Southern Ecuador

We crossed the border with no hitches, and found ourselves in Manchala, the self-proclaimed "banana capital of the world". Other than the fact that they produce a LOT of the yellow fruit, there isn't much else to distinguish it from your average Ecuadorian city. We spent the day soaking up the local feel of the place and getting to grips with a different pace. Everyone in Ecuador seems to be in a huge rush, whether it's the mental drivers on the roads, who make us literally fear for our lives, or the frenetic pedestrians on the pavements, who nearly knock us off our feet.

From our hotel room (options are limited here, and hostels non-existent in certain places) we could hear megaphones constantly blaring. To begin with we thought this was maybe a shop advertising their wares, but we later realised that it was a political party canvassing for support. National elections were in less than a couple of weeks, and we found out the voting was compulsary. The government can fine citizens who do not vote, and can even take away certain rights.

Anyway, after exploring the streets, going to our first Chinese restaurant in South America and visiting an internet cafe, we made our way back to the hotel. We only stayed in Manchala for one night, which was more than enough.

This was followed by a a visit to Cuenca, which was a beautiful little colonial town. It was much more charming than our last stop, with a lovely plaza edged with old buildings and containing pristine gardens. It was a great place to explore, with little street packed with shops, cafes and, much to my delight, a plethora of heladerias (ice ream parlours). Cuenca also had a sweet-smelling and colourful flower market and a small patch of Inca ruins, which were unmistakable in their style.

The next day we caught the local bus to Parque National Cajas, where we found the relatively small (well, anything is after Machu Picchu) Inca ruins of Ingapirca. By now it was raining heavily, which we were getting rather used to in Ecuador. This didn't stop us from having a soggy but thorough trek around the whole site, taking in views of both the buildings and a large face which nature and man had carved into the side of a cliff.


Our third stop in Ecuador was the town of Riobamba. Once again we were able to sample a large slice of Ecuadorian lifestyle. The layout of the town seemed to be quite linear, with everything centering around 3 main roads which ran parallel along the entire length.

We should have been able to see a volcano from the town, but the thick cloud blanketed the town the whole time of our stay. There were some very pretty buildings and squares here too, and an exceptionally large and crazy Saturday market. It felt like the whole of Ecuador had descended upon the town, and were hustling and bustling through the narrow gaps left by the overflowing stalls. We spent hours just picking our way through and marveling at the madness, before catching a bus to our next destination, Baños.