Leaving Paul and Pam’s
Paul had cooked us a hearty breakfast. It was a lovely, sunny morning so Pam and I sat outside on the terrace overlooking the valley, watching the hummingbirds and drinking our coffee. Paul sent us on our way with a very generous, large bag of assorted bagels and a loaf of bread, which he had cooked the day before. Having said our farewells, we we on our way by 09.30.
Driving through the Andes
We spent the day climbing mountains, descending into valleys and climbing up again. Sometimes up to 3,500 meters, then down to 2,000. Far too many hairpin bends for my liking. The views were stunning, though. After 3 hours of driving, we found a spot to pull over and had some lunch. Places to pull over aren’t easy to find on these roads. After bagels and tea, we were back on the road again, heading for Loja. Loja is the largest town between Cuenca and the border with Peru.
Loja
As we approached Loja the wifi on my phone ran out. Once in Loja we looked for a Claro dealer to top-up my phone. Parked on a bus stop, we thought it wouldn’t take long. Having spent $3.50 for another 2gb and received a text from Claro confirming the deal, it didn’t seem to be working, so I went back to the kiosk. The salesman fiddled with my phone and said it was working.
Once again, when I returned to Poki, it wasn’t. So, Dennis thought it needed a man to sort it and took it back to the salesman. After what seemed like ages, as numerous buses pulled in right beside me in Poki, Dennis returned with it working. When I had originally purchased the SIM, it couldn’t be registered in my name, so the salesman registered it in his name. This was the cause of the problem.
Catacocha
As it was still early, we decided to continue on for a bit. There is a lack of accommodation in this part of the world. Little in the way of camping. We could have camped tonight as it is fine. It did rain while we were driving, but cleared up. In the next major town after Loja, Catamayo,
I couldn’t find any suitable hotel or hostels. We decided to continue on to Catacocha and are now at the Hotel Arupos.
Catacocha is very hilly. The hotel is in a busy street, just off the main square. I couldn’t see any possibility of parking, but the iOverlander App said it had parking. I went in to enquire and the parking was in a secure garage, but 2 streets away. Poki just went in under the roller doors.
When we checked in to the hotel, I received a message (from the US State Department) saying the President, Daniel Noboa had declared a state of emergency and curfews. It only applies to certain provinces where there has been an increase in violence, crimes and the presence of organised gangs. It is meant to help the work of the armed forces and police. Fortunately, it doesn’t include this area.
We have noticed there are often power outages and that many shops are running generators. While we were staying with Paul and Pam there were blackouts from 10.00 – 15.00 and from 20.00 – 22.00. It was a bit reminiscent of load shedding in South Africa. Not caused so much by incompetence and corruption this time, but by a shortage of water. Ecuador gets most of it’s electricity from hydropower. There has been a drought and water levels have been too low for power generation, hence it has had to be rationed.
As we had food in the fridge that needed eating, we wanted to cook dinner in Poki. This was a bit of a performance, as the hotel didn’t want us to do this in the garage. We had to take Poki out and get the receptionist to come and let us back in and lock up again after we had finished.
There’s a concert of some kind going on in the square.
We are about 92kms from the town of Macara and the border with Peru. About an hour and 45 minutes drive. It’s best to cross a border early in the morning. One never knows how long it will take for the formalities. Also we will need to obtain Peruvian currency, the Sol, approximately 5 Sol = £1 and a Peruvian SIM card. We already have insurance which covers all of South America.
We will possibly find some accommodation in Macara tomorrow and cross the border on Saturday.
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