Sunday, August 17, 2008
Cathedral in Cuenca
Just thought I¨d put up a few pictures of one of the fabulous Cathedrals in Cuenca. Also, at the side, there is a line of flowers sellers with a wonderful array of flowers. Can you find the lady snoozing? If you click on the photos it makes them bigger to help the search!
Cajas National Park, Ecuador!
Cajas National Park is situated close to the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. We travelled by bus from Huanchaco, back to Trujillo, to Piura, across the Ecuadorian border to Loja and finally to Cuenca. A beautifull colonial city enclosed by 3 rivers, peppered with wonderful churches and very different from Peru; fine filtered coffee, high speed internet with wide screen monitors and streets full of fashion (victims!) We took an early morning bus to the national park. With hundreds of lakes it is a very popular fishing location for the locals. We had our first encounter with some 
Ecuadorians who insisted we join them for a gin and coke to welcome us to their lovely country. It was 9am, they had a long drive ahead of them and we were going for a long walk, so why not!
Off we went into the park, back at altitude and recently refreshed. We wandered on through the park for our three day, two night hike, bags on bags with equipment and usual supplies. The terrain was quite similar to home and as the fog closed in and the soft rain fell we could have been in Ireland. In fact, I can offically report that the rain was more like an Irish experience than a New Zealand one. As I retrived
my sodden boots from yet another deep squelchy muddy hole I thought, yes, just like connemara on a grand soft day.
So with our love of hiking high on our minds we passed three fine days in the hills. We saw some lovely flowers and some
little scorpians, ate some fine sandwiches and got quizzed by some locals who wondered what the hell we were doing in the rain and mud when we should be down town on a tourist bus, or visiting a cathedral. We were greatly rewarded however and having managed to keep the huge fold out pictures of park birds dry, we identified four beautiful grey breasted toucans flying above our heads and sitting in a nearby tree. 
Ecuadorians who insisted we join them for a gin and coke to welcome us to their lovely country. It was 9am, they had a long drive ahead of them and we were going for a long walk, so why not!Off we went into the park, back at altitude and recently refreshed. We wandered on through the park for our three day, two night hike, bags on bags with equipment and usual supplies. The terrain was quite similar to home and as the fog closed in and the soft rain fell we could have been in Ireland. In fact, I can offically report that the rain was more like an Irish experience than a New Zealand one. As I retrived
my sodden boots from yet another deep squelchy muddy hole I thought, yes, just like connemara on a grand soft day.So with our love of hiking high on our minds we passed three fine days in the hills. We saw some lovely flowers and some
little scorpians, ate some fine sandwiches and got quizzed by some locals who wondered what the hell we were doing in the rain and mud when we should be down town on a tourist bus, or visiting a cathedral. We were greatly rewarded however and having managed to keep the huge fold out pictures of park birds dry, we identified four beautiful grey breasted toucans flying above our heads and sitting in a nearby tree. 
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