Advertisement
Published: October 28th 2006
Cuenca
Central cathedral, which we unfortunately never had the chance to enter. Hello Everyone,
I am writing to update you on our last little adventure, which we spent in the nearby town of Cuenca. The city is about five hours away-a very visually dynamic bus ride. Cuenca is about the same size as Loja, and is centered around a large, ornate cathedral. This week is the celebration of Cuenca's independence (Nov.1-3), and we are planning to return to enjoy the fiesta (which we've heard is incredible and quite squirrelly).
Cuenca has incredible, delicate architecture and elegant plazas with gardens juxtaposed with modern office buildings with tinted windows. One of the parks is used solely for runners and walkers (it even has a stone statue of a runner), the first evidence of encouraged exercise that we have found since we've visited South America. The city hosts many foreigners, and caters to the travellers' interests with pastel Spanish-style restaurants (menus in English). We visisted one such cafe and I overheard a young woman from Corvallis, Oregon, speaking about her travels with some friends. Apparently, it's quite a small world.
In the morning, we walk to a plaza market and buy freshly fried bread with cheese cooked inside, sprinkled with sugar and wrapped
Cuenca
Marble doorway of cathedral. in a napkin for .25 cents. The best banana gelato, or icecream, I've ever had in my life. I bought a beautiful pearl necklace. A man escorts tourists in his horse-drawn buggy through the city's center.
We found a bookstore run by an elderly American couple, both retired University professors, that ever so kindly buy, sell, and trade books in English. The woman, Carol, has promised to get some books in for me that I'm interested in for when we return next week. Her bookstore is the only one in the entirety of Ecuador (or so it seems) that has books in English. We have quite exhausted our original cache of literature.
On our return bus ride home, we encountered a little problem: some local people had blocked the road, with burning tires and bushes with thorns you wouldn't believe. Traffic in both directions, on the only road connecting Loja and Cuenca, was entirely stopped. People got out of buses, cars, utility trucks, sat in the shade and chatted, laughing about the inconvenience. Police were there when we arrived, seemed to talk a bit with the protesters, then retired to their SUVs and drove away quietly. There was,
Cuenca
Another smaller church that I liked. for parents' sake, no danger at all. The protest was incredibly docile. We sat outside the bus and read and crunched up dried eucalytpus leaves so we could smell their earthy goodness. We were stopped for almost three hours. Then, we switched buses with some passengers stopped on the other side of the protest and returned home. Quite late. Lightning in the sky in the dark.
I hope that everyone is doing well. Please take care.
Caitlin
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0478s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
