A walk in the park

We have finally used our feet and backpacks again after some long stretches with bicycle and bus. It was wonderful. The bus dropped us off at a 4000m altitude after a short hour, and we followed an unmarked path southwards into the park. At 1300 we stumbeled upon one of the nicest camp spots we have seen so far, and could not leave it unused. We rolled out the carry mats and sleeping bags outside in the sun, and read/slept until it darkened. We were a couple of hours behind schedule, and had to catch up the lost time the two next days.

Several orchids and several rare flowers are growing at this altitude, along with trees growing in cloud forests. The foggy and cloudy climate ensures enough humidity, and the soil would give any gardener wet dreams. The flowers really look happy with their life.

We passed two passed at mere 4100 meters the second day, and crossed the landscape from one path to another. The highland landscape reminds us a bit of Norway (around Lysefjorden), and the lowlands could be taken right out from Austria. The second tent spot was near a large lake, and we woke up with fresh footprints outside the tent, probably from a fox (not the 200kg spectacle bear we wanted). The park is absolutely stunningly beautiful. However, walking on a schedule stresses us a bit, compared to the walks we had in the south of Peru without any sense of time at all.

The third, and last, day of our treks was also the hardest, climbing down 1000m. We had to pass a difficult stretch of cloud forest. We were ducking under stems and climbing over roots, all in a muddy paradise. After decending to 3200 meters, we met the first people, greeting us with "Berg heil". Who else than a group of Austrians? As the thunder rolled behind us, we managed to get dry and still smiling to the road where we took the bus back to Cuenca.

This is where we walked down

Eirik had a haircut at the most old fasioned and dodgy looking barber we could find. After placing Eirik in one of the old fashion barber chairs (that are made for people <170cm) he presented us a poster of 20 different haircuts to find our how the cut should be. The poster was from the late 80´s, and Eirik (trying not to laugh) tried to make up a half decent combination of MacGyver, Rocky and Samantha Fox. 

 Eirik getting a haircut, and is VERY sceptical

We will cook with a very nice Austian couple we met at our hostal today (why do they suddenly appear now??),  and head north with our bicycles tomorrow morning.

Some more photos:

Our beloved llama (still nameless) has gotten her own Panama hat (Cuenca is famous for making them)

The result.