I turned towards Cuenca and continued my trek down the road. A públic bus refused my outstretched hand like it should´nt´ve, and I of course resented the tirade of passing new 4wd´s until one stopped to give me a lift - albeit in the tray. As I jumped in like a deliriously crazed mutt I felt a crunch against the tray from where my camera was in my pocket.
STOP PRESS: It has been reported that there is a new ´Bermuda Triangle´ - this one appears to suck camera batteries into its evil vortex. It is situated in the Ecuador/northern Peru region between Tarapoto in Peru and Cayambe and Cuenca in Ecuador. Three batteries so far have been reported missing and/or stolen or broken. This has caused serious concern and of course financial setback to the previous owners but more intriguing to the victim is what´s the source of this mysteriously powerful epicentre of dark magic.
The wind and my saturated clothes kept me cold and shivering the whole way back to the town centre where I gratefully jumped out - I considered myself lucky to survive two things that day... hypothermia and that dude´s Indy 500 cornering. Although back in mild Cuenca I still shook and trembled uncontrollably on the way back to the hostel where (all former bitterness forgiven) I revived with my longest hot shower in recent history. It had been the most challenging weather I´d ever experienced while in the wilderness and I felt well and truly over the high mountains of Ecuador.
I soon discovered the ´crunch´ I´d heard when mounting the ute was the collision of my camera battery and the tray and it was dead. Charger? No. Camera? No. Unrevivable. Cest la vie but jeez they´re not cheap. So I packed for leaving for Vilcabamba late the next day, when I processed photos, sent parcels and ate more pan de yuca con yogurt.
Note (also a true story): The aforementioned dead battery I had left to the evil of the Triangle, but decided to try my own magic, praying to the purest source I knew, the Elves of Middle-earth. "May the light of Eärendil guide you." were my words. A few moments later the camera sprang to life! A miracle; and proof that the power of the Elves and the Three Rings still endures in Middle-earth and will prevail over such malditions as the cursed ´Bermuda Triangle´.
The bus journey to Loja was long and I finally got to see a non-Hollywood film, Robert Rodriguez´s ´El Mariachi´. In the early evening we arrived in pretty, clean and modern Loja and I ate and changed buses to head to Vilcabamba. The journey was nice even in the dark and I arrived, found a great little hostel including my own luxury room with loft for $9 and crashed it.
STOP PRESS: It has been reported that there is a new ´Bermuda Triangle´ - this one appears to suck camera batteries into its evil vortex. It is situated in the Ecuador/northern Peru region between Tarapoto in Peru and Cayambe and Cuenca in Ecuador. Three batteries so far have been reported missing and/or stolen or broken. This has caused serious concern and of course financial setback to the previous owners but more intriguing to the victim is what´s the source of this mysteriously powerful epicentre of dark magic.
The wind and my saturated clothes kept me cold and shivering the whole way back to the town centre where I gratefully jumped out - I considered myself lucky to survive two things that day... hypothermia and that dude´s Indy 500 cornering. Although back in mild Cuenca I still shook and trembled uncontrollably on the way back to the hostel where (all former bitterness forgiven) I revived with my longest hot shower in recent history. It had been the most challenging weather I´d ever experienced while in the wilderness and I felt well and truly over the high mountains of Ecuador.
I soon discovered the ´crunch´ I´d heard when mounting the ute was the collision of my camera battery and the tray and it was dead. Charger? No. Camera? No. Unrevivable. Cest la vie but jeez they´re not cheap. So I packed for leaving for Vilcabamba late the next day, when I processed photos, sent parcels and ate more pan de yuca con yogurt.
Note (also a true story): The aforementioned dead battery I had left to the evil of the Triangle, but decided to try my own magic, praying to the purest source I knew, the Elves of Middle-earth. "May the light of Eärendil guide you." were my words. A few moments later the camera sprang to life! A miracle; and proof that the power of the Elves and the Three Rings still endures in Middle-earth and will prevail over such malditions as the cursed ´Bermuda Triangle´.
The bus journey to Loja was long and I finally got to see a non-Hollywood film, Robert Rodriguez´s ´El Mariachi´. In the early evening we arrived in pretty, clean and modern Loja and I ate and changed buses to head to Vilcabamba. The journey was nice even in the dark and I arrived, found a great little hostel including my own luxury room with loft for $9 and crashed it.
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