Architecture and sobriety

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Domestic bus travel in Ecuador had novelty value from the very beginning, with the toilets in Loja's bus terminal being free of charge. Any Peruvian visitors would have broken out in a cold sweat at the lack of security checks as we boarded the bus. The initial stretch of road was so poor that I could have hopped faster, and the nearly 6 hours to cover just over 200km warranted a Laos comparison. Mercifully there was neither music nor videos.

Cuenca looked very pretty from the initial drive-through in the bus and after a couple of days I was convinced that it was better than Cusco for colonial architecture, the relative lack of tourists also a plus. There was little in the way of Inca heritage, even though Cuenca was the site of an Inca city that supposedly rivalled Inca-era Cusco in splendour. Given that the Incas were in Ecuador for less than a century, it's remarkable that they managed to impose their language on the local people.

I'm noticing that the average Ecuadorean seems remarkably well turned-out (the 40-something woman I saw wearing a pair of hotpants with "Smack this" written across her arse notwithstanding). People are friendlier than in Peru, with a "Como esta?" usually involved in any pleasantries. There are a few small differences in menu Spanish but nothing so divergent as to make me starve.

For two days before a national referendum to accept a new constitution, it was illegal to sell or consume alcohol, an interesting measure that left me drinking Diet Coke on my first cold-free Friday and Saturday nights for 2 weeks.

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Photos

Stonework
Catedral Nueva, Parque Calderon

Windows
Parque Calderon

Detail
Catedral Vieja, Parque Calderon

Leaf
Parque Calderon

Flower
Parque Calderon

Tower
Catedral Nueva, Parque Calderon

Door
Catedral Nueva, Parque Calderon

Door detail
Catedral Nueva, Parque Calderon

Balconies
Parque Calderon

Steeple
Iglesia San Alfonso

Looking for God
Iglesia Maria Auxiliadora

Shop sign
Presumably what she hides behind her Secret

Comments

[graciela]

Love your pics
I always read your blogs. I love your sense of humour, or at least it´s sense of humour to me. I´ve been to Cuenca last year. Lovely place, lovely pictures, lovely details you focused with your camera. Great. Love from Argentina.

[Laryssa]

Great photos!
We wanted to go to Cuenca on our trip to Ecuador-unfortunately our plans had to change (not for a bad reason thankfully, just one of those travel things) and we couldn't make it. Your photos are gorgeous! Thanks for giving me the view of the city we couldn't make it to.

[Adrian Y]

spiritual experience
sorry for waxing purple all at once (hmm chameleon?)...uplifting and wry observations visual & verbal. Admire your exquisite "eye" - do you adjust photos, or does your camera give these supreme results? What do you use? O Master John Prester thank thank thank you.

[Jabe]

Re spiritual experience
I know I can always rely on you for a positive comment, Adrian - thanks :-) I'm currently using a Canon S3iS, which has the major benefit of a x12 optical zoom but without having to carry around any separate lenses. It's certainly not perfect, but as a travel camera it's pretty close. I rarely do any post-processing, maybe a crop once in a blue moon, but having just discovered the functionality available in the photo editing software on Flickr, I may be doing more in the future. However post-processing takes Internet time, and that's often in short supply when I'm travelling.