Most
travellers
regard Loja
as a place
to change
buses on the
scenic-but-slow
route to Peru,
or else as
a stop before
continuing
on to Vilcabamba
further south.
But should
you get stuck,
or choose
to stay a
while, Loja
is a pleasant
old colonial
town with
two universities,
a law school
and a conservatory.
Founded in
1548, it's
one of the
oldest towns
in Ecuador,
but today
little remains
of its colonial
architecture.
Most of it,
and very pretty
it is too,
dates from
the eighteenth
and nineteenth
centuries.
When Alexander
von Humboldt
passed through
Loja in 1802,
he was so
impressed
by the variety
and richness
of the flora,
he dubbed
the town the
“Garden of
Ecuador.”
Last
updated 19th
July 2006
| |Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton||| |
