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I was too eager to get out of my prison cell of a hostel in Loja and head further north to the third largest city in the country - Cuenca. Said to rival the beauty of Quito, Cuenca was extremely pretty, though I could not draw comparisons with the capital just yet. I felt as though it was the perfect size, small enough to not be so busy, yet big enough to have things "going on" constantly. I quickly warmed to it. Arriving in the late afternoon left me with an awkward amount of time to do anything too adventurous and as a result I wandered aimlessly around the dainty little streets and plazas, popping into the various shops to see what was on offer.
That night I searched for some food, which proved more difficult than expected (these guys must eat early as everything seemed closed). Eventually I paid $2 for a huuuuuge plate of stew, rice, beans and salad, and it took a while to eat. I was joined for dinner by a really nice local man, who (like most locals) was interested in hearing how I came to be in Cuenca. We chatted for a while before he offered for me to visit some new apartments he was building. For some reason I accepted, and with all sorts of thoughts running through my mind, we were on the way to his property. I was extremely wary but figured it was also a nice gesture on his part and a good opportunity for something different. His apartments were pretty spectacular, granite benchtops, new furniture etc, the sort of place for medium/higher class Cuencans (hope that's the right demonym). The top level apartment even had an awesome rooftop balcony overlooking the river, rest of the city. It was a funny experience.
Parque Nacional Cajas looked quite appealing to me, and the next day I was off, in an attempt to just get there, which proved more difficult than first thought. I had to walk a couple of kms to a main road and then flag down a passing bus headed to Guayaquil, then jump out on the national park road, opposite the visitor centre. There was no set route of walk to take, so I created my own path, which eventually led me around one of the biggest lakes in the park (there are around 270), passing varieties of tundra and highland vegetation, sadly not too many animals were to be found (except for a few trout in the lake). With my eye on the dark clouds above, it was back to the centre and onto a bus passing through to Cuenca before the weather turned grim.
The next day was my chance to explore the city, which I surprisingly hadn't gotten around to doing until now. It was hot and humid, and I strolled along the lovely, clean river (full of locals swimming) to the Central Museum. This gave me one of the best understandings of indigenous groups and local people out of any museum I had visited previously, it was clear, concise and I guess my spanish held up well enough to understand most of it. It was a really informative lesson on local cultures, from dress to music, food, and also the interactions with native flora and fauna. Let's not forget the shrunken head displays, which were real and quite honestly frightening. Part of the museum was also a huge park by the name of parque archaelogical. It contained ruins, an aviary full of native species, ponds, gardens, crops, llamas roaming around and a host of other bits and pieces.
Now I'm a sucker for a bargain, but sometimes (especially in South America) things aren't always as they seem. I spotted a sign for almuerzo $1.50 (lunch), which was incredibly cheap, even by Ecuadorian standards. The lunch turned out to be some sort of mystery meat, which I narrowed down to pig stomach or skin, I couldn't understand the name in spanish. With much hesitation I ate it, and though it tasted of nothing, the texture was not something I would try again. The fruit juice was nice though! (passionfruit)
I made my way over the river into the new town, a much less interesting place to be with commercial buildings, universities and residential areas. The market, half an hour walk back through the old town, was just as interesting as all other markets I had been to, and I was talked into updating my swag (literally), purchasing a new Jansport duffel bag to make room for the inevitable buying of gifts at Otavalo in a few days. All too soon it was time to leave Cuenca in an effort to make it to the Saturday markets in Otavalo (the best day). But Cuenca is a city i'll be sure to return to in a few years, for it is too much of a nice place to not.
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