2nd Thursday - Cajas National Park

Today we took another day trip out of Cuenca. This one was to Cajas National Park, which is just outside Cuenca. Our guide today was Milton and he was perfect for the job. He had his binoculars and bird watching chart in hand, and he was a born naturalist. He knew the name for every plant and tree in the park.

We first visited the "lowest" point in the park

We hiked a trail around this lake in the park. It was full of trout!

Dana and Milton really got into the bird watching

This is a Ranger's horse, tied and eating grass. It's used for search and rescue

This is an old German Brewery that was abandoned in 1942

Birds in the trees and Ducks on the water

I explained "Duck Hunting" to Milton, I think he was horrified!

 There are two species of trees at this altitude. The Pine introduced in later years and this native Paper Tree

It was a nice morning for hiking

The backside of the lake was more like a jungle ecosystem

Took about an hour to hike around the lake

We next drove up to the highest point of the park. The weather was a lot different at that altitude. It was cold and humid - which made you cold right to your bones!

On the drive up, this is how they haul horses and livestock in Ecuador!

Photos from the highest point at Cajas Park

A bit higher and a lot colder!

This time a horse and a cow the back of a truck

After returning from the park, we planned to head to Roux Bistro and Bar for their Thursday night BBQ. These are the guys who built their own smoker and use sugar cane to smoke their meat with. I could smell it when I got out of the taxi.

Beef loin and ham still on the grill. Chicken and sausage already done

U mm Good! The restaurant was packed (with Gringos of course)

We took a taxi back to the apartment. Normally the traffic around 7pm would be dying down, but for some reason it was gridlocked. Several blocks away from the apartment, we paid the driver $2 and hopped out to walk the rest of the way. When we reached Park Calderon, we found that there were people everywhere - and a main road pass the cathedral was blocked by the police. We found ourselves standing next to a nice couple from Minnesota and they told us it was the beginning celebration of Corpus Christi - the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. It was a big deal! Vendors were selling pastries and sweets, there was music and there was a lot of work being done on two towers of fireworks.

We stuck around and watched the fireworks - and the people

First, fireworks shot from the street in front of the Cathedral

Then the bamboo towers were lit