We spent one more morning ocean-side, watching the pelicans fish and the sea lions laze around before we were whisked across Santa Cruz and back over to the desert island of Baltra to catch our flight out of the Galapagos. We had a quick flight to Guayaquil, where we touched down without leaving the plane, before heading onwards to Quito. In Quito, we changed planes to go onwards to Cuenca. If you were to look at a map, this travel route would make very little sense, but apparently that’s how they do it here.
Upon arriving in Cuenca after over 7 hours of traveling, we waited patiently for our bags. My dad’s arrived, and we continued to wait; then, before we knew it the arrivals area had cleared out, and we were left 3 bags short. We found a LAN representative, who took us to the administrative office to file a missing baggage report. She was moderately helpful in between checking Facebook. We were sent on our way with only the clothes we had on our backs, and what little was in our carry on. Fortunately, I was wearing leggings and a Lulu top, which wasn’t so bad to sleep in.
The following morning we checked in with the front desk of my parents hotel and our hostel, only to be informed that no one would in the LAN office before 10am. Of course we had to have our bags go missing on a Sunday in Latin America. We made the best of it, and set out to explore Cuenca. Being that it was Sunday, very few restaurants were open for breakfast. Fortunately, we found an ice cream shop that served crepes and eggs. Not only did my dad order a fruit crepe with ice cream, but he also ordered a chocolate milkshake. It was a healthy start to the day!
Cuenca proved to be a beautiful colonial city of approximately 500,000 people. Despite its large population, the city centre is quite condensed, giving it a small town feel. We took the tourist bus around the city, stopping at Mirador Turi to get a great view of the city. From there, we explored Parque Calderon to get a beautiful view of both the old and new cathedral. The new cathedral is massive brick church with two beautiful blue domes on the backside of it. I’ve seen plenty of churches in my time, and this one was definitely one of my favorites. There is something about those blue domes that I couldn’t help but love.
We lucked out in finding a decent lunch spot with a TV that was showing the Olympics and ended up staying to watch the mens hockey team beat Finland! Before dinner, we received a call from LAN confirming that our bags would be arriving in Cuenca on the last flight in. I have never been so happy to see my backpack going around and around on a baggage carousel! I have also never been happier to change my clothes and take a shower!
The following morning, we explored the museum in the old cathedral, and went into the new cathedral. We also took a walk down to the beautiful Rio Tomebamba. Cuenca is a city filled with beautiful brick buildings, and amazing colonial architecture, so it was simply a pleasure to wander the streets, admiring the surroundings. Compared to Quito, Cuenca is a breath of fresh air, and the type of city I could spend several days relaxing in. Despite this, we had a flight to catch back to Quito. Continuing our good airport luck, we arrived at the airport at 1pm for our 2:30pm flight, only to find out that our flight had been bumped up to 1:15pm. Fortunately, the TAME airline representative was incredibly helpful and efficient, and we were ushered through security to our gate quite quickly. This is one of very few times that I haven’t waited in an airport for hours, as we simply joined the back of the cue to board our plane. Not only did we make it to Quito before we had even expected to leave, our bags made it successfully, which was a big win in our books!
After spending a week in Quito before the Galapagos, I was not overly keen on returning, but we have changed locations and are a little bit further away from the always booming Plaza Foch. My parents are staying at the luxurious Swissotel, where we had a belated birthday dinner. Ryan and I got sushi, and it was gone within mere minutes. Apparently that is one thing from home that I’ve been missing.