Chillin' in Cuenca!

Getting to Cuenca was a pretty long journey.... but I suppose everything is long here compared to tiny Ireland! First we got a bus back to Ambato, then a long bus journey to Cuenca. Cuenca is a beautiful colonial town in Ecuador with lots of little cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings. We stayed in a cool hostel called ElCafecito which is a funky cafe/restaurant with rooms out the back. We arrived to Cuenca about 8pm and the cafe was jammed packed full of people sipping beers, chatting and listening to cool music. We were pretty exhausted when we arrived so we had some food, a couple of beers and headed straight for bed!

The following day we wandered around Cuenca visiting Museo del Banco Central 'Pumapungo' which houses cool shrunken heads and other local pieces. We also walked around a park attached to the museum - the park has a small building in the middle which houses lots of birds - parrots, hawks, etc. After the museum we wandered along the Rio Tomebamba, stopped in a local flower market and tasted some hand-made sweets in a local sweet stall.... bliss..... Cuenca is really, really beautiful :)

On our last night we went to a cool restaurant called Cafe Eucalyptus and had 'Ceviche' and chicken molle (a mexican dish made of a chocolate sauce... sounds weird but its gorgeous). After dinner we had a few drinks and watched some salsa dancing!! Have to say we're loving Ecuador. Everyone here is so relaxed!

Next stop the tiny fishing village of Puerto Lopez :)

-- By Karen & Paul

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