Feb 14 – This morning we packed our gear and took a taxi into the heart of the city to hop on a van headed north. The 15 passenger van was full of young backpackers looking forward to ecotours and other mountain grooviness. Our destination was the mountain town of Minca.

As we got out of the van, the kids got onto waiting motorbikes or piled into other vans heading for waterfalls. We got out our phones and started trudging up the dirt road to find our next accommodation.

Our hostess Margarita was waiting for us, and showed us the path to our new home. The Booking.com description was correct that it was a private house with a kitchen and bathroom. What it failed to mention was that it was a corrugated metal shack in full sun, with an internal temperature over 100 degrees. No air con. Uh oh…

We were booked here for four nights, and figured we’d be roasted to a crisp long before then. We decided to walk to the little town and get some provisions.

The only super mercado had mostly beer, chips and candy bars. What to do? We found some ramen noodles for supper and some eggs for breakfast.

We walked back home and started looking online for another accommodation. We had surprisingly good wifi! Jim found a place just five minutes down the road.

The sun was going down and it was starting to cool down a little, so we decided to stay the night and move in the morning. Jim texted our hostess, who apologized for the heat and gave us our money back.

Feb 15 – So this morning we packed up again and walked further down the road to the Chunuu resort.

Here we have a pool, a Jacuzzi, a lovely restaurant, a huge suite with air con and a shower with warm water! Of course we are the only people over 30, and we hear German, French, and Cockney as well as Español. What a difference a day makes…