Journey's End : Cuenca, the Cajas and Guayaquil

Here there be Gringos

Let me just preface this entire post by saying that I truly enjoyed Cuenca. I loved the atmosphere, I loved the history, the people were kind, and overall, it was a 100% enjoyable experience.

However. After being in Ambato for almost a week, and not seeing a SINGLE tourist (or at least, a white one) in that entire time, it was really jarring to see them EVERYWHERE in Cuenca. And we were there in the 'off' season. Yikes.

Do I hate tourists? No. Clearly, I was/am one. But when I'm looking for places to live, maybe it's just me, but I tend to steer clear of the touristy spots. I love visiting Charleston and NYC. Would I want to live in either of those places? Probably not. That's pretty much how I feel about Cuenca.

So, in case you don't know, Cuenca has everything Ambato doesn't. It's absolutely steeped in history and culture and, as such, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site 15 years ago. It's got practically as many churches as Greenville, SC. You can't hardly walk around a corner without seeing a church. There are museums left and right, beautiful squares every few blocks or so, oh, and did I mention - a river runs through the middle of the entire city, so it's got a very 'green' feel.

We spent the better part of an entire morning exploring both the Old and New Cathedrals. The Old Cathedral has a TON of history as well as some very interesting chapels and paintings to recommend it. It was also very well marked with lots of information blurbs on just about everything in there, so it was nice to get a sense of the history. Beware though, you have to be able to read Spanish.

From the front looking out

Front of the church

Private capilla (chapel)

Side of the Catedral Viejo

The New Cathedral was absolutely stunning. Very Notre Dame-esque which is interesting because you really don't expect to see that style of architecture in Ecuador, of all places. John and I paid a dollar to go up to the parapet and see the view of the city. We got some really great shots up there.

Facade of the Catedral Nuevo

Stained glass inside Catedral Nuevo

The blue cupolas of the Catedral Nuevo

Cuenca

At the top of Catedral Nuevo

 Markets are a dime a dozen, as well as various and sundry little tiendas selling specific wares - we saw a lot of stores geared specifically towards fabric and fancy detailing. There was a beautiful flower market every day right next to the New Cathedral. Vendors selling roses and other flowers as well as arrangements, all freshly picked.

Flower market

Street mercado

The weather when we were in Cuenca was absolutely gorgeous. The mornings were cool, but by 10 am or so, it was sunny and warm enough to warrant sunscreen to prevent sunburn! We were there for a grand total of 3 whole days - Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning - and this held true for Monday and Tuesday.

The day we left, Wednesday, we took a bus through Cajas National Park to get to Guayaquil for our flight to Quito (I'll come back to talk about this later). It rained pretty steadily for the entire 3 hour ride, but it made the Cajas that much more beautiful. It's the most stunning park I've ever seen, and it certainly blew my mind as far expectations. Ecuador was constantly surprising me with its views and vistas. The Cajas looked more like the Scottish Highlands than a national park in South American Ecuador - big, craggy mountains that dropped terrifyingly into valleys covered with low-growing paper trees. The vegetation looked like brown lichen, with patches of green grass growing around the myriad of small ponds and streams. With the rain and the harsh grey skies, it had a stern, austere feel to it, but it also felt wild. We saw llamas peeking around rocks and horses chasing each other on the valley floor.

John woke me up to take this picture...

Sadly, we didn't get a chance to actually get out and hike. We had planned to spend a day in the park, but due to some last minute bad preparation, we had to settle for the bus ride through it. Needless to say, it is at the TOP of my list of things to do when we get back in March.

So, to go back to why we had fly from Guayaquil and not Cuenca itself. Basically, we dilly-dallied too long on buying the flights so, in the end, our options were : take a 3 hour bus ride to Guayaquil for a 45 minute flight to Quito, or take the 10 hour bus ride, overnight, through the mountains, from Cuenca back to Quito. As enjoyable as the 7 hour bus ride from Ambato to Cuenca was, we had no desire to try a 10 hour overnight ride. Plus, I at least wanted to see the Cajas, and if a bus ride to Guayaquil was the only way to do that, then so be it.

Down to the Terminal we went and hopped on a bus for Guayaquil. Neither of us had had any interest in seeing the coast or jungle during our brief trip, but we were both kind of intrigued, now that we were going to be there, however briefly, to at least see what it was all about. So up we went into the Cajas, and then, very quickly, down we came to the coast. It was crazy how fast the descent was. You think about how high Cuenca is above sea-level, about 8200 feet, and the fact that Guayaquil is a port city, so literally, on the water, and the fact that we descended from 8200 feet to about 0 in roughly 3 hours...holy popping ears, Batman!

The change was amazing. We had been used to seeing these glorious mountains and adorable mountain villages for 2 weeks. The coastal areas that we drove through were, for lack of a better term, dirty. In the 45 minutes to an hour that we actually had that coastal feel and landscape, we saw more impoverished looking people and towns than we had in the entire time we'd been in the mountains.

Pulling into Guayaquil was actually sort of terrifying. It's huge, like, Quito-scale huge. But it was somewhat reassuring as well, because the small piece that I saw right on the harbor actually reminded me a little bit of Miami. Not sure why, but that's the impression I got.

So we pulled into the Terminal and the airport is literally a mile away. We could've walked, but there was no direct route that didn't involve crossing major roadways and the guidebook suggested we cacth a ride. Since we had experienced the adrenaline-inducing sport of being a pedestrian versus an Ecuadorian driver, we decided to take a taxi. A very nice policeman inside the terminal directed us to where the taxis where and said that we should pay absolutely no more than $2 to get to the airport.

Upon arrival at the taxi line, we were immediately charged $5. When I explained to the driver what the policeman said, he immediately started arguing with me about how the policeman didn't know what he was talking about, and the standard fare (for what was a 5 minute drive) was $5. Now, my Spanish is passable, but not good enough to argue over fare, so we merely started pulling our bags out of the trunk of his taxi. At which point, he immediately said he would take us for $3. I figured that, whether or not that was the actual price or not, it was a fair enough gringo rate, so we accepted and finally made it to the airport.

Once we made it into the airport, it was like a small step back into our old lives. There were amenities and cleanliness and people who spoke English all over the place. It was kind of a relief, but at the same time it was kind of sad to know that we were officially in the process of leaving. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ecuador. Yes, I was happy to get back home to the things I'm used to, but I'm confident that, with a little time, I can make Ecuador my new normal and be totally happy doing it.