Had a wonderful adventure exploring the “Oriente” with friends from Loja before joining up with a small group of five others for a biking trip down three volcanos.
The trip started with taking what I call the “suicide vans” to Loja from Cuenca a trip of about 3½ hours. These vans are technically supposed to be tour operators and aren’t licensed to transport people to other locations because they compete with the buses. So the first thing they tell you when you get in the vehicle is that if they get stopped we are supposed to say we are part of a group and they designate one person to be the responsible party who paid $100 or so for the trip. In reality, it costs $12 per person. Then they drive like a bat out of hell around curvy and not well-maintained roads passing everyone they can on scary blind curves in mountains with 1000 foot drops. If we don’t die we save an hour or two to our destination.
I hooked up with friends, we left Loja and headed mostly east and some south to Zamora, a route with more than 65 waterfalls that are seen from the road. Once you get to Zamora the road (Highway E45) turns and heads mostly north, scenery along the way is pretty spectacular – waterfalls, heavy vegetation, rivers, mountains, and small towns. First stop was a small town called Gualaquiza, cute, small, but not much to see. Somewhat more north we stopped to visit a well-marked dirt road to find a waterfall called Casacada Coloradas. It was a tough and long road (12 kilometers) to get there. Turns out that the place has 4 small cabins, a restaurant, dressing rooms, a narrow metal bridge you can cross, and a series of waterfalls with small pools you can swim (get wet) in.
Continue reading 2021 Christmas Trip to the Jungle!
brauner abroad 