Reservations Made for Remainder of Trip

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017--Vilcabamba

This morning I chose to have the oatmeal instead of the eggs for breakfast.  It was good quality oatmeal (old fashioned style) with at least three kinds of fruits mixed into it.  But I won't make that choice again.  Combined with the bowl of fresh fruit, the glass of fruit juice, and the toast with butter and jam, it was just too many sweets for one meal.

After reading most of the morning, I decided I needed to work on making my final reservations for the trip.  I needed places to stay in Puerto Lopez and in Quito. For the former, I chose a hotel.  For the latter, I decided on a nice apartment in the old colonial center of town.  It took about three hours, however, to go to websites, see what was available, read the reviews, and make a decision.  What a relief to have it out of the way.  And the apartment in Quito has an advantage that the check-out time isn't until 18:00.  My flight departs 6 1/2 hours after that, so I can even have a nap before leaving for the airport.

My final trip into Vilcabamba was a bit of a bust after making the travel plans.  It was too late to get lunch.  I was hungry for a burger, but there was no place open for one.  I wanted an ice cream cone, but they weren't making them today.  I came back to the room and finished the fried potatoes from Cuenca, ate a boiled egg from Cuenca, and had some tortilla chips left over from Cuenca!

Vilcabamba is a nice place in a beautiful setting, but there is no way I could live here.  Besides the language problem, it is too small, too remote, and has too little to do.  It is unique, though.  Many people have horses.  Yesterday I saw an American expatriate couple having lunch with two horses tied up on the street; after eating, they got on their horses and rode off.  It is a common sight to see westerners around town (either old retired ones or young hippies) and to hear them speaking English.

Tomorrow, I leave here.  The resort has been a pleasant place to relax. Trip Advisor has named it among the Top 10 resorts in all of South America each of the last 6 years.  But it is time to start heading north again.  I will still be south of the equator for the next 10 days, though.  Only my last stop in Quito will be above it.