Cuenca, Ecuador

We arrived in Cuenca this past Friday night after a very long bus ride from Riobamba. Along the way, we zipped up and down beautiful mountainsides, rose in and out of clouds, saw many indigenous farmers, and sat in seats number 1 and 2. At first we thought these would be the best seats on the bus, free of bumps felt in the back, and with plenty of leg room. All was well until JJ (sitting on the aisle) pretty much had women, men, and children throughout the ride rubbing their hands, heads, arm pits, and chests all over him while they tried to stand in the aisle for a temporary ride on the bus. He handled it really well, but was more than really happy to be off the bus. No more seats 1 and 2 for us, I think next time we might go for 9 and 10 or something.

Posada del Rio is a cute hostel ran by two sisters right across the street from Rio Tomebamba in Cuenca. After putting our stuff down in our cute little room on the third floor, we set out on a walk for taking pictures and finding some dinner. We walked down several flights of steps and across the river and noted that there was a nearby park for throwing the Frisbee. We crossed back over the river and up towards the center of town, passing good-looking cafes, artisian shops, and many tourists. About now is when I decided Cuenca was the prettiest South American city we visited so far. At every street corner I would see something I liked. Very cool old architecture, Spanish/Italian/French looking streets with lots of iron work. The sun was at the perfect angle and the pictures JJ took of the many Iglesias were really well lit. We had some delicious typical food for dinner on the main plaza. I sampled a classic Ecuadorian potato soup with a huge slab of avocado and queso fresco in it with a sweet and savory corn tamale as a side. JJ had the churasco beef. Then, we were too tempted to pass up the place next-door, Tutto Freddo, the most raved ice-cream place in Cuenca. We decided to split the banana sundae and for $3 wouldn’t you? Later that night as we were getting ready for bed, we continued to hear very loud booming noises. Eventually, we poked our head out the window and saw our very own fireworks show! It went on for about 7 minutes and in the morning, we asked what the fireworks were for and no one knew what we were talking about.

The next day we had a very heavy breakfast at Café Austral, did our workout/Frisbee throw in the park, and set out on a long walk. We first visited some pretty minimal Incan ruins alongside the river. We were unimpressed, but continued to walk towards a Regional Museum with many more Incan artifacts and some shrunken heads! We walked around the fence of the property and were pleased with the gardens, the huge and obvious Incan stone walls and hillsides. Then, we learned that the museum had closed for the day and our only views were through the fence. Boo! But we continued on and walked past many more picturesque churches and plazas. Then, JACKPOT! We stumbled on a huge produce, fish, meat, and other stuffs market. We walked through with big smiles and made our way upstairs where it appeared many food stalls were full of people having their Saturday almuerzo (lunch). So we made a few laps, and realized the competition of little ladies cooking was really high, since everyone seemed to be cooking the same things. I chose a delicious and seemingly bottomless bowl of encebollado (fish stew) for a whopping $1.25. JJ could not resist the fresh roasted meat of “some sort of animal”, with a very cute old lady serving it, it also came with a interesting variety of corn and a polenta cake with cheese on top. While we were eating, we decided to buy vegetables in the produce section of the market and cook them for dinner. From the indigenous ladies selling their crops, we purchased about a pound of potatoes (0.50), a large bundle of swiss chard (0.25), two red bell peppers and two red onions (0.50), a large sweet plantain for desert (0.25), two fresh mangoes (O.50). So we are cooking dinner for a grand total of $2.00. Once again, food here is cheap! After making our eclectic dinner, we realized that potatoes and swiss chard aren’t the best paired together, plantains take hours or a magic method to cook, and well the cooked food is so cheap that cooking is not worth it unless we want to.

Next, we headed to Loja, Ecuador on a quick pit-stop in our long journey to Arequipa, Peru. We spent the night relaxing and in the morning got on another bus to Piura, Peru and for adventures crossing the border!