Lima

I'd like to say that our transfer to Peru went smoothly, but that would be boring. We had three flights scheduled that day. Our first flight to Quito went smoothly. It was just an hour and we arrived early. Then we sat and sat and sat. Our flight to Bogata, Colombia (with connection to Lima) was delayed about 2 hours. They wouldn't post a specific departure time and said that they would have more information in 15 minutes. Well, 15 minutes came and went. They had information for some people with earlier connections. They moved our gate, but still didn't have specific information for us. This drama was cutting our connection very close. I felt bad for the ladies behind the counter. People were bombarding them with questions. Passengers were going behind the counter and crowding the poor women. I knew there were others in worse situations, so we just sat and waited for the plane to arrive. 

Liam making the most of the delay in Quito

Once we were on the plane and we finally took off, I did the math on the transfer. When we landed, we'd have about 30 minutes to get to the next gate before the plane took off.  I let the flight attendent know...I even asked in Spanish. Well, I must have done a good job because she rattled a detailed answer in Spanish. Of course, I didn't get all of it, so I asked again and they assured me we were fine. I told them we had no idea what gate we were going to and that it was boarding as we spoke. She finally registered some level of concern and made a call from the plane. We exited the plane and found an Avianca staff person waiting for us. She went through security with us and escorted us to our gate. We literally ran into the plane, got settled and took off for Lima. Phew. 

We arrived in Lima during the evening rush hour. There was also construction on the waterfront road which caused more delay on our way to our rented apartment in the Miraflores neighborhood. It took about an hour to get there. We met our host. He let us in and showed us around. After three flights and an hour taxi ride, we were wiped out. Not too much later there was a knock at our door. It was our host with a bag of snacks for the family. He said he felt badly and knew we didn't have food in the apartment. He had provided us with water, soda, chips, pastries and other snacks. It was incredibly kind. He owns the apartment building, so he told us he was always available for questions. 

Chillin in the kitchen. Glass doors separate it from the one bedroom

Bedroom next to the kitchen

We difinitely took it easy on our first day. We walked around the neighborhood and went toward the ocean. It was the last week of their winter. For Lima this meant about 62 degrees and fog.  

View at the waterfront, just two blocks from our apartment

The coastline, we even saw some brave surfers

Just a little further down the coast was the famous Larcomar, or the mall. Maeve referred to it as OakBrook on the water. What an amazing location for a mall. It is all outdoors on the cliff above the coast. 

What a view while you shop

Promiscuous mannequin

This is the point where everyone began getting colds. I started it off in Baños, then Liam got the sniffles, then Maeve became completely stuffed up in Lima. We didn't have too many plans for the city, so we pretty much got some rest.

Our host called us that night and asked if we were interested in seeing the city. He offered to take us in his own car the next morning. This was such a lovely offer and we definitely took him up on it. He drove us through many of the districts of Lima and told us about his life here. We would have never done this on our own. He even drove us to a grocery store where we could get some supplies while he waited for us. After that, he dropped us off in a market area where we could see some work of local artisans. We then walked to Kennedy Park. This park had an exhibit of posters feature the theme of global warming. The artists featured were from all over the world. We found some of them very interesting.

Michael and Liam enjoying the artwork

The park was also filled with stray cats. I've never seen anything like it. They were everywhere and they seemed to own the place, lounging everywhere with the typical cat-attitude. Maeve and Liam loved running through the gardens and checking them out. I made sure they didn't touch them. 

Just one corner of the park

Cat, "If you can sit here, so can I."

We walked back to the apartment after a delicious lunch. The next day we walked along the coastline through the district of Barranco. This is a more bohemian part of town. We explored the architecture and the paths. 

We had covered a fair amount in car and by foot. We wanted to go to the Parque de la Reserva at night. This is a public park that was refurbished in 2007. It has 13 interactive water fountains and they do a light/laser show set to music at night. It is the largest water fountain complex within a public park. This is a very popular place for locals and tourists. People love to run in and out of some of the fountains. The kids weren't feeling well so we didn't go. It was one little regret since we had heard about it from so many others. Fortunately, we were able to visit on our return trip to Lima at the end of our Peru stay. The kids were prepared with their rain jackets and pants. I'll include those pictures here.

Well, this didn't turn out too well. The images are projected in the water. See video below

Maeve and Liam enjoying the mist

part of the laser show

Maeve and Liam jumping by the fountain

One of Maeve's pictures. I can't take credit, but will add to her Peru pics.

Cuenca

One of the many reasons we are writing a blog is to document the details of our travels. I know too well from experience that I quickly forget the many nuances of cities, people and transportation. I have fallen behind on the detailing of our encounters and now I have to rely on my photos and memory, hoping to capture all that occurred. I guess it will take a bit longer as I'll have Michael cross-check my details. The lesson we are learning is that we need to slow down. Several days 'off the grid' and without internet takes its toll in keeping in communication even though the experiences are intriguing and fulfilling. Okay, so that's my disclaimer....on to Cuenca, Ecuador.

We arrived in Cuenca via an 8 hour bus ride from Baños. There was no direct bus, so a switch was required in a town called Riobamba. I had read up on the buses and thought we were prepared for this travel day. First, our lovely host at our B&B arranged a driver. This was the man who drove us to the top of the hill so we could view the volcano. 6:30 a.m. is an early pickup in Baños and many drivers just won't commit to rides that early. I confirmed with him several times during our drive the day before. Needless to say, he didn't show up. Our host called another driver and eventually, he showed up. We got to the station about when the bus was scheduled to leave. There was no bus. Surrounding locals had assured me that we hadn't missed it. Then one lady told us to cross the street and that the bus would be there. Now I read one other person's blog from two years ago and this very same thing happened. It isn't even at the bus station, but on another corner. So why this isn't advertised or told to travelers prior is unknown to me....clearly it has gone on for years. We jogged through the bus parking lot and crossed the street. One woman chased down Michael to let him know that he dropped his neck pillow, and I thought that was rather kind. We found a large green bus. We told the man near the bus, "Riobamba." He tells us to wait there. Eventually, I walked to the front of the bus and saw the big "19" written on the front. This is the bus number on our tickets. The person on the bus started yelling, "Riobamba, Riobamba!" I said we are going to Riobamba and he opens up the bottom hatch for us to store our backpacks. If I hadn't looked at the number, I don't think they would have put us on the bus. It was a very strange start.

About 90 minutes later, we got to Riobamba, or should I say we stopped on the side of a main road. The man on the bus yelled, "Cuenca, Cuenca, Cuenca!" and encouraged those moving on to get off the bus. We literally got off the bus, got our luggage out and hopped on the bus behind the one we got off. The whole exchange took about 3 minutes. We were now off to Cuenca...no break. The next six hours was filled with 'milk run' stops, picking up and dropping off people. We watched as locals jumped on the bus and tried to sell us chips, newspapers, water, candy and coconut milk. They would ride with us for a bit and then jump off.  

Unlike our lengthy bus ride in Panama, we were not given the opportunity to get off, use a bathroom, or get a snack. We were not well prepared. There was a bathroom on this bus, but it wasn't pretty (according to Liam, and you can imagine what he'd have to say about it).  

We arrived in Cuenca, disheveled and hungry. We had rented an apartment for five nights and our 'landlady' said she would pick us up. We waited an hour before the mother of the landlady arrived. We tried to be kind regarding her tardiness, but it was a long day. She said there was a lot of traffic in Cuenca due to construction of an overhead rail system that would help alleviate the diesel fumes from all of the traffic.  

After a short car tour of Cuenca, we were finally at our apartment. All we wanted to do was unpack and take a hot shower, except there was no hot water. We contacted our landlady and she apologized again and said they'd take care of it in the morning.  

Our apartment

The propane tank was changed and that did the trick for the hot water. With everyone clean, we headed out to the main square. Our apartment was in a great location in town. Everything was walking distance. We had contacted the Canadian couple with their daughter from BSI who happened to be in Cuenca today. They agreed to meet us on a double decker bus tour of the city. 

Main square in Cuenca where our tour started

Cuenca has a quaint city-center. There are over 330,000 people within the city limits. Cuenca is a UNESCO world heritage site for its many historical buildings. It is filled with churches and they say you can go to a different church every week for a year.

Yet another lovely church

The view from the top of a hill in south Cuenca

Part of the tour stopped on a hill where there was another church and market. It was a cloudy day, but the view was still great. We could see the entire city.

Typical street in Cuenca

Lovely building

We parted with our new friends after lunch at a small pizza place. The owner was from Italy and had married an Ecuadorian woman. He sold pizza by the slice. 

Our other few days in Cuenca found us exploring the museums and parks. There were some ruins behind an art museum and a lovely garden and some animals as well. We spent some time wandering around there.

Garden with ruins behind a museum

Liam popping up in front of my garden/ruins picture

We found a large park where everyone seemed to be spending the day since it was a lovely weekend. The kids got to play on some park equipment for a bit. There weren't many restaurants open for dinner on Sunday. We spent some time looking around for a restaurand, and as usual, waited too long. We did this several times in Cuenca. Everyone got cranky and annoyed, but we usually found a great meal.

I enjoyed Cuenca and the cool weather. I loved the quaintness of the city center. It seemed to have the perfect blend of local heritage and moderness. We liked walking to everything, but being on the outskirts of town so we didn't always hear the traffic. Cuenca allowed us to spend more time getting caught up on some work as well. 

The airport was barely ten minutes away, which was another bonus for our early flight out to Quito. Next stop.....Peru! 

Ecuador Likes/Dislikes:

Michael liked Cuenca. He thought the city had a lot to offer and the proximity to the airport with cheap flights to Quito was a bonus. He disliked the buses and the people trying to sell things on them.

Maeve and Liam liked the Black Sheep Inn. They loved the animals, the food and the hikes. They disliked the bigger cities and the smell of diesel fumes.

I loved the food and attention of the BSI. The kids loved running around outside playng with the animals and I could get some work done and not worry too much about the kids. I'm agreeing with the children that the city noises and fumes can be a bit much. 

Baños

Yes, it can be the word used to refer to the bathroom in Spanish, but it's also a town in Ecuador (properly called Baños de Agua Santa or baths of sacred water) known for the thermal baths....or baños. This city came highly recommended from several people. It's a big tourist destination for adventure seekers and it's also known as the gateway to the Amazon. For us, it was a short stay on our way to Cuenca. 

We had three nights at a lovely B&B called The Magic Stone. We were warmly greeted by our host and shown our room and property. Maeve and Liam immediately were drawn to the dog...no surprise there.  Maeve took an amazing picture of the dog which strongly warrants a repost.

Maeve and Liam relax on the hammocks behind our room

On our first day we walked around town to get the 'lay of the land.' We could easily walk all throughout the downtown. There were many quaint 'squares' with little parks. 

The Basilica

Maeve and Liam enjoy a unique feature of one park

Not too far from Chicago

Once we knew our way around, we decided to visit one of the thermal bath pools. There are four pools and we decided to go to the one popular with the locals. It was just outside of town and we were clearly the only gringos there. Theses pools were quite different from the ones we visited in Costa Rica. They aren't as lavish, but they have more rules regarding showers and bathing caps. This took us a while to figure out, but we could rent caps for about 30 cents or we could buy them for three dollars...so we rented.

The pools to the left. Each one has a different temperature.

Baños is located on the side of volcano Tungurahua, the largest volcano in Ecuador (thus the thermal baths). It is known as 'the Black Giant' and its activity caused an evacuation in 1999/2000. It is still active and you can see smoke from it on occasion. You can't fully see the volcano from the city. Upon the advice of our host, we took a cab up the other side for more views.

The other thing we accomplished was laundry (one dollar a kilo for someone else to wash, dry and fold....what a deal) and haircuts ($5 per person! and that included a beard trim for Michael).

We enjoyed our brief stay in Baños. It was fine for us since we aren't the adventure sport type and we weren't planning on heading into the Amazon Jungle. We found some great restaurants and noted some of the quirky practices of the city. For example, check out the last video. We thought it was a late night ice-cream truck, but it turns out to be the garbage collectors.

Now we know how the restaurant got its name