January 23rd-24th, 2015

I didn’t get to know Cuenca half so well as it deserved, despite 4 days spent there too many day trips outside the centre of the city called to me.  Still, this southern Ecuadorian Gem left an impression on me, and while it might be very south american, there’s something undeniably Spanish about it too.

I get to Cuenca just after 3 pm and hurry to Mallki hostel, where I quickly greet my brother before heading up to the second floor where manchester united are on T.V.  I settle in with the guy who works at the hostel and watch a very frustrating draw play out before taking the time to really say hello to my brother and his girlfriend. Since we last saw each other they’ve been to the Galapagos.  Lucky bastards. In case you can’t tell, I want to go back.

Russell and I head out into town hoping to climb up the cathedral, but find it closed. No matter we passed an indian restaurant named Taj Mahal on the way, so I’m happy.  We grab clara and head back for a tasty if unspectacular indian meal.  (7.50 a curry including rice or chapati)

We then head back to the hostel which I must take a second to explain the greatness of.  The dorms are fine, the facilities above average but not spectacular, what makes the hostel great is it’s staff, human, but also the animals.  Vincent is a massive 2 year old English sheep dog, Toby is an energetic brown puppy and Miss Schrodinger is a incredibly friendly  4 month old kitten. Watching the three of them play is beyond entertaining.  Don’t believe me?  Video proof here we go!

The next day we spend the day chilling around the hostel and wandering through the historic centre of Cuenca. I’d hoped to visit a free museum with fully shrunken heads, but since Russell and Clara have already done this, we just wander around.

The city feels like the south of Spain to me, graffiti, friendly faces, red tile rooftops, and plenty of examples of very Spanish architecture.  We wander past countless churches and through several plaza’s dropping off laundry as we go, and searching for a place to repair my brother’s camera, which fell into the Ocean in the Galapagos.

We have no luck there but stop at a nice little grill restaurant for lunch, sitting and enjoying some tasty grilled chicken under Death’s ominous eyes, quite literally.

All the places have their technicians sent home for the weekend but I do manage to find a tiny shoe repair hut to sew my treads back to the body of my left shoe, much as I had done in the galapagos.

The man is charming and very talkative and has my shoes all threaded up in just under five minutes. I can’t help but smile at his decorative style The hut is of course littered with shoes in need of repair, but beyond that there’s tons of religious artwork, and tons of… well… porn.  The two seem somehow contradictory but I have to respect the man for displaying his faith and his lust on his sleeve.  Cuenca has some very strange interior design trends I guess.

I pay him 1.80 and head off to meet Russell and Clara in a nearby Plaza.

We try for the Cathedral again but find it closed and after walking past a few of Cuenca’s lovely churches including the Cathedral, a performing band playing indigenous music, and a charming outdoor flower market, we reach the central market.

Inside we buy some supplies for our planned journey on the next day out to the National Park El Cajas, for a good hike.  We bargain for some fruits and eggs, and then hit the road, passing a street blender salesman, which is seemingly a thing here in Ecuador. I saw the same in Quito.

Perhaps the best waterguns ever, and my biggest regret so far. For some reason I didn’t buy one.

We head back to the hostel and spend the later afternoon playing darts and meeting people who will join us on our next few excursions, including a surprising comeback from Chris the British man I met at Pailon Del Diablo, and one of his countrymen Dan from outside Cambridge.

We eventually head out for Indian food accompanied by an American, Two Germans, and a few more people.  Again it’s tasty though I’m disappointed we don’t all share dishes.

We head back to the hostel and play more darts, enjoying the three pets who seem entranced by the flying sharpened metal.  Vincent tries to bite the things out of our hands.  He’s cute, but maybe not that smart.  I head to bed relatively early after figuring out the details for how to get to El Cajas, for what’s sure to be an interesting adventure.