Cuenca to Loja to Macara, Ecuador Experiences & Stories from a Backpacker

After 2 hours of walking around Cuenca city it was time to get my backpack from the hotel and take the 5 and a half hour bus journey to Loja where I wanted to get another bus for 6 hours to Macara, on the border with Peru, by that night. The scenery to Loja was very

Mountainous terrain between Cuenca and Loja.

beautiful with hills and fields, farm houses, little settlements and villages such as Al Canton. The bus stopped often to drop off or collect locals. The countryside as usual in Ecuador was an amazing sight to see with all manner of life going on as we passed through, it was a great treat with mountains, houses, monuments, shrines, crops growing in the fields, locals tending to their animals and produce and lots of open green spaces with trees. Arriving at Loja at around 4pm, I booked a bus for 5pm to Macara, I had a brief walk out and took some photos of the musical bridge and a few monuments, had some food and got to my next bus to Macara which would take 6 hours to travel a mere 200kms! So the bus south to Macara was a very drawn out process stopping many times for passengers to get on and

Hay for animals in the amazing countryside south of Cuenca.

off, but late that night at about 11pm it arrived in Macara where I got some soup, fed a street dog the bones, found a budget hotel and went to sleep. I wanted to be ready to cross the border back into Peru in the morning for another full days travel on my 4 day mission to Lima from Puerto Lopez to get back home. The border bridge to Peru is only a short taxi ride away from the center of Macara and you can do the border control formalities there rather than go on a wild goose chase in town trying to find the passport stampers. There is not an official money changer on either side of the bridge but I changed some $USD for Soles with the Peruvian border policeman. After crossing the bridge I got a co-op taxi to Sullana. View all photos in the Cuenca to Loja to Macara Photoset.

Videos from Cuenca to Loja to Macara, Ecuador:

Walking Across the Bridge from Macara into Peru Video

My Hostel & Hotel Reviews for Cuenca to Loja to Macara, Ecuador:
	Hotel Los Helechos, Cuenca, Ecuador (Jun 2009 - 1 night) - Very close to the bus terminal, nice room and possibly the hottest shower I have had in South America, recommended.