Pumapungo Museum and Amaru Zoo

(Anthony wrote this one)There were rain showers around Cuenca Sunday morning so we spent some time relaxing around our apartment.  We also hand washed some of our clothes in the bathroom sink to buy some extra time before we have to do laundry.

The rain eventually stopped so we decided to walk to Museo Pumapungo.  The museum houses modern art and archeological artifacts. We met artist Ariel Dawi while viewing his art inside the museum. The museum also provides information about various cultures in Ecuador, but almost all of the information was in Spanish, so we did not learn a lot. The exhibits were interesting to see.

Behind the museum are extensive ruins of buildings believed to be part of Tomebamba, an old Incan city. Spanish conquistadors took most of the stone from Tomebamba to build Cuenca.

We went out for ice cream Sunday night, and used a trail running beside the Tomebamba River to stroll back to our apartment. This beautiful bush beside the trail caught Lisa’s eye.

On Monday, we decided to visit the Amaru Bioparque Zoo in Cuenca. We left our apartment knowing the walk to the zoo was going to take about 1 hour and 45 minutes. About a quarter of the way there, Lisa decided that she could use a bathroom break. We looked at Google maps and the airport, which she knew had a clean restroom, did not appear to be too far off our route, so we decided to detour there. What we didn’t realize was that the airport terminal was on the opposite side of the airport from where we were. We finally made it to the airport, and Lisa got her bathroom break, but then we learned we still had about a 1 hour and 30 minute walk to the zoo.  So this little detour almost doubled our walk this morning.

Our next to the last leg of our walk this morning was a fairly lengthy section on what was pretty much an Interstate highway in the U.S.  we then turned on what appeared to be a rural road which even turned to gravel. That was all and good, but it turned out that we had to go about 3/10 of a mile up that road to get to the zoo entrance - and when I say up, I literally mean up.  There were about 4 dump trucks that passed us on that road, and they had a hard time going our speed because the road was so steep.

The work we put in getting to the zoo was definitely worth it. The zoo is built on the side of a mountain and a dirt path leads visitors to the various animals.  The path itself was quite challenging because it had some very steep, but luckily short, ups and downs. The way this zoo is laid out makes it feel as though the animals were being viewed in their natural habitat.

Below is a photo of the steps exiting the zoo. This zoo definitely is not suitable for anyone with mobility issues.

By the time we finished visiting the zoo, we had walked probably 10+ challenging miles. To get back to our apartment, we would have to walk another approximately 4 miles. Neither of us were really looking forward to the walk back. As we made it to the parking lot of the zoo, we saw a taxi pull up and drop off some people.  These folks were only the second other group, other than us, we saw enter the zoo.  We motioned for the taxi, and he waited for us to come up to his car. We showed him the address of our apartment and he shook his head yes. We asked him “¿Cuanto es?" (How much) and he pointed to the meter indicating it would give the price. We were not about to trust that meter to determine our fare, so Lisa said $6 and he said yes. Best $6 we have ever spent.

We rested just a bit, then went and had a late lunch. We both had the $2.50 almuerzo (lunch) which consists of soup, drink, meat, rice, and a small salad. Hard to beat that deal.

Afterwards, it was off to the mercado  (market) to buy some toilet paper and bananas. The first vendor wanted $2 for about 12 bananas, so we passed that by. The next vendor said she would sell 12 bananas for $1, DEAL.  When I asked the vendor how much her toilet paper was, she did not understand what I was saying. So out comes Google translator, I typed in toilet paper, she read the Spanish word for it, and then said $1 (4 pack), DEAL.  We also bought some queso (cheese) for $1. I was really starting to enjoy this whole mercado thing.