I'm in Ecuador now, my last stop on this Epic South American journey. I've gone from the middle of Chile all the way up here, and worked it out so I have a few weeks to explore and get a taste of this small country on the equator. It is on the modern, efficient and expensive side of the scale, not to the level of Chile,but it's a contrast from Bolivia and Peru. Similar vibes at the markets, but just more organized with laminated menus and higher prices. I love eating at the local markets, feeling like a local and getting to try unique foods, and drink fresh cheap juices.
I started in Cuenca, which is a city full of great architecture and history. This is a great place to meet other travelers as most people coming to or from Peru stop off here. Pretty much everyone at my hostel were fresh into country on their way north to Columbia. The gringo trail!
The walking tour was unique in that it wasn't very good and used private transportation. The van took us to a Panama hat factory,which had a museum and shop (always pushing products on these tours). We did learn some cool things about the history of the hats and there was a live woman sitting in an exhibition, weaving a hat. Not really my style, but still some sweet hats.
The best part of Cuenca was the zoo. This was the most natural zoo I've been to, sitting on a large hill mountain outside the city. No paved path or normal cages, we had to hike through dirt trails, often full of mud from the train. The monkeys pretty much were just running wild with water being the main barrier from escape. There were bridges built out of wire for them to go to a large variety of habitats. The Andean bear had a large plot to himself. Amazon animals were all over. There were relatives of the tiger, pumas, condors and animals I hadn't seen before. My two Finnish friends and I were pretty much the only people there and it felt like a walk in the hills with animals all around us. Jungle tour!
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