Far too much time in Quito...

So, what has happened since Cotopaxi?

Well, far too much actually! My hand luggage got stolen on the way from Latacunga to Baños - with my passport, two kameras, my iPod, $100 US, my diary and lots of other stuff... So instead of enjoying hot springs and downhill mountainbiking in Baños we spent a terrible day at the police station, and then we had to go back to Quito (!) to get me a new, temporary passport. Which sucks, really, cause I'll be travelling for 7 more months, and I don't even know if the countries we are planning to visit will let me in now!!!

We never went to Baños. Didn't feel like going back the same way... Instead, we left the mountains and went down to the coast where we spent 3 days surfing in Montañita. Great place, great people! Gave us an opportunity to stop thinking about the stolen bag.

So, Ecuador turned out a bit different than expected. Above all, we spent far too much time in Quito! And we didn't see Baños or Tena, places we had been really looking forward to. Unfortunately.

But, here we are in Cuenca, the southern highlands. Originally, we were just planning to stay here one night, buy a tent and then travel down to Zamora to see some rainforest before Peru. Though, something made us change our minds, in the last minute! Before we knew what we were doing we were on our way to Parque Nacional Cajas to do some hiking...

Best decision ever! 3 days of absolute sereneness, silence and beauty. Just the lakes, the mountains, and us! It's undescribable, really. (I so want to show you guys some pictures from there, but unfortunately we don't get this computer to cooperate with my camera right now!)

Coming up next: some horse trekking around Vilcabamba, amd then we're off to Peru! And I promise - I'll try to write more frequently...!!

Cheers
//Susanna