Our last evening in Loja we went to dinner with Cal & Sisca at El Carbonero restaurant and then to the symphony in the new Concert Hall. The food and company was wonderful (the view from the restaurant spectacular). The symphony hall is gorgeous and the symphony itself was great.
The next morning we spent finalizing our packing and cleaning. Cal took us to the van service that would transport us to our next destination, Cuenca. The van was full, seven passengers, a driver and his “trainer”. I took my Dramamine and prepared to enjoy the scenery along the way. We started off well but 15-20 minutes into our trip we were pulled over by the transit police. I only know that the driver and his trainer were making absolutely NO headway with the police officers. The trainer called for his own back-up and two more people (each driving separately) arrived to try to work things out with the transit police. After arguing back and forth for about 20 minutes, we were transferred to another van to go BACK to Loja. Needless to say, not what we were hoping for on the start to Cuenca.
We returned to Loja and waited while the woman in the office prepared new paperwork (that would supposedly work if we were stopped again) and we were informed that we should just say that we didn’t speak the language and we bought a group rate. The van that brought us back is the one that would now take us to Cuenca. Fingers crossed.
The driver was able to take us the whole way…with only one other problem 🤔. We stopped about two hours in to refuel and use the restrooms. There was a small convenience store and we picked up some chips to tide us over. When everyone was reloaded into the van the driver came to close the side door and lo and behold – no dice. It would not remain closed. He and another man peered into the space between the door and the jamb, tried to shut the door. After about 10 minutes it shut. I did not touch the door just in case it wasn’t fully latched. We rode the remaining distance with no further issues and enjoyed views of the Andes Mountains.
We arrived in Cuenca and were picked up by Juan, our air bnb hosts’ son. He speaks English as well as Spanish so we were able to ask questions along the way to our temporary apartment. Here is what it looks like:
Here is the view from the balcony:
More to share on our exploration of Cuenca to come shortly! Leaving you with some wall art that is so appropos to our times:
brauner abroad 