Vilcabamba-Ecuador!!

Peace out Peru, Hello Ecuador! Well, Erin and i were able to tear ourselves away from the lovely beaches of peru, and actually make our way to Ecuador. We crossed the boarder by bus, a mostly painless process, and followed the winding road to a small town called Loja, where we immediately jumped on another bus to Vilcabamba, where the fountain of youth is believed to be. Thank goodness, becuase about 15 hours of bus riding did not make me feel very young! We checked in to an awesome hostel on the outskirts of town. A nature retreat really. Good food, pool, spa, hot showers, their own river which they filtered specially for us to drink, lots of nature, and all for $9! Life couldn´t be better. During our stay in Vilcabamba we visited the teeny tiny town, got massages, and did an all day horse ride. The rided consisted of 3 hours of riding into the Cloud Forest surrounding Vilcabamba, then lunch, an hour long hike to some secret waterfalls (maybe the fountain of youth, i´m not allowed to tell for sure) and then 3 hours back. The ride was beautiful and the surroundings amazing, though i must say, not being completely experienced, my butt was seriously damaged after all that riding. Luckily i had a very well behaved horse named Tequila (very fitting, seeing as thats what i had to drink in large quantities after my ride). All in all, Vilcabamba was a treat, very relaxing and refreshing, just what we needed.
Next it was on to Guayaquil, a big costal city that claims to be a huge rival of the capital of Ecuador, Quito. Well, i don´t really have much to say about it really. It was big and dirty, and it took us 3 hours to find a resturant to serve us breakafast. I have no pictures to show of this town, as i was not inspired enough to actually take them... neither was erin, so yeah, we weren´t too impressed.
Now you´ll find me at Montanita, a small small beach town on the coast of ecuador. Still working on my tan! Ecuador is by far the most lush and beautiful of all the places i´ve seen in south america so far, and i really am loving it here. But fear not, I have resigned myself to buy a ticket back to the US as funds are running very low. I¨ll be landing in Killeen, Texas on April 16th to visit my pal Anna. My time on this crazy adventure is running short! so i must be off to enjoy as much of Ecuador as possible! As to when i´ll be hitting the east or west coasts, who knows, i´ll keep you all posted when i make a plan! thats all for now folks!
Ciao Bella,
Cassidy
Pic 1: Vilcabamba
Pic 2: Fountain (Waterfall) of Youth?
Pic 3: Me and Tequila