Cuenca

Cuenca is a beautiful city nestled within the mountains and national parks of Ecuador. It is most famous for its hat-making, the famous panama hats are made here (not in Panama!) and you can take a trip to local shops to see how they are made.

We spent two days here and enjoyed strolling around the city, taking in the architecture in between numerous stops for coffee and cake. We stayed in the old town at a lovely hostel where we had breakfast everyday overlooking the river. Our first day, we followed the river walkways about 30 mins to check out some Inca ruins close to the city center then visited the beautiful plazas in the old town. That night we met up with a friend from PSF to catch up and take advantage of happy hour!
The next day was lovely and sunny and so we made the most of it lounging by the river, reading our books! Then we were off again, this time to Baños, on our last night bus in South America!