Saturday night, two Benadryl insured my first good night’s sleep since my latest round with altitude sickness. And despite the meds, I actually woke up Sunday fresh and feeling reasonably normal.
A good start.
But the problem when recovering from altitude sickness is that you don’t really know where you stand until you exert yourself. And in my experience, if you push too hard, you can reverse your recovery by days.
So to help me completely recover we decided to stay close and not do anything physically stupid.
Sound thinking.
We started our day slowly, nursing our coffee and knocking out our daily 2-hour Spanish language studies. I woke up later than normal (I got 10 hours of sleep), so we decided to head out to lunch before hitting the historical center of Cuenca.
Yesterday we noticed a taco tienda (Morlaco’s Tacos) with super cheap prices right next to our Airbnb back entrance by the river, so we decided to give that a try.
Rhonda and I got four tacos each. We found out that for each pair of tacos you get, one has a soft corn tortilla and the other is wheat.
Interesting. And tasty! We’ll be coming here often.
This is what their tacos look like after I’ve eaten three. I swear, we need to start an Instagram page featuring half-eaten restaurant food. We always forget to take pictures at the front end.
We also got a couple of bottles of water, so our total bill for lunch came to $6 USD.
We love finding places like this. Cuenca isn’t the cheapest Ecuadorian city, but if you look hard enough, especially during lunch, there are sweet deals to be found. And it is right at the base of our apartment complex!
We then spent the next hour or so wandering the southwestern quadrant of the historic center of Cuenca.
Good lord, the historic center is gorgeous!
In terms of historic charm, quirky art, natural beauty, and relative safety, I’d have to say that Cuenca ranks higher than Antigua Guatemala based on what I’ve seen.
And that’s saying something.
Here are some photos of the highlights of our wanderings.
At the top of the stairs leading up from the river where we had lunch.
Antigua Catedral de Cuenca
Parque Calderon is small but potent. Extremely pretty and well-manicured. And the epicenter of tourist activity in Cuenca.
Parque Calderon from a different angle.
In Parque Calderon, there is a monument, and behind it is Catedral de la Inmaculada Conception. It is huge! Not sure what the story is about the monument in the park, but we’ll find out later when we do a deeper dive.
One of three massive front doors to the cathedral.
Plaza de las Flores. The place to go if you need to buy flowers!
Plaza de San Francisco. You can see the blue domes of Catedral de la Inmaculada Conception in the background.
The hotels in the historic center can be really pretty.
Same with the medical clinics!
We are always suckers for street art.
Iglesia Catolica San Sebastian, next to Plaza de San Sebastian. We took a break here so I could catch my breath and stuff my face with pastries.
Pretty homes on our way back south toward the river.
We are definitely in an artsy district now.
Yep. Artsy. We like it!
This is 100% facade.
The art can be “extreme” in Cuenca, apparently.
Taking a quiet back alley home. So pretty!
Local Mercado 10 de Agosto, only a couple of blocks from our place. This is where the locals go for cheap produce, knick-knacks, and lunches.
We basically walked in one big circle.
And since we took ten minutes to allow me to rest (and eat pastries) when I felt my lungs tightening up, I was feeling pretty good by the time we got back to our Airbnb.
We made a quick pit stop and decided (at my suggestion) that since I was feeling good we should walk to the biggest greenspace in central Cuenca, ParqueEl Paraiso.
It promised to be a great stroll.
To get there we had to hike in a downstream direction on the famously beautiful walkway along Rio Tomebamba. Just follow the river and you get to the park.
Heading west along Rio Tomebamba, close to our Airbnb.
Easy. And flat. Just what I need.
The integration of urban views with natural beauty was really something. Doing this hike whenever we feel restless would be no burden.
Puente Roto, the “Broken Bridge”, was partially destroyed during an earthquake in the 1960s. I couldn’t fit the whole thing in frame, so you get this artsy angle perspective.
Lots of people were hanging out along the river, enjoying the weather and occasional sun.
We eventually reached the boundary of the park but kept following Rio Tomebamba until it joined with Rio Yanuncay, where we then followed the path along that river upstream.
At this point, I could feel my lungs tighten up again so we took a 10-minute water break along the banks of Rio Yanuncay.
The break was just what I needed, and afterward, my lungs felt fine.
Lots of families were out enjoying the park. The park itself is well designed with lots of free (and a few paid) activities for families to go out and have a good time without breaking the bank. In other words, a great place to hang out and have a good time.
The path eventually circled back to where we first entered Parque El Paraiso. We decided to head upstream along the path back towards our apartment, but on the opposite side of the river for a change of perspective.
The views were still charming!
You can see the Broken Bridge from the opposite bank of Rio Tomebamba. And you can see Iglesia de Todos Santos in the distance.
Since we were close, we decided to stop off at the SuperMaxi supermarket close to our apartment, grab a few items for dinner, and head back home.
It was a lovely day!
But when I asked Rhonda how far we walked, she gave me a sheepish look…7 miles!
Wasn’t this supposed to be a recovery day? 🙂
But it’s fine. I feel very good, so I seem to have stayed within my lane today.
Now that I belong to a small club of people who have gotten altitude sickness multiple times in a short period, I’ve figured out a few things.
The most important thing is I have to pay attention to my lungs. If my lungs start feeling tight, I need to stop what I am doing and sit the hell down.
For as long as necessary.
I didn’t follow this advice after getting altitude sickness the second time (two weeks ago), and I think I am still paying for those painful decisions as I never allowed my lungs to completely heal before significantly exerting myself again. I’d love to have a professional discussion with a pulmonologist to discuss all of the fun ways I am sure I tore up my lungs.
Lesson learned.
But we had a great day! We saw a lot of new things In Cuenca and we still have so much more to see.
And for tomorrow, we plan on taking a double-decker bus tour of Cuenca! It should be hilarious, as the audio guide promises to be only in rapid-fire Spanish.
Until next time…
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