This weekend nine students in my program decided to take a road trip to Cuenca. Cuenca is a six hour bus trip from Riobamba so when I was boarding the bus I was hoping that it was worth the travel time.
Cuenca is considered the cultural center of Ecuador, and according to my travel buddies it resembles Spain. When we arrived I could tell that we were not in Riobamba any more! The cobble stone streets and ornate buildings were so beautiful....it really looked like a movie scene. We all checked into a hostel for the weekend ( which was pretty creepy since the only hostel I was familiar with is the one in the old scary movie "Hostel") The hostel was relatively nice. I did however spray down the bed with lysol before I got in ...lol.
It seemed that our timing was perfect, because this weekend the people of Cuenca were celebrating "Corpus Cristy". There were lots of people in the public square, fireworks, music, and most of all lots and lots of sweets for sale. Friday night we had dinner at a restaurant called "Eucalyptus". It was a nice place with lots of tourists. I had ravioli and key lime pie...hmm hmmm good! After dinner we headed out to the square to join the party and after that we went to "coffee tree". Apparently Coffee Tree is a chain here in Ecuador, because I went to the same place my first night in Quito. A few of us were super tired and some where not, so I headed back to the hostel with the tired folks and got ready for day two,
Saturday I started my day at 7:30 am. Why I got up so early I don't know. Maybe I was uncomfortable in the bed at the hostel....or maybe my body was just used to getting up that early from the weekdays. Any way, I got dressed, got into the Word, and chilled on the top floor of the hostel which had hammocks and a guitar. Once everyone else was ready, we headed to breakfast at Cafe Austria. It was sooo nice. The atmosphere was relaxing and the food was great. It also had many tourist, and more black people than I had seen on my trip to Ecuador so far. After breakfast when went to the local market and I finally brought a dress! Its a burgundy sundress and I cannot wait to wear it. We also went to the hat museum of Cuenca and enjoyed trying on locally made hats. A few of us even bought hats.
Also on Saturday I saw the most ornate cathedral I've ever seen in person! I had seen churches like this in my art history book, but never in person. People were in the church praying, taking pictures, and admiring all at the same time. After admiring the church we headed to a restaurant overlooking one or the four rivers in Cuenca for a snack. I had some great nachos!
In the afternoon a few of us headed to a favorite restaurant of the locals to have coffee (or hot chocolate for me) and read. It was relaxing just to take time out to enjoy a good book, good company, and good hot chocolate. The book I started is called Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado. My travel buddy Peter bought the book from a book store in Cuenca that was owned by an American man who had retired to Cuenca with his wife. Evidently Cuenca is a very popular place for people to retire. At the table while we were discussing books, I made the comment that I don't read nearly enough. When I said that my travel buddy Owen said to me "but you read one of the best things you can read". That touched my heart so much, because I knew he had seen me reading my Bible that morning. He went on the tell me about a Chilean nun who was a wonderful poet and never read anything except the Bible. I was almost speechless in response to his encouragement.
For dinner Saturday we went to "Tres Estrellas". We were looking for a more traditional restaurant rather than a touristy spot, and we found it! It was a quaint and beautiful place with very friendly and personal service. I had a typical Ecuadorian meal of various barbecued meat and corn. While we were eating a musician came and played the guitar, and a flute like instrument for us. He even sang in addition to playing two instrument...I was majorly impressed. After dinner we headed back to the hostel to play cards and get ready for an early morning on Sunday.
Sunday we headed out at 9:00 am to Incaperca to see the Incan ruins. To our surprise today in Incaperca they were celebrating the festival of inti raymi, just as they were in Cacha last weekend. In Incaperca there seemed to be many more vendors and people...it was an amazing sight to see. We toured in ruins with a tour guide who gave the tour in Spanish. I was able understand a lot of what she was talking about, but honestly I was kind of uncomfortable and unfocused the whole time because it was raining and cold. After the tour was over we ate at a local restaurant for about $3.00 per person and then made our way to the buses to head back to Riobamba.
All in all, I say the 6 hour trip was worth it. A beautiful city, great food, great company, and great fun!
Hasta Manana,
EP<3
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