Cuenca E

Cuenca

Lobitos- Loja - Cuenca

After a long busride from Lobitos we arrived in Loja. The streets are very curvaceous, narrow and mostly not asphalted. But everything ends :))

What we noticed when we passed the border: in Ecuador you can see  street signs everywhere: keep the streets clean, plant trees,... these actions would be fine for Peru, too, where we went through rubbish for hours. Not always these actions seem to work: on the way to the coast we gathered our rubbish in a plastic sack you can get at every seat in the bus. But at the end of the journey the conductor gathered the plastic sacks and threw them out of the window.

Loja is a nice small town with hostels for different prices, it is worth to ask and not to take the first one.  

Our first highlight in Ecuador was Cuenca. A town, who integrated the 2 rivers and used them for recreation for the inhabitants - worth seeing!

At the busstation somebody already offered us his hostel, we thought it was a good price and were surprised: the owner took us in his car to the hostel, big nice rooms, a kitchen to share, garden, next to the river and few minutes from the center.
In the center you cannot stop making pictures: houses of different styles, one nice than the other. Cathedrals, churches, houses, town gates - a lot of motives for a good picture.

Puno, Juliaca, Lampa E

Lampa, Juliaca, Puno

Puno is situated at the titicaca-lake. It is the harbor to go to the floating islands . The way to the harbor is full of souvenir shops and small restaurants. Who is courageous enough can try typical regional meals.

FOTOS

It is not so far to Juliaca, the next big city, only one hour bus ride. Juliaca has an airport and an enormous market. The whole city seems to be market, one of them goes into the next one. You can shop here perfectly, we have seen very good prices for clothes made of alpaca. For alpaca there was a seperate place with a great selection of products. Now I know, I should have bought more, because the price, the selection and the quality is much better than in Ecuador. Well, too late :(

At the market you can eat specialities of the region, with incredible variety. Here you get everything from clothes to pan to torch, everything you still are in need. The only problem in this town were the hotels, we have not found cheap and good ones.

Next stop is Lampa, about one hour bus ride from Juliaca. The ancient town is small, but worth visiting, especially the cathedral and the square in front. This town seems to be an insider tip, because besides us we have not seen any "gringos".