We have a 4 hour bus ride ahead of us today. We are catching the bus right across the street from our hostal. Nice!

We are heading to Cuenca, it is pronounced Q N Ka. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of four in Ecuador.

The route we are travelling is once again up and down and ziggy zaggy.

This is the bathroom on the bus. It says “Only Women Urinate”. I guess the need to look like this too!! Presumably they will stop and let any men use the side of the road. As bumpy as the bus is I can see why they don’t want men using it!! 😉 😉

Some very rough patches of pavement that indicates that the road has been washed out recently. We enter the “Cloud Forest” for a time and then eventually the Cloud Forest begins dumping it’s cargo on us. We do eventually come out of the dismal weather and emerge on a spectacularly beautiful landscape. Lush green hills and thriving crops. The homes in this section are also more affluent.

This is through the bus window. It is very beautiful.

We arrive in Cuenca about 2:30. It is very warm! Yeah we have been hoping for warmer weather. Another $2 cab ride and we are at our hotel.

Our rooms are on the top floor and of course there is no elevator. Up we go with all of our bags. Leslie and I carry the 2 smaller bags for each couple and the guys heft the big ones.

Below are a street scene, a fruit vendor selling from a wheel barrow (quite common we are finding), a mural, the church next door (with the blue roof) and the old Cuenca City Hall.

This afternoon we found a great little pizzeria on the same street as our hotel. Popped in for a snack as we missed lunch on the bus. We order an individual pizza and beer. Not long after our pizza arrives the server brings us another one. It turns out it is 2 for 1 pizza. We are very happy. The pizza is excellent, so we each get another piece and still have room for ice cream. All happy.

As dinner time roles around we are not starving, but we feel we need a bit of something. We spotted a place across the street earlier, so we go there. It seems a bit more of a bar with food, rather than a restaurant with drinks. It also smells of cigarette smoke. Something that has not been an issue so far. We find seats near the front and order wine/beer and light snacks. Food was very good, but smokey smell not the best.

Another great day. We cross the street and again climb to the top floor where we crash.