Today we woke up and had a surprisingly delicious breakfast at our hostel (included in the price of the room). They had the standard bread with jam/butter, coffee/tea, but also included freshly made juice, freshly cut fruit, cheese, and scrambled eggs. We had been usually skipping the breakfasts but made an exception this time.
After filling up we made our way back to the bus terminal to catch a ride to Cajas National Park. There is no bus that takes you straight there, so the way to reach the park is to get on a bus headed to the city of Guayaquil (2nd largest city in Ecuador) and tell the driver you want to hop off once you get to the park. This is what we did and it worked out pretty well.
Once we got there we registered with the park rangers and they recommended us doing “ruta 3” which would take us out to some panoramic views of the park. It was a really nice hike. Many people have compared the views to the Scottish Highlands. As soon as Cassie mentioned this of course it triggered a craving for Scotch in Alejandro!
All through the hike there was also very pretty high mountain flora to see, we were back above 4,000m (13,000 ft) again for most of the hike. Most of the plants/flowers were tiny but still showed off beautiful colors and designs.
So the way back from the park was slightly nerve wracking, but worked out well. The trail left us a little further down the highway than the ranger station where we got dropped off. The park ranger had told us that around the top of the hour a bus (now coming from Guayaquil back to Cuenca) would pass by the area. Our job was to now wait on the side of the highway and flag the bus down to take us back to Cuenca. We were lucky to finish our hike pretty close to 2pm so didn’t have to wait around long. Every minute that passed though we weren’t sure if a bus would ever really come by, or, if they would actually stop for people on the side of a highway… But sure enough a bus came by and picked us up no problem! Our first “hitchhiking” was a success.
We made it back to town and hung out for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. Alejandro had scoped out a good restaurant to eat at so we went there and had their tasting menu. It included an absurd amount of “aji” sauces to start out with our bread. Then a serving of Locro de papas (potato soup) followed by swordfish stew. Then he brought out the guarniciones (side dishes) of french fried potatos, couscous, rice, quinoa salad, regular lettuce salad, and melloco (small fingerling-like potatoes). So much food!
Next was the house special of Lomo Fino al Tiesto (beef tenderloin) with eggplant and mustard sauce, this was cooked to absolute perfection. The last main dish were fried pork ribs that came out with aji de maracuya and aji de fresa (spicy/sweet maracuya and strawberry sauce). The sweet/spicy sauces were absolutely wonderful with the perfectly cooked ribs. It also came out with more llapingachos (cheesy mashed potato cakes), mote pillo and mote sucio.
Lastly, chocolate mousse with maracuya ice cream, all over this beautifully painted plate with edible sauces (maracuya, chocolate, and mora/blackberry); it felt like eating artwork! With the check also came a small melcocha, or local type of candy.
After the huge meal we were absolutely STUFFED and quickly fell asleep back in our hostel.
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 