Cuenca and Loja

We arrived in Cuenca in the pouring rain and checked into our hostel. After a bad nights sleep due to the bright Christmas lights outside our window, making it basically daylight, and the noisy traffic on the road, we decided to spend some of the next day seeing the city and then get a 4pm bus to our next place, Loja. Apparently Cuenca is a very popular place for expats, and although it was fairly nice to walk around the streets, there wasn't too much in the town to keep us occupied and we ended up chilling in a park for a while before picking up our bags and heading for the bus terminal. 

Pup in pyjamas in a coffin shop

Ask for a coffee with milk, get hot milk and a jar of instant coffee

We had originally planned to get through these cities quickly in order to make it to the coast of Peru for new years eve, and had planned only 1 day in Loja, enough time to see the city and a free walking tour. There was also a viewpoint on top of a tower of the city gate which we walked to, and botanical gardens which we took a public bus to, only to find out when we arrived that it was closed between Christmas and New year. 

The city gate

Castle-y

View of Loja from the top

We got to the meeting point for the free walking tour, at the tourist information centre, with no sign of anyone else waiting or a guide. We asked at the information desk and were assured that it was happening, and sure enough about 15 minutes later a guide appeared. Looks like we were the only ones on the walking tour then. Can't really give an anonymous tip with that ratio.

Some kind of tree jumper

The guide took us around the streets and the plazas, showing us the place where cloister nuns still live- once they enter they can't leave the building, pretty much completely separated from the outside world except for a hatch where people can come to get traditional medicines that the nuns grow in their garden. There was also a music school which was originally the first high school in Loja, with a statue of the man who founded the school in the middle. Except that when the statue was being made it was mixed up with another statue of a guy from Chile and sent to the wrong place, the one that stands there is a random guy from Chile, nobody knows what the actual guy looks like. He also took us into one of the churches which had the biggest nativity scene in Ecuador and definitely put any other ones we had ever seen to shame- it was effectively a nativity village, complete with animal sound effects, moving figurines and even running water and lighting changing from night to day.

Loja is known for its music, and our guide informed us that even the bin lorry is musical and that the tune is a recording of the mayor whistling. 

A fair amount of time spent making this nativity

Night time in Bethlehem!

The guide also explained that every Thursday in the main plaza there is a free display from local musicians and dancers for anyone to attend, which luckily was that evening. Also it was a shame we were not staying for new years, people burn dummies with masks of famous people or characters to represent burning the past and making way for a new year and men dress in drag on the streets and ask people for beer money. 

Tiny musicians in oversized ponchos

We thought about it, it did sound interesting and we were both exhausted from almost 2 months on the road and jonno recovering from a stomach bug. Maybe we should stop for a few days, see the new years celebrations in Ecuador and then move on to Peru. 

If we were staying a few days we wanted somewhere that we could actually rest, and we managed to find an apartment in Loja for about $35 a night. It was about 2km from the hotel we were staying in, so we checked out and decided it was walkable. We knew it was going to be up a bit of a hill but didn't realise until we started that it was about 200 steps up which was pretty tiring with all our bags. When we arrived at the apartment, sweaty and sore, we were pleasantly surprised. A modern apartment with great views of the city, with a full kitchen and sofas and even an office corner with a computer. The perfect place to recouperate. And this is exactly what we did- apart from a couple of trips into town for food shopping, we spent a few days just enjoying not having to do much (apart from a lot of blogging to catch up on!) 

Blog headquarters

On new year's eve, we decided that we would head into town at about 9pm to see what was going on. We expected things to be happening around the main plaza if anywhere. As we walked though the streets, we saw a lot of dummies lined up and some taped to the front of cars. There was also bit queues of traffic building up on the streets, as the roads were being blocked off by men in wigs and minidresses, who were stopping every car and humping them, sometimes even climbing on the bonnet on all fours, until they were handed some money and then they let the car pass. Weirdly enough this hadn't put people off driving through the streets, and if anything there were more cars, almost as if people wanted to have their vehicle violated, even bringing their small children along for the ride. 

Selling the masks for the dummies in the marketplace

Bundled into the back of vans

And taped to the front of cars

Men in wigs and dresses accosting cars

Apart from these strange displays, nothing else was open and the main plaza was pretty much deserted. Maybe this is all there was. After walking around for about an hour and not finding much else except for a caterpillar train driving around erratically and a small fairground set up with stalls selling more dummies and masks, we were about to give up and wander back to the apartment. Just in case we were missing anything obvious, Jonno decided to ask a passer by if there was a party happening anywhere, to which the guy pointed towards an area a kilometre away at the city gate. We walked there and found there was a concert going on, so we decided to watch the concert with some kind of latino boy band playing, by this point there was only an hour until midnight. As we were flagging and it was waaay past my bedtime, we sat against one of the walls of the city gate to watch the concert and other people dancing, and a couple of minutes before midnight thought we should probably stand up and join in with the crowd. It was lucky that we did, as at midnight the tower above us exploded with fireworks, and a shower of sparks came down the walls, landing where we had just been sitting. We took a few steps further back, slightly concerned we were still far too close to the fireworks, ducking behind a stage to avoid the debris falling from the sky. After the fireworks had finished, we walked back through the streets towards the apartment, although now we had to dodge fireworks being set off in the street and fires in the middle of the road where the dummies had been set alight. Before midnight the streets had been filled with music and people, and on the walk back the music had stopped and streets were either deserted or had people somberly watching the fires or clearing up piles of ash from the streets- it felt like some kind of apocalyptic warzone. There were also children leaping over the flames, definitely no health and safety here! 

The moment the clock rolls over to midnight and the crazy fireworks ensuing!

Burning dummies

One more day to chill in our lovely apartment and then it was time to leave, even though we could have happily stayed there for another week. 

View of Loja from the apartment

A very early start to get to the bus terminal, and Jonno still being half asleep found a coffee vendor and got a very sweet black coffee to try and maintain consciousness. He had gotten halfway through it when we were approached by a grubby old man who smelt very strongly of alcohol, asking for money. When we said no, the man instead took the coffee from Jonno's hands and walked off with it, laughing with glee. Seriously, the crime in south America....

Poor dog just missed the bus..

Santa Marta and Cartagena

Cartagena

Our next stop was Santa Marta, and our first experience of an overnight bus in Colombia. Definitely not the greatest night's sleep, with a bus change at midnight just as we had managed to doze off, and a visit by the police before we left on the second bus to check everyone's passports. We arrived in Santa Marta at about 8am, sore and in definite need of more sleep.

We had booked a nice looking hotel with air conditioning and a pool, not very close to the centre but we guessed there would still be things around the area. In fact, the hotel was down a dirt track just off a highway, and as the taxi driver struggled to get over boulders in the path we tried to apologise for any damage to the underside of his car.

We were greeted by the owner of the hotel, who we initially started to speak to in broken Spanish until we realised he was American, making life a lot easier. We couldn't check in until 2pm, so sleep would have to wait, and we dragged ourselves out to look for some kind of breakfast. Unfortunately, there was nothing around except for a shopping centre a 15 minute walk away where pretty much everything was closed except for a supermarket which thankfully had a cafe. Later we realised it was yet another public holiday, the Colombians really dont like going to work on a Monday!

After checking in and a brief nap, there was nowhere else to go but to venture to the town. Luckily, there is no need to search for a bus stop here, you just stand at the side of the road and within minutes a passing bus will pick you up. When you need to get off, you shout and the bus driver stops. We like this system. Again, as it was a public holiday, the town did not have much to offer either but we had a walk by the seafront and found a couple of restaurants open.

We had planned a few day trips from Santa Marta, the first being a beach, but the weather decided otherwise so instead we went to a small town in the mountains, Minca, which we heard had some nice hikes and coffee tours. An hour's minibus ride away from the centre, and we arrived in Minca and started walking towards one of the coffee farms, a steep 45 minute hike which would have probably had some lovely views were it not for the thick cloud cover.

Waterfalls along the way

Not such a sunny day

We arrived at the plantation just as the heavens opened, and were invited to join a tour that had already started but we could hear the beginning part later. The owner of the farm spoke about what was involved in growing and processing the coffee. He was aiming for the farm to become organically certified, and explained the methods they use instead of pesticides to keep insects away, including buying wasps (imagine being that desperate for wasps you would pay for them! Maybe we could try a system where every time one ruins a picnic in the UK, we can put it in an envelope and send it to the farmers here). He also revealed that pretty much all the coffee grown in Colombia was exported to other countries, and they imported lower quality coffee for their own use. So if you were hoping to come to Colombia for the fresh Colombian coffee, you have a higher chance of getting some in your local supermarket.

I have heard if you put a Toucan to your ear it sounds like the sea

Speaking of coffee, the Colombians seem to only make it two ways- strong and black (tinto) or basically one granule in hot milk (cafe en leche). If you try and ask for coffee with a little bit of milk, they revert straight to cafe en leche, no in betweens. This often produces a very disappointing coffee, but a nice bedtime beverage.

The following day we headed out of Santa Marta again to Tayrona National Park.We underestimated how long this would take,and did not get entrance to the park until 11.30am. Most people go to the park for hiking and camping, and there are beaches at various points. As we were short on time (the park closed at 5pm) our tactic was to hike to the furthest point first and then we could make stops on the way back as time allowed. What we didn't realise was that the heavy rainfall caused most of the paths to turn into swamps of mud, which took longer to negotiate than if it was dry. 2 and a half hours later we arrived at the place we were aiming for, enough time for a 15 minute lunch break before having to walk straight back to make it before the park closed. By this time Jonno's boots had given up on being waterproof, and we were definitely done with mud.

Stepping around the bog of eternal stench

Only a little muddy

Upward facing lizard

Optimistic picnic friend

As soon as we got onto the bus towards Santa Marta, the heavy rain started again and  we got back to the city it was evident Santa Marta was not geared up for this amount of rainfall. There was no drainage system on the streets, so the town had become a Colombian Venice. Some people had seen this as a wonderful money making opportunity, and had made bridges for people to cross over the road with rocks and planks of wood, and were charging them for the privilege of slightly drier feet.

Wet Santa Marta had failed to charm us, so onto the next place, Cartagena, a 5 and a half hour bus trip. Typically, the whole of this day was filled with brilliant sunshine, We arrived in Cartagena at about 7.30pm and went to find a taxi to our accommodation. There was a sign on the wall with the areas of town and the fixed taxi prices to get to the places. We worked out it should not cost more than 17,000 pesos (£4.25) and made our way to the nearest taxi. There was another backpacker who was on our bus who said he was staying about a kilometer from our accommodation and could we share a taxi...Sure, no problem. Apparently this was a problem for the taxi drivers, who then told us we would have to get separate taxis or pay 30,000- over double the price. The backpacker, who spoke a lot more Spanish than us, fought our corner and insisted we could go together, we would agree to pay 20,000. An argument ensued, with Jonno and I both standing awkwardly, only being able to pick out a few of the words being said. Eventually, the taxi driver agreed to take us all, but the argument continued even in the car. During a quiet moment, the backpacker mentioned to us he had heard some taxi drivers in the area had been known to kidnap tourists and force them to withdraw money from ATMs. Not the most reassuring revelation. As soon as we reached our accommodation we made a quick exit, relieved to be away from the situation.

Our accommodation was in a gated area, and was run by the friendliest guy, who spoke amazing English for what we were used to. He gave us information about the area and what we could do. Most of the things in Cartagena are based in the old town, a walled area with pretty colonial buildings. But of course, the first day we were there it rained so heavily we avoided going outside until late afternoon, when we braved it with raincoats for another free walking tour. As we couldn't fully appreciate the city through the torrential rain, we took the next day to wander the streets to see what Cartagena had to offer. The area was definitely more aimed at holidaymakers than backpackers, which meant more upmarket restaurants and shops.

The ladies in the brightly coloured dresses come from a nearby village and sell fruit

Models showing the occupations of the local people

As we were on the coast, we took the opportunity on a relatively dry day to spend some time on a beach. The main beach most people went to was Playa Blanca, known for its white sand. We had also heard it was overcrowded and touristy, so on the recommendation of the guy who owned the guest house, we took a boat to a less pretty but quieter beach, and despite it being overcast, still managed to get sunburnt.

Cartagena was nice for a day or two but again, did not have that much appeal for us. So time to start making our way south and another overnight bus to Medellin.

Pretty streets of the old town

Sunset at the walls of the old town

Ho Chi Minh City (Formerly Saigon)

A small sample of some Ho Chi Minh City traffic.

Who knows what side of the road they drive on and whose right of way it is.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at around midnight, and hopped in a taxi to our hotel. I’d arranged an eye test for when we got there, first thing in the morning, so we’d decided to get a hotel somewhere between there and everything else. It turned out the hotel was in the middle of nowhere though, and by the time we arrived at 1am, we headed straight to bed.

Attempting to work out how we’d get there, we figured we’d rent a scooter at reception as it gave us chance to do more in the day and work out cheaper. However, I didn’t want to put contact lenses in, so it was over to Diana to do all the riding. I’m not sure if you’re all aware of the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, but it’s almost entirely moto’s and they’re literally everywhere. But we made it, with only a few flustered moments. My eyes were apparently fine with no change in prescription, so that’s always nice to know. Confident the traffic was going to be worse at around this time, I took over the driving and we headed off to the Cu Chi tunnels.

I can confirm that riding a motorcycle in Ho Chi Minh City is a very different experience to riding around England. That is, within the city itself. The place felt somewhat reminiscent of the traffic in India, in that no matter how wide the road is (or isn’t), there will always be one more vehicle trying to squeeze in. Vehicles with four wheels might as well have their handbrakes on permanently, as the sheer amount of moto’s sneaking around them, like water flowing around rocks in a river, meant they were progressing at such a slow rate they would often miss the changing of traffic lights. Never before have I felt the need to check my blind spots quite so frequently, as you can never know exactly where every vehicle was around you. Anyone at home who complains when a driver cuts them up with a couple of metres to spare, for the love of your blood pressure don’t consider driving here. If there’s a spare inch between you and the vehicle next to you, someone will try and sneak in.

That said, once we left the business of the city, everything calmed down dramatically. Suddenly it was the open road, wonderful openness and countryside, rural villages, the stuff you come to love about South East Asia and certainly the reason I will want to go back to Vietnam after this. A fifteen-day visa free entry just isn’t enough.

It took a little over an hour to get to the tunnels, where we learned of some of the history of the Viet Cong and how they operated from a vast network of narrow, dingy tunnels. During the second Indochina War between Vietnam and the USA, this was how many of the Viet Cong army remained hidden, doing everything underground from sleeping, cooking, planning tactics and building traps and weapons. An incredible feat, with vents hidden in areas that just looked like plants to allow air in, and other methods to baffle exhaust vents and cut down the amount of smoke exhumed from cooking. We were shown the entrance to one tunnel (which, if it wasn’t pointed out, I would never have spotted) and our guide told us we could go in. Looking at the size of it, I just laughed at him, thinking he was joking. But he was serious, the hole wasn’t barely as wide as I was, but the trick was to go in at a diagonal. Apparently this was very useful back in the war, as the Vietnamese were a lot smaller and wirey than their American enemies, and would be able to zip through without being followed.

We were also shown a number of the traps used, most of which involved false floors to impale an unfortunately recipient upon sharpened spikes. Some of the underground rooms were actually a lot larger than you’d expect, with large tables for discussing military plans with high ranking officers.

Ouch...

We were also given some of the food they’d have in the tunnels, consisting of cooked taro and a plate of crushed peanuts in sugar. As Diana and I went to try it, our tour guide quickly told us to stop. A little confused, he then told the two Koreans also with our tour guide they could carry on. He then asked whether we had a peanut allergy, which it seems only applies to Westerners and not Koreans, to which we assured him we didn’t. It tasted quite good, although taro seems to be incredibly sticky and hard to shift from your hands.

The site also had a shooting range, where you could buy a range of different ammunition to fire from various guns used during the war. As tempting as it was, it was extremely expensive for a single shot and a lot of the weapons, being automatic, would probably work out inordinately expensive as a $ per second ratio. We passed and headed back home.

The next day we decided to check out the number of museums in the area, renting the scooter for a second day. First port of call however was to book our bus to Siem Reap, as we would either be volunteering there with almost immediate effect or we’d have plenty to see there anyway. We headed into town and arranged a bus (actually two, a transfer in Phnom Penh.)

Our next touristy stop was the War Remnants museum, an extremely informative, if not somewhat depressing overview of the second Indochina war and its consequences. A whole floor of the 4 storey building was devoted to the atrocities of the USA ‘Agent Orange’ herbicidal warfare attack, a horrifying attack of around 20 million US gallons of a toxic herbicide “dioxin” over southern Vietnam the result of which has caused the death, disfigurement and disablement of generations of Vietnamese people. Extremely sobering, as well as depressing and anger inducing, we looked around the rest of the museum which included information on the run up to the war, the costs associated with it, now defunct guns, weapons and vehicles and post war paraphernalia. All very interesting and well worth visiting, far too much information to ingest in one visit.

Shocking stats...

Our next stop was an attempt to visit the Notre-Dame cathedral, but, in typical backpacker form, we didn’t realise what day of the week it was and it was closed. It was still interesting from the outside, although we have no idea what it was to look at from within.

Looked good from outside anyway...

The last stop for the day was a medicine museum, built in a very traditional style building (although with a lift in the middle of it. Can’t have it all I guess.) An interesting insight into traditional Vietnamese medicine, where we got to dress up as traditional chemists and try some herbal teas.

Various different herbs, minerals and, in some cases, insects used as medicine.

How may I help you?

How to grind herbs

Even a green one for Diana!

This about wrapped up our time in Vietnam. With the rest of the evening we found ourselves a local coffee shop and ordered two ‘ca feh sua’s (Coffee with sweetened milk) with a fancy coffee drip that took far too long for my liking, and worked out what we thought about Vietnam. Definitely a country to revisit in the future, so many beautiful places and lovely people. We’ll be back!

I've never waited so long for a coffee

'Nam.

Onwards to our next country, Cambodia, Siem Reap!

BOO.

For all of our photos of Ho Chi Minh City, see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132802327@N02/albums/72157663613681954