Day 40 Saturday 3rd November: Doug leaps to our altitude record!

John writes:

Our last evening at Cabanas Samay Magico started in dramatic fashion with our largest team member being frightened by a spider. Doug shrieked in terror as his 6′ 4″ frame was threatened by a tarantula type spider in his room, apparently the size of his fist but he was too busy standing on his bed screaming to take a picture!

Having escaped the killer spider we walked into Huigra village to see what was up with a stunning evening sky as the clouds cleared from the afternoon downpour.

Huigra maybe a sleepy village but people were very friendly and everyone had a welcome and a buenos tardes. By the time we headed back the streets were quiet but perhaps the calm before the storm of a fiesta for All Saints Day.

Doug survived the night without attack by the tarantula although didn’t sleep too well! We head off early to drive the 89miles to our last Ecuador destination of Cuenca, one of the oldest cities in the country. Again the roads were very twisty, with periodic rock falls but generally very good and we rapidly climbed through the normal spectacular scenery. Within 25 minutes and about 12 miles we had switch backed our way up over 4,000 feet Ecuador’s apparently normal height of 8,500 feet.

Chunchi was the first of many towns we passed through but like many it just clings to the mountainsides and survives.

Many locals out all dressed up with nowhere to go and roadside stalls selling festive food too.

The big news for today is we beat our altitude record by 100 feet, hitting 11,700 feet before descending into Cuenca and arrived at about mid-day to enjoy this old colonial town.

Avis has been singularly unhelpful and closed it’s office so we were unable to drop the car off. Tomorrow we depart via Quito for Lima but before then we will explore the delights of colonial Cuenca. Keys will be lobbed over the Avis wall if the office is not open!