Cuenca

My first stop on the mainland was Cuenca, a city with a beautiful historical center that reminded me somehow of Graz, but I haven't figured out why. Maybe it was just the same size. But I really enjoyed walking around because there were so many beautiful buildings. Still, it was not the classic beauty, one might recognize that lots of the buildings need a do-over, and that they are currently building a tramway through the city, therefore construction areas take up whole streets, did not help either. Still, there was something about the city that really made me enjoy it.

It could be that I just like compact city centers, so you could see how it grew over the time. Or it was the river directly next to the center that offered enough space to sit down and hang out in the "nature".  It felt like some kind of narrow, very long park all along the city center.

I was really impressed how beautiful the grass was besides the river. I haven't seen a beautiful natural lawn since leaving Austria. But then, they also had wild growing flowers like clover and dandelion, which was really weird for me because I didn't expect to encounter the same flora so far from home. But then, even the mountains sometimes seemed the same.

Sure, everything is bigger here, but I still had some moments when I looked out of the window of the bus and felt kind of disappointed because there wasn't anything new to discover, just some mountains with coniferous forests and lots of fields inbetween. Not even some cliffs or anything spectacular. But still, the houses are quite different. While there are some really beautiful ones, the most seem quite simple and rustic, just covering the basic needs.

I also visited some surrounding towns because I read the are really beautiful and have a lot to offer. They really were beautiful. One of them, Chordeleg) was known for their silver and gold jewellery, so I thought I could buy some small presents, but of course I only ended up buying stuff for myself. I just couldn't think of anybody being as happy about some beautiful earrings as me.

One other of the towns, Sigsig, was known to have some archeological site from the Incas, and my brochure said it's close. So when I didn't find it after three hours of walking (in several directions - there were some street signs but they all shortly disappeared) it was already to late so I just enjoyed the nature around and the nice center of the village. I really just should have taken a taxi there but some voice inside my head told me "you can't just let the taxi take you around, you have to walk to some places by yourself!"

So, like I mentioned I took the stupid decision just to discover it by walking, which wasn't really my brightest moment because my legs were still sore from the trip to the national park. It would have helped, too, if I hadn't decided to go out dancing on the day of my worst muscle ache in years, maybe without all those action my legs would have recovered sooner. But then, I knew I would be visiting another archeological site from the Incas, actually the most important one of Ecuador on the next day.

The site is called Ingapirka and it's more like a mixture of Inca and Canari, because the Inca couldn't defeat the Canari so they cooperated. Like most of the Inca leftovers, it was destroyed by the people from Spain coming in 15something to conquer South America. So all that's left are some walls and one temple where they did their ceremonies for the sun and the moon. In this region, they also speak another indigenous language which is also on every street sign and so on.

One thing I had to learn was never to trust time indications, especially not when dealing with going by bus. When they say it's half an hour, I am in the bus for one and a half hours. When it's one hour, it's more like two hours or more. Also, they always show those freaky movies on the busses in a volume that high you can't simply ignore it. Fortunately, I already adapted to going by bus until now (I sometimes suffer from motion sickness) and therefore my mp3 and my e-book-reader are my best friend for those long bus trips. If I am not simply staring out of the window and admiring the beautiful landscape combined with a beautiful city like Cuenca.

Parque Nacional Las Cajas

I might have done something stupid yesterday. You heard about how it could affect you when staying on a higher altitude, like when you are used to sea level and suddenly you are in a city at 2000 meters above sea level? I read about that many times, I even heard stories how people suddenly felt so weak on the first days - that's why I planned four days here in Cuenca at 2500m when arriving directly from the Galapagos Islands because I should really take it slow.

But then I met another girl at the hostel, Rotem from Israel, that told me she will visit the National Park next day and if I would like to accompany her because it's always better in company and the route seems quite easy. She guesses it's at about 3000 meters. So, I couldn't help myself but take that opportunity to go with her. Because that's what really excites me about traveling, taking unplanned opportunities when they come along.

Turned out the starting point was at 3900 meters, the route went over a mountain top of 4270 meters and the whole trail was so slippery most of the time I just clung onto the grass next to the trail not to take the fast lane down. I never encountered a hiking path so slippery.

Unfortunately, I also never felt so weak when hiking. I never ever needed so many breaks and at some point down I even no longer trusted my legs to stay steady without holding on to the grass. What didn't mean I couldn't continue. I am quite tought (if I want to be), I can always push myself a little farther when others already might have stopped. So I did manage this four-hour trail up more than 300 meters and back down, even when at the end of the trail I wasn't really sure how to get up some stairs. When coming back to Cuenca, I could even do a two hour city walk to use the hours still left before sunset. But I already knew it would hurt a lot the following day.

And so it does. And not just the legs but also my arms (from clinging onto the grass). The legs are not a problem, because like I wrote, I am tough and if I can push myself to get up to that mountain, I can push myself to walk all day in the city as well. But everytime I see a bench, I really just want to sit down. And I really have to withstand that temptation, because my legs even hurt more when getting up again. And I really do have trouble to lift stuff because my arms just hurt so much.

I guess next time I won't do a hiking trip on my first day in the mountains. But also, I guess I am just really good dealing with heights, because others might have not managed that. And, the national park was really beautiful. Lakes everywhere and quite distinctive plants, and mountain tops in all directions. Also, it was my first time above 4000 meters, therefore quite an experience!