
We went to the natural hot springs last night at around 9. Like a 3 block walk from our hostel (which is really nice with tea and coffee and a honesty policy) with street dogs following us. Lizzie and I decided to just wear our clothes and swimsuits underneath with no towels or underwear in tow...The place looks like an outdoor bath house. And the first hotspring we saw was a full blown speedo sausage single festival, so we proceeded up the algae steps. Up stairs we shed our clothes in the 2x2ft changing room, and gave the bin to the lady and hopped in the family oriented hot spring. We lounged around with the kids wearing floaties, and admired the 100 ft waterfall coming down the mountain just next to the hot spring. After a nice soak we went to go change out of our suits. We decided to share a changing room again. Lizzie and I only had pants and a jacket each, so we ended up changing cheek to cheek and struggling to get our wet selves into our spandex attire. This is just the begining of our awkward encounters. Today we are going horseback riding up the side of the volcano, and then going on a night time volcano tour and then taking pictures of the purple basilica which lizzie can´t get enough of. We might head to Cuenca tomorrow or soak in some more Banos and cheek to cheeck action. Who knows. Hope everyone is doing well in the other world.
Also, the title comes from Lizzie´s saying everytime we reach a new location. It´s getting old...
We went to the natural hot springs last night at around 9. Like a 3 block walk from our hostel (which is really nice with tea and coffee and a honesty policy) with street dogs following us. Lizzie and I decided to just wear our clothes and swimsuits underneath with no towels or underwear in tow...The place looks like an outdoor bath house. And the first hotspring we saw was a full blown speedo sausage single festival, so we proceeded up the algae steps. Up stairs we shed our clothes in the 2x2ft changing room, and gave the bin to the lady and hopped in the family oriented hot spring. We lounged around with the kids wearing floaties, and admired the 100 ft waterfall coming down the mountain just next to the hot spring. After a nice soak we went to go change out of our suits. We decided to share a changing room again. Lizzie and I only had pants and a jacket each, so we ended up changing cheek to cheek and struggling to get our wet selves into our spandex attire. This is just the begining of our awkward encounters. Today we are going horseback riding up the side of the volcano, and then going on a night time volcano tour and then taking pictures of the purple basilica which lizzie can´t get enough of. We might head to Cuenca tomorrow or soak in some more Banos and cheek to cheeck action. Who knows. Hope everyone is doing well in the other world.
Also, the title comes from Lizzie´s saying everytime we reach a new location. It´s getting old...
Thursday, October 1, 2009
taca lies, quito lies.
24 hours of taca, rum with orange juice, smoking bars and lighter bumming.
ally sat with a fake inca woman (her copy of harry potter gave her away) who might have been a hooker, and liked to elbow her.
first peron we met was pedro, he had a renault with a st bernard airfreshner hangin from the rear view mirror, we knew we had to be in good hands.
good call, pedro turned out to be a bad ass motha fucka who really knows how to bone out of narrow streets when crack heads start circling the car.
our man gave us the run down of quito, found a place that would give us some shelter.
1, 2, 3 were moving on, the only thing we want from quito is some coffee, fruit and a pack of lucky strikes.
ally sat with a fake inca woman (her copy of harry potter gave her away) who might have been a hooker, and liked to elbow her.
first peron we met was pedro, he had a renault with a st bernard airfreshner hangin from the rear view mirror, we knew we had to be in good hands.
good call, pedro turned out to be a bad ass motha fucka who really knows how to bone out of narrow streets when crack heads start circling the car.
our man gave us the run down of quito, found a place that would give us some shelter.
1, 2, 3 were moving on, the only thing we want from quito is some coffee, fruit and a pack of lucky strikes.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
when we met
When we met, we made a bet, we made a deal. It was like shakin' hands at the hospital. Two hostile cowboys gambling in white paper dresses, trading pistols for cigarettes, coming to terms with the great fortune of anxiety.Hot as hell you know, never satisfied, never careful. Just thought, first thing's first, "take the brakes out of the car."
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