Back to Loja

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Day 83 on The Big Trip. "Uh-ohhh" and "Let's go" day!

I don’t feel well. My symptoms include fever, soar throat, enough phlegm for the entire frog population along the Nile, and heavy breathing. So after a limit-of-one-crepe and a limitless-bread breakfast at Izhcayluma hostel, I rest while Alisa and our friends head to town for fun and inquiry regarding nate-aid.

As it turns out, seeing the doctor at the hospital in town is free. We go to see him and he diagnoses me with fluid in the lungs and prescribes three sets of pills. The pills cost me $15, but at least the doctor’s visit was free this time! Apparently I should have gone to the hospital in Baños rather than having him come to my hostel room!

We rediscover other friends (British cat named Danny & co.) eating in Vilcabamba and decide it’s about time for lunch. So we drop ourselves in the plaza for a good soup and second plate. Then it’s time to leave. We need to return to Loja to book our bus trip to Peru 24 hours in advance. So we go back to the hostel, pack up our stuff [including our dank (stinky and wet) clothes], and share a cab with Becky and Olivier into town. They hang out with us while we wait for our minibus back to Loja. The minibus is intermediate in both price and trip duration between the bus and the taxi colectivo. This suits us and finally it picks us up. We put our bags in the back of the minibus and catch two near-back seats for the 1¼-hour ride back.

Arriving back in Loja, we are tired. Still, we must find the bus agency that brings us to Peru without switching buses at the border, etc. Tickets are bought and we go get a hostel. This time, we try the Hostel Acapulco, immediately next door to the Hostel Londres where we stayed last time in Loja. The room costs $13 but includes free hot and cold water (for refills, tea, etc.) and wireless internet. The room itself smells of poor choice in bathroom air freshener and is quite small. However, the extras seem worth it since we need to update our blogs, so we bank on it and start typing.

Besides dinner that night, our day was henceforth pretty uneventful. But oftentimes such are traveling days!

As a postnote to this entry, I'd like to say that reading comments on these posts and getting e-mails has been a nice breath of fresh air, even if traveling is going splendidly. At times I've been sick, at other times mini-robbed, at other times on a peak from hiking or jazzed from a great meal! No matter, the comments are great and I'm so glad to stay in touch with everyone so far away! Much love from south of the ecuator!