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Published: February 9th 2013
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Our journey onwards from Quito , i briefly mentioned in the last blog, we had a wet old day visiting a number of towns and not seeing the errupting valcanoes and finally spent the night in a lovely converted Hacienda. we were off again the following morning with two main events planned , the 2 hour train journey on a near vertical route using the switch back techinque - i will explain!! and visiting th e only Incasite in Ecuador of any note - thats what the itinerary said!!! The morning was taken up with the train ride when the engine pulls the carriages up on one track and then moves backwards to change tracks to onnce again journey up the mountain . It is too steep to do this any orher way!! We did this leaving Cusco in peru to go to Machu Pichu which I have to say was more dramatic than reaching the "devils nose" the name of the mountain here. Still this time I could look out the window and wasnt as terrified as last time - patricia you will remember!!!! . Our travels continued and we left in a different coach with a differnt driver for
the Inca site . It was a miserable journey , rain low cloud covered the mountains and made it difficult for the driver to navigate the bends , it took us much longer because of the conditions , and we all grew werry and fidgety , the bus was smaller with much less individual room. We were at over 3000 meters so you can imagine my fear!!! The sit was intersting though the clouds wirled about sometumes shrouding the temple in mist. The Incasseemed to have dominated most of the continent from east to west though not far south or north. and after Cusco , Cuenca and its surrounding areas were the second most important area. Nothing can compare to Machu Pichu so lets move on!!!
Old Cuenca famous for its panama hats is a lovely colonial place , much more beautiful than Quito with less cars, more character, smaller and even I found my way around during our free time to get to a museum dedicated to the indiginous tribes. We had the inevitable city tour helping us to locate the city's position in history. We visited one of the workshops producing the panama hats and had a
fascinating glimse into how they are made and the whole story behiund them. Cuenca is the only place making these hats worn by people all over the world and by the local population , Thgey can cost anything from 36$ to over 1000$ and when you see the work that goes into them you understand why.
It is fiesta time all over the Catholic world - carne valle- and cuenca is no exception , lots of music, fireworks, building and lighting of castles and throwing paint all over you - Holi comes to mind! Great fun was had by all except the heaven opened as it does most nights in the rainy season and rather brought things to a halt a little early.
We had a very energentic experience the following day with a trek in the Las cajas national park. Beginning at 3000 metres with an hours walk and then travelling up to 40000 metres to hike across the wonderful landscape. i was a bit nervous not sure how the altitude would affect me and what the terraine would be like. And would you know it , i left my walking pole in the hotel reception so
was totally annoyed with my self. It was a challenge scrabbling over glacial rocks ( think I have been here before!) in the pouring rain , slipping and sliding all over the place for nearly 2 hours. i had plenty of willing helpers to lend me a hand and allwas well. we all made it in one piece so that was grand. And we had a splendid lunch to celebrate! Tomorrow we are off to guayaquil on the coast to make our connections for our 8 day tour of the galapogus. Not sure if I will be able to blog on board so be patient!!
until the next time
xxx
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