6/20/2011
Cuenca
So we visited Cuenca this weekend we left Loja at approximately 6am and were there by 9! We checked into our hostel, had some lunch and headed out to go ziplining! It was amazing! There were a total of 7 different lines that we went on and we had 3 other gentlemen join us (one from texas, one from puerto rico, and one from florida) and I'm pretty sure all 3 of them were former marines I know for sure the guy from Texas was. They were really cool and had some awesome stories they had been in Ecuador for 6 weeks and had just been touring the country doing amazing things! They told us about this 90m rappel North of the capital (Quito) it's in the MIDDLE OF A WATERFALL, they said it was pretty cool having the water just pour all around you like that. I would really like to go do that but don't think we'll have the time, it's getting near the end now and all our weekends are fairly well planned out! Anyways back to Cuenca, so we did the ziplining deal and you should check out the photos at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo Then we returned to Cuenca and continued to shop at the little tiny tiendas (stores) in search of local trinkets and souvenirs! I found many and am excited to bring them back! We went to dinner at this place called Zoe it was a restaurant, bar, cafe, and salsa dance floor...it's amazing salsa how quickly the dance is. It was nice to watch but there's no way I could do what they do the dance is so quick! We toured the city a little bit more at night enjoying the colonial architecture and the lit churches, it was beautiful.
Sunday morning we headed to the ancient Incan ruins of Ingapirca it was an hour and a half cab ride and was well worth the $12 cab ride and $6 park entrance fee! While the ruins were not quite that of the Mayan ruins I saw junior year in high school down in Mexico it was amazing the precision that they could cut the blocks to build the Sun Temple. They didn't need mortar and was almost perfectly intact when it was found in 770 and not much has changed since then! The blocks are so tightly placed together that you can't even slide a piece of paper in between them?! It's amazing that so long ago they could have such precision in their work! We viewed the temple and other parts of the ruins and also had a nice chat with our friends from the University of Illinois and Augustina University...we had a slight argument of who was THE "U of I" and we definitely won. It was nice to see some other "extranjeros" or "foreigners" who knew some english! So we returned back to Cuenca had a run in with an "attempted" mugger who was obviously not afraid of all 8 of us even though we had 2 nice strong buff men. So we just waited in the restaurant until the guy got bored/nervous and left. I must say my alert level and heart beat were up and stayed up until we got back to the hostal and were on our way back to Loja. It was quite the experience. I can truely say I enjoyed being in Cuenca looking at all the churches but that the people and city of Loja is still my favorite in Ecuador. Also at the ruins I got a little bit red on the arms! It was SO nice to have some sun for the first time in a couple weeks!
Well Eric and I got to play some more soccer again tonight it was another great game and I think my hydrating all day left me in a bit better shape! It was another good game, they split Eric and I up and put us on different teams. I'm proud to say that my team won 18 to 15! Afterwards we went and watched the intramural basketball games it was the Biology Department versus some other department and the Biology department kicked butt!! It is a lot different style of basketball here than it is back in the states. the way they shoot is like straight at the rim without any arch to it. It's quite rudiculous actually and very entertaining to watch.
Another thing I really like about the culture here is that they play sports no matter what kind of shape the people are in...you don't even have to be good at the sport as long as your trying and having fun everyone is having fun it's pretty awesome!
Don't forget to check out the pictures at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo
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