Tuesday explore Cuenca on bike

I skipped the usual breakfast nex door to the hostel and hit the streets looking for something else. When I came to the market, I was surprised that the fare is the same as at lunch time. People sell what they sell...all day long. And people have pork or fish for breakfast, maybe with an egg on top!

 

I went for a "batido" (smoothie), but added a tamale on the side. Excellent!

It was cloudy and 60% chance of rain, so I had bagged the idea of El Cajas National Park at 4000 meters of altitude. Plan B was rent a bike and ride a circuit along two of the rivers and possibly try to find the Tennis Club which is outrageously expensive and on the outskirts of town (foothills). So I spend a while wandering and tour the Panama hat musem

 

and inquired at the tourism office about bike rentals. I find a few shops and the bikes are sketchy, but around 1pm I get one for $6 for the rest of the day and take off down busy cobblestone streets and then along the Rio Tomebamba.

 

At the southeast part of the city the Tomebamba confluences with the Yanuncay and I start the second leg of the loop, giong upstream now.

This section of the path is called Parque de los Derechos Humanos, and has these plaques, each with one of 27 declared Human Rights, I think in line with the UN.

This park is in the new part of town and I end up on a major thoroughfare, so I turn toward the hills. I am now heading out od Cuenca and into a suburb called San Juaquin. The Tennis Club is supposed to be here somewhere. I am pedalling up hills, being passed by big trucks downshifting and spewing out dark clouds of deisel. I get up pretty high and close to the mountains, but do not see it. i must be on the wrong road. My city map does not go this far out of town. There are nice gated houses with heavy security right next to ramshackle broken down places. Nice farm plots, too.

I turn around and head downhill and turn toward the town of San Juaquin. Its all down hill now, but my rear tire is going flat.

 

 

 

This is the church and square in San Juaquin. Right as I get there a funeral lets out and they are carrying the casket down the street. I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A PICTURE! Beyond town I find a car place to pump my tire and further downhill I end up at the flea market...not a very safe place so no pics there either. Passing the Colliseum I spot the municipal tennis courts (hard courts)

 

Some interesting houses on the way back to Old Town

This one in a very French style. After about three and a half hours total the bike is returned. In the late day traffic, the bike was handy to zip by all the cars and buses on the narrow streets, but sometimes you don't want to be on the street and the sidewalks peter out or have too many pedestrians.

 

It is time for a beer and I found a brewpub run by Cuencans! Excellent. I talked with an Argentine lady who spoke really fast with that screwy accent (che che) and I managed to hold my own. Dinner at a real Spanish restaurant with tapas. Pulpo a la Gallega, little ham and potato croquettes, and pan con tomate. Run by a family from Bilbao.

Posted with Blogsy