Cuenca

Sunday 13th March 2011

Nice gardens.

After lots of travelling over the past couple of days, we had a relatively quiet day. In the morning we headed to the modern art museum. No artists we've heard of before, but a lovely building and some great infant art. The gallery runs art classes for children and the best work over the last 27 years is shown. Some of it would stand up well in the Tate Modern and we were very impressed.

Guinea pig anyone?

And with toothpicks attached.

 For lunch James had guinea pig. It was OK, a cross between chicken and pork, but quite fiddly to eat. It was also slightly strange seeing two claws on the plate. It's good that we get rid of the chicken feet before cooking chicken drumsticks!

More views of a city.

In the afternoon, we walked up to the 'Balcon de la Ciudad' which was basically the viewpoint of the city. It was another chance for us to get some climbing in our legs and according to the guidebook the walk would take 2hrs. 1hr later we were there and we weren't walking quickly.

A casualty of the walk.

 On the walk back we treated ourselves to ice-cream, Emma having coconut and Nutella, James having pistachio and Oreo. We may have to go again tomorrow.

Interesting Fact: On Sunday's in Ecuador, you cannot buy alcohol anywhere. We suspect this is part of the reason the city is so quiet. We can't imagine this ever happening in the UK!

Monday 14th March 2011


Ingapirca.

 We rose early (becoming an annoying habit - James) and headed north 2.5hrs to Ingapirca, the most significant Inca site in Ecuador. The ruins consist of a sun temple, living quarters, cellars and a burial site. In terms of tourist attraction it's definitely worth seeing as much for the beautiful surroundings and clear air as for the ruins themselves. There were some friendly llamas wondering close by to offer an extra attraction.

A full rainbow around the sun, never seen this before.

Back in town there were chores that needed to be done and a lovely meal to be eaten.

Tuesday 15th March 2011

Nice scenery.

Yet another early start for our last day in Cuenca. We headed 35km north west to the Parque Nacional de Cajas for further training. There are various set routes all starting in different places. We got the bus to drop us by the main centre and once we'd paid our entrance fee ($2, recently reduced from $10 for foreigners) we were recommended a 3.5-4hr moderate walk. We thoroughly enjoyed it, however it took us only 2.5hrs, so we had an early finish. We wish we had more time to come back and do one of the longer walks. It's a reasonably dangerous place at 4000m and changeable weather conditions. People have in the past died from exposure when caught out.

More inca ruins

Back in Cuenca we went to the national bank museum and local Inca ruins, the site that Cuenca was founded on. The highlight of the museum was the history of money in Ecuador right up to when it adopted the dollar. It was interesting to see how quickly inflation gripped the Sucre in its final years, leading to it being replaced.
The Inca ruins, Pumapungo, are not as spectacular as yesterday's offerings but worth a visit. The 50's high school built 1m from the ruins offers an interesting contrast, whilst the surrounding highways mean you never quite forget where you are. The gardens are very beautifully kept and the aviary is full of colourful, comical birds (including 2 species of toucan).

Good cut.

We agreed that James needed a haircut so we popped into the local barber's. Apart from being better value, it's also a better cut than in Abingdon with a more thorough job done, including the nifty use of a hairdryer to rid James of his loose grey hairs.

Interesting fact: Apparently if you mix avocado and sugar it becomes an aphrodisiac.

Observation: In nearly all restaurants and bars in Ecuador you have to assume that they don't necessarily stock what you order and what is on the menu. It's usual to see an employee shoot out of the premises and return minutes later with a bag containing the goods. In a bar this can be items such as beer and Coke. The worst example has been a creperie that had no crepes!

Further study: We'd like to find out more about the events that led to the adoption of the dollar and the effect that had on Ecuador.

A down and out muppet in Cuenca.