OVER THE HILL TO ZAMORA
On January 1st we left Vilcabamba at 10:00 with our trusted taxi driver Hernan. It took an hour to get through Loja, and maybe another 20 minutes to reach the pass over this part of the Andes, which is just over 9000 feet. We were in some clouds near the top which dissipated as we descended the east slope, which was pretty much all curves. But the road was concrete and in excellent shape and the occasional waterfall marked our way, while the scenery was spectacular as expected.
The majority of the buildings are on hillsides, and all are made out of concrete and blocks. Some buildings are not painted, and one sees the usual rebar protruding from some of them. The top floor of many is an open space with a roof which seems to serve as storage space and for hanging clothes out to dry. Some of the roofs don’t really look like they are leak proof, and a few of the tiled roofs have a few sheets of metal roofing thereon, assumed for that purpose. I suppose the word “Ramshackle” describes this town. One hefty earthquake and the results would be devastating.
When corresponding with my contacts over here, I asked a certain taxi driver named Irving which hotel he’d recommend, and he referred us to the Wampushkar Hotel, which overlooks the river from an adjacent hillside.
From the top floor of the hotel we can see a long park which stretches along the river’s edge. We found ourselves gravitating to a mirador on the top floor near the end of the day, as it was always breezy and shaded there. On the day we arrived, many families were enjoying the park, being New Year’s Day. Since we needed a walk, we went to check it out. There were really a lot of birds along the water’s edge, and I missed some potentially good shots by leaving my camera in our room.
For the rest of that day and the next there was a cloud cover which kept the temperature tolerable. But on the 3rd day, the day we went to Podocarpus Nat Park, the sky was blue, and by 11:00 it was getting really hot, so we knocked off at noon and were back in our motel by 01:00, and took showers to wash the sweat off. Around 02:00 we walked down to the street along the water’s edge where we opted to eat at the same restaurant we ate at on day one. Then we walked east to the bridge to see how far the park goes and found it ends just past that bridge. We then mosied back to our room, and I opted to head up to the mirador on the 4th floor.
LOOKING EAST FROM THE MIRADOR INTO THE ANDES
LOOKING NW FROM THE MIRADOR
THIS IS THE ALLEY WE TOOK GOING DOWN TO THE RIVER PARK
ANOTHER VIEW TO THE NORTHWEST
I DID NOT SEE ANY SIGNS FOR USING DOGGY BAGS IN THE PARK. SO YOU WERE ON YOUR OWN
THE BOARDWALK WAS BUILT UP TO AND AROUND THIS TREE
 |
From one large tree hang 2 Crested Oropendula nests, and in another some Yellow-rumped Caciques are building theirs. Here’s a shot of the 2 Oropundula nests and one of a Cacique’s plus some shots of birds from the Mirador:
BLUE-AND-WHITE SWALLOWS
ROCK PIGEONS
BLUE-GRAY TANAGERS
TROPICAL KINGBIRD
YELLOW-RUMPED CACIQUE
A CACIQUE AND THE NEST BEING BUILT
On our 4th day our time in Zamora was coming to an end. The last morning we did not have to wake up early, but did anyway. While this was supposed to be one of the better hotels in town, we always needed to wear ear plugs for both outside and inside noise. The bed was quite firm, and so not real comfortable. And you would think for such a hot environment, they’d have AC, but no. But we survived.
The dining room was in the basement where we ate our first hotel breakfast, which consisted of eggs, toast, mango pieces, juice and coffee. After packing we went for a walk to the riverfront park one last time, and I made sure to bring my camera. It was already getting hot, so we gravitated to the shade whenever possible. I got killer shots of a Tiger Heron and male Swallow Tanager, and decent shots of a few others.
We returned to our room to put my camera and binoculars in my day pack, and headed downstairs to pay our bill. I had reserved our room via the “Booking” app with a credit card, but now I learned that the place only accepts cash. Now that was a problem as we simply did not have enough cash for this place and the next, so I told the guy this was a big problem. He was unfazed. So I asked where the nearest ATM was, which thankfully was just down the road. I went there and it was part of a local cooperative/credit union, so I had my doubts. A security guard nearby was kind enough to assist me, but it turned out the system did not work with mine, so I asked him where another one was, which was another block away. It had the kind of apparatus that when you put your debit card therein, it took the whole thing, like a vacuum cleaner, and you wonder if you’d ever see it again. Thankfully when I put the card in, it asked me whether I wanted English or Spanish, so I could almost smell the money now, which was almost a minute in coming.
When I got back to the hotel the taxi driver Irving was already loading our stuff in the trunk. I paid the bill and off we went. It was hot, and Irving’s AC did not really help that much, so the windows were going to be down all the way. The concrete road was in great shape. Irving said it would be about 3 hours to Yankuam, a place I’ve been dreaming about for years, and Irving was the nephew of the owner. The official name is “Cabanas Yankuam” meaning the Yankuam Cabins. I think they got on the map because of a certain tanager found nearby in the 60s which was new to science, and a pretty spiffy one at that.
I had to brainstorm whether we should attempt to try to go all the way from Yankuam to Vilcabamba in one day on our return trip, and opted to not do so, so we made arrangements to stay here in Zamora at the same hotel one last time on the return trip. They even put us in the same room. Tomorrow after breakfast we take a taxi to the bus depot and get a ride to Loja, and from that depot get a ride to Vilcabamba. Should be interesting.
—————————————————————————————————
After breakfast we paid our bill, got a taxi to the bus terminal. We found the sign of are bus service that said “Loja,” so did our best to tell her we needed to get a bus there. The bus was ready to leave, and we paid the fare of $3.50. It took just over an hour to reach the terminal in Loja, and inside we looked around and did not see any sign for Vilcabamba, so found an info booth, and the guy told us it was around the corner, so away we went and found it. That bus was ready to leave, so I held out a handful of change and the lady took one or two coins, and we were the last ones to hop on the bus, even getting front row seats. (The bus was not very full as yet). It took at least a half hour to get out of the city, stopping every block or two to pick someone up. The attendant then made his rounds to collect money, and wanted some from us. We told him we paid at the terminal, but he still needed some, and that ended up being $3.80. So I think it cost us under $12.00 to get from Zamora to Vilcabamba. We saved $58 by using the bus rather than taking a taxi. Funny that at the taxi stop in Vilcabamba Hernan was there in the taxi line. I did not recognize him with his sunglasses, but Rosie did, so we had a short chat before he drove off. So it was about as painless as possible returning by bus.
No comments:
Post a Comment