Described by Lonely Planet as ¨the tidy jewel of the south,¨ Cuenca sits in the Southern Highlands of Ecuador at 2530m. It is a popular place for older Americans to retire to, as its cheaper than the States but is modern and clean and honestly feels like you have stepped out of Ecuador. This is clearly where a lot of rich Ecuadorians live as well. We were glad to celebrate the New Year here, but I also had a side mission to scout out this city as a potential place for my parents to retire to. One of the best bookstores in Cuenca is just around the corner from our hostel and is owned by an older couple from North Carolina. They have been living in Cuenca for 10 years now, and started up that bookstore because they couldnt find a place that sold English books anywhere in the city. They seemed to know everyone that was of their same age group and white that walked into the shop. On one occasion, I was chatting up a few of the women in the store and mentioned that my mom was thinking of retiring here. One of the women got so excited and started telling me about the older single women club in Cuenca. It was a group of single women that retired there that did everything together. She said, Oh, we have lots of fun together. Your mom might not meet the man of her dreams, but we will show her a good time! I guess I need to be more specific next time and say that my parents might want to retire here.
The first highlight of Cuenca for us was a $5 bus tour. We caught the double decker bus from one of the main plazas called Parque Calderon. The tour was in English and Spanish, and a woman narrated the history of the plazas, churches and significant buildings from a microphone as we drove around the city. The bus took us up a hill on the east side of town to a lookout that had lots of markets and our tour guide gave us a free cup of canelazo. Canelazo is a traditional Ecuadorian tea that can be made with or without alcohol. It is a hot tea made of different fruits (mostly orange or citrus), spices like cinnamon and if it is spiked, usually contains Aguadiente (black licorice flavored clear liquor) or rum. We got great views of the city on this sunny day and even ran into a girl on our tour from Western who knew a lot of our great friends! Small world.
Another day was spent adventuring to Cajas National Park. Cajas is 34km west of Cuenca. We caught a 6:45am bus from Cuecna and slowly made our way west and up towards Cajas. The bus could barely make it up the steep road, but the morning views were beautiful with the mists hugging the hillsides and opening up every once in a while to reveal the giant stone walls and mountains of Cajas. We got out by a ranger station next to one of the many lakes that Cajas is famous for, registered, got our map, avoided the $10 entry fee that the President of Ecuador recently removed and we were on our way. We hiked around lakes, past waterfalls and through forests that looked straight out of the movie The Brothers Grimm with twisted trunks that looked like they would come alive and grab us. We made it out of the park by noon, hoping to avoid the notorious fog that drops in on the park in afternoon and is so disorienting and thick that it often swallows up hikers and keeps them in the park until it lifts.
We walked along the main road about 10 minutes to a group of small restaurants and ate a set almuerzo (lunch) there. Cuenca-bound buses were flying by us, honking to see if we needed a ride, but we were so hungry from our long morning of hiking we waved them off. After our lunch, of course, we sat by the roadside for over 30 minutes and didnt see a single bus going to Cuenca. Luckily, two Ecuadorians driving by felt sorry for us three dirty, tired vagabonds (we really probably looked quite pathetic)and offered us a free ride to Cuenca. They were well dressed, their car was nice, and the shotgun rider spoke some English because he had lived in New York City for 14 years. We gladly accepted their kind offer and got a much more comfortable and faster ride back into town than we would have gotten on the bus. The men drove us through a rich neighborhood on the way in and pointed out a million dollar home that a friend of theirs owned. They also gave us some information about Cuenca as they drove us through the city. They then dropped us off only a few blocks from our hostel!
On New Years Eve, we set a lunch date with Don Shamuko, the restaurant owner next door, to try the traditional Ecuadorian dish cuy. That is guinea pig. He spit roasted us a whole one and literally laid it on a plate and cut it up, organs, bones and all, into pieces. It took quite a bit of effort to pick through the edible meat. The meat had the texture of chicken but had a different, saltier taste to it. Jon and I were both glad we tried it, but definitely wouldnt have it again. With the guinea pig, we got a whole spread of jasmine rice, potatoes, fresh veggies in a salad, hominy, popcorn, a couple of beers and a pot of canelazo at the end. We were adequately stuffed.
That night, we had a few drinks in our room before catching the end of a happy hour at a hostel-bar right down the street. Strong gin and toincs and mojitos for $1.85! Later, we roamed the streets and there were bonfires everywhere, just right in the middle of the streets! People were burning the cardboard and paper bodies that we had seen everywhere leading up to the Eve. Some just looked like ordinary people, others were shaped and colored as Wolverine or a Smurf. Fireworks were being lit off everywhere and by some bonfires there was loud music bumping. We stopped by one such bonfire and danced the night away with people of all different ages and ethnicities, travelers and locals alike! It was a fun, unique way to celebrate the New Year.
Today was mostly a recovery day, but Jon and I did get in a long walk along the river, past lots of parks that were packed with families enjoying the holiday. We head south to Vilcabamba tomorrow morning and then on to Peru!
Jon leaping a stream in Cajas NP.
Some examples of the local/native garb. I love the colorful dresses.
Kasey and I getting ¨giggy with it¨ on the turn of the new year, welcome 2013, the world did not end..
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