Vilcabamba

(This blog was a collaboration of Kaitlyn and Stephanie) 

View overlooking Vilcabamba

Once the C.O. sandwich was over, we all decided we needed a little vaca to relax. 

Amanda and Aaron had a friend in town, Ben (from New Zealand/Holland), so we took a trip to Vilcabamba, a town about 6 hours south of Cuenca. Jeff & Jenny (a couple from Cleveland who live in Cuenca) also joined us. We left the meeting in a rush to go home and pack quickly so we could make it to the bus terminal in time to leave by 1pm. We all packed a backpack with our clothes in it, and then we took a duffel full of our snack food for the weekend, a full sized duffel!!  We obviously have our priorities straight.

We finally made it to Vilcabamba around 7pm, and we took two taxis to our hostel, Izhcayluma. We all got our keys and went to our rooms. Once getting into the room I felt like I was at a summer camp cabin. It was very cute! AND the beds were actually very comfy. The girls' room was set up like a barn. There were 2 floors with three beds on each level and a creaky staircase between them. After settling in, we all went to dinner. Izhcayluma is famous for their authentic German cuisine. We all tried some new German dishes. Jeff managed to finish off 4 plates of everyone’s leftovers. Aaron and Ben spent half of dinner convincing Kaitlyn to go horseback riding the next day. I also needed some convincing after my last experience with a horse (I almost fell off when it took off in a gallop). In the end with both agreed to join the group. Everyone was in except for Jeff because of his bum achilles.  After dinner we went off to the bar area to play pool, ping pong, and chess. I found out I’m neither good at pool or ping pong, and that chess is not for me. But we did have lots of fun trying to play. And they had hammocks! I HEART HAMMOCKS!!! After playing pool until about 11:30 everyone headed to bed. 

We got up pretty early in order to eat breakfast and so the 8 of us could head down to horseback riding by 9am. We got to the place to meet our guide Jaime and got cowboy hats and gum boots and went off to meet our horses.  We were each assigned a horse according to our experience, but most of us were newbies. I was the last one to get on my horse, Trebol. 

We proceed on our journey to the mountain where our horses were going to take us up. For at least the first hour the guide was leading my horse on a rope. It took us 3 hours to make it to the top. Aaron was leading the way for most of the journey uphill. Once, my horse, Chocolate Caliente, took the lead. We had a little battle of wills to see who would dominate. I’m still not sure who won.   

Once we reached the entrance to Podocarpus National Park, we stopped to let the horses rest and to start the hike. After sitting on a horse for 3 hours, getting off was quite a challenge, and then to be told it’s a 2 hour hike, I was the happiest person ever! 

            

 
It was definitely a challenging hike, well for me at least, (it really was difficult) everyone else was pretty speedy and left me, except for Stephanie and Ben, who walked with me the whole time. We walked through streams and saw 2 waterfalls. The second one was larger and everyone got into their swimsuits and got wet. It was FREEZING! Jenny and I only made it as far in as our toes, because once I put my feet in, I just couldn’t handle it. Everyone else got in for at least a few camera shots. Ashley fell coming out and her poor foot was seriously bruised. After the break we went back to hiking. I literally had to climb up the side of a MOUNTAIN. I came to a spot that was a 3 ½ foot high wall of dirt. Jaime (the tour guide) attempted to pull me up, but it resulted in me plummeting against the wall of dirt instead. So….Aaron had to get up with Jaime to pull me from above and Ben was there from behind helping me as well. It’s always handy to have boys to shove me up a mountain, or it just shows bigger people shouldn’t hike. LIE!

 

About an hour or so later of Stephanie, Ben, and Amanda listening to me complain the whole time, we finally made it back to the horses. We ate lunch and got back on. Getting back on the horse was worse than getting off. I sat down and I thought I was going to cry it hurt so bad. Going down the mountain was seriously torture. I had to say a prayer that Jehovah get me down the mountain quick! Unfortunately, Jenny’s saddle wasn’t on very tight so it fell off along with her. Scary! I was directly behind her and I heard a thump, scream and another thump. As I came around the bend she was lying in a bush on the side of the trail. She was shaken but okay and able to get back on and continue. Go Jenny for being brave.

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE BOTTOM (2 ½ hours later)! I was super happy, if you can’t tell. Once we got down to flat ground everyone ran with their horses back to the place we started. I freaked out (because of my previous scary experience) when Aaron’s horse took off running and my horse followed. I was yelling at him to stop. Finally he did long enough for me to get a tight hold on the reigns to keep my horse in check for when Aaron took off again. I think I finally won domination over Chocolate Caliente.  

Jenny and I did eventually run in order to get to the place sooner. I couldn’t get off the horse soon enough. I walked very slowly back to the rental place with Amanda and we called first and second on the shower! Once getting back to the hostel I showered and had to lay down because my body was not happy with me for horseback riding.

While the showers were happening the rest of us were sitting in hammocks out back of the dorms. Ben went and fetched us some soap from the front desk and we had a little war (apparently Ariel & I throw like girls). He threatened me with the hammock breaking because I was swinging so hard. Funny thing is, once I went in for my shower, Ben got into my hammock and it did break and he went splat. (Aaron wasn’t there at the time and later on the same thing happened to him. They were both okay.) Everyone headed up for dinner then,  except for me since it was finally my turn to shower.  

Stephanie woke me up when she was ready to go eat. I don’t understand why the restaurant had hard seats, apparently they don’t understand that horseback riding isn’t comfy. After eating we went to the bar area and played some games (Cranium, etc.). At 9:15, I had to throw in the towel and go to bed. I took some Tylenol and I was out. Ashley and Jenny followed soon after.

The rest of us stayed up, attempting to play Risk (not enough pieces) and then pool and ping pong. Amanda, Ariel and I invented a new version of Ping Pong where anything that bounced was good. We ran around a lot chasing the ball, but it was lots of fun. We all alternated playing Cutthroat pool. Some of the games lasted way too long (to the shame of the boys). Then we taught Ben and Amanda how to play Euchre, which was similar to another card game they knew. It was getting late and I was signed up for an early massage…time for bed.

I woke up first and had breakfast alone before my massage. It was very nice after a long day on a horse. I came back to find the rest eating breakfast, so I had seconds. 

I slept in the next morning until late, but I had to finally get up in order not to miss breakfast. So I packed up my bags and went to breakfast. Everyone was getting massages that morning except for Aaron, Amanda, and me. Amanda napped while Aaron and I sat around. He harassed some kittens for a while. Once a few people got back from their massages we started a game of Monopoly.  I lost horribly before calling it quits to eat lunch. Everyone finished their massages and it was off to catch a bus back to Cuenca. 

On the first bus ride I fell asleep and got tortured by people putting candy wrappers in my hair. NOT NICE PEOPLE! The rest of us amused ourselves by playing a version of Parchesi and harassing Kaitlyn. On the second bus the movie “Man on a Ledge” came on (with English subtitles) and Aaron and I didn’t watch it. I couldn’t see the screen to read the subtitles so I gave up. It made the time pass quickly and we were back in Cuenca before we knew it. It also helped us forget that the bus driver was driving like a manic. Overall, despite the horrible pain after horseback riding, I enjoyed my trip.  - Kaitlyn & Stephanie