June 3, 2009

Hi everyone,

Well we’re here at Cuenca’s airport and this time we’re awaiting our flight to Quito which is the capital of the country of Ecuador = ) We’re so very sad to be leaving this absolutely wonderful and beautiful city. Founded in 1557, Cuenca is a charming colonial city of narrow cobblestone streets, whitewashed red tiled buildings, handsome plazas and domed churches. Add in the friendly people and fantastic eats and it’s easy to see why people end up staying longer than planned.

Cuenca is also the center of the Montecristi hat industry. The Montecristi is better known as a Panama hat. Because the hats were used extensively by those who worked in the construction of the Panama Canal, many assumed these hats were made in Panama as opposed to just being exported there. Anyways, I got a superior hat of my own and I love it!
We also went to Parque Nacional Cajas where we hiked for several hours through a diverse landscape of hidden lakes and Inca made swimming pools whose waters shone like jewels against the mist covered scenery. One of my favorite parts of the hike was our time in the quenua forest. The scarlett cherry quenua tree grow at the highest altitude of any trees in the world, and hiking through this dense forest was like entering a scene from a Brothers Grimm fairytale – beautiful, mysterious, foreboding.

We’re gonna miss it here in Cuenca but I’m excited to get to Quito. See you there.