Semana Santa - the Mandango hike in Vilcabamba, Ecuador

 

 This is the official schedule of SemanaSanta.

 Some people set up their own altars on the sidewalks, outside their homes.

Semana Santa is about religious events and other activities like musical performance, bicycle tours etc. It is also an opportunity for craftsmen to show their products. We thought that this bicycle wheel furniture looked cool. It was also comfortable.

We especially liked this couch. But of course we are not buying anything since we'll be leaving Vilcabamba soon.

The schedule for Semana Santa was hard to find. Only one internet cafe had it. That's how we found out about this one time eatery in the street. We really enjoyed having food with the locals. It was a friendly event.

Doug, where are you now?

Here we were waiting to see the procession but it was getting late so we left way before it started.

Angelina hung out with her big girlfriends. They are nice girls from the choir.

We had given up on the Mandango hike since it was said in town that the guides themselves organize the robberies on the trail. The Mandango is also called "Sleeping Inca". As a part of the events of Semana Santa, Chino, the local bicycle store guy whom we know, did organize a tour of the Mandango that he assured us would be safe, so we went. Except Angelina, who was at a birthday party in Loja. On the top left, the tallest cliff is the Mandango peak.

 It takes 1.5 h of a constantly steep ascent to reach this cross on a lower peak. The trail goest straight up the hill, no zig zags.

This is Louis and two friends from school.  The following movie is a panoramic view from up there.

This is the point where some people turn around because it gets worse. From there, we headed to the Mandango peak, another 20 minutes including a very steep section.

Vilcabamba as seen from the Mandango.

Then we followed the knife edge ridge for another 30 minutes, with exposed sections here and there. Peter even said he would not want it any dicier.

This was well worth the effort and the risk. We thought it was the most beautiful part of the whole hike.

You do not meet anybody else up there.

The downhill took another 1.5h. We went down a different way from the uphill. We had sore muscles for a whole week. This hike is not recommended if you are not well prepared.