14-16 December, Vilcabamba

The trip to Vilcabamba was pretty spectacular descending a steep mountain range. The town itself is quite small but we stayed at a resort a few kilometres up the hillside which had a fantastic view over the valley. It was a bit more expensive than our previous accomodation but had a swimming pool and bar/games room with pool table, table-tennis and darts set in a pretty bush setting.

Matt, Harriet and I went for a 10km hike on the “Mandango Loop” which followed the road part way into town before a steep climb to the top of the ridge and following it back to the resort. The path was only 60cm wide in some parts with steep cliffs on both sides as it followed the very top of the ridgeline. Great views and a fun walk.

We also borrowed some bicycles and rode into town to a book exchange only to find it closed! The taxis in town are all utes though so we were able to avoid the ride home back up the hill.

Outside our room we had a nice view over the valley and watched fire-flies flitting about in the evening as well as seeing some very large and colourful caterpillars eating frangipani leaves.

Quad-Buggies can't climb mountains!

Many places around town hire out Motorbikes, Bicycles and Quad Bikes and we decided to rent one to go for a drive. The Quad-buggies looked safest as they had seats and seatbelts and a roll cage. We hired one for a couple of hours for $20usd and headed off through town to go to a lookout high up on the ridge. Going through town was fun and we had a speedy downhill run for a couple of kilometres out of town to a junction when we started uphill.
The buggie was pretty slow going up the steep road but we made it to the lookout and had an awesome view over Baños and the surrounding valley. After a picnic lunch we went a little further up the hill and then did a u-turn to head back into town. The buggie had automatic gearing with just a forward and reverse lever and shortly after the turn it seemed to pop into neutral and we couldn’t get it back into forward gear! Luckily we had a several kilometre downhill roll back to the junction where a kind local rang the hire place and a guy came to meet us in his ute.

He seemed a bit angry that we had gone up the hill and said the buggies were only for the flat, something the person that hired it to us had neglected to mention when he was pointing out places we could go on a map!! He hooked the buggie to the back of the ute and we drove back into town stopping briefly at another broken down buggie on the way. Obviously something that happens regularly….. Back at the hire place we were worried they were going to try and charge us for a new gearbox but we got my passport (left as deposit) back without any fuss.