Colonial Cuenca!

We arrived in Cuenca early evening and jumped into a taxi with a french guy which was great as I got to waffle away for abit!!! Nice break from trying to learn espagnol! We headed to a hostel called 'El Monasterio' which had amazing views over one of the squares especially at night when all it´s beautiful buildings are illuminated! Unfortunately the rooms had no soundproofing whatsoever but we decided to live with it so we could enjoy those stunning views!!!!

Building lit up at night in Cuenca

The city's cobblestone streets, towering cathedrals, and marble and whitewashed buildings give it a colonial air like nowhere else we´d been to in Ecuador and we had a great day exploring with the most beautiful blue skies! It was great timing to be there that day again as there was a brass band in full regalia in the main square making for more great photos! The inside of the El Sagrario is stunning as well! We spent most of the day exploring the town, wandering down by the river and seeing our first inca ruins (not so impressive once you´ve been to Machu Picchu!) and then went on a quest to find the world´s tackiest birthday card for Dad! Think we found it!!! We also spent a fair while trying to find and English bookshop to get me a book but it had moved somewhere or was definitely hiding, made some nice friends on the way though! Watching sunset on the balcony, I befriended another English girl called Nat and we decided to head out on a girlie night out complete with icecream! Yeah! Paul decided to stay in with a few beers and The Simpsons...in Spanish of course!!!! Hee Hee!

First encounter with a Llama, wow!

The next day we headed out to Ecuador's major Inca site at Ingapirca! When you see the photos, you´ll see it resembles a fortress of sorts and the word Ingapirca means "wall of the Inca". The most impressive part was the Temple of the Sun in the middle of the complex...for us the setting was equally as stunning set amongst rolling hills with alpacas wandering around everywhere! We were there on the first day of the Inti Raymi festival as well so all the locals were starting their traditions and rituals involving lots of uniformed men running in a huge zigzag through the site and offering fruits and flowers! Very cool!

Today was formally known as 'Dead' day as we saw a dead pig floating down the river! Paul always manages to spot these things! And we noticed again the lack of censorship in Ecuador as there was a full-blown photo of a mutilated man on the front page of the newspaper!

Hog roast, fairly bad

The start of the Inta Raymi festival obviously meant everyone ate pork as at every restaurant you could see a spread-eagled dead pig in all its glory being spit roasted and blow torched! Bet they get good crackling! Had a great local almuerzos, friendliest family in the world and then headed back to Ingapirca village to get a bus back to Cuenca! The festival was just starting to warm up, they even had hook-a-duck! Remember that from going to the fair!

Back in Cuenca, we headed out for pizza and had a lovely bottle of vino tinto between us (quite posh for a change!) and then met up with Nat for more wine and compulsory chocolate & cheesecake!

Inca ruins at Ingapirca

View from balcony of hostel