AUGUST 21 - AROUND LOJA

Photos & comments from our wanderings around town:
The crowd from dinner last night: Ray, Katrina, Chris, John, Per & Laura.  Beer was great, the nachos were unusual (chips in one basket and all the fixings mixed in another)











Morning view from our hotel window.  We are staying in the Howard Johnson Hotel.  Nice place. Great breakfast buffet.  I had all local stuff: Yucca, Empanadas, a chicken dish & Chorizo.  Also, lots of fruit and the coffee is OK.








In the photo above you can see two flags in the main square.  Here they are close up.

There were fireworks in the square last night
which were great viewed from our hotel room.








The main square (Plaza Centralle) at street level.

Typical downtown street.   Busy, crowded and miserable to drive on.  Most are 2 lane, one way with parking on one side.  

 Inside of one of the churches.  The brickwork has all been plastered and painted with murals.  I hadn't seen this style too much before. 

A doorway opened up into this courtyard with a number of small businesses.  There were a number of these

 One square had a number of flower vendors set up under tents.  Most of the flowers seemed to be what we would expect in our stores - I didn't see anything exotic.

This is interesting.  The sign says (more or less) 'Don't Park Here, It's a Garage'.  Nice doors for a garage.

After lunch we wandered down to the old part of town (Lourdes Street) and found this market.  Note the meat hanging.











A view of Lourdes Street.













We went back to the centre of town and 
visited a museum displaying indigenous culture.  I got one photo before being told photography wasn't allowed.

Off again.  This is the town gate.  A sign said Loja was established in 1548.

Another bigger market just east of the town gate.  Note the dogs running about.  There were some weird looking fish but the picture didn't turn out.

That's it for now, I'm all caught up.  We are on a 7 day stretch of riding, so I don't know when I can post next.