Although the colonial architecture in Cuenca truly is a beautiful site, as a huge nature-lover my favorite place in Cuenca was El Cajas National Park. This 70,000 acre park is filled with amazing mountains, beautiful wildlife, and over 760 lakes! The word "Cajas" comes from the Quichua word "cassa" which means "gateway to the snowy mountains". It is also related to the Spanish word for "boxes". A few other of our friends arrived in Cuenca last night, so they joined us for this trip in the morning. We took a bus from the Terminal Terrestre in Cuenca, which left at 8:30 am. The ride took about an hour, and upon arriving at the Park we had to check in with our passport information and have someone explain to us the available hikes. Unfortunately, since it was rainy and all of us are directionally-challenged, we got off course and could not figure out the correct path to take around the lake. Despite the rain and getting lost, we had a really fun time exploring and eating our snacks on the trails. :) After getting off track on the trail and not being sure how to get back to the main office of the park, we started to get concerned as the rain came down harder. Instead of risking getting lost, we hopped over the highway border and hitchhiked back into town. We made sure the guy who gave us a ride was not sketchy, and felt safe because he had also picked up some other tourists trying to get back into town. It made for a really funny memory, and we made it back into town safely and had a fun last night in this beautiful city! Cuenca at night!
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Ashley KoboldMy amazing experience studying abroad in Ecuador. ¡Qué chévere! Archives
December 2019
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