Hiking in the Andes

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Monday began clear and sunny and we talked Carlos our guide into skipping the scheduled market tour. Instead we drove to Cajas National Park, 35k west of Cuenca for a 3 1/2 hour hike. It was beautiful there and reminded me of the Lake District or perhaps the Scottish Highlands without the heather: mountain lakes everywhere and mountains green with vegetation.

I was hoping to see a humming bird or two feeding from the flowers of the bromeliads which were an unusual faded blue-green colour on 5 foot stalks. Instead we saw a variable hawk that had just caught its breakfast. Resting it on a rock, it was plucking the smaller bird's feathers. We also saw a blue-and-black tanager and some interesting plants.

There is no shortage of water here. Much of the ground was boggy and after two hours it began to rain. By the time we reached the van our runners and pant legs were covered in mud. Luckily our hotel had a very efficient laundry service and by 9:30 p.m. our 'pantalones' were returned clean and dry. We warmed up in the sauna and hastened the drying of our runners with the hotel hair dryer. It was a great day despite the rain.

We spent the following morning in Cuenca. We visited the ethnological museum at the site of the Inca settlement of Pumpapungo, had a quick look round the old town and lunched in another museum that had an interesting private collection of ancient Ecaudorian pottery and other artefacts. We could have spent longer at both museums but were flying back to Quito after lunch. Tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Islands off the west coast.

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Photos

Cajas National Park
Spot the Hawk if you can

Cajas National Park
Bromeliad in flower, no humming bird

Cuenca's new cathedral
With blue domes