So Marisa and I are now in Cuenca. This is a beautiful colonial town in the middle of the Andes at 2450m, with really nice architecture and a bit of culture. There´s a lot of restaurants and bars and people go out which is a nice change from some other towns we´ve been to.
Today we walked about the town and took a lot of pictures. It was a nice day (32C) but much less humid than the Galapagos so it felt very comfortable. The hostal we are staying in is one of the best ones I have ever seen, it´s in an old colonial house, which has about 12 or 16 rooms, hardwood floors throughout, completely re-done bathrooms, and our room has a little nook on a 2nd floor overlooking the rest of the room! All for $24 US, including a breakfast in the courtyard. We get a free half hour of internet access and here I am. Oh yeah, it also has cable tv, so yesterday watched CNN. There was a protest march here today which Marisa and I avoided just because I believe it´s generally not safe to be near protests. There were no problems but I prefer to be safe.
Before Cuenca we went to a small town near Riobamba called Quisapincha which I doubt gets many tourists. It´s known for its leather crafts. Marisa shopped while I watched this lady make the biggest pot of soup/stew ever. The pot was about 1m in diameter, and sat on an open fire just outside the restaurant on the sidewalk. She started with meat, water, and a bag of salt, and then later I watched her add green onions, the bunch was bigger than I could put my hands around! There was other stuff added as well. She stirred it with this big ladle that could have been a paddle. Unfortunately we left before it was ready to eat.
Tomorrow we head back up north, first stopping at the best Inca ruins in Ecuador, called Ingapirca. It´s not as spectacular as say Macchu Pichu but it still looks pretty good from the pictures I have seen.
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