Our last stop in Ecuador was Cuenca. It is an interesting city that is more reminiscent of a European city, with its cobble stoned streets, large churches and cathedrals, and colonial architecture.
We stayed in a hostel the first night where the people running the hostel were extremely welcoming and helpful. Sadly there was one of those dogs that looks like a mop that lived there and both Chris and I were allergic, forcing us to move to a different hostel. The second hostel we went to was more of a hotel, where breakfast was included on a rooftop terrace.
Our time spent in Cuenca was spent with a lot of aimless wandering and figuring out how to get to Peru. We did manage to really get a hang of the bus system, which I was proud of.
Cuenca, known for its culture and history, is littered with inexpensive and free museums. We decided to go to the Museum of the Central Bank on our last day, but when we showed up a guard came outside to greet us and inform us that the museum was closed. (Their hours said they were open on Mondays so we are not too sure what happened.) I was disappointed since I was excited to see their exhibit on shrunken heads. The ruins in the back were still open to the public though, so Chris and I explored those, with no one else around. We did eventually run into a middle-aged Ecuadorian couple near the garden section. The man started to explain in ridiculously fast Spanish about the history of Cuenca. Chris and I had no idea what he was talking about, only catching words and phrases of his flamboyant storytelling. At one point he started pretending to poke my eye out with his umbrella, in an attempt to tell of the brutal treatment of the Incas by the Spanish? We’ll never know. Our blank stares did not phase him and his wife eventually had to drag him away while laughing, knowing that he was just having some fun with gringos.
We left Cuenca and the highlands of Ecuador and were heading back to the coast, but this time to Peru!
Backpacks and Bucket Lists 