Guest Bloggers: The Brothers Encuentra Cuenca

We planned on Ian´s Machala Reality Tour (mail box, DVD store, juice guy, veggie restaurant that serves chicken) to occupy us Friday afternoon. But the bus to Cuenca was boarding as soon as we arrived. Figuring that it would be nice to see the countryside, we bought a few mandarinas and jumped aboard.

Well, that was a good decision.

In the course of three hours, we passed through banana plantations, lush cloud forest, barren mountains, fertile valleys, and pine tree-covered mountains. And we went from sea level to 10,000 feet. Doing all of this while watching the WWE-produced (classic?) The Condemned, starring Steve Austin and company.

We rolled into Cuenca at dusk and quickly headed to our hostel. We dropped our stuff and ate dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant. Great deal and delicious food. This restaurant does not serve chicken.

The next morning, we woke up, picked up some bread for the road, and took a bus to Cajas National Park, which is half an hour outside of Cuenca on the road to Guayaquil. Like any national park, they charge an entrance fee. For Ecuadorians and residents (like Yoni), it costs $1.50 to access the park. For foreigners, it costs $10.00. We weren´t given any maps, and the signs on the first trail we tried led us back to the highway.

We decided to go against the grain and do the exact opposite of what the arrows suggested. Using this strategy, we enjoyed a pleasant, two-and-a-half hour jaunt through the mountainside. Near the end of the path, we came upon four alpaca (Ruby still wants them to be emu and refuses to accept the reality). We did a loop around the laguna near the end of the trail and called it a day for hiking in the wilderness. This was probably a good idea since none of us were acclimated to any altitude above 500 feet, and we were planning on spending the afternoon exploring the hilly (and more than a mile high) city of Cuenca.

We took a bus back to Cuenca and began our search for lunch. Ian wanted to expose his brothers to some comida tipica (typical food) for the region and was set on finding a locro de papas (a potato soup that is often served with cheese and avocado). But after a half hour of searching, our bellies were still empty.

Enter desperation. Enter mercado food court.

Basically, we walked up the aisle of the food stands at the market for something that we could eat. After doing one sivvuv, we found a place offering fried fish. Thinking that whatever diarrhea-causing bacteria that was in the fish would be killed in the frying, we thought that would be a safe option (probably not the best logic, but to give away the end of the story, our stool is still solid).

Afterward we explored the market´s fruit section and picked out a selection of fun-sounding, hilarious-looking, and mostly delicious fruits. We mozied around historic Cuenca for the next two hours. Cuenca is considered a United Nations World Heritage Site because the majority of its colonial center is still intact. We explored this colonial center, marvelled at the churches and other architectural gems, and strolled along the river. We washed our fruit at the hostel and purchase a knife, with which to cut said fruit.

Then, we proceeded to taste the fruits. We understand that photos would really improve this section of the blog post, but you will have to wait for those. We sampled the granadilla, miniature plums, cucumber melon (or pepino, but not to be confused with the regular cucumber that one would find in the vegetable section), chirimoya, and babaco. Overall, we were very pleased.

After a brief siesta and internetting, we began our search for dinner. Thinking we passed a vegetarian Indian restaurant during our stroll, we tried to retrace our steps in search of it. No dice. It was probably closed.

We found a place that offered the traditional soup that Ian wanted us to try. So we went there for the first part of dinner and ate the soup. Everybody liked it.

For the second course, we went to another vegetarian restaurant and enjoyed a two-course meal. Another agreeable experience, which was capped by ice cream. Then we went back to hostel to pass out after our exhausting day.

This morning, we woke up at 7:00 to get a good jump on the day. But we realized that nobody else in all of Cuenca woke up, except to go to church, so we decided to shower. This was Ian´s first hot shower in three months. To quote him, ´´I didn´t want to leave.´´

Then we picked up a variety of breads for breakfast and went to the bus station to pick up tickets for our bus later in the day. Success, and Ian even bought us some humitas (which are warm, corn deliciousness).

We returned to downtown, picked up some fruit, and learned about Panama hats (the industry that Cuenca is famous for, along with ceramic tiles). And that wrapped up our trip to Cuenca.

Everybody enjoyed their experience. Gotta catch a bus. TTYL.