Leroy left before us in the rain on concrete pavement. When we
left we had a chuckle as the pavement only went one more corner then
back to dirt. This transition between pavement and dirt was going to
continue for most of the morning.
We passed Leroy on an uphill
section then stopped at an archaeology site, it was pouring rain so donned our ponchos and wondered around. An interesting site every
thing in circles.. passed Leroy again which surprised him somewhat.
Found an unused culvert!
Finally found a bank in Vilcabamba which would give us money, so did a shop. Lots of different stuff here, cocoa, coconut milk (unsweetened) bread with grain…. Also bought a SIM card - Internet again.
Drove onto Loja met a German in camper, tried a forested area
on the east side of town but too built up so drove out of town to the
NW green area and just after turning onto the dirt road to head north
we found a little flat spot near road. Once there, we noticed a track
going up so drove up that and camped beside an unused church. Very
windy.
Found an unused culvert!
Finally found a bank in Vilcabamba which would give us money, so did a shop. Lots of different stuff here, cocoa, coconut milk (unsweetened) bread with grain…. Also bought a SIM card - Internet again.
Drove onto Loja met a German in camper, tried a forested area
on the east side of town but too built up so drove out of town to the
NW green area and just after turning onto the dirt road to head north
we found a little flat spot near road. Once there, we noticed a track
going up so drove up that and camped beside an unused church. Very
windy.
We have noticed
that the buses and truck are courteous drivers. All the traffic seems
calmer than in Peru. Houses have also gone up a notch in presentation
and size.