Cuenca

A beautiful town and getting lost in a beautiful park.

I arrived in Cuenca late in the afternoon on Tuesday and walked to my hostel. I did some work, enquired about hiking in the Cajas National Park and then walk around the center of the town. Cuenca is a very beautiful and very clean. I grabbed dinner and went back to my hostel.

Wandering in Cuenca
Wandering in Cuenca
Wandering in Cuenca
Wandering in Cuenca

Wednesday morning, I took the 8am bus to the Cajas National Park. I arrived around 9am, registered and started hiking. The registration to the park is free, but the park is extremely beautiful. I started hiking on trail #2 (Cerro Saint Luis) which begins at around 4,000m above sea level, and has some steep hills up to around 4,300m of altitude.

It is rainy season in Ecuador, and the trails were fairly muddy and some of the trail markings are covered by vegetation. At some point I took a wrong turn and got lost. Only after climbing some steep off-track hills that I was able to get back on the trail. At the top, it was fairly foggy, and it was very slippery coming down the muddy trails.

Hiking in Cajas National Park
Hiking in Cajas National Park
Hiking in Cajas National Park
Hiking in Cajas National Park

After finishing trail #2, I continued on trail #1 to reach a separate entrance of the park, where I caught a bus back to Cuenca.

Hiking in Cajas National Park
Hiking in Cajas National Park
Hiking in Cajas National Park

In Cuenca, I worked a bit and then met Marco for a few beers. We then went to a classical music concert in a church, but I was starting to fall asleep. So we decided to leave to get some falafel and more beers.

Music in the church
Music in the church

On Thursday I mostly worked, and then walked around the city later in the afternoon. On Friday morning, I took a 5-hour, uncomfortable, up windy roads, bus to Riobamba.