Day 930
Cuenca
Cuenca has been fantastic, so far, it’s our favourite city in South America. Compact but with lots to see and do. We’ve loved the opportunity to eat a wider variety of food, the place is packed with awesome restaurants and coffee houses. There is everything from local cuisine, to Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Italian, burger places, French cake shops, trendy bars and so much more. We were booked for 3 nights but extended to 5!
It’s a great city to walk around, though there are plenty of buses, a tram, and miles of cycle lanes too. We met up with Silvan and Eddy, have explored the city, visited a fair few museum, churches, viewing points high above the city and still know there is so much more to see and do. Tom and I popped into one church, Iglesias de Todas Santos. We were greeted by a very friendly nun who explained it was $5 each, which seemed a lot but we didn’t want to say no to such a lovely person. We soon realised that we had actually booked a private tour, and a young English-speaking guy took us all round the church, museum, gardens and kitchens. He even rang the bells! We learnt about the history of not just the church but also Cuenca, $10 well spent. As the tour came to an end, he mentioned their two restaurants and would we like him to see if there was a table available. We admired his salesmanship and grinned our acceptance, we were hungry! Well, it was another fantastic decision. For $10 each, we were served a 5-course meal of Michelin Star quality. Tom took photographs of every dish. The whole experience was just perfect.
Our bikes have been having a treat. Christian, of Bike Service Morales, sorted them out and even had a friend who is a welder, do a fantastic job on Tom’s damaged frame.
We met up with Richard and Chi, the two cyclists we had met as we arrived. We went out for yet another meal, Italian this time. They were great company and we swopped details of our respective adventures, they are wisely staying months in Cuenca, and we couldn’t blame them.
So, we have replaced some worn kit, I have downsized my sleeping bag, and we’re just about packed. We’ve had final meal with Silvan and Eddy. Tomorrow we are all going different ways but we hope to meet up again in Peru.
