Week 1: Friday & the Weekend

On Friday morning we left Riobamba in a southbound direction to see the oldest Church in a Ecuador.  It is small and unpretentious temple but is impressive in many ways: its historic value, as a true relic of the Spanish Conquest; the dramatic stone façade with a large arched doorway, supported by two columns and the unmistakable feeling of history. The church was built by the Spaniards in 1534, one year before the Spanish foundation of Quito, and stands there as a living testimony of those years and historic events.  Originally it was made of adobe and straw, and later “fortified” with the use of stone for the main structures.  The temple was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1797, but it was reconstructed shortly afterwards.

Right beside the church we found this man who is a master carver of the tagua, the fruit of the Ivory Nut Palm.  The tagua is the nut like outgrowth included in large coconut looking thing on the table in front of the carver

Next we we off to a ride on the Devil's Nose Train.  Along the way, the scenery was impressive

With lots fields of crops, like these of quinoa

The train itself is just for tourists.  They run three trains per day, all of which are diesel.  The train transverses down the volcano rock mountain using two switchbacks here the train actually changes direction!  The ride takes 45 minutes down.  Then the Government makes the tourists stay one hour there (to help the locals) before going back to the original station, which only takes 30 minutes as the train goes faster.  

The rock formation known as the Devil's Nose

The locals who do their best to entertain us as we wait for the return trip.  They are paid by the Government

After the train trip, we had a 4 hour ride in our little bus to Cuenca, which is the third largest city in Ecuador.  Cuenca is also known as the largest Expat communities in South America.  We are staying at the Hotel Santa Lucia, which I'd an upgrade from the original hotel.  It is a boutique hotel that is in a converted colonial house.  The rooms are small but are very well furnished - including washcloths in the bathroom!  

On Saturday, we first took a quick tour of the downtown plaza

And the massive Catedral Nueva

It is said that this church can hold 10,000 worshippers.  

Nearby there is a convent where the nuns sell all kinds of things from cookies to wine.  It is interesting to note that this sect of nuns do not allow themselves to be seen by others. 

After the quick your of downtown we took our bus outside of Zcuenca in the valley and visited a home/factory that still makes shawls the old fashion Ecuadorian way.  They use all organic dyes and all work in done by hand.  Next, we had a took of an orchid conservatory by the name of Ecuagenera.  This is a large family run business that boasts it supplies over 6,000 varieties of orchids.  Our orchid guide, daughter of the owner, claims there are roughly 3,500 distinct varieties of orchids of which there are 240 native in Ecuador, the most of any country in the world.  

Lunch on Saturday was at a beautiful resort called Santa Barbara that overlooked the valley.  Then after a jewelry shopping stop we went back to Cuenca and visited the Central Bank Museum. The highlight of the visit was seeing several real shrunken heads they had on display.  To end the sightseeing part of the day, we walked among the ruins of the Inca settlement in Cuenca.  There isn't too much left of this settlement but the Government has outlined the buildings and made a nice little park out of it.

Today, Sunday, we left at 8 AM for the 35K bus trip up to Parque Nacional Cajas.  

 We had a day guide for the park, Flavia, a local girl who was very knowledgeable about its plants, wildlife, etc.  we started off with a hike around this lake.  

Flavia is pointing out that many old vines are so big they really look like trees

After the hike we went by bus to Tres Cruces which marks the continental divide - water on one side of the mountain drains to the Pacific and water on the other side drains to the Amazon Basin.  It is pretty high up there at 4,167 M and the weather proved it.  It was miserable, very cold and raining with a terrific wind.  So much so, I didn't spend much more time out of the bus than necessary to take a couple photos.

After Tres Cruces, we went back towards Cuenca and had lunch at Dos Chorreras, a modern hacienda hosteria.  It was very scenic but not as much as Santa Barbara hosteria was on Saturday.  Of course the weather was still bad here as it was cold and raining.  I was glad to get back into the city of Cuenca where it was overcasted but dry and pleasant.  This afternoon we had free time so I spent about two hours walking around the city.  Unfortunately it is Sunday and many of the museums and shops were closed