We first heard about Cuenca, Ecuador’s 3^rd largest city, soon after we entered the country. Like Quito it had once been a center of Spanish colonialism. The architecture and narrow, cobblestone city streets of the Historic District have been so well preserved it has been classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. I loved Cartegena, but Cuenca with its smaller size and beautiful architecture that I think is more grand than Quito has become my favorite city thus far in South America. It also is a friendly place to me. In Baños we met an American family from San Fransisco, Sheila and Mark and their twins Ailish and Liam, age 13, who are now living in Cuenca for a year to improve their Spanish. We contacted them the morning after we arrived and Mark and Liam took us to their favorite bike shop run by Galo, Ecuador’s champion mountain biker. We spruced up our bikes and wardrobes with needed replacements/repairs. We agreed to meet the next morning for a city cultural and museum tour ride event organized by Margarit, a leading advocate for cycling in Cuenca. Not really knowing what to expect, Mark, Liam, David and I joined a group of 100 or more cyclists gathering in San Sebastion Square. After opening remarks, calistenics, and being serenaded by a brass band we bicycled through the Historic District with a police escort stopping traffic. We were lead to five of Cuenca’s museums where we got off our bikes for short tours. At the end we were treated to a display of Latin dancing in the park. It was a delightfully surprising way to get a taste of the culture of Cuenca and Ecuador, and to participate in Margarit’s efforts to encourage cycling in the city. Later that evening we met Mark and Sheila for dinner and enjoyed vegetarian options and great conversation. As fellow travelors far from home, we felt a comraderie and were reminded in our easy conversation of friends and family back home. David and I so enjoyed Cuenca we ended up staying a total of 4 nights. One reason to extend our stay was to meet up again with James, the British cyclist we met in Colombia, who we knew from e-mails would be cycling in soon. He met us at our hotel and we caught up on our various adventures since our last meeting. Intending to take different routes into Peru, we said our goodbyes with the hope that somewhere south, in the not too distant future, our paths would cross again.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 16:57 and is filed under Julie's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.