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neighbourhoods climbing toward El Panecillo, where along the stairs, it was common for the inhabitants to run out of their houses to greet us.
On the top of the hill La Vergin de Quito, that dominated the city below, I looked at the GPS, for the first time in our travels and was amazed to find it displayed zero degrees North.
A few kilometres away we visited the Mitad Del Mundo and began our journey in the southern part of the world.
The road to Banos was beautiful; it seemed to touch the sky, grazing the peaks over 5000 metres of the most famous volcanoes in Ecuador. You just have to get used to the timetables because everything opens before six in the morning and everything, or almost everything, closes before sunset around six in the afternoon. Twelve hours of light and the same temperatures all year round; unusual for two Europeans who live by seasonal cycles. And the locals who do their bit by defining Invierno and Verano( summer) as the dry and wet seasons, consolidating our conviction that we had not understood how the weather works in these parts.
A huge landslide forced us to take a dirt detour with payment to the campesinos for crossing private property before reaching our destination. We still shared the road with Roland and had fun, under a now usual downpour, travelling the Ruta de las Cascadas in search of the best view of the dozens of waterfalls in the region. We had never taken on as much water as here between the mist of the waterfalls and the pouring rain as we walked down the path that took us to the Pailòn del Diablo. We challenged fate by crossing the canyon with a rudimentary funicular before finding shelter in our small apartment.
In Cuenca we said our goodbyes to Roland and took a day off to visit the historic centre, a UNESCO heritage site. Our guide would be
Samuele, who had chosen to spend his civil service following projects to initiate rural tourism in the villages of the surrounding countryside. A valid help especially to improve the condition of women who, thanks to economic independence, can educate their children and hope for a better life.
Loja was our last stop of which the entrance was through the Puerta de la Ciudad, an imposing, opulent castle that gives access to the historic centre. A huge graffiti display reminded us of the importance of Simon Bolivar in the history of the nation. We barely had time to walk along Sucre when, arriving at Parque Central, the main city square, the last Ecuadorian sunset arrived. Starting tomorrow we would move forward, opening a new chapter in our Pan- American adventure. FC & SB
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