Today, I went on a tour to Cajas National Park. It's roughly 50 minutes from Cuenca and changes roughly 5,000ft in elevation. The park sits directly on the Equator and the weather can change 8 times a day. In our 4 hr hike alone it was 80 degrees, poured, was a temperate 60 and hailed a bit.
The name Cajas came originally from the Quichua word "cassa", meaning cold. However, all over the landscape there are there square shaped lakes and bodies of water. Therefore the name morphed to " Cajas" the Spanish word for boxes.
I went with a 22 yr old Canadian backpacked named Tristan and two retired Canadian profs Hamish and Elaine. They are both living in Cuenca for a month learning spanish, just like me!!
In the park there are over 4000 species of plants and 25 species of birds. It's incredible. There are also 4 different forest types. One of my favorite the bosque da quinoa are 2,000 year old trees, very similar to what you might see in lord of the rings. It was such an awesome day, and the first extended exercise I've had in a week.
The pictures don't even compare to the beauty. It was hard to hike because you want to stop and look at everything.
I also have more camera photos, but my blog is just I phone pics. I will show more when I can download them from the camera :)
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