It rained again on Thursday in Ecuador and if the crops need all this rain there’s something wrong with them, and I’m damned sure I don’t need it.
But on Wednesday evening we drove in occasional sunshine from the Inca ruins at Ingapirca south toward Cuenca the largest city in Ecuador bear the border with Peru.
The countryside was quite lovely making our way back to the freeway through farmland and rolling countryside.
We had plans to rent an apartment for a few days in Cuenca to enjoy the historic city and ignore the rain. But first we spent one night in a campground listed in iOverlander with many positive reviews. Aside from the junked cars and abandoned projects lying around the owners have two aggressive German shepherds so we have to park with the big truck away from the shower and toilet.
Caroline and Jean Joseph are from Belgium wrapping up a long drive through the Americas. They started in Canada and Covid forced them home. After the pandemic they shipped to Uruguay and are now going to Colombia to ship home again and see their grandkids, sell the huge truck and buy a small van like ours to tour Europe. They had lots of hints about our road ahead.
Thursday morning Rusty and I wandered around a bit. He can’t go through the arch to the small vehicle parking area owing to the angry dogs. The hot showers are down there too but we are safe supposedly from the dogs.
We went out to get some shopping done so Rusty and I went for a walk while Layne perused the aisles at the Super Maxi supermarket. Those are roasted guinea pigs up there and that’s how they serve them to you on the plate. It grosses me out but you may have a different cultural background. Roasting is more normal a food across many cultures. But in any event it was ten in the morning and I didn’t need this kind of breakfast.
Lots of overlanders are vegetarian and vegan even which requires some investigation if you are going to worry if the bright orange potatoes have been cooked in animal fat. Food is culture and around here animal protein is culture. I’ve tried “cuy” ( guinea pig) but it’s not to my taste. It’s not gamey, it just tastes like dry pork.
We went to the vet, Rusty got a thermometer up his bum and he also got a hepatitis vaccine now required by Peruvian border authorities. His border paperwork should be ready by Tuesday. Our plan is to cross into Peru on Thursday.
I hope these maps help to understand where we are. The red line is the Peruvian border, a country about 2,000 miles long down the Pacific Coast. More on that later. Swiss Wassi is a campground in Peru on the beach that enjoys an excellent reputation and care ready to go swimming. 
We took a quick spin through Cuenca and didn’t see much of note.
There is a camping spot in town in a homeowners cement yard and we went to check it out but she too has angry dogs with nowhere for Rusty to hang out. That wasn’t going to work.
Our plan is to rent an apartment in town and check out the city. The idea was to be in old town but despite searching high and low Layne couldn’t find anything suitable. Some have no heat, some don’t have spaces good for Rusty and some have weird spaces not suitable for us.
Finally we found a granny unit with parking gear WiFi and a garden for Rusty to sunbathe in and safe parking for GANNET2. We’ve reserved it until Thursday morning. Then we’ll drive to the border four hours away.
“Free yourself from that which won’t let you fly,”
Taking your goats for a walk as you do.
Non bus vehicles are allowed in the right lane, buses only, to turn right. Pedal tricycles get an exemption I guess.
Parking in Ecuador has gone back to the same style in Mexico and Central America. In Colombia they don’t put roofs over the entrances but here if you drive a 9 foot tall van you are out of luck.
This one we fit. If we are looking for paid parking we always use Google street view to check the entrance and get an idea of the clearance.
Cuenca: our home for a week.
Cuenca: where children work the streets.
