The end of the line in Cuenca

Cuenca was... lovely.

Apartments in Cuenca overlooking the river

It was wonderful to be back in a city.  And Cuenca is regarded as perhaps the most beautiful in all of Ecuador, with gorgeous colonial buildings, wide sidewalks and beautiful plazas.

I ended up spending four days there, with one spent on a day hike out to Cajas National Park, just a short ride out of the city.  I met a great new friend, Katarina from Germany, who I hung out with and booked this excursion with through the paramo, or wetlands of Ecuador. 

This hike was quite a thrill... much flatter than any other stroll I'd been on to that point, so already a great time... but quite exciting for another reason as well.  We were taking a 1.5 hour walk around a lake, which has been set up as a sort of bird watching sanctuary.  I was trailing our small group a little bit, taking pictures as I went, when I heard something moving in the trees above me.   It sounded like something a bit bigger than a bird... almost like a squirrel like we often hear back home.  I looked up, and realized it was something much more exotic.  Katarina came back looking for me, and together we watched these two large birds, with long yellow beaks and red and yellow patches, hop from branch to branch.  After a while we rejoined the group, and sure enough it was what we suspected... we had spotted two toucans!  As you can imagine, it's pretty amazing to see something in the wild that you've only ever seen on the side of a cereal box.

In Cajas National Park

Thursday afternoon I gathered up my purchases and hopped on a plane to meet up with Allison Freeman back in Quito.  My two weeks traveling alone were wrapping up.  Though I've met so many great people, it was so exciting to see a friend from back home!

Katarina and I in the 'fairytale forest'

Lunch at the market

My campaign to bring Magnums to Canada

The finished product

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