Two days ago we arrived in the beautiful valley of Vilcamba approximately 1h south of Loja by bus. It is called the "Valley of Longevity" since people are said to live to age 120 here. It's a relatively green valley with sun burned ridges and mountains rising all around. Since the Sierra of Ecuador is currently in the dry season there are a lot of brownish and yellow bushes along the mountain slopes which I am sure turn a wonderful green during the rainy season.We are staying at a Hostal a little bit up the valley from the main town, run by two Germans. This is making communication a breeze compared to our horrible attempts at spanish. I should say, Anja is doing quite well, on the other hand my skills seem to be deteriorating daily :(
Yesterday, we hiked from Vilcabamba 1500m up along a ridge to the top of a scenic mountain called Mandango (2040m). From there we continued along a precarious ridge with lots of wind back down into the valley. The scenery around us was marvelous and after a short lunch break we enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing at the Hostal.
Today we took the "free" mountain bikes (come with the Hostal reservation), and biked up a side valley until the trail was too narrow to continue by bike. We stashed the bikes with a local, and continued by foot along a refreshing little river. Our destination was an mysterious waterfall, which we reached after climbing steep hills for about 3 hours through coffee plantations, corn fields, and other exotic vegetation. We skinny dipped underneath the waterfall - what a wonderful feeling after spending hours in the scorching equatorial sun.
6 comments:
Hi Guys -
Looks like the fun adventure just continues. I love the Banos Bike Tour picture. Rock On!!
We unfortunately are going through a rough time right now. Justin's family has been struck with it's first unexpected death. My uncle Jamie (35 yrs old) broke his neck on Monday diving into a swimming pool. He was an army ranger in the military. He is on life support at the moment but will most certainly die once life support is removed. He has almost no brain activity. On a positive note, he will likely be able to donate most/all of his organs to help others.
Although there is extreme sadness in the air (my mom is a reck and so is Grandma Root), we trust God and know he is in control.
Please keep Grandma and my Mom in your prayers.
We will talk to you again soon.
We miss you guys.
Justin and Renee
Sounds romantic! Hope you two are enjoying your time together. We are always happy to hear that your travels have been safe.
Things here are well. We saw the Heimers and the Sedlaceks this past weekend at Makenzie's birthday party. The kids are growing fast! And, after listening to all of the basement projects our friends have going, we decided to redesign our upstairs bathroom ...
As for miss Kennedy; she got a new cast yesterday (she requested a pink one and got it). I think she is happy to finally be able to walk on it. Maybe now she'll be a little less frustrated!
Take care!
Heimers:
Sorry to hear about your uncle Jamie. We will keep him and your whole family in our prayers.
Isn't Isaiah's birthday coming up pretty soon here? Is there anything he would like from South America?
Cotches:
Good to hear that Kennedy is happy with her pink cast. I guess all of you are just in a race to see who can remodel the most!!!
Are you guys doing another camping trip with the rest of the gang or has that already happened?
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Do you remember the name of the little river, was it Mandala? I would love to know the exact name of those falls. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
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--Indoor Fountain Waterfall
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