Cajas National Park, Ecuador

Yesterday I went to Parque Nacional Cajas, a one-hour bus-ride from Cuenca ($2 in a nice bus with a movie showing). I registered at the office (El Refugio), which required giving them my passport number and the route I planned to take. No fee! (But the bathroom had no toilet paper, so maybe they should charge a fee so that they can afford toilet paper.)

The Park is in south Ecuador, not far from Cuenca. 

I started my hike at 8:30, and it was heavily overcast, and cool. Probably about 5 degrees. I had been told, warned, about how cold the park was, so I had 8 layers for the top, and only ever wore 3 of them. Hence, my pack was much bigger and heavier than necessary.

I got a kick out of this sign at the beginning of the trail. 

I had also been warned by a couple from Indiana that I had best do the Laguna Toreadora Trail first before trying anything more difficult. And then the lady looked at the sandals I was wearing and said, "And I hope you have better footwear than that!"

However, I didn't want to go all the way to Cajas and only do the easy hike. And I'm really glad I didn't, because although Laguna Toreador is beautiful, you're never away from the highway sounds, or the sight of the registration office. And it's only about a 2-hour hike. Might be okay for "walkers," but not for a hiker. That's why I didn't opt for a tour, because they all just did the easy hike, and they cost $50 (and mine cost $2 for transport!).

The start of the hike with Laguna Toreadora down below

So I started out at 8:30, with nary another hiker in sight, and set off around the Laguna. The flowers amazed me, flowers like this at close to 4000 meters?! The trail, contrary to some reports, was easy to follow, and where there weren't signs or paint blazes, I could usually easy see the route, even when it crossed rocks.

Some of the beautiful flowers along the hike:

The sign at the junction.

When I rounded the end of the Laguna, the sign pointed back to the office (only 20 minutes away). It had taken me two hours to this point, and I'd been ambling along, taking pictures (I took almost 300 on the hike), and had taken a slightly longer route, as the trail was braided around the lake and there were different trails. Once again, I was glad I hadn't opted to only do the Toreador Hike. So, I turned left, and shortly after I heard voices and looking behind me saw a group of about 10. Oh, I thought, I'm so glad I'm not in a group like that. By this time, I couldn't hear the traffic anymore, and the solitude was wonderful.

Then I entered the magical quinoa or "paper tree" forest. It is similar to arbutus, though, with it's peeling bark, so not as magical as it might have been.

In the quinoa forest

There was yucca along much of the route, albeit not blooming

Shortly after that, I stopped for a snack, and the large group descended the hill above me, but veered off before reaching me.

Some of the UVic students with one of the guides. 

I envied their tiny daypacks, wondering who was wiser, me, with enough gear to weather a blizzard, or them. They turned off to the right, but their was a blaze on a rock in front of me so I reasoned they must be taking a different route.

Informative signage detailing distance/time, and elevation gain/lost between points.
Originally they had 29 of these signs over a 5 k. distance, but seems like about 1/2

had disappeared. 

And where there weren't signs, rocks were painted. 

The other group passed me about here. 

I continued on down the slope, and they were there, and then I came to a mud patch, which they would have avoided on their route. Ah, their guide knows this route well, I thought. There were about 10 of the youth, and I had heard some of them talking, in English, but since the guide was talking to them, I didn't stop to chat.

Then the scenery became spectacular as I neared Laguna Patoquinuas. About then, the large group passed me and as they went by I said to one, "De donde eres?" "Canada," he replied. I was so surprised, I lost my Spanish. Turns out, they are UVic students, and are in Cuenca for a term abroad. Lucky kids! We chatted a bit, before they continued on, moving faster than I.

The UVic students and their guides passed me about here. 

Laguna Patoquinuas

The view from near the end of the hike.

When I reached the end of the hike at the highway, I asked the Guide if a bus would stop there, and he said yes, but said I could catch a ride back to Cuenca in their tourist van. So, I travelled back to the city in style!

Las Catedrales de Cuenca, Ecuador

There are an incredible number of churches in Cuenca, 19 in El Centro alone! Without a doubt, the most impressive are the old and new cathedrals. Construction of La Cathedral Vieja started in 1567, but it fell into disuse upon the completion of La Catedral Nueva, when the Old Cathedral became a museum. Construction of the New Cathedral began in 1868 and lasted until 1968. With Parque Albón Calderón in the middle, this is a hub of the city.

I had visited the cathedrals several times already, and had taken pictures at night, but today was the first time I entered the New Cathedral. I was astounded! Luckily, I was there just in time for a tour, a tour of El Crypto in the basement, and La Terraza on the roof.

The Old Cathedral

The New Cathedral from across Parque Albón Calderón

The park is beautiful!

The Old Cathedral with light traces. Stop-and-go traffic here in the evening.

I had great difficulty deciding which images of the interior to display on my blog, so many to pick from. I was really glad I had my new camera so that I could push the ISO to 3200, as flashes aren't allowed, and a tripod would be obtrusive. 

Many devotees there, even at noon on a Wednesday.

Big or what? When originally built, the Cathedral could hold 9,000 of Cuencas 10,000 citizens!

The ceiling dome.

Then after walking around in a daze making images, I joined a tour (for $2).
First we went into the crypt in the basement where the remains of religious
devotees were interred.

Then we climbed up the stairs (all 155 of them!) to the roof. 

What a view!

El Parque down below. 

And upon leaving the Cathedral was this guitarista. 

Amaru Zoologico, Cuenca, Ecuador

Today, I went to the zoo in Cuenca, and what a great experience it was! I took a taxi there, a 20 min. ride for $4 U.S. (that's the currency here), and a bus back for 25c. Entrance fee was $6, and it took me four hours to make the tour. Granted, I took over 300 photos and read most of the signs, many of which were bilingual. Good for my emerging Spanish skills.

The zoo is a rescue center, and in this sign they outline the "sad pasts" of many of their clients, such as Pancha, the Mono Capuchino (capuchin monkey), who had been kept with a chain around his neck.

 I had forgotten the zoom for my DSLR, which was just as well as it was seldom needed. I did, though, have my little point-and-shoot with an 18x zoom which I used some. 

The zoo is like none other I've seen, as you can see in this image of the entrance ramp!

My favourite part of the zoo, apart from the lions being fed, was probably the aviary. There, I could get up close and personal with the exotic, colourful birds.

I also really enjoyed the monkeys, and some of the little ones had the run of the place.

I had bought a cup of fruit for lunch and set it down on the table when I went to take a picture of these two:

Then I heard some Ecuadorians laughing and turned around to see this little monkey had taken liberty with my fruit!

It was good to see, though, that even the monkeys who were caged had room to roam in passage-ways constructed out of chicken wire:

                                      The monkey enclosure:

There were also raptors in larger cages, 4 eagles in this cage. 

 And lots of other animals. 

A tigirillo (ocelot):

And here's some of the rest:

But luckily, I came upon the exotic animal section just as they were feeding the lions. Eight of them, a mama and a papa, two cubs, and four youngsters. Papa let out a roar every now and then to let the little ones know that they weren't getting any of his meat! The keeper told me that papa would eat all that meat in one sitting, and they are fed three times a day.

But the most beautiful creature had to be this peacock, and he seemed to be proud of it!

here

The view of Cuenca as I left the zoo.