Travel week

I had decided to take a week off and travel with Nicolas & Lizzy. But Nicolas had to stay back and finish the theatre and Lizzy had been bitten by a dog a few days earlier so the trip seemed to be on shaky ground. On a side note, I think that the dogs in South America are crazy. Most dogs are unnecessarily aggressive most of the time.

Anyway, Lizzy had been to a doctor, and he had asked her to check if the dog dies in the next 10 days. So she decided to travel for a week, and come back to Salasaca to check on the dog. Which meant that I would still get my one week holiday.

We decided to go south to a famous town called Cuenca, and found a couchsurfing host called Seth. Seth turned out to be from Madison, Wisconsin where Lizzy had gone to school so they knew a lot of common hangout places, and also shared similar tastes in music.

With Seth & Lizzy in Seth’s home

Seth’s home

Cuenca turned out to be a beautiful town with huge cathedrals and cobble-stoned streets. We spent 3 days in Cuenca simply walking around most of the time. In between walks, we found time to watch a movie, visit a museum and cook an absolutely horrendous meal for Seth.

Cuenca

Making full use of the free wi-fi in the park (and providing free entertainment for the locals)

Narrow cobble-stoned streets

The smiling nun

What NOT to cook for your host

From Cuenca, we went to Azogues and walked up to the famous church in the nearby town of Biblian. The church is located on the side of a hill with the mountain itself making the back wall. I would’ve really liked to hike up to the huge statue of Mother Mary atop a hill in Azogues, but I simply didn’t have the time. Hopefully I can come back to Azogues and get up there sometime.

The super-slippery streets of Biblian

The church with the mountain as the back wall

The next day I wanted to take the ride on the roof of a train over the Nariz del Diablo (the Devil’s nose), but it was too late by the time we left Azogues[1]. So we went straight to Rio Bamba, where I bought my “Rocky” cap.

Somewhere along the way – the greenery that is Ecuador

I had begun to miss Salasaca during the week, and I was glad to be back home on the 5th day. We played a tiring game of football and went pig-slapping to celebrate!

[1] – I was to realise a few weeks later that riding on top of the train wouldn’t have been possible anyway as it has been terminated indefinitely

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