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Published: June 27th 2014
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Travel Day
Leaving Banos Monday 31
st March (Odyssey Day 143)
We had time for bacon and eggs for breakfast, and still managed to depart at 0830 this morning. We were heading for the city of Cuenca, our last stop in Ecuador. We had lunch in a little town, the name of which I never did discover. Though a few of us spent the lunch hour trying to find a working ATM so we could get out some more US$ before crossing the border.
The town of Cuenca seemed to be quite nice on first view, though it took us a while to get the truck within walking distance of the hotel. When we finally managed to find somewhere to park temporarily, we walked a few blocks to the hotel and after such a very long day of driving, we were happy to finally arrive. I didn’t even bother going out for dinner, just making use of the comfortable rooms and available wifi.
Tuesday 1
st April (Odyssey Day 144)
I was up this morning
Cuenca
Arriving in the city at 0900 for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, provided by the hotel. Then it was a walk in to the city centre with Ellie and Hannah, which was about a 10 minute stroll away. We saw the ‘new’ cathedral, which was built in 1885, then walked around to the ‘old’ cathedral across the square, which was built in the 16th century. We decided the best way to see Cuenca was to do city bus tour which took about 2 hours. There was not a whole lot here we couldn’t have seen by walking the old town centre, but it was nice to just jump on the bus and see everything from the top anyway, and only cost $5. It did go to the outskirts of town so we could see the view from a lookout there as well, which was nice.
We had lunch at a nice café on the square after our bus tour, then did some shopping on the way back to the hotel. It was still relatively early though so I wandered down to the artisan market around the corner after leaving the girls at the hotel. After all, I
Cuenca
AJ & Hannah in front of the main door of the new cathedral always need more jewellery, right?
Ellie and I wandered down to get some take-away pizza for dinner and returned to the hotel to eat it, joining some of the others who were sitting in the dining area (don’t worry, they don’t serve dinner, so we weren’t being rude bringing in our own) for a few drinks and internet.
During the late evening, a tsunami warning came through for the west coast of South and Central America from an earthquake off the coast of Chile. Simon came knocking on doors late tonight (after Ellie and Ann were both asleep) to let us know we wouldn’t be leaving in the morning after all since our next stop was coastal Peru. So I woke the other girls to let them know they wouldn’t need to get up early tomorrow and just hoped they would remember!
Wednesday 2
nd April (Odyssey Day 145)
Most of the group was around for a late breakfast this morning and since the tsunami warning has been lifted,
Cuenca
AJ hops on the city tour bus the plan was to skip Punta Sol and head for Huaraz instead, possibly spending an extra day there. This will mostly avoid the coast for a week, apart from Huanchaco on the way, and then Emma can re-evaluate heading for the coast after this, as long as the campsites we were planning on staying at are still possible and weren’t damaged.
An extra free day in Cuenca is not a problem at all, as the city has proven to be a rather nice one – something that was a pleasant surprise yesterday as I hadn’t been expecting it. It was nice to wander around and take some time to just sit in a café on the square and watch the world go by.
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