Ecuador, Day 9

Lake Toreadora in Parque Nacional Cajas.

After another poor night's sleep, and waking up with my left eye swollen halfway shut -- luckily it became normal again after showering, but eww, swollen eyes are unpleasant to wake up to -- I grabbed a quick breakfast at my hostal and prepared for my trip to a national park outside of Cuenca.

A quick breakfast of bread, jam, pineapple juice, and instant coffee.

Today I headed to Parque Nacional Cajas, which is a twenty- or thirty-minute drive out of Cuenca, and into a moorland filled with over 300 glacial lakes, dotted with 500 year-old polylepis forests (trees that grow at higher altitudes than any other in the world), and cut through with numerous hiking trails. The landscape here is stunning, if rather bleak – much of the terrain is rock and scrub, yet there’s water everywhere – and one’s feeling toward it tends to change with the mutable weather, which today started off sunny and warm but ended cold and rainy. And when the rains come, mists embrace the mountaintops, adding to the feeling of mystery here.

Laguna Llaviucu, in Parque Nacional Cajas.

We visited three major lakes in the park: Laguna Llaviucu, Laguna Cucheros, and Laguna Toreadora. At one point we reached an elevation of 4167 meters (13,671 feet), where there are three crosses (Tres Cruces, it’s called) commemorating the lives lost by people traveling over the mountain pass.







Our guide, Martín, was very good, and he stopped to show us, and let us try, various plants along the hike that had medicinal properties or were commonly used in local cooking. He also pointed out numerous birds, of which the park has hundreds of species, and even stopped to pick through wolf excrement to show us what the animal had eaten.

Altogether we hiked eight miles in the park, and we were all exhausted by the end, especially since we were well over 10,000 feet all day.





For our 2:00 lunch we headed to a very nice restaurant on the edge of the park called Dos Chorreras, a rustic cabin-like place with a fountain inside where skittish trout swam.





Upon sitting down, our group was served a complementary glass of warm ganelaso, which is cinnamon mixed with alcohol and some kind of fruit – though it tasted faintly like beets to me.



We had two choices for lunch – steamed trout or fried trout. If you didn’t like trout, you were out of luck. Luckily, I like trout, and I ordered mine fried. It also came with fried yucca and negligible pieces of broccoli and carrot.



We were also served a thick, very orange potato soup with avocado. I was skeptical that the combination of potato and avocado would work, but in fact they went excellent together.



I also ordered a glass of mora juice, which comes from the mora berry, and is absolutely delicious.



Parque Nacional Cajas is an extraordinary place, and I highly recommend it for visitors to Cuenca. For the “shared tour,” which included myself, a couple from England, and a mother and daughter from Quito, the cost was $37 plus $10 for the park entry fee – lunch was free, except for drinks – and the trip lasted eight hours. For the tour I used Expediciones Apullacta, which can be found on the Internet at www.apullacta.com or on foot at Gran Colombia 11-02 (it’s in a big white building, on the second floor).

When I returned to my hostal, I showered and then headed back to Café Austria for something to drink and to use their wi-fi. As was the case yesterday, however, they had no wi-fi – but today it was because another power cut was in force only one block from where I was staying (apparently the power had been off at my hostal from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.). I was told by my guide to Parque Nacional Cajas that the power cuts were abnormal; the government was cutting power (without telling anyone when) because of an energy shortage caused by the lack of rain – Ecuador is trying to reduce its dependence on foreign oil at the same time it’s putting more of its resources into developing hydroelectric power. Of course, when there’s no rain then there’s nothing left to generate electricity.

When dinner time rolled around, I asked the hostal owner for recommendations on where to find seco de chivos, and he marked two places on my map. However, I had no luck finding either place, and in the end, after more than an hour of wandering around – Cuenca just doesn’t have a lot of restaurants – I settled on a place I’d passed twice before. It was called El Viejo Rincón, and it was empty when I entered (not usually a good sign).

El Viaje Rincón. It was empty at first, but two other groups came in after me.

Two items on the menu immediately caught my eye – ceviche de camarón (shrimp ceviche) and empanada de carne. I asked the waitress if that was too much food for one person, and she eyed me for a while then told me I’d be fine. Hmm. I’m not a big fan of the waitress once-over.

First came the ceviche. I was really surprised when she set it down in front of me, as I’ve never had ceviche served as a cold soup before. Nor have I had it served with popcorn. But I dug in, and wow, it was good. The broth had an umami element to it that took me by surprise, and the shrimp was served in a generous portion while the raw onions were quite mild. I was really glad I ordered this.

My first "bowl" of ceviche in Ecuador. It was much better than I thought it would be.

Since arriving in South America, I haven’t been a big fan of the empanadas I’ve come across, but after foodie-friend Anjelikuh suggested that I try an empanada de carne (do they even have empanada carnes in Poland, Anjelika?), the thought crossed my mind and I got one.

Thanks, Anjelika, for suggesting that I give empanadas another try.

This was not your typical empanada, at least not in my experience with them. First of all, this thing was flat-out big, and the crust was light and flaky, not greasy and heavy like I’ve had them in the past. And inside, the meat, combined with slivered red and chopped green onions, was very nice – it was a perfect balance between turnover and filling. The ceviche was only $3, and the empanada an outrageously cheap $1 – these are some of the best dinner prices I’ve come across in Cuenca, and the meal was excellent. I definitely recommend El Viejo Rincón, though you should be warned that they have a TV hung prominently over the bar that plays Latin American video ballads all evening.

El Viejo Rincón.

El Viejo Rincón is located at Presidente Cordova 7-52 and Luis Cordero streets. Tel: 284-3083.

Ecuador, Day 8

A painted wall announcing entry to the city.

Cuenca, perhaps unfairly, is starting to appear to me as a city that doesn’t function correctly. This has to do in part with the power outages that no one seems to know when will start or end, and in part with the fact that many museums and stores that say they’re open aren’t – even when their doors are open, there’s often a gate pulled across and locked, and then no answers the bell when I ring it – and the fact that the wi-fi café I’m in right now doesn’t have wi-fi today (though it does have electricity). And why don’t stores, restaurants, and hotels have any change on hand? Just an hour ago I was blown away when I bought a bottle of water and the storekeeper frowned at the dollar bill I handed her and said she didn’t have change. This is true everywhere. Someone, somewhere, is hoarding all of Ecuador’s small bills and change. Despite these small problems, Cuenca is an interesting city, beautiful in many parts, with its history palpable on almost every street.

I woke up today at five, though I’m not sure why, and couldn’t back to sleep. So at around seven-thirty I headed out to find breakfast somewhere. However, three of the places I tried to find, which were supposed to open at eight, either weren’t where they were supposed to be or simply didn’t open when I expected them to. It took me an hour of wandering around to find some place that offered breakfast. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the only place open was El Cantaro, on the Parque Calderon.

I think I might have eaten my map if this place hadn't been open.

I was the only customer there when I entered, though a couple followed me in a few minutes later.

Inside of El Cantaro.

With the advice of the waiter, who I told I wanted something more or less Ecuadorian – he was pushing the American breakfast on me – I ordered one empanadas de verde (a fried pastry filled with plantain), one quimbolito (a sweet tamale consisting of flour, eggs, cheese, and raisins), and a moca, café con chocolate (self-evident, I think).

I preferred the quimbolito to the empanada. I haven't had much luck with empanadas...

The quimbolito was excellent – I’m really getting hooked on these – but the empanadas were a little bit on the brickish and greasy side, and the plantains inside had no taste at all. The food was only a combined $1.80, and the mocha, which was excellent, too, was only $1.20. It was a great deal for breakfast, and it filled me up all morning.

After breakfast I headed to a travel agency to arrange a tour either to Parque Nacional Cajas or Ingapirca. I couldn’t get a tour today unless I wanted to pay over $100 for a private guide and driver, so I opted for a “shared tour” tomorrow morning to the National Park. It was $40, plus entrance fees to the park, and I get a hostal pickup at 8:20 a.m. I get free water, free lunch, and the free use of duck hunting boots in case it’s particularly muddy in the park.

When I left the tour agency I decided to look for the Ruinas de Todos Santos, which are along the Tomebamba River. Unfortunately, I walked about a mile in the wrong direction before I realized what I’d done, so I had to backtrack and walk about a mile again from my original starting point, at which time I came across a huge university parade.



I hung back to let them pass over the bridge I wanted to cross, but once I realized that the parade was never-ending I waited for a breach and darted through it. As soon as I got back on the river walk, I saw a severed, rotting bull’s head – no idea why – and in another few minutes I had to dodge a barrage of stones that students were throwing in my direction from across the river – again, no idea why (I don’t really think they were aiming at me).

After these small distractions were behind me, I enjoyed the river walk even more than I did yesterday. The homes along the river are beautiful, and there are also a number of interesting-looking restaurants, discos, and cafes – none were open, of course – while on the other side of the river a more urban landscape opened up.





I finally made it to Ruinas de Todos Santos and took a few photos from the street.



Then I climbed the hill to the entrance, where there’s also a museum, only to find that no one there was going to let me in. There was a sign in the window that said “Abierto” and through the open but gated-shut entrance were posted the open hours: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. It was 10:30 a.m. As I mentioned above, I rang the bell several times and waited for ten minutes. No one showed up. With nothing else to do about the situation, I headed back to town by a different street. Here I came across the Museum of Popular Art. But here, too, I had no idea what to do about entering. There were two doors to the museum, neither of which was marked, and upon entering each one I was told in rapid-fire Spanish by employees to go in the direction of their pointing fingers. I did, but I still couldn’t find the “popular art” that the museum was supposed to have. I wandered through some mostly empty rooms and then decided just to return to my hostal. The silver lining to this otherwise wasted morning was that I really enjoyed the walk. Again, Cuenca is a very attractive city, but it doesn’t seem to function the way that other cities do…




At around noon I decided to head back toward downtown, where I wanted to eat at Casa de la Mujer.



This is an Indian-run foundation set up to help the Indian community with money earned from a small restaurant, craft booths, and fresh cheese that they make.



I ordered the set lunch ($1.50), which consisted of rice with what appeared to be garbonzo beans, stewed beef, and chopped lettuce; maize; a hearty potato and quince soup; and a glass of tea. It was pretty tasty, and for $1.50 it was a good deal – plus it helps the Indian community, which is a bonus.



There are a number of Indian women selling various things outside the restaurant, which is a big craft-selling area, but one often sees them carrying around fruit and calling out the names and prices of what they're selling.




I didn’t do much else during the afternoon – I was thinking of trying the Ruinas de Todos Santos again, but I decided against it – other than come to Café Austria, which is a block and a half from my hostal.





Hoping to avail myself of their wi-fi, I ordered a fruit salad with yogurt ($3) and a coffee ($1).



As I mentioned earlier, however, their wi-fi is down and they have no idea when it’ll be back up – but definitely not by the time they close at 11 p.m. Oh well.

I ran some errands later in the day, and then at dinnertime none of the four restaurants I’d marked off on my city map were open when they were supposed to be, and they didn’t open, bizarrely, even when I lingered in the general area for twenty minutes. Frustrated, I headed back toward my hostal and decided to have Colombian after all. I’m glad that I did, too, because the restaurant, Café Molienda, is a small, charming place with a patient and friendly owner.



(I say patient because when he told me in Spanish what I had to pay, at first I said, “No thanks,” and then when he repeated it I said, “I don’t understand.” Luckily, two Westerners sitting behind me spoke up and told me to pay $3.70. Jeez. Some days are better than others. This was not a good day for me linguistically. It’s embarrassing to be told that I declined my dinner bill…)

I ordered from a very interesting menu an arepa with a mix of toppings: chicken, beef, beans, and cheese, and I asked for veggies to be included, too.



It wasn’t a huge amount of food, thankfully, though it was enough. I really loved the crunchy corn tortilla on which all the toppings sat, and the meats were satisfyingly stew-like. I also ordered a cinnamon-flavored drink named avena Colombiana that reminded me of Mexican horchata, and it really hit the spot.

Café Molienda is at Honorato Vásquez 6-24. Tel: 282-8710. Open Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Following dinner, I ended up buying a dulce at a small pastry shop, called Centenario, beside the Austria Café on Benigno Malo Street, near the corner of Jaramillo. The woman running it was very nice, and I had no trouble understanding what I owed her – 30 cents.



And in a repeat of yesterday, only more of an inconvenience because of the timing, when I got back to my hotel I discovered that our block was again without electricity. I’d returned only eight minutes after it had gone off, and it wasn’t supposed to be turned back on until ten p.m. at the earliest. I’m writing this with what battery power I have left on my laptop, and trying to think of how to kill the next three hours…

Like I said, in Cuenca nothing seems to function as it should…

Ecuador, Day 7

The Church of El Carmen de la Asuncion in Cuenca.

As usual in Quito, car alarms woke me up at around six a.m., despite the fact that I downloaded to iTunes an hour-long “white noise” application and set it on repeat all night. It took me a while to get going, but at a little after seven I made it downstairs for my free breakfast – fresh fruit (a few pieces of cut cantaloupe), cantaloupe juice, coffee, and bread with cheese.

Today was cantaloupe day, apparently.

Since I had time to kill before heading to the airport for my flight to Cuenca, I decided to see if I could find a painting exhibition in what I thought was the culture center near the Plaza Grande. However, upon entering the building and finding most of its wings closed or cordoned off, I decided just to explore the building more, as the architecture was quite stunning.

From the second floor of the Metropolitan Cultural Center.

I hadn’t taken but a few steps into one of the building’s courtyards before an old man approached me speaking English. Nearly begging me to let him guide me through the building, he hooked my arm and began pulling me inside before I could tell him no thanks, or explain that I had to return to my hotel in ten minutes to check out and get a taxi to the airport.

He proceeded to take me on a fifteen-minute tour of the building, which was interesting, and a ten-minute tour of El Ronda, which is a famous neighborhood nearby that I hadn’t explored during my stay in Quito.

Church of El Sagrario.

From the rooftop of the Cultural Center.

As he was explaining things to me, he told me that he had lived in Cleveland and San Diego, where he’d worked as a teacher for a number of years. He returned to Quito in retirement, and he gave tours on his own “just for fun.” As we were walking back from El Rondo, I checked my wallet to see if I had any small change to give him – I was thinking $3, but I only had a $5 bill. So, feeling generous, and thinking he’d be pleased with the amount, I handed it to him, wished him and his family a Merry Christmas, and told him I had to leave. But he hooked my arm again and asked me for more. “For my grandchildren,” he said. “I want to buy them candy.” I was a little taken aback by this, and by the fact that he wouldn’t let go of my arm. He repeated, “A few more dollars. Why not give me ten?” I said no as politely as I could, and when he asked me why not I told him I didn’t have small change and that $5 was enough for his tour. He told me to change my money at any of the banks along the street, but I said no again, and then he tried to pull me into a jewelry shop and said they’d do it for me because I was a foreigner. He was relentless! I was getting angry at this point, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I just shut my trap and kept walking, ignoring his continued pleas for more money. For someone who’d lived in the States for almost twenty years, as he’d said, I was surprised he’d take this approach with me.

In the end, he stopped following me and I decided that, since I wouldn’t have much time for lunch before arriving in Cuenca, I’d get something to go at a local sandwich shop.

I ended up wandering into Cafeteria Carmita, at N3-437 Venezuela Street.

Cafeteria Carmita.

It's mostly just a hole in the wall, with a very stubborn, but otherwise nice, waitress who calls all the shots.

I decided to have a “mixed sandwich” (sanduche mixto, which was ham and cheese) and told the woman working there that I’d take it with me rather than eat there. Of course, she brought out a grilled ham and cheese on a plate, and when I explained to her again that I wanted to take it with me, another man in the restaurant who spoke a bit of English intervened and conveyed to her what I’d already made clear, I’m pretty sure, in Spanish.

“She says you should eat it here,” he told me, then took my hand, shook it, and said his name was Jaime.

“Mucho gusto, Jaime. But I want to take it with me. I told her that when I ordered.”

The woman said something in Spanish, and appeared to be put out.

“She says you have to eat it here.”

“I have to?”

“Yes. You can’t take it out of the door.”

What else could I do? Even though I wasn’t very hungry I sat down and ate what she’d brought out to me. It was only $1.50, and it wasn’t very good.

Meh, it was okay. I can't really complain since it was only $1.50. But seriously, where are the veggies?

After that I returned to my hotel, discovered that they hadn’t done the laundry I’d given them four days ago, and waited another half hour for them to do a rush job and then hand me over a pile of damp clothes. I checked out, relieved to be going somewhere else – Cuenca.

At the airport, which I made it to much easier than I’d made it to the bus station, my flight was, as usual, delayed by a little over an hour. I was worried that I’d lose a full day in Cuenca, but I arrived in plenty of time to walk through what felt like half the city. And I got there just in time for a three-hour power cut, which is always fun.

I started off walking several blocks to the Parque Calderon, which is the main plaza in Cuenca, though there are several plazas in the city.

Parque Calderon.

There are a number of excellent examples of Spanish colonial architecture, though the New Cathedral (Catedral de la Immaculada Concepcion) was built in 1885. It is gigantic, and the inside is as impressive as the outside, which isn’t always the case, I find, in old cathedrals.

New Cathedral.

Front doors of the New Cathedral.

Religious objects for sale outside of the New Cathedral.

Across the street is the Old Cathedral (El Sagrario), which was constructed in 1557 but is in use now only as a museum and recital hall. For one dollar you can wander through the building and view whatever exhibition is being held.

The Old Cathedral.

It was hot out, and I was thirsty, and when I came across a cute little French café beside the Old Cathedral I went inside.

Rather than order something that would quench my thirst, however, I succumbed to temptation and ordered a glass of chocolate-banana milk and a chocolate crepe.

It seems that I'm off the strictly-Ecuadorian-food diet.

Not that that's a bad thing...

Yes, I’m bad. I’m very bad when it comes to midday sweets. But I’m traveling now and all rules are out the window. And besides, my chocolate-banana milk and chocolate crepe were excellent, and only $3.50. Can’t beat that, right? The couple running the café were very nice, too, and apologetic about the lack of electricity. (How’d they make the crepe, I wonder?)

Cozy interior. No better place to hang out when there's no electricity.

Sucré Salé Café is at Luis Cordero 8-74, between Sucre and Bolivar streets. Tel: 284-5181.

From there I continued walking through the city.

There was a really nice flower market outside of this sanctuary.

I came across a number of churches and cathedrals and plazas, and eventually found myself at the Museum of Modern Art, which is across the street from the Church of San Sebastian. However, they had no exhibits running and the only thing I could see was the courtyard, which was a letdown.

Museum of Modern Art. But where was the art?

The Church of San Sebastian is in an interesting little neighborhood.

I continued on toward the Tomebamba River, which runs along a beautiful little river walk that’s sandwiched in between the river itself and grassy slopes and cliffs.

Water makes any city more tranquil.

It’s really lovely, though I stopped walking along it and climbed up a stone stairs when I almost stumbled upon a young man relieving himself just barely off the path – he wasn’t doing the kind of thing you could easily overlook, mind you, which is why I chose not to continue…

The river from the terrace of my hostal.

The city was completely dark by the time I went out for dinner. I was going to go to a restaurant just a block away from where I’m staying, however the owner of my hotel told me not to eat there – ay caramba, they serve Columbian food – and recommended a local restaurant that was on my list of places to go in Cuenca -- Raymipampa. Walking through the pitch black streets was eerie but interesting, and Raymipampa had a generator going that made its interior nearly the only thing lit up in the Parque Calderon.

This place is as cool as its name: Raymipampa.

The electricity came back on about five minutes after I arrived, at which point I was already tucking into the “plato tipical” that I’d ordered. It was very good, and had a number of items I’m still not familiar with: maize mixed with eggs, potato and cheese pancakes (llapingachos), thin cooked pork, chorizo, and a salad with avocado.

Another battle with a huge amount of very rich food. I won!

All of this, and it was a lot, for just $6. My Club Beer was another $1. The restaurant itself has a lot of atmosphere, and caters not just to tourists but also to a local crowd, many of whom seem to be regulars. I highly recommend this for anyone coming to Cuenca.

There are lots of young people selling bead jewelry and other small crafts outside the restaurant.

Raymipampa is located at Benigno Malo 8-59 between Bolivar and Sucre streets. Tel: 283-4159 or 283-4619. Email: raymi859@hotmail.com.