HOW FAR IS IT TO .........?

First I want to thank all the readers that have sent in questions.
I will try to get to them all in due course.

But first the:
How far is it to ........?
And / Or
How long does it take to get to .......... ?

Now these may seem like stupid questions to North American readers.
If you are in Kansas you just go to maps.google.com and viola ....... instant and accurate answers.
Not so here in wonderland.

A couple for instances:

Headed NORTH from Loja to Cuenca.

A little north of La Paz.

Kind of along the spine of the Andes (or something).

You see this sign.

One expects some kind of crossroads, intersection  or something.

A few kilometers later you get this.

Really?

This is the road to Cuenca.

The road to the third largest city in Ecuador?

Seriously?

A few kilometers more and you can see another road off in the distance.

How you get to there is a mystery.
Looks fun on a moto.
But, in a car?

A little later.

This obvious left turn.

 40 kilometers later.

It may not actually be 40 kilometers.

Could be 50 miles.

Don't know.
Wasn't actually clocking it

Let's just call it 'a beautiful moto ride later'.

There actually is an intersection....... 
with paved roads ahead this time.

SOOOOO........

How far is it to Cuenca, Azogues or Machala from the first sign?

How do you get there from the first sign?

Yeah.  Right.

NEXT ...........

This time you are headed SOUTH towards Cuenca.
Again through the Andes
Note:
It is 9 Km to Cañar.
63 Km to Cuenca.
(Fell free to take note of Biblian and Azogues.)

Later.

You have gone through Cañar.

Cañar is now behind you.

You are still headed to Cuenca.

BUT, Cuenca is now further away?

You should be 10 Km closer to Cuenca.

Not 7 Km further OUT.

What about Biblian and Azogues?

WTF?

NEXT ..........

OK.

This time you are  going SW from Cuenca to Machala ..... through mountains, duh.

OR 

You are headed due east from Cuenca towards the Amazonia.
Mountains again.

Either way, you see the same thing.
Signs in Chinese.
Yep, Chinese.
By some wild stretch of the imagination, maybe signs in Chinese are possible when headed west ......
A looooooong way west.
But east?
Come on now.
That's just too much.

Okay.

This is not Chinese.

Not one of the actual signs.

I took pics of the signs.

Can't find them.

They were also blue and white.

This is Arabic (from Morocco).

Can't read Arabic OR Chinese.

So, does it really matter if I couldn't find the right pics?

It is beginning to look like Cuenca is kind of like that island in the TV show LOST.
Remember how the island was changing locations and points in time?

I have one more example of the space-distance-time incongruity. 
(Incongruity is 5 syllables!
I hope I used it right.)
Anyway, I have one more example of it.

I will give the final example AND AN EXPLANATION in my next installment.

Thanks again for the questions.

Life is Sweet,
Clarke