Down in the dumps and talking birds

So last night we got into Cuenca, Ecuador´s third largest city, after an 8 hour bus ride. We took a taxi to our hostal and it was a freaking dump. We had to change rooms because the first one was so bad...carpets that were moldy and probably 80 years old and a sink that had water that didnt shut off. It was gross and we don´t have high standards. Then the next room we got, the beds were at like 70 degree angles and as soon as we turned off the lights, we could hear the guy in the next room snoring like a hacksaw. Needless to say, after a tiring busride, bad weather in Banos, and this horrible hostal, moral was low.

Luckily, this morning we woke up and explored around and Cuenca is a gorgeous town...the most European-looking of the cities that we have seen so far with mostly whitewashed buildings with red tile roofs and a rushing river that cuts through the middle of town. It also helped that we had one of the best breakfasts that we´ve had so far at this huge market in the middle of town. Breakfast empanadas with cheese and sugar on top, tomales with meat and eggs, coffee, etc. Then we found a new hostal which is 1,000 percent better than the old one. Today we spent the day walking around and the highlight was the city´s main museum.

This thing had an awesome exhibit where you walked through life size models of indigenous huts...the highlight was a room that was full of shrunken heads. The tribal people used to shrink the heads of anybody that they killed during battle. They apparently thought that this gave them the strength of their former enemy. Also (I´m just guessing here), they looked pretty bad-ass walking around with 25 little heads of people that they had killed. Probably pretty intimidating. So it was a cool museum and we were on our way out when the reception person told us that we still had one other part to see. They had this HUGE other area that had the foundations of Incan buildings that had been on the site thousands of years ago (only foundations because all of the former stones were taken and used to build colonial buldings after the Spanish took over). Anyway, it was beautiful with a huge garden surrounded by Incan ruins and bright blue sky. Best of all, the last part of the park featured a mini-zoo with a hill full of llamas (our first sighting) and exotic birds.

Bright green and red macaws, giant hawks, etc. We walked past this one cage full of green parrots and as we were walking by one of them did that cat-call whistle that men do when an attractive woman walks by. You know the one...wheee-WHOOO. So we stopped and started whistling back. He did it again and I laughed. Then the whole cage of about 20 parrots all started laughing at once...I´ve never heard anything like it...it was like they were all people. At the next cage, the parrots said ´hola´ as we walked up. Crazy.

We left feeling very happy, and stopped at a Colombian restaurant for what was the best meal that we have had on the trip so far. I had this stew with pinto beans, plaintains, avacado, and like a tomato sauce...it maybe sounds gross but it was incredible...with a side of Colombian corn tortillas and some of the best chorizo that I have had. Laura had awesome spinach soup, and rice with beef. All of this, with a juice made of tree-tomato and a beer, was 6 bucks. 6. Say what you will about South America, but you can eat amazing food here for practically nothing...I love it.

Tomorrow we are going to just take it easy around Cuenca. Then we head south to Loja the day after tomorrow (5 hour ride). We´ll stay in Loja for a day or two and then we take an overnight bus into Peru. Chances are we will take buses all the way to Lima where we will then catch a plane to Cusco. That´s the plan for now anyway. We´ll keep you posted.