Feliz Navidad!

Happy Holidays to all! We miss you so much! We have spent the last four days hiding out in a wonderful little hotel in Vilcabamba. It's a small bed and breakfast called Madre Tierra...it includes gourmet organic breakfasts and dinners, and they made us a beautiful Christmas Eve feast...complete with all the turkey and cranberry sauce. It has been a much needed break for us. Our Christmas presents to each other were massages at the spa. (only $25 for a whole hour!)So, we've been livin' in up...and recuperating.
So...recuperating from what, you might ask? Well, from Riobamba we spent 3 days in the mountains outside of town. We hiked El Altar...an amazing volcano with a bright green lake in the crater, and surrounded by the most magnificent jutting peaks... all around. There's no way to describe it! So, the hike was about 20 miles...we camped just below the crater. The next day we hiked out to the Hacienda where the hike starts, and waited for the bus...for 2 1/2 hours. It never came, and we ended up spending the night at the hacienda...no people...no heat...no food... We woke up early to catch the next bus at 5:30am. It turns out that the bus had been held up by a landslide, and the morning bus was now being held up by a broken down potato truck. We could see it down the valley...honking at the truck, but unable to get around it because of the steep cliffs! The only thing to do was start running. So at 6:00am, after 2 long days of hiking, and having not eaten since the previous morning...we ran with our packs the 3km to town (along with four little boys also trying to catch the bus to get to school) Luckily, the people could see us running along around the mountain, and held the bus up for us (probably for the school kids, actually). So that was adventure #1.
Adventure #2 started the next morning at 5:00am. We stayed in Riobamba that night, and woke up bright and early to catch the Gringo Train to Alausi!! This fabled train once ran from Quito to Guayaquil, but has suffered many floods and catastrophes, and most of the line doesn't run anymore...except this bit known as the Nariz de Diablo, "The Devil's Nose". It's a crazy little engineering manuever to get it down a really steep canyon, including a couple of switchbacks where the train runs backwards...very beautiful views, but not exactly a fully funtioning transportation system. Hence it is now exclusively a Gringo Train. I couldn't believe the masses of tall white people who assembled at the station at the crack of dawn! Everyone in hiking boots and zip-off pants...the hardiest travellers sit on top of the train...feet dangling off the edge as the train dangles off the cliffs. I only lasted for the first hour or so...It was so stinkin' cold in the cloudy mountain morning. Scott returned to the top at the end...when it's most dramatic. So, after the train ride, all the gringos hopped on a bus to Cuenca...and we followed.
Adventure #3...The buses. After a day in Cuenca (where we were delighted to witness several of their spirited Christmas Parades) we hit the road for Vilcabama. We were driven out by the intense pollution that made us both sick almost as soon as we got there. We had a 7 hour bus ride from Cuenca...and felt lucky to be assigned seats 1&2...they had a bit more leg room... But we soon found out that the extra room was intended to be used by the 20 extra people standing on top of us for the duration of the trip...full on bags on our heads and butts in faces. The second leg (2hrs from Loja to Vilcabamba)wasn't much better...but at least this time it wasn't bags and butts...they just put thier babies in my lap.
So. As I was saying. We were feeling a good bit overwhelmed and tired by the time we arrived in Vilcabamba. We knew it was time for a break when our usual patience and cross-cultural understanding were wearing thin. So, after a few days of resting up and healing (we've also been battling multiple stomach issues since Colombia), We bought ourselves one more Christmas gift. We bought tickets to Chicago for January 3rd. We will fly out of Quito, so we'll have to head back north from here, but when we looked into flying from Lima in a month or so as we intended, we found that tickets were nearly double (and there is a 20% tax on top of it.) So, we've got another week to relax and enjoy the mountains and warm weather before we plunge into Chicago Winter! AHHH! But we are really excited about being home and with our families! So to all of you who have been faithfully following this photoless blog -- you get to be the first to know that we are heading home. Our adventures are hopefully not over -- only this current leg in South America... we hope to see you all soon, and tell you all about it. (And maybe even show you a picture or two...)