Ecuador - Cuenca & Loja

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Cuenca
Cuenca, Ecuador's 3rd largest city (elevation 2530m) is firmly anchored in its colonial past. It is a charming small city and has a similar population and size as Gothenburg.

We stayed in the best hotel we've had so far - very colonical, colourful and characteristic with excellent breakfasts and free tea all day too which made San extra happy 😊

Cuenca has been described as Ecuadors most beautiful city and we can see why, both of us love it here. There are cobblestone streets and domed churches along with little old ladies washing their clothes on the banks on the Rio Tomebamba on the edge of the city.

We walked past flower markets, yummy smelling bakeries, artisan craft shops. Also Ecuador is actually the home of the Panama hat. What a case of mistaken identity! To the connoisseur they should be called Montecristi after the most famous hat making town of all. Well Cuenca is a great place to see how they are made and we are now the proud owners of an authentic panama hat, although not really sure how it will survive the next few months!

Also went to the fanciest restaurant we have been to in South America yet complete with open fireplaces and substaintial wine list (San's food was the best, but did take the longest to cook - over an hour). During dinner the music suddenly started and the lower floor jumped to their feet for a bit of Salsa - fab!

Loja

Well - what a fly by night visit. Had a pretty exciting and scenic journey down here. Only to arrive to backpacker nightmare - currently a massive festival going on (which to be fair we were aware of) but this has resulted in no rooms in the inn for Magnus and San. Having tried a few hotels, hostels, whatever with no result we decided to book ourselves on the overnight bus to Peru instead. No great loss as the national park we were planning to see here is by no means one of the most spectaular on route...

However- big treat - with our 6 hours to kill until the overnight bus departs we headed to THE place in Ecuador to serve one of the traditional Andean dishes of "Cuy" - a.k.a Guinea Pig. Have to say it was pretty tasty and also low in fat and cholesterol. Tastes a bit like a combo of chicken, duck and rabbit - and quite looking forward to a bit more (just wished they would cut his little head and feet off when they served it - tiny bit offputting looking at his sad little toothy mouth....)

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Comments

[elsa]

from my grey cubical...
I am : A. Jealous, I want to visit Cuenca too, I want a hat, the tea, the salsa dancing at night. B. You ate the little Guinea Pig head???! It is a vegetarian remark, I had to make it to maintain the reputation :) Keep sharing, love xx

[Scott]

Hmmmmmm Guinea Pigs
Oi beardo leave the Guinea Pigs alone, sounds great, do they come in a barbecue sauce? keep living that dream and be safe