Thursday, February 10

Today we visited Cajas National Park about 30 minutes outside of Cuenca, Ecuador. Andi hired Paul, the same English-speaking guide that led us around the city centre on Monday, to take us to the national park. Since we’re traveling through Ecuador without a car, we needed to hire transportation to get to the park & we’ve found that hiring a local guide is a nice because that person often shares their favorite places to stop along the journey to our destination and they also know “local tips” for the best activities.

We left our airbnb around 9:00am Thursday morning and rode with Paul to Cajas. We've been in the city centre all week, so it was really beautiful to see the countryside surrounding Cuenca. The landscape is beautiful with tall, grassy hills on both sides of the highway. We didn’t see any animals besides cows, but we did see several alpaca crossing signs on the roadway which was fun.

Along the way, Paul stopped at Molino del Puente to grab a coffee. Tory complained all morning that she had a terrible night of sleep and asked if she could get a bottle of Coca-Cola. I said sure, so of course Aden seized on the opportunity to get an orange Fanta for himself. Andi also grabbed a few cookies from the cafe to use as kid bribes in case we ended up doing some tough hiking today.

We continued on to a sacred area just outside the Cajas National Park gate. The land was donated by the family of a Cuenca woman who, as Paul told it, may of had some mental instability. She found God at this place and built a shrine of the Virgin Mary here, as well as a church and some beautiful botanical gardens. Mass continues to be held in the church on property every weekend. Paul said this place is known to be busy on the weekends, but today we had the entire grounds to ourselves. It was very peaceful to walk around the land and admire views of the Andes Mountains surrounding it.

Next, we continued driving into Cajas National Park. We stopped at the visitor’s center to use the restroom and to check in with the park. All national parks in Ecuador require visitors to log their passport and information so they can keep tabs on the number of people visiting. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, the national park is limiting the number of people who can be there at once to a very small number — 75 people on the day we visited. We were number 65, but since our party had 5 people in it, the national park warden wouldn’t allow our group to hike on the popular trail that leaves from the visitor’s center called Route 1. Paul said we were only permitted to walk to the viewpoint and back. That was a bummer since there was literally no one else at the park that we could see.

Cajas National Park has 253 lagoons and from its water springs life inside the park. The rare Andes speckled bear calls the national park home, as well as wild alpaca, hummingbirds, and Andean condors. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any animals during our quick walk to the overlook.

The water in Cajas National Park is the source of freshwater for the city of Cuenca as well. Cuenca is the only place in Ecuador where the water is potable to drink for visitors and it’s because of the pure, freshwater that flows from Cajas to the Tomebamba and Yanuncay Rivers in Cuenca.

Weather at Cajas National Park is known to be rainy and cold, but it turned out to be really beautiful the day we visited. The park often sees snow and ice during certain times of the year because various parts are at 10,000 feet - 14,600 feet. We definitely felt the elevation as we walked up to another overlook point in the park called Mirador Tres Cruces. The four of us took lots of breaks as we climbed up a long set of stairs. I consider myself to be in decent cardio shape, but even my lungs were burning and I felt light-headed from the altitude. Best to take it slow and steady & drink lots of water.

Views at the top of Tres Cruses were amazing. We saw several lagoons below with clouds reflecting on their calm waters. It’s unfortunate that the highway from Cuenca to Guayaquil runs right through the park so there was also some noise from traffic.

The area in and around Cajas National Park is known for trout fishing, and there are several restaurants around the park that serve fresh trout on their menu. Paul said he was taking us to one of the best called Dos Chorreras Restaurant. The grounds of the restaurant were beautiful surrounded by Andean Mountain Views and several trout ponds. The restaurant itself made us feel like we were transported to Montana. There was 90’s country music playing and the interior was decorated in big, wooden timbers. We were seated in a big, bright dining room with a small trout pond in the center. Paul had purchased some trout food for the kids, so Aden entertained himself by feeding the fish while we waited for our food.

I’m not a big fan of trout personally, so I ordered the vegetarian entree for my meal. It was perfect! A plate of steamed zucchini, carrots and mushrooms with a small portion of a cold quinoa salad. Andi had a bowl of chicken soup served with traditional mote (large boiled corn kernels). Tory and Aden each had kids meals that included popcorn chicken, fries and a cookie. We also ordered traditional llapingachos for the table which are Ecuadorian potato balls served with a peanut sauce. The food and the ambience at Dos Chorreras Restaurant were very good.

After lunch, Paul drove us back to Cuenca. Andi had a few calls to make while Tory, Aden and I did some school in our airbnb.

The four of us walked into Cuenca’s city centre around 5:00pm. Andi wanted to buy a pair of Crocs knock-offs he saw at one of the vendor stands in San Francisco plaza the other day. For $5, he was the proud new owner of a pair of “Gold Feet.” Andi was happy camper — he really wanted a pair of Crocs for the upcoming beach portion of our trip.

Tory had her mind on a coin purse that she saw in the alpaca fabric store we visited earlier this week. We went back to the store to get it for her and were once again amazed by all the hidden store rooms covered from floor to ceiling in alpaca blankets, sweaters, socks, hats and more. Tory got her coin purse, and I found a small alpaca ornament to bring home for our Christmas tree.

Cuenca’s city centre is so beautiful, I could spend hours walking around everyday. There is so much going on around the streets, people selling various foods and trinkets, and just regular people going to work or picking their kids up from school. It has really great energy.

It started to rain as we were leaving San Francisco square, so we hustled to our chosen dinner spot a few blocks away at Yakumama. Paul, our tour guide, recommended this breakfast spot on Monday, and we liked it so much that we decided to try it for dinner. The flavor combinations are really delicious and there are several healthy options on their menu. The kids love the fresh pineapple juice.

Andi ordered a shrimp burger which he raved about and Aden got shrimp tempura which he loved. I ordered a chicken tartlet which was just OK, but Tory’s crostini topped with sautéed veggies, goat cheese and hummus was delicious.

We cabbed back to our Airbnb and called it a night. Tomorrow is our last day in Cuenca.