We are interned

Vilcabamba is our final destination in Ecuador. We had planned to start going into Peru today (November 28, 2010), but when we got here, we were told that we will not be able to travel on Sunday because of the census. I was not surprised as I had read in the paper a couple weeks ago that they planed to count foreigners and that foreigners have to stay in place that day, or something to that effect, with my limited Spanish comprehension....

So we immediately started doing research. It turns the whole country was to being shutdown today 7:00 to 17:00. This means borders are closed; all businesses are closed including churches, but not hospitals; there are no buses or domestic flights. Only census workers are allowed on the streets. Consumption of alcohol is suspended starting Friday evening. We are to remain in the hotel for the duration. The hotel restaurant is allowed to serve guests. All these seemed really drastic for us. John and I stocked up on food and water and lined up trip search work and blogging to keep ourselves busy. Actually our hotel is not a bad to be interned: internet, restaurant, garden, pool....

We had a relaxing yet productive day, exchanged travel info as well as money with other interned guests, kept ahead of trip research, and logged extra blog entries. All these are very good as we are heading into fairly remote areas for the Ecuador-Peru border crossing, i.e. no internet.

5 o'clock came. There had not been a single census worker to visit our hotel. How anticlimactical! Nevertheless, we all streamed out of the hotel just after 5, traveling onto the next destination or just out for a stroll and dinner. Freedom regained!

John sunning by the hotel pool.