Cuenca

After a wam farewell to Deklan who was off to the Colombian coast, we hopped on board a bus to Cuenca - a UNESCO Heritage site (we're fond of those!) in the higher regions in Southern Ecuador. The buildings in the city are beautiful, the streets lean in on each other and are littered with balconies, and we found a hostel with a huge kitchen (including a blender and a sandwich toaster, so we were very happy!). The city has two cathedrals, one old and one new - and it was here I snapped one of my finest photographs - the portrayal of graffiti on a cathedral, something I haven't really seen before.

We spent a day wandering around the city, and particularly enjoyed sitting watching the BMXers practice their jumps around a plaza. In the market buying our food supplies we even found these strangely pastel coloured eggs! The vibe of Cuenca was pretty busy, and every local we spoke to complained about the huge number of tourists cluttering their streets (we were with Charlie though, so decided not to feel guilty).

Also in the main city there is a small area of ruins - described as Inca, although only a very small percentage actually is Inca - and with no context at all - and with a busy city either side of the small walls - the ruins were pretty unimpressive! However, the next day we made our way for the day to the ruins of Ingapirca, which were the complete opposite. The largest Inca ruins in Ecuador, the most incredible structure is the Temple of the Sun, situated at the end of a small city of ruins. The temple was made so that on each of the solstices the sun would fall directly into the doorway (it amazes me how so long ago this type of architecture was possible - it is the same at all the Inca sites we have been to - the precision is astounding). The ruins are set out a bit like a castle, and is one of the first Inca ruins where a fully functioning acuaduct has been found which would have provided water for the whole compound.

After our tour we ventured in to the surrounding town of El Tambo, and were directed to a brilliant cliff face which looks remarkably like a face!

Close to Cuenca is a National park, El Cajas. So we packed up rucksacks of water and snacks, donned our hiking boots and set off to have a day of natural beauty and trekking. Upon our arrival we were handed a map, and the lady at the tourist office recommended us a route to go on. We had researched before, and were warned there, of a mist which rises around the park at around 3pm, and many people have been lost to the park - which is huge, and has very little done to it - it is truly beautiful. The lady recommended us a pretty difficult route - and we couldn't work out why, as the big group before us had been recommended the easier one - perhaps it was Charlie's Ecuadorian charm, or Dave's shaggy traveler hair, or the battered (I prefer 'loved') state of my hiking boots - but either way we decided to go for it.

We found ourselves lost after about 15 minutes, but luckily Charlie was able to navigate the ginormous map we had been given (look at the picture, and our trail was about an inch squared of that. I do not jest) and we were back on track. The hike took us through a magical forest of papery trees, rock climbing up pretty sheer heights, strolling through meadows, trudging over the ridges of cliffs - and through some truly breathtaking viewpoints.

Our trail was pretty poorly marked along the way, and there were some points when I felt we were never going to get out alive...but eventually we came to the bottom of the mountain we had climbed, and began to make our way back to the tourist office. It was here we saw a sign for our route, pointing from the way we came (the sign says 'very difficult, 4 hours'). Well we were chuffed because it had only taken us four hours, but were pretty unimpressed that she had sent us the wrong way round the route - looking behind us it was pretty easily marked with splodges of green paint on various rocks that way! However we made it, and it made it even more impressive really that we had made it - and we felt exhilarated and extremely pleased with ourselves. Especially Charlie who had managed to do the whole thing in pretty fashionable boots, not really designed for trekking - as it was his first ever trek! So glad we could share that with you C-Blag.

The Banos Blowout

The next stop on our Ecuadorian adventure was the city of Banos. We arrived here knowing little about the city, other than knowing it was popular for its supreme natural beauty - it is a gateway in to the Amazon, and home to more than 80 waterfalls - the perfect place to take a tour of the jungle, or perhaps go white water rafting. Well...having just done both of those excursions rather spectacularly in Tena, we didn't feel they could be topped, so we settled in to have our own little Banos Blowout - sampling the restaurants and the drinks. Here we had pad thai, chicken wings, chai lattes, an obscene amount of rum, and sampled our first meat fondue (on Charlie's recommendation) which was amazing. On the night Dave got to chose where to eat we ended up at COMIC BURGER - a mix of two of his favourite hobbies - reading comic books and eating cheeseburgers.

Those Spanish speakers reading this will know that 'Banos' literally translates as Baths (and is also used as 'toilet'). Banos the city is home to some natural hot and cold baths, which Dave and I went to early one morning. We arrived at 5.30 and the queue for entry was already down the road! We were pleased with our tip to go early though, as the queue consisted mainly of Ecuadorian locals, and not tourists, which made it feel pretty authentic. The baths opened at 6am and in we piled. Everyone is made to buy a little hair cap, and in you go! The baths range from freezing cold to really hot - we couldn't bring ourselves to try the cold plunge pools at such a time in the morning, but settled in a warm one to watch the sunrise over the waterfall which was next to us. It was a beautiful experience.

After having spent a few days in Banos without really doing anything, we decided it was time we got up and went out. The boys were up for renting a little quad bikey type thing and bombing around the mountains in it, and I was quite keen to have a spa day - Banos is famous also for the massages and beauty treatments. So I booked in for the works - full body massage, manicure, facial and waxing - and then the boys rented a full on jeep with enough space for me in - so I got the best of both worlds!

We had intended to only be out with the jeep for an hour or two...but after attempting to get it up a hill and hearing the noise of the engine, it came to light that the jeep was a lot less fully equipped than advertised. With Charlie braving the Ecuadorian mountain roads, we made it to a mirador across the city and the mountains, where the vistas were beautiful. We then attempted to find our way to the next poorly signposted place - and ended up getting the thing well and truly stuck.

It took us the best part of an hour, a lot of engineering work - using boards of wood, mud, stones - anything we could find - NOT using the 4-wheel drive because (unsurprisingly) it didn't work - and a lot of positive thinking - we eventually got the vehicle unstuck, and raced back to the city so I could be back in time for my massage (and much needed manicure after that!).

The next day Charlie's friend from home, the lovely Deklan met us in the city and we rented bicycles and away we went on a tour of the waterfalls. We chose the worst morning to do this on - torrential rain making it difficult for us to see where we were going, and making landslides a real threat - we even crossed a rather perilous one with said bikes. Throughout the day we saw a number of waterfalls. The first, Manto de La Novia, which was once just one waterfall, but a huge storm caused a landslide which made a second one open up next to it (and destroyed a hotel which once sat below).  

The most spectacular one we saw was the end. After we had satiated ourselves with a cold beer overlooking the river (the rain had cleared by then), we trekked to the Palion del Diablo (cauldron of the devil) and were suitably stunned by the awesome power and speed and sheer amount of water gushing over the cliff edge. The noise of it filled our ears, the spray hit us all in the face, and we even crawled through damp rocks to have a glimpse behind the cascade too. Thoroughly impressive - and I have a great video which shows it, but unfortunately it's taken two hours just to upload this handful of pictures, so they will have to do!