Cuenca, Ecuador

We spent the last few days in Cuenca, a pretty colonial city in the mountains (2530m). For the first time in a long while, we did some relaxing. For its size, Cuenca has more than its fair share of gorgeous old buildings. We stayed in a refurbished monastery, attached to a beautiful church, with a view out our window of an even more beautiful church!

In our wanderings, we found a Mexican restaurant with great food and prices. We went there twice, our taste buds happy for something spicy! We also took the opportunity to get our laundry done. We are light packers - perhaps too light at times. Paul only brought two T-shirts which were well due for a washing! We wore our shorts around all afternoon while our laundry was being done since we wanted to get our only pants done (2 for me, 1 for Paul). We were quite a sight, given it was chilly and Paul pulled out his brand new orange Crocs to wear. Given the stares, I guess Cuenca is new to Crocs.

I got quite into relaxing in Cuenca, so I was somewhat jarred when Paul hired a guide to take us to a local national bog-like park called Cajas for a day of (more) hiking and trout fishing. Though I would have been happy in the park with my new obsession, Sudoku, I didn't want to be thought lazy. So off we went, again breaking my altitude record by going to 4175m. Fortunately no altitude sickness! We had a great day, I must admit. The guide (20) brought his brother (19) and his buddy, a fishing guide (33 with 4 daughters, the eldest 17). The guide and fishing guide had taken a course in local ecology and were very into the trip. They named all kinds of low growing flowers, including daisies with no stems. All plant life must grow low to the ground because of the harsh winds that whip over the mountains. They lent us boots so we could tramp through the marshy landscape with abandon! It was lots of fun. They prepared a nice lunch which we ate in a wooded area near a waterfall. While the men fished, I relaxed and did more Sudoku puzzles. (We both got our way!) The clever guides put beer in the freezing lakes to cool for us! At one point, they found a campsite where garbage had been left. They were truly upset that others weren't respecting the park and we spent a few minutes cleaning up. After, we went to the fishing guide's house where his wife made a great meal of local salmon trout and other good things before we headed back to the city. After the masses at Machu Picchu and Lake Titikaka, it was nice to spend a whole day without seeing any other tourists. Hardly any other people, in fact. It was also great to see young guys making go of a tourism business while really respecting the local landscape and culture.

Now we're in Otovalo, where South America's largest market takes place on Saturdays. We'll go there early in the morning to try to beat the crowds and then head to Quito tomorrow afternoon.