Mansion Alcazar Cuenca

... Bit of a misunderstanding with a local about seats and they through this massive stroke and the guys got a knife out. A little scary but also bloody annoying, they probably thought they were english (as that was what they were speaking)- gives us tourists a bad name. Anyway we arrive in Cuenca at sundown. Lucy and Chief (left before us while my medications took hold) have kindly bagged us a hotel and Cuenca gorgeous. Dubbed as 'the most seductive city in Ecuador ...

... for a place to stay. This turned out to be a lot more difficult then I thought. There were few places with any vacancies despite the fact that it was the middle of the week and low season. Zac was in charge of finding something while I guarded the bags. We ended up splurging (I think Zac was tired of looking) for "Canoa´s Wunderland". It was so nice with HOT water all the time and was only 5 feet or so from the beach. We layed low that evening and spent some time on the beach.
Cuenca, Ecuador tlmrks86

... of Abby´s climb on that dusty mountain materialized once we arrived in Cuenca. By that evening, she was coughing badly, had a high fever, and struggling with her asthma. The next day, the other two kids were sick, and the day after, so was I. Nevertheless, once a nurse always a nurse, as they say, and despite my ill health, Ryan and I both found ourselves locked up in our hostal room feeding the kids tylenol and motrin (and Abby´s asthma ...

... the razors. The proprietors were three of the oldest, most sour looking barbers I’ve ever seen which I found encouraging as I figured it also meant years of experience as hair artisans. Initially Jacque waited with me as one man cut another man’s hair and the other two inexplicably sat watching a Spanish dubbed version of ‘Saved by the Bell’. After a while Jacque decided to head for a walk, after the grumpiest of the two pointed to his nudie ...

... individuals to board the bus and attempt to peddle their tat to unsuspecting passengers for the next few miles or so. Admittedly, a minority do sell crisps, sandwiches, water and other mysterious items of sustenance (occasionally dangling from sticks), but the majority are rather cretinous - no I do not want a fake iPod, a trashy magazine, badly made earrings or some animal-shaped pottery! The first bloke who got on, I just thought he was a passenger with ...

... br>
Hell no. You´re here (are you here, or have you finally got bored of reading my foul-mouthed diatribe?) to have another distraction from the daily grind. So here goes....

Cuenca, the beautiful colonial city in southern Ecuador which, while being a mere spec on the map compared to Guayaquil and Quito, manages to knock them both into a cocked hat when it comes to beauty, quaintness and relative tranquility (it´s a city). And, based ...

... ate a pizza and admired the view that we had all to ourselves, until Milli realised she left her red hoodie at Finn McCools.

Realising it 2:30am, I raced up the road to grab a taxi hoping to get back to the pub before it closed. That area of Quito is pretty dodgy at that time of night, and while I was waiting for a cab a guy came over and demanded money from me. I said no. He however, was quite adamant that he was getting my money, he pushed me, and I could ...

... a bit of a dive but we agreed to stay. After half an hour in the room we had discovered that the place was just dangerous. No plugs seemed to work, one even sparked when Keir tried to use it, and that one was in the bathroom! The place was a nightmare. It was my fault we´d gone in there so I went to get the owner in order to get our money back and move on. This took AGES. He first sent his wife who spoke no English and seemed very distressed by the ...

... 3 hours later around the lake. Also, I was able to pay $5, rather than the regular $10, thanks to the "friendly" ;) park ranger who was there today. Score. Also, just fyi, the bus to Cajas is $2 each way (take it from the bus terminal in Cuenca, and you should ask to get dropped off at Toreadora, the main spot for day visits. By the way, if you're really in a rush, you could probably just go with your backpacks to the park, drop it off at ...

... en bus y ya estabamos en clima frio. Cuenca es super bonito, muy parecido a Popayán por tanta abundancia de iglesias. Comimos bastante y muy rico...comimos algo que se llama chocho. Es una pepita que se llama chocho y otra que se llama cancha con jugo de tomate, platanos y cebolla. MUUYYY RICOOO Tambien almorzamos en un sito que se llama Mar y ...