Adiós Ecuador Hola Peru!

We arrived in Vilcabamba around 2pm and dropped off our laundry to be picked up at 5 washed, dried and folded :)  In the meanwhile we walked around the centre of Vilcabamba, which is not that large. Had a nice iced cappuccino and people watched for awhile. Yup lots of gringos live here! Then after awhile we headed to where Annette is staying and parked outside the gate and got onto the wifi - she had given us the passwords :)

Surfin' the net on free wifi :) 

Shortly after 4 we got together with hugs and "can't believe we are meeting up in Ecuador!"  We went into the complex and checked out the place. She has a nice room with bed, desk, chair for reading and nice big bathroom for about $15US a night which includes breakfast! There are nice gardens to look at and also a kitchen fully stocked with dishes, pans etc to use for lunch and dinner preparation.  Quite a nice place. Annette has stayed here now for a month and is moving on to other places - the coast being one of them.

We go back to Vanna to drive to the restaurant - tonight is pizza and beer night 👍 The pizza was great - forgot to bring my camera! We sat and enjoyed a beer and spoke with 2 other Canadians that dropped in. After that we walked around the plaza for awhile and then had an ice cream for dessert. By 8:30 we were back and would meet for breakfast in the morning. Annette was worried that where we are parked would be noisy with roosters and barking dogs. The dogs were a problem for awhile but finally fell asleep and didn't even hear any roosters! LOL!!! Think we are "rooster deaf" now! 😁

In the morning we had a great breakfast of fruit, pineapple juice, eggs and potatoes with toast.  This will hold us until lunch for sure!  Then it was off to the Saturday market.  Again we drove theire since we are going to a German hostel about 2kms outside of town for lunch, so saved us the walk back.

This market also has gringo tables, selling special bread, hand made soaps and veggies. Along with the locals veggies etc.  Ended up having to have a cheese empanada and this time I said yes to the question if I wanted sugar on it. Had to try it the way the locals eat it - and of course it was good!! More like a donut because the amount of cheese inside is negligible :)  I also bought some aged cheese from the local indigenous cheese lady - very tasty! She also makes a very good tasting smoked mozzarella - but I choose just one to buy. It should taste good with the gluten free olive bread I bought.

With Annette, and no we did not plan to all wear yellow today - just happened!! LOL!!

We walked around some more and checked out some jewelry etc made by indigenous people. Very nice stuff but nothing I would really be able to wear. There was one nice necklace but he wanted $45!  Nope not this gringa!

After that it was time to head to the hostel for lunch.  We had a great lunch there, Annette had tomato soup with bread, Dwayne had pasta with creamy mushroom sauce and I had homemade tempeh (tofu) with spatzal! And I forgot to take a picture!! During lunch it really started to rain hard. Pretty usual for this area to have sunny mornings and by mid afternoon the clouds open up and it rains for a few hours. But today it was really coming down along with REALLY loud thunder!

Part of the hostel, owners live upstairs and restaurant below. There are rooms and a pool in the back

Nice garden below the restaurant

A view of Vilcabamba

The rain spoiled any ideas of walking around and seeing more of Vilcabamba!  Tomorrow we head south and hopefully get close to the border. It's still 160 km of VERY windy roads along with gravel parts. Not sure how long it will take us but our plan is to cross into Peru on Monday.

Ecuador has been a beautiful country to drive through. It is so green and the roads are the best! Plus they have everything from snow covered volcanos to thermal baths to lovely beaches.  The cities have all been interesting and easy to get around. We have really loved Ecuador 😍 Now it will be interesting to see what Peru has to offer.  Since we are going into the country from the northeast side where it seems there are no large cities, not sure what to expect. Also now we have to get vehicle insurance so will have to hunt for that in the first small town, and of course need to find a Claro store to buy another SIM card and get hooked up with data again - always a bit of a hassle!

I figured out what we spent for the time we were in Ecuador (a month) and it came to $2536 Can. Alot less than the $3300 in Colombia and less than we spend while in Honduras. The price of fuel being cheaper here helped reduce the expenses. Also being a smaller country we put on less kms - 2475 compared to 3700 in Colombia.  So a good country to live in :)  Anyone want to buy a house on the Caribbean coast in Honduras in a lovely gated community?

So not sure when I can blog again, so don't worry I'LL BE BACK! LOL!!!