Andean ascent from Guayaquil to Cuenca: sea level to 4000m

Today we got off to a late start after. I was afraid that we slept past 10AM because my circadian clock is still stuck in the New York phase – while at the Equator it’s bright sun at 6AM. We rented a local van to drive us to the Andean colonial town of Cuenca – the third largest city in Ecuador.

The four hour roadtrip (ascension) from Guayaquil on the Southwestern Coast to Cuenca – a city 2500 meters (8000 feet) above sea level – ascends from the misty tropical rainforest to the Andean alpines. The road continuously increases in altitude for a couple of hours – from sea level to 4000 meters – 14,000 feet. During the first half of the trip, the road is extremely narrow and in sometimes unpaved conditions and twists through the misty Andean Western slope. You cannot see anything past 10 feet at the most – and yet all the drivers were driving 30-40mph. Nobody in the US would drive on that kind of road even in clear conditions for over 15mph - yet Ecuadorian drivers were racing in the fog with cliffs/drop-offs of over 5000 feet on one side of the road. It was a harrowing experience.


But once we reached around 2000m – the road is now above the fog and the we could see the majestic rocky Andes rising above a sea of clouds. We also saw indigenous villages along the roads with lots of lovely horses, cows, and best of all – llamas roaming around in the high Andes - and they feed on shrubs/alpine vegetation!! Moreover, the temperature also tumbled…

The Andes indigneous people literally live in the clouds on the edge of mountain cliffs. They are so use to climbing hundreds of feet just to reach the nearest water well or store. We observed that their legs are much thinner than me or you. They carry on their back basketloads of produce and walk miles to the nearest road where they station by the roadside and sell produce to long-distances buses that pass by....lots of fried bananas, corn, pig skin, maize products.

The road subsequently winds through Cajas National Park – in the alpine highlands above 3000 meters (10,000feet). Cajas means box - meaning there are a lot of We saved 40 dollars from park entrance fee by telling the local guards that we are only passing by the park to get to Cuenca. But not to miss this awesome photo-op in the Andean mountains, we stopped by a roadside bathroom at around 4000 meters. The temperature is around 40F – so we had to change into long sleeve/spring clothing immediately following our one day of tropical 95F weather. I also managed to touch one llama in a herd.

Coming down the hill into the Andean valley of Cuenca – we felt like going into towns in Tibet or Yunnan province. Not only are the terrain and the landscape very similar, the people of Tibet and Southwestern China look and even dress in a similar fashion as the Andean indigenous people.

Cuenca is really a lovely colonial town. The streets are as wide as half of one lane in the US – and all cobblestone – really similar to cities like say Bern, Switzerland, or Prague, Czech. While we were looking for a place for dinner, we immediately ignored all the restaurants with hamburgers and sandwiches that are mainly for Western tourists.

Now they are singing this “imagine” song by the Beatles in Spanish at the bar across the street. There is no wireless here so you see that it is very interesting to see hostel people sitting near the window trying to steal wireless.