Cuenca - culture, hiking and salsa!
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2008
1
7
28
Trip End
Nov 20, 2008
Cuenca,
Ecuador
Friday, July 11, 2008
Cathedral
. However we then started to hear the familiar sounds of change being sorted and realised that this guy wasn't the bus conductor but a guy who had just worked very hard to sell us some chocolate! Our real conductor appeared a few moments later. The bus journey to Cuenca was spectacular. As we left Guayaquil we drove past massive banana plantations, they went on for miles and miles. Then we hit the mountains (not literally, but you never know with these bus drivers!) I thought the mountains would appear gradually but no, it was flat road and then suddenly we started going up the mountain. It was great to get back to the mountains and we had the most amazing views as we climbed up the mountain. However Dom, who had the window seat, wasn't so keen on the sheer drop for thousands of meters right next to him! After winding our way through the mountains for 3 hours we finally arrived in Cuenca at 1pm. We found our way to our hostel and were delighted to discover it was on the 6th floor and the lift was broken. It was not easy to get up those stairs with our heavy backpacks and trying to get to used to being at altitude again. Luckily there was a room free and we quickly accepted it because it had a great view and we couldn't face the stairs again. However we quickly realised that perhaps we had been too quick to accept. The bed was the hardest bed I have ever slept on, planks of wood and then some blankets
Main Plaza1
. We also had some panes of glass missing in the room which meant it was the coldest room ever, oh and no curtains, and the sink was about to fall off the wall. We were also given threadbare towels, it was like drying yourself with a sheet! However it was then that I had one of the funniest moments of the trip so far. Dom was going through his wash bag and then suddenly jumped because he realised that there was a cockroach in his bag (the little blighter obviously fancied a trip away from the coast). He took his wash bag to the window to chuck it out but couldn't find it. He then saw it on his arm and let out the girliest shriek I have ever heard!!! I tried to be sympathetic but I was laughing too much to be of any use, luckily he saw the funny side too after a while!We had some lunch and then wandered around Cuenca and realised it was a beautiful city and definitely our favourite town/city so far. It's a colonial town set by a fast flowing river, the cathedral is set in a beautiful plaza and has got lovely blue domes. You can walk everywhere very easily and the city has a nice safe atmosphere. I would describe it as the Oxford of Ecuador, there is a large university here and it's very cultural, lots of museums, libraries, galleries and concerts. The strange thing is that there seems to be masses of lawyers, bakers and shoe shops, I can't believe there is enough business to go round
Main Plaza2
! Everything seems to be grouped together, so there is one street that is almost entirely made of lawyers offices, another of shoes shops, one of jewellry and even wedding dresses! We had a delicious hot chocolate in the main plaza and decided we liked the place so much we would stay for a week. It was very strange to experience such contrasts in one day; at 5am we had been in shorts and t-shirts (and still been hot) on the coast and then at 3pm we were drinking hot chocolate in the mountains with three layers on! That's the diversity of Ecuador for you, although Ecuadorians describe their country as mega diverse and I guess I would agree with them on that one.
So what have we done in Cuenca? Well the first thing we did on day 2 was move hotels to the lovely Hotel Milan, warm, breakfast included and fluffy white towels...heaven! We have also visited another fantastic museum. This one had a great display of all the different cultures in Ecuador including houses you could go into and loads of clothes, masks, cooking utensils, jewellry and musical instruments on display. It was fascinating and it was great when we could say "oh yes, we saw that in the jungle/coast/mountains". There were also some shrunken heads from the jungle which were really weird. It was also the site for some Inca ruins, the first of many
Main Plaza3
! It was a site where Inca soldiers were temporarily stationed and had a large, well maintained park attached to it. Here we could see lots of medicinal plants and there was an explanation of what they were used for. There were also many plants and trees that are native to the Andes. There was even a bird house with talking parrots, which amused us no end.We went to Gualaceo market on Sunday, we were very pleased to work out which bus to take ourselves rather than pay a fortune to go on one of the tours. The town was about an hour outside Cuenca and was another beautiful bus ride. The town is famous for the indigenous fruit and veg market and it didn't disappoint. It was brilliant to stroll through the market and see all the different produce and smell the coriander, bananas and pineapples. The colours were amazing and there are still many things that we havenīt got a clue what they are because weīve never seen anything like it. We bought ourselves 20 mandarins for 50p and a very tasty fruit salad to eat as we wandered around.
On Wednesday we decided that we should do some training before the Inca Trail in two weeks, so we went hiking in the Cajas National Park. This was our toughest trek to date but well worth it. The park is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been to, absolutely stunning
View from our first room, cathedral
. The only way to describe it would be to say that it is like the Scottish Highlands only on some kind of performance enhancing steroids! We went with a guide, Wilson, who was brilliant and one other English guy, Andrew, from York. It was great to be in such a small group and Wilson was about our age so it was like going out with a friend for the day. The first thing we did was to drive to the highest point of the park to see if we were going to be ok with the altitude. So Wilsonīs jeep hauled us up to 4100m, where it was foggy and very cold. Wilson says that if youīre going to get altitude sickness it will come on really quickly so we tentatively got out of the jeep and waited to see if we would feel sick. After 15 mins of teeth chattering and hearing stories of how many people have died up there Wilson declared we were all going to be fine so we headed down to 3800m to start our hike.It was very tough going in places because it was muddy and very slippy, you had to hang on to the grass in some places to stop yourself flying down the mountain. However the scenery made it all worthwhile as I hope you can see from these photos. Wilson knew all the plants, including their Latin names, and was able to explain what the indigenous people use them for and how. There are more than 200 lakes in the park but 80% of the water is held in the soil which made it really bouncy to walk on in places
View from the shower!
. We also went through this really crazy forest, it was just like something from Lord of the Rings. It was very densely packed with 300 year old "paper trees" they have very fine bark which comes off in layers, they look and feel exactly like the skin of an onion. The last hour of the hike was the toughest as we had to get ourselves back up the mountain, it was really difficult and we were gasping for air at points but we made it! So now we know that we should be fine for the Inca Trail. After the hike we went to a really nice restaurant for lunch and had great conversations all about Ecuador. Wilson told us so much about Ecuador, itīs people, culture, politics, religion, racism, driving, sports....you name it we talked about it! It was a great day.Yesterday we had a look round all the markets in Cuenca and went to a great little hat shop. Dom bought a really nice panama hat, actually I shouldnīt call it a panama hat as they are made in Ecuador not Panama. The Ecuadorians call them a sombrero or a Monticristi (the main town in which they are made(, you donīt call them panama hats here! Oh, the close bracket key doesnīt work on this computer, sorry.
Weīve also been out in the evenings a bit more in Cuenca. On Saturday night we got dressed up and went on the town, I say dressed up but itīs pretty hard to do that when you donīt have any smart clothes, make-up or heels
Cuenca and Tomebamba River
! We went to a nice cocktail bar and saw our first bit of salsa dancing, there was a couple dancing and they were so good and made it look so easy. We were in a complete trance watching them for ages, itīs just not how we dance back home! On Tuesday night we met up with our German/Swiss friends Ricarda and Alix, who we lived with in Quito, and swapped travelling stories over dinner and drinks. Then last night we had our best and funniest night yet. Ricarda and Alix invited us out to a salsa club where they did an hour of salsa lessons before the club opened. So, excited and a little nervous, we arrived at the club for the lesson. There were about 25 people and we all got up when the salsa music started and shuffled onto the dance floor. We got into lines, Dom and I quickly went for the back, and then they launched straight into salsa dancing. There were arms and legs everywhere, I didnīt have a clue what was going on and was desperately trying to keep up and turn and step at the the right time and in the right direction. It was crazy and hilarious, I havenīt laughed that much in ages. After 5 minutes we stopped and I realised that had been the warm up exercise...thank goodness! Then we split up into different groups and were thankfully in the beginners class. Salsa is extremely difficult! I have to say I have new found respect for anyone who dances, and I mean properly, not this silly bobbing up and down we do in England
Nice church
. The judges on Strictly Come Dancing would have said we were absolutely woeful but we had great fun and were proud of ourselves for having a go. We were exhausted at the end of an hour of salsa and were pleased to be able to stop and have a drink and watch the locals come and show us how itīs done. They were so impressive and there was a really great atmosphere in the club, everyone was very friendly. Unfortunately Dom and I had had our confidence knocked in the class and couldnīt face getting on the dance floor and making idiots of ourselves next to the people who could salsa properly. But after a while it looked like too much fun and not everyone was a brilliant dancer. So after a lot of persuasion, pleading and begging with Dom he finally relented (or was that because of the large whisky he had!( and we tentatively made our way onto the dance floor. We felt a bit stupid at first but we relaxed after a while and made up some salsa moves and then eventually had fun!
The great thing about salsa clubs is that they are so polite and formal, surprising given the way men here stare and whistle at women in the street. At the beginning of each dance the guys ask the girls to dance and they are so polite about it, they come over and say "please may I dance with you". There was something very Pride and Prejudice about it all, with all the girls sitting at the sides waiting for the men to come and ask them to dance! I had a polite invitation to dance with a guy called Andreas and couldnīt refuse, I even managed to concentrate on my dancing and have a conversation in spanish!! He was very worried when he found out I had a boyfriend and kept asking if it was ok to dance with me! Dom and Alix came and danced near us but when they stopped and Dom went and sat back down Andreas insisted that we stop dancing because he thought Dom was angry
View from our second room
! I tried to tell him it was ok but he was too scared to carry on. I didnīt get asked for another dance, sniff!, South American men are very short, Andreas was my height, so I think Dom looks a bit scary to them!!Today we went to a village just outside Cuenca called Baņos, (Alex R, look! Iīve managed to do the ņ!!( famous for the hottest thermal springs in all of Ecuador. The weather was glorious and it was great to have sunshine and blue skies while we lazed about in a pool that was 36 degrees C.
So thatīs just about it for Ecuador, tomorrow morning we leave Cuenca and take that amazing bus journey back to Guayaquil to get our flight to Lima in Peru in the evening. Weīve had a fantastic time in Ecuador, itīs a great country and we will definitely miss it. One of the things I will miss most is the crazy 5am wake up calls we have had in each place we have been to. I donīt think we have slept through a night in Ecuador without something waking us up at about 5am. In Quito we had dogs barking, shortly followed by the first of the planes landing. In the jungle we had monkeys...and fear, to wake us at 5am. On the coast we had the most irritating cockerel start doodle do-ing at 5am and did not stop til 6am. And in Cuenca we have had and array of things. We had what we thought was gunshots at about 6am for a few nights, I was so intrigued I went to the tourist information office to find out what was going on! They were very alarmed that I was hearing gunshots until they realised they were actually fireworks, all the churches set off fireworks first thing in the morning when they celebrate something. Weīve also had church bells at 6am. Then there was the ultimate. On Wednesday morning at 5.30am we were woken by a marching band going past our hotel!!! I kid you not. I mean I ask you, who in their right mind decides that 5.30am is a sensible time for a marching band!!
Thatīs Ecuador then, crazy and brilliant...letīs see what Peru brings!
