Last stop at the Sanctuary of Las Lajas before crossing into Ecuador

The next stop was the Sanctuary of Las Lajas, a Catholic minor basilica near the border with Ecuador. The sanctuary marks the location of a miraculous event that occurred in 1754 when a woman and her deaf-mute daughter were caught in a storm while traveling and sought shelter amongst the rocks in the canyon. To the mother's surprise, the daughter exclaimed "Mum, the Mestiza is calling me," and pointed to an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the rocks. The location become a place of pilgrimage and occasional miracles. A shrine was built soon thereafter and improved over the next centuries. The current church was built between 1916 and 1949 from donations by church-goers. It towers 100 m high over the canyon and is connected to the other side of the canyon by a bridge. On the wall at the altar is a painting of the Virgin Mary that no one knows from where it came. It was Sunday when I was there and there were many people. It was quite nice watching all the families, young and old, particularly watching them help their older parents and grandparents visit the shrine. I had a nice early dinner of chicken, potatoes, and corn at a stand near the church, then headed to the parking area of the teleferico for the night.

Next day I headed early for the border crossing into Ecuador. To my surprise, I got a 90 day visa despite not having my criminal background checks from Oregon and the FBI apostillized. With that in mind, I began to make plans for spending more time in Ecuador. The roads in Ecuador were amazingly good and garbage-free. So nice.

I headed to the popular overlander camping spot, Finca Sommerwind, owned by a German fellow named Hans and his Ecuadorian wife. Hans is a great guy who is well known in the overlanding community for the help that he provides. He also has great German food and beer at his place, which I naturally partaked in. I enjoyed meeting other overlanders there, including folks I had met elsewhere along the way and new friends.