Verb conjugation of "escudar" in Spanish

On the way, there were a lot of beautiful, colored trees. Having arrived in a tiny village called Harvard, we got out of the car and walked through the streets. We were very lucky and I will tell you why.
I was a little confused because I recognized the voice and I had booked at Luisa's guest house. She explained me that she was sharing the phone with her neighbor and her neighbor was not honest.
We walked by waterfalls and rivers, but the water was too cold to swimm in. The hike made us tired and we were in the valley, which meant that we had to climb up again. The climb was difficult.