A place for the taste buds

Next stop on our trip down the Andes was Cuenca lying in the Southern Highlands, we had decided to skip the train ride 'the devils nose' in Riobamba. The last I had heard was that you were no longer able to ride on the roof, which was the main drawcard. From what I have read on other peoples travelblogs it seems that a couple of Japanese tourists were decapitated a couple of years ago (more recent than my guidebook) and the train has been replaced by a tourist bus on traintracks sort of thing that no longer allows roof riding.
It was only 5 hours on the bus from Baños, but it felt like a lifetime. It felt like two lifetimes for Deb as she once again was dying for the toilet on the bus (why does that always happen to women?) and the toilet door would not open. After seeing Deb in enough pain I went to the front and asked if we would or could make a stop for the toilet (actually that's a lie, I was more or less forced) He then proceeded to tell me that the door was open, you just needed to give it a good pull. Thank god for that! Deb was really annoyed then that she had sat there for a few hours dying for the loo.
Cuenca is a beautiful town, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with plenty of colonial charm and a modern edge, on first impression the people like to dress sophisticated and neatly with the shoepolishers doing great business. The towns main plaza was similar to most we have seen, only that is has a huge catedral fronting one side, the catedral has huge blue domes with tiles brought from the Czech Republic. We spent the first day wandering around the town, the artesian market had plenty, weavings and some good furniture and baskets and of course the Panama Hat. Which hails from Cuenca (not Panama). We walked along the Rio Tomebomba and saw our first (if not that impressive) Inca ruins and then to the Museio Pumapungo which was huge, and a very good museum, the best part of the museum showed all the different parts of Ecuador and the idigenous attire and a few basic tools, from Amazon to Andean to Coast. Impressive was the collection of shrunken heads. Outside were some more remains from Inca times.
We have been thoroughly impressed with the food in Cuenca, there are some nice restaurants, modern, with good quality food. I tried some Shrimp Ceviche (Raw marinated overnight) and we discovered an ice-cream shop on the corner of the plaza that never failed to satisy. Also walking past a line of bakeries on the way home always made for a longer than normal walk.
Our second day we went to the Parque Nacional Cajas. We first headed out of town to the lower part of the park at 3100m where we walked around a lagoon. The guide was very good and had good knowledge of the area and was able to tell us a lot of information. There were plenty of different types of orchards and the guide pointed out one of the trees that provide the antidote for malaria (I didn't even know that it came from a tree). He said there were only 17 left in the park. We were also lucky enough to see an Andean toucan. On the higher paramo we did another walk past a few lakes, the guide informed us the uses of the small flowers we encountered, showed us endemic species and took in the scenery as well as seeing a few of the wild llama that live in the park. Lunch was a lovely locro soup with avocado (the avocado here in Ecuador has been beautiful) and trout for main. We also tried a strange drink made with many of the plants and herbs from the area, named 'Drake' after Sir Francis Drake the pirate.
Spent the evening relaxing by the fire at the Eucalyptus bar and were very happy with what we had found in Cuenca and now to Vilcabamba where we have another nice hostal awaiting.

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Part of trip: Honeymoon adventure

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