I bet you didn’t know that the word Ecuador means Equator in Spanish? Well I didn’t either.
It was lovely flying over and into Cuenca from Quito, as it’s well known for its red tiled roofs and is surrounded by lush green rolling hills. The landscape in Ecuador is so different to what we’ve seen in Peru and Chile and overall much more attractive. Even the cows in the fields look perkier.
We really landed on our feet in Cuenca with a last minute deal at a beautiful hotel called the Boutique Hotel Santa Lucia, where not only did we get the bargain of the Century, but we also got upgraded to an enormous two-storey Suite (see photos). The hotel was once the home of the governor of Cuenca and was built in 1859, but has kept all of its original charm, despite adding on a top storey. It was right in the historical heart of Cuenca, just a block away from the main square.
We loved Cuenca and ended up staying there for 6 nights, partly due to complete apathy about moving anywhere else and partly because flights are so expensive from Ecuador to Colombia, that we ended up getting a great deal at a later date than originally planned on a very budget airline called Viva Colombia, a bit like Easyjet, only not as orange. I must say it was good for body and soul to be able to just stop for a while and not have to think about packing up again for a bit.
We visited the zoo just outside town and despite being rather primitively laid out and extremely steep and rocky terrain in most areas, we really loved it, as the animals were out and about in force, very easy to observe and in well-designed enclosures. For example the monkeys were on an island surrounded by a little lake and because monkeys don’t like water, there was no need for proper fencing to prevent them escaping. Although I did see one of them hiding behind the bushes surreptitiously blowing up a pair of water wings.
We also went to a tiny village 15 minutes away called Baños (not to be confused with the other Ecuadorian town called Baños, close to Quito), where you can visit any of three hot springs spas. We went to the one which was called Piedras de Agua, where you went through various steps to beautify your skin, relax and steam the city grime out of your pores. A massage first, then a steam room, then you rub brown mud all over your face and body, let it dry and soak it off, then do the same with blue mud, then into a wooden steam box with only your head sticking out through a hole in the top. Felt like one of those clown heads you see at fairgrounds which move from side to side, into whose mouths you have to throw a ball. I immediately got an itchy nose and was unable to free a hand to itch it for the entire 15 minutes. I thought about rubbing it on the top of the wooden box but couldn’t quite bend my neck enough and my nose isn’t THAT big.
Anyway it was all very relaxing and wonderful to do and you can stay in the spa as long as you want and keep repeating the steps, or alternatively sit the wrong way up in the steam box with only your feet sticking out. I now have the face and body of a 12-year-old, which is actually annoying because now I have to go through puberty all over again and it wasn’t that great the first time. Also I have a permanent reminder of the day, as my togs are stained a kind of sepia colour from the brown mud…but my skin is silky soft and my wallet considerably lighter.
Quite excited about the next stage of our trip, which is to fly from Cuenca to Bogota, Colombia, via Quito (5th time in that airport). Did you know that Quito is the only airport in the universe in which the toilets have no toilet paper whatsoever, not even a toilet roll holder – I was quite amazed. Luckily I had a till receipt I could use instead.
So, a whole new country to explore and another currency to get used to – roughly 1,800 Colombian Pesos is worth NZ $1.00. Gawd knows how I’ll ever get my head around that.
2 Frosty Tops Do South America 