Welcome to Cuenca

Some of you may have appreciated the break from my relentless posts; others checked in to ask why the time gap. Ha ha simply because I have been in the beautiful city of Cuenca having a wonderful time. The combination of the city's beauty, the quality of the hostel, interesting activities and entertaining backpackers made this my best week yet.

I checked into a hostel recommended for solo female travellers due to its safety. I immediately bumped into Firenza, who I met in Baños. She was just leaving but connected me with her room mate, Saba, who wanted to go hiking the next day.

The Guillerminas Boutique hostel was by the famous cathedral Iglesia del Sagrario and Parque Calderón. The magnificent domes are lit up blue at night and the park is alive with streetmusic, dancing, people strolling with ice cream, restaurants and bars.

I instantly fell in love with this place. And felt so safe too. There are four different types of police here, and you can't walk more than 5 minutes without seeing armed police or guards. It's reassuring. And it is in fact safe because of that visible police presence.

The hostel provided breakfast which was probably one of the nicest meals I have had since I arrived in Ecuador and it made the slightly higher price of the room worth every penny.... Or cent.

Saba, mysel plus one other girl set off to hike in the Cajas National Park. I informed and warned them repeatedly how slow I was going downhill. Can you see where this is going....? It's a stunning landscape and the girls be wanted to get to the top. I am fairly fit but no match for superfit youngsters, and in order to keep up, I was puffing and panting for 3 hours solid. The girls didn't even break a sweat.

Luckily for me these young fit girls were a bit cocky and we had set off without consulting the map of various hikes. After 3 attempts to find the skyward trail, we were forced to abandon the plan for to safety. The photo of me meditating on a rock is me thanking God that the hike was over. But I had a good time and wouldn't have done it on my own, so again, grateful for the way the traveling community accept each other how easy it is to pick up 'friends' for the day.

The following day, I did a Walking Tour of the historic part of the town, which was so interesting, I kept sharing the titbits of info to others bank in the hostel. The inside of the cathedral was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen and my photos don't do it justice. There are 84 churches in this city and they are all used daily.

The hat man was making personalized Panama hats to order. You choose the size, colour, band, beading and he makes them with his bare hands, glue and an iron.Read more