Day 8: Cuenca City Tour January 8th, 2018
We began the next day by eating breakfast in Hotel Victoria. We all then dropped off our laundry at the local laundromat before heading out for the day. Afterwards, we hoped on our bus and began our tour of the city. Unlike the night before, everyone in the city was out walking around. Here are some quick facts about the city of Cuenca:
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Our tour began by going to a lookout point to see the city. Afterwards we spent some time in an art store. Then it was some time to get some lunch. Diego had us go to the city market and pull over to try guinea pig. This “restaurant” had cooked Guinea pigs on a stick, as well as a few dead pigs on the stand outside. It was all… very welcoming??? Then it was time to eat! Tait ordered us 2 guinea pigs and urged us to try it. I did try it; although, I absolutely up hating it!!! It was absolutely disgusting to me and I almost vomited afterwards. However, most of the class actually loved it, especially the guys. So while they ate the rest of the guinea pigs, I spent my money elsewhere, getting an actual meal at a nearby restaurant!
Then we were on our way to the Panama Hat Factory. Not only did we get to see it , but we got a step by step tour of the process of making the Panama hats at the factory. Here’s just a few things of what I learned from this experience:
Then we were on our way to the Panama Hat Factory. Not only did we get to see it , but we got a step by step tour of the process of making the Panama hats at the factory. Here’s just a few things of what I learned from this experience:
Panama Hat Factory: The Process
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At the end of the tour of the factory, we were lead to the actual store in the factory . There they had all kinds of colorful variations of the Panama Hat. I tried on the traditional hat for giggles and I ended up liking it alot! So did everyone else. Since it was too big, a worker let me go into the factory and get the hat fitted to my head. The whole process took about ten minutes and afterwards, the hat only cost less than $50 which was an actual steal.
Afterwards Diego took us to a traditional street market. Here, one could find anything from chocolate, to medicine, to fast food to clothing. We spent a good hour or so checking out each part of the market. Once we were done, we grabbed some traditional pizza. Here Victoria and I split a medium pizza and it only cost about $6 each which wasn’t bad. Following that we all grabbed ice cream at the front end of the restaurant and then headed back to Hotel Victoria to grab our laundy.
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Inca Ruins
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The second part of that day consisted of going to the Inca ruins at Pumapungo. Victoria and Hunter stayed behind because they both weren’t feeling good. We did not get a lot of time at these Inca ruins but here are some facts that we learned:
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Our next stop was a walk to a miniature zoo to check out what sorts of animals they had. There Diego taught us the difference between a llama and alpaca. Then I think we saw an alpaca.At Least I think it was! After Diego and Tait let us walk around the city on our own since our group meeting was not for another 3 hours and it was by far the safest place our group had been so far.
Diego lives in Cuenca, so he knew a lot about the city. So Jackalyn, Elana, Laura, Aidan and I spent time going into numerous little souvenir shops and another hat shop. We then all got dinner in a little restaurant down the street from the hotel. I had a turkey sandwich and coffee for about $5. It was by far not the best food, but hey it was cheap. Soon after we all meet in Jackalyn’s giant room to meet Tait’s friend Paul Amos. Apparently, he was quite young when he moved to Cuenca and so he talked about the process of moving to Cuenca and his life here. Below are some notes from his talk that night: |
Paul Amos Presentation:
- Moved to Cuenca about two years ago
- Previously worked at the University of Pennsylvania
- Taught there for about 18 year
- Benefits of living in Cuenca
- Getting a visa is relatively easy
- Its safe & transportation
- Its cheap – 400-700 without utilities
- Ecuador makes everyone vote
- Its safe & transportation
- Getting a visa is relatively easy
- There is a controversy around vice president who is In jail