Ecuador : The End
In yet another bus full to the last centimetre, turn after turn on a mountain road, with bachata and regeton as soundtrack, with sellers coming in and making their way among the hordes of people standing in the bus corridor to propose their merchandises in each stop of each village we passed, we finally completed the 270 km that separate Riobamba and Cuenca in 6 hours.
For me, Cuenca is the most charming city I have visited in Ecuador. It is well preserved and has got the advantage of being smaller in size than Quito. It helps keeping a certain homogeneity. I think it is also the one with more Spanish elements into its colonial buildings.
House fronts are coloured, or left white with coloured trimmings as in many other places in Latin America, but other things reminds me of a Spanish Province Capital : tile roofs with wood supports, the use of brick rather than concrete in buildings, pottery, a certain posh atmosphere of well dressed and carefully maked-up ladies, looking like they just came out of the hairdresser, taking coffee with friends and also elegantly dressed gentlemen with panama hats reading the newspaper in the public library or getting their shoes shinned in front of the cathedral.
After feasting on the great ice-cream sold in Cuenca's main square (it is one Karim's weakness together with chocolate) and a bit tired of mountains, we went to spend a few days in Puerto Lopez, to watch the whales that from June to September go there to reproduce.
The place has got still a real coastal village atmosphere, not completely spoiled by tourism. In spite of the attraction of the whales and the nearby Machalilla Park, in which many of the birds from Galapagos can be seen, and due probably to the misty weather of the season, at this time of the year there were not too many tourists.
In the village, many of the streets are still unpaved and muddy. The beach is nice but it is also quite dirty with garbage, what does not seem to bother the locals. The only thing that gives you a hint that this place is full of visitors at some point in the year is the quantity of restaurants and of bars along the beach, now quite deserted of customers. In a few places, they tried shamelessly to make us pay more that the local fare. It is the only place during our stay in Ecuador where I have had such a feeling.
Nevertheless, we stayed very nicely in there for a few days, enjoying the calm and getting mentally ready to bare the 36 hours of bus to Lima.
Bea
For me, Cuenca is the most charming city I have visited in Ecuador. It is well preserved and has got the advantage of being smaller in size than Quito. It helps keeping a certain homogeneity. I think it is also the one with more Spanish elements into its colonial buildings.
House fronts are coloured, or left white with coloured trimmings as in many other places in Latin America, but other things reminds me of a Spanish Province Capital : tile roofs with wood supports, the use of brick rather than concrete in buildings, pottery, a certain posh atmosphere of well dressed and carefully maked-up ladies, looking like they just came out of the hairdresser, taking coffee with friends and also elegantly dressed gentlemen with panama hats reading the newspaper in the public library or getting their shoes shinned in front of the cathedral.After feasting on the great ice-cream sold in Cuenca's main square (it is one Karim's weakness together with chocolate) and a bit tired of mountains, we went to spend a few days in Puerto Lopez, to watch the whales that from June to September go there to reproduce.
The place has got still a real coastal village atmosphere, not completely spoiled by tourism. In spite of the attraction of the whales and the nearby Machalilla Park, in which many of the birds from Galapagos can be seen, and due probably to the misty weather of the season, at this time of the year there were not too many tourists.
In the village, many of the streets are still unpaved and muddy. The beach is nice but it is also quite dirty with garbage, what does not seem to bother the locals. The only thing that gives you a hint that this place is full of visitors at some point in the year is the quantity of restaurants and of bars along the beach, now quite deserted of customers. In a few places, they tried shamelessly to make us pay more that the local fare. It is the only place during our stay in Ecuador where I have had such a feeling.
Nevertheless, we stayed very nicely in there for a few days, enjoying the calm and getting mentally ready to bare the 36 hours of bus to Lima.
Bea
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