Cuenca

ABOUT CUENCA:
Cuenca is Ecuador's third-largest city, and its small center is home to some beautiful architecture. The city was founded in 1557 and named after the city of Cuenca in Spain, the birthplace of the Viceroy of Peru at the time.

This small university town is a pleasure to explore, and you'll discover impressive churches that date back to the 16th and 17th Centuries, attractive colonial buildings, tranquil plazas, and lively markets. The Ecuadorians consider it the finest city in the country, and many of its

buildings are constructed from marble and decorated with stunning woodwork and ironwork.

6/9/18
Woken up today by a 7 am alarm, needing to pack but surprisingly no hangover after quite a huge night, just little tired. We had the same breakfast as yesterday and left the hotel in taxis at 8:15 to the bus station and were our bus left at 8:40. Today was another very long, arriving at 5 pm at which point we did a quick walk around the city to get some photos as it was perfect weather, in case it wasn’t as nice tomorrow. We then had a group dinner at Simon 7-84, I chose a pork chop, but when it came it was almost unrecognizable as a chop, it had been beaten flat and was also overcooked.

I had just gotten into bed when a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit approx 100 meters north of Cuena, this was mine and most of the

others first experience with an earthquake. Many of us meet up in reception to discuss, but eventually went back to bed after realising the locals weren't doing anything.

7/9/18
Woke up for breakfast, and we had a walking tour of the old town, visiting the town square, several of the town's churches, a local market and sampled some of the local fruits, finishing at a factory for the famous Panama Hat, which is actually made in Cuenca. I actually purchased one of the hats, the first souvenir that I’ve bought in years, but I think I'll use this quite a lot.

Since I’d now been travelling for just under one month, I needed a break from everything, I retired back to the hotel after walking tour. Turns our Eleo, the guy from Hong Kong is a Cook and wanted to be shown by our tour leader how to cook Ecuadorian Ceviche, and I

ended up joining them and eating it for a late Lunch.

We had a group dinner at Goza after everyone else went to bed as we had a really early start, leave by 4 am, however, my previous Dragoman tour group had caught up and arrived into Cuenca at 5 pm, so I decided to go out and have a drink with them. What was going to be few drinks, turned into getting back to the hotel at 3:15 am to pack my bag, having a quick shower, and leaving with the group at 4 am. Today is going to suck!!!