Ecuador - Cuenca

Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador but it doesn't feel like a city, more a town. The colonial old town is walkable in a few hours. Buildings are white washed with red tile roofs and the cobblestone streets are pretty to wonder around.

The day started with breakfast at a little cafe on the street corner next to the hostel. Yip, you probably guessed it - owned by American retirees! Within 10mins of sitting down it was full of the 'locals' catching up.

We found a great sombrero shop, ...... Selling Panama hats which actually originate from Ecuador, not Panama and are the finest straw hats in the world. In Ecuador they are called sombreros de paja toquilla. Toquilla is the fine straw from the region. The original owner's grandson proudly showed us around and placed the perfect size hat on Warren's head, accurately sizing his head up by eye. Genuine hats could be for for around 35USD. They can also be rolled for packing and then pressed back into shape.

We ventured across to the local municipal market - fruit, vegetables and meat. The meat section sold everything and anything. Upstairs there were food stalls with massive hog roast laid out that seems to be a popular meal even for breakfast.
Also had a wonder through some local artisan stalls and succumbed to earrings purchase number one. Have set a limit of one pair per country.

In the afternoon we headed to some small Inca ruins at the end of town, Pumipanga? The last Inca kings were two brothers, one had his seat at Macchu Picchu and the other at Ingapirca in Ecuador which is not far north of Cuenca.

For dinner Was set set out on a mission to try something more local - he ended up with pork, rice and beans. I had a nice shrimp stew. Shrimps are one of the main exports. I have had to become a beer drinker as wine is fairly expensive at about 4USD a glass while a quart of beer is 1.50 USD.