The Adventures of Kerri & Matt

Cuenca was a pretty city.

It had republican style architecture instead of the colonial we had seen previously.

There is a large flower market near the Cathedral.

This is where most of our roses are imported from. Here they are 20 for $1.

This arrangement is $5.

The city has four rivers passing through it and this is one of them that we saw on our night walk when we got to town.

This is a quinceanera party. It is kind of the equivalent of a “sweet 16” party, except it’s on the 15th birthday, and looks like (and costs as much) as a wedding ceremony, complete with a giant dress, bridesmaids, and a boyfriend that walks you down the aisle of the church.

Lots of pink, including on the car which was dressed up like a wedding car.

This used to be an old bank, but now it is their city hall. They use lots of pink marble in the city.

There were some ruins in Cuenca in a park by the river but it was all fenced off so we couldn’t get any closer. They looked interesting but no idea what culture they may have been from as several cultures were present in this area.

We stopped at a Panama Hat factory on the way back from the park. Panama hats are traditionally made in Ecuador but were popular with workers in Panama so that’s where they got their name.

The hats are all handwoven from the top down by local women. They are delivered to the factory with the loose ends hanging down, like the one on the left.

The factory uses a big mechanical hammer to beat the fibres for hours to make them more flexible.

Then they press them into shape with steam and pressure.

The cheap hats use big fibres.

The $300 hats use very fine fibres and take over a year to weave.

We went on a 3.9 km hike through the park.

The route we took ranged from 3807m to 3955m in elevation, so even though we are still near the equator the landscape was tundra. These tall stalk plants resembled those we saw in Hawaii.

Most of the ground was covered in these little plants.

Our route took us past five of the thousands of lakes in the park.

There were many birds.

As well as several other short growing plants with fairly spiky leaves that would catch on pants.

Some other stalks that were growing from plants included these more furry ones that were possibly some type of flower. They looked really strange and fit in with the overall strange plant vibe the whole area had.

Getting out early was a good idea as it got hot with only a few clouds and not too much wind. The lakes were initially so still.

There were a few birds we managed to see, even though they were making sounds all around us for most of the walk.

The trees in the forested section were really weird. They felt like they were out of a fairy tale.

The trees are quinua or paper tree, which only grows above 3300m in elevation. The bark is very papery and the wood gnarled and very hard.

Despite the tundra like appearance there were many small marshy areas where the ground was very spongy.

The path was extremely muddy around these areas, but we were very careful.

Especially in the forest, which required acrobatic efforts to balance on tree routes while holding onto branches to get across. I did not know Kerri was taking pictures of me while I was doing this. I probably would have fallen if she told me to turn and smile.

These flowers were everywhere. Unfortunately none were blooming. But even closed they looked cool.

Some lakes were empty, while others had lots of plants growing and probably home to lots of fish.

Only a couple birds were out in the afternoon, probably was getting too hot for them.

Everywhere we walked it the views were amazing with really interesting landscapes.

Even the birds stopped to revel in the view. Both in trees,

and on the ground.

We didn’t actually see any wild llamas while walking, which is probably good because they spit. I’m sure we will see tons of them in Peru. We did see some by the road on the drive back to Cuenca. They were definitely around though, and we have no idea how they hide in the short tundra.

We could certainly smell them.

One of the ponds we passed had a bunch of tiny lilypads and huge tadpoles.

There must be big frogs somewhere, but we couldn’t find any.

This walk was breathtaking, both for its views as well as the altitude. When we had to walk uphill we genuinely had to take breaks because we were short of breath. It was good practice for the Inca Trail that is approaching soon.