Loja to Peru

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Day 84 on The Big Trip. “It’s Electric!” or “It’s eclectic!” or "Drink it up?!"

Today was unexpected. As our last day in Loja and as our last day in Ecuador, we expected today to be for errands and to flow unobstructed.

The first hurdle in the obstacle course was an electrical outage for an entire sector that included our hostel. This meant nonexistence for the following things: internet, hot shower, hot water at all, lights in our room. For a $13/night room this is unacceptable, especially since we paid $13 each instead of $5 each next door for the exact amenities that are now lacking! This meant a day of on-and-off speaking with the receptionist, trying to bargain, and asking for her boss who she claimed – and maybe rightfully so – was in Vilcabamba, traveling.

Settlement: $13 for both of us and we can return to use the internet for the day as soon as the electricity returns. As it turns out, the electricity was gone from 9am until just past 5pm.

The second and most difficult gauntlet – definitely the crux - in our obstacle course was laundry service.

Laundry Part I: Our morning was spent searching the town of Loja for a laundry service that was open on Sunday. Worse yet, we needed same-day service. It’s hard enough to find businesses that are open for the necessity of food, so how can we expect to find this luxury available? There must be at least one. We finally find a place that is called “La Profesional Lavanderia: Experiencia y Responsibilidad”. There’s a hitch, though. The owner is not there – not available. The person who works in the same area that is negotiating with us refuses to divulge such excellent information as the price per kilo or any price range at all. But, somehow she can tell us that the clothes will be done by 7pm. It’s about noon when all of this happens. We know that they might have tricks up their sleaves, but what choice do we have? Our clothes are dirty and we’re going to Peru tomorrow on an 8-hour bus ride and would like not to melt the bus with our own fumes.

Laundry Part II: We pay $12, an obscene amount for the few kilos of clothes we had to have washed. For contrast, in Cuenca it was 80 cents/kilo, which is fair. At Izhcayluma hostel in Vilcabamba, an expensive place, they charged $1.50/kilo. Thus, when we found out it was $12, we knew we were being ripped off to begin with. When we get our clothes back, clean and folded, we don’t get all of them and some of them aren’t in the same condition they once were as far as integrity of cloth goes. One of my four shirts for the trip is missing, as is one of my socks, the twin of which is shredded at the toe. Thinking we’d been robbed again, we return to the place of all of the businesses to find the woman we had actually handed our clothes to. Our goal is to (1) get some of the $12 back because it’s unfair in the first place, (2) get money back for the damaged and lost sock pair, and (3) get my shirt back.

Settlement Part I: We got my shirt back. We didn’t get any money back. Before the “professional” woman arrived with our shirt, the woman we originally dealt with told us that it was our fault and our responsibility for our things. Upon arriving, the arguments were on. The “professional” woman told us that if we had as many problems as we did in Ecuador, maybe we shouldn’t come to Ecuador. And then she insulted our dirty clothes and us. All the while, the woman we dealt with originally was laughing.

The only things I said during the entire fiasco where the washer woman avoided eye contact with me were the following: “No lo creo.” = I don’t believe this; “Como se dice ‘If you came to my country I would not treat you like this’?” = How do you say…; and “Escuche” = listen. All to no avail!

Settlement Part II: We left and talked our way back to our hostel in disbelief, anxious to leave the country of Ecuador. To make ourselves feel better we watched the first part of the animation film WALL-E.

End of obstacle course! We made it! Tomorrow is Peru and I’m excited to add some more flavors to my experiences and passport.