Are we there yet??????

In Banos everything is great like always. Went canyoning after a flood, it's unbelievable how the canyon has changed. Places that were green are now nothing but a deserted spot, humongous rocks like 2X2X2 meters are gone and nowhere to be found. A place where the water is only touching the feet has a tree stuck horizontally between the walls where you can freely walk under it. I can't believe how the water in that place rose up to 3 meters high.
We went with a group of tourists who are on a tour. I will never in my life book a tour. They pass the most interesting spots, rush through towns really quickly, stay in hotels where laundry costs $2.50 a kilo, while normally all around town it's 80 cents and do most of the driving during the day because it's safer ... are you kidding me??
Went rock climbing 4 more times. Each time I'm getting better and better, and getting higher and higher. 2 times went with tourists, and there were guys who are built and strong, and they couldn't get as high as I did :))) Then once I was out of energy, and had to put my foot up very fast, but didn't make it that far and landed on a bone, so I had a hole in my leg. It's 3 weeks later now, and I can still feel it when I walk, and can't apply any pressure to it :( Later on, I put leg protectors to climb, but still was scared of that part, just hung there and wined :))
One of the friends brought some warms from a jungle, and you eat them live!!! :SSSS They're huge and fat, and I was disgusted sitting next to them, but then got brave enough and even touched it :)) But nope, I was thinking about it for days and days, and just couldn't make myself do it :) So others ate them, said they taste like mashed potatoes :))
Time to leave Banos, so so sad :((( But I only have the visa for 2 more days. Alright then, I'll go the a village beside the border with Peru on an overnight bus, relax there for 2 days, and will go for the border. Checked the passport, and apparently I have 1 more day, so I'll relax for 1 day and the next day will go. Got on a bus, and actually fell asleep. This bus was supposed to go for 12 hours. 7 hours till Cuenca, and 5 hours till Loja, where I'll change for another 1 hour bus to Vilcabamba. So alright, 9pm exit, means 9am in Loja. I'm sleeping, then the bus stopped, Loja, Loja, the driver wakes everybody up. I open my eyes, it's 5am. Can't think, in my mind we're in Cuenca. So I get out of the bus to stretch my legs. The bus almost leaves, when it hits me, OMG this is my stop!! I rush to the bus to get my things, almost didn't make it. What are we doing in Loja 4 hours earlier?? Ok then, at 5:45 got to the bus to Vilcabamba. The whole village is sleeping, just the rooster are crowing there is nobody on the streets. I found a hostel, checked in, did some stuff, got out at 7:30 to eat breakfast, but everything is closed. Somebody told me that breakfast starts at 9am. This is my kinda town :)) Went back to the hotel to get some sleep. I didn't get any, because the girl who works at the hostel has a guide book of Peru, so I borrowed it from her to read it while I got the chance. At first it was overwhelming. There is whole north of Peru and I have no idea where to go and where to cross the border. Where do I go? What do I do? But then after I while I found a spot that interested me. At 11 I got out, made some copies of the book, ate lunch and went to the bus terminal to ask about buses to the border. Apparently there is another border crossing which I didn't find in the book, and it's much better for where I want to go. But the best thing is to go on a night bus which leaves at 11:30 tonight ! Great !!! Another sleepless night. Also the bus from Loja to Vilcabamba took an hour and it's about 1 cm on a map. Until the border it's about 2 mm, so I figured I'll be there in no time, but nope, the people told me that the road is in very bad condition and it will take about 8 hours !!! Are they serious ??!!???
After that I went on a hike. The surrounding is beautiful. The village is in a valley surrounded by mountains. It's very quiet and green and flowery. Some places in mountains are made out of very soft material, some rocks mixed with mud. So when it rains, the rain washes off the mountains and in some places it created mud columns. There are many different birds and butterflies, and there is a river. Also strangest thing ever, there are spots with huge webs with like 10s of spiders. I've never seen that many spiders at one place. And I thought that they're territorial, and even eat each other. So I guess there must be enough food for everyone (pix didn't turn out :( ) Everybody is very friendly, but that's not surprising anymore :)
Went back to the hostel to get some sleep, but again couldn't get any, so just lied around. At 11 I got up, got ready, go out, and everything is dark and closed. Hello??? Hello??? nobody answers !!! thank god I knew where the room of that girl is, so I woke her up, and she pointed me to the room of the owners. - Where are you going? - To Zumba. At this hour?? There are no buses at 11:30, there are at 10:30 and at 1:00 !!! GRRRR !!! Nevertheless, I left, and sat at the bus stop. Beside there was a group of people playing soccer. I asked them at what hour does the bus go, and got all kind of responses from 12:00 - 3:00. And across the road I found a schedule that says 6:45 am. Then they left, and I was all alone in the dark waiting for I don't know what! NEVER EVER EVER again I will ask just one person for either time or directions. A few days ago I bought a cheap $2 book that teaches English. I wanted to find one that teacher Spanish but couldn't find anywhere. So I thought that because of Spanish translations I will be able to learn it. Since when cat is pronounced at "cot" ??? And why on page 2 I'm learning about bricks and gravel???? :S
2 more people showed up ... alright, there is hope! And 40 minutes the bus came! Yippiiii !!!!
What a ride. The bus wasn't full, so I sat on two seats and could lie down. The driver played the most loud music ever! It was like a night club all night long. Where are my ear plugs??? But even they didn't help. The bus was crawling through the mountains and mud slides. When we arrived at Zumba at 5:30 (again, it arrived early), I asked the driver where we are? He's like "what"? So I'm yelling "where are we"? and he's like "what"? Finally he got close to me, and then he heard! I am wondering if the music was so loud because he couldn't hear it, or because he's deaf from the music! At the bus "terminal" full of chickens, it was 2.5 hours till the chiva bus that takes you to the border. Of course I received times that were between 7 and 8 in the morning. There was a helpful man, because of course nobody knows anything, so he told me which bus to take, and later on when the bus came, he came over and took me to it, then showed me places where I could have breakfast. At the restaurant, for some reason they didn't have any breakfast food, so I ordered chicken with rice and lentils and herbal tea. It took some negotiations to order only half a breakfast, since the portion size was gigantic. And even half a portion I couldn't finish :)
The chiva bus was so uncomfortable. There was no space for the legs. It took 1.5 hours to get to the border, and again, I received times from 2-3 hours ... can't trust nobody !
At the border with Peru, the immigration officials were nice. Although some weird rules: fill out that form, go to Peru side for a stamp, then come back... In the guide book it said to be sure to ask for full 90 days, and the officer asked me how long I need, and I said as long as you can give me, so he gave me a visa for 180 days ... hmmmm ... I wonder how that's gonna work out :))
From the border took a 1.5 hour taxi to the nearest town where I thought I would stay for the day and relax. The driver was crazy !! He stopped at nothing, and I have no idea how the car still has wheels, I really wished I had a sports bra on :)) And meanwhile driving the car like formula one, the cd was blasting the most romantic music ever :)) After getting to the town, I understood that it's not a very good idea to stay there, and decided to take a bus to Chachapoyas. Guess what? There is no direct bus, I need to take another taxi to the next town. Meanwhile I have no idea where to go. I only know the name "Chachapoyas", so everybody is coming up with solutions on how to get me there. It's pretty far away, so I thought it's better to take taxis that leave earlier and go faster than to wait for the bus. And they're only a $1 more expensive than buses. Alright, took a motorcycle taxi to the taxis that go to next town. There got a taxi to the next village of Jaen which it 2 hours away. In this taxi at one point there were 11 people !! 3 in the front, 4 in the back with 2 babies on top, and 2 with all the suitcases in the back. At Jean, guess what?? There is no direct bus again. Alright, took a mototaxi to another taxi station. From there 2 more hours until the next village of Bagua Grande. There was a man in the car which wouldn't leave me alone. Do you want chocolate, how about gelatin? ... some water??? no, no, no and NO!! From Bagua Grande waited another hour until the next taxi to leave for the final ride of 2.5 hours to Chachapoyas. I'm not sure which driver was crazy, the other one, or this one? But otherwise I think it would've taken us 5 hours to get there. The road was very beautiful, until it got dark. We passed some natural tunnel like structures of mountains that hang above the road. It's like a tunnel with one of the sides missing. Pretty cool.
9pm I'm in Chachapoyas !!! FINALLY !!! I feel something like a zombie right now. Head doesn't work and eyes are somehow stay open but don't understand anything. Found a nice hotel pretty quickly, and already booked a tour to some archeological site for the next day that leaves at 7:30 am ... :S
Crash out !!
A hike and 30 hours of bus rides ... Time to hit the shower!! :)) Damn it, it's cold !!
This place is very rich with history and archeological sites, but with very very few tourists. In my 22 hour journey, I didn't come across any ... figures !! Good luck getting here !!!

pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Vilcabamba