While at the Inca Bar and Lounge the night before, we were invited to take a tour of a development taking place 8 miles from downtown Cuenca. The owner of the Inca Bar is also an owner investor in this project. They hope to set up a luxury rental retreat at the entrance to the Cajas National Park. So yesterday morning we joined two other couples, one who has already purchased a unit in the development and another interested in buying a unit. Us, well, we were just interested.
The picture above was taken from the property. Looking down the valley one can see the city of Cuenca on a clear day. To the left in the photo is the highway leading up the massive mountain and eventually heading to Guayaquil on the coast of Ecuador, approximately 4 hours away. To the right in the photo is the Tomebamba River. These are the headwaters of the river that eventually runs right through the heart of the city and provides the city with it's water supply. One of the gentlemen in the group had an altimeter on his watch that read an even 10,000 ft. Not showing in the photo is the Cajas itself. To see that one must merely turn around and look in the other direction.
The wind was coming up the valley and at that elevation the temperature was likely around 60 degrees. It was cool, but comfortable. Here are some pictures from the 10 acre property.
Our new friends inspecting their investment.
After seeing how the construction was coming along, we took a walk down a stone road constructed over 150 years ago. This road is actually the first entrance to the Cajas National Park and is "maintained" by the city.
From there, we hiked it down to the Rio Tomebamba and enjoyed a variety of cheeses one of the couples had bought with them. It was a relaxing feeling sitting along the river bank, listening to the rushing water going by, looking at the beautiful surroundings and local flora, that consisted of sage, with vermilion and wild orchids growing on the tree branches everywhere.
Eventually, our visit to paradise had to come to an end, so we climbed in the van and headed back down to 8,000 ft. ;) It was about 2 pm by now so Jana and I decided to take advantage of the two for one deal at the thermal spa just outside of Cuenca in the community of Banos.
After a $3 taxi ride, we arrived at Pierdra de Aqua.
Since it was two for one, we signed up for the full package, which included steam bath, mud baths, thermal spa and salt steam box. We added a half hour massage for each of us for a whopping $70 total. While doing the three hour circuit, we enjoyed chatting with a mother and her two sons who were in Cuenca for two days on their tour of Ecuador. She, from Miami, one of her son's is on assignment with the Peace Corps in the Amazon jungle and her youngest son is a graphics design artist in L.A.
From there, we took a $5 taxi ride back to our apartment, quickly cleaned up and headed back out to meet our new friends we had met at Inca the night before. They had invited us to accompany them to a "Moon Party" on the terrace of one of their friend's apartments on the outskirts of El Centro. It was a pleasant evening looking at the Harvest Moon rising over the beautiful city of Cuenca.
Hopefully Jana's ankle will continue to improve. It's not too bad, but for now we are giving it as much time to heal as possible before we strike out to hike the Cajas, a journey that will take us close to 12,000 ft. in elevation. Regardless, this continues to be a wonderful experience!
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