Wandering around Cuenca

No, we haven't made it to "el centro" yet. Yesterday was the last day of Carnival, and you could tell that there weren't as many people playing with the water and foam, although I did get sprayed with a shot of  foam that came from a passing car while we were walking on the sidewalk.

So we walked directly from the house to the Cuenca Botanical Gardens, and then to an art display at the old train station.

Out exploring - Sigsig and Chordeleg

Yesterday's blog was posted late, so if you missed it you can read it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2026/02/change-of-plans.html

Michel and Louise have been living here about three years now, so it's hard to find something new for them that they haven't done already! Anyhow, they took us for a drive east of Cuenca to the towns of Sigsig and Chordeleg.

Change of plans...

On Sunday, we did a day trip to the Giron Waterfall.

Again, this is Carnival in Ecuador, and so we're avoiding the central area of Cuenca. We're quickly learning that people here go a little crazy with the water and spray foam during this holiday long weekend that lasts until Wednesday. 

Arrived in Cuenca

We took the free hotel shuttle from central Guayaquil to the airport. We weren't flying anywhere, but the big Guayaquil bus station is only a fifteen minute walk from the airport.

As we were walking between the two, there was a coach bus loading outside of a tourist office and they were calling out "Cuenca!".

Guayaquil was better than expected

Despite being a "rough" city, if you stay in the main central area, Guayaquil actually has some interesting things to see. We still don't think it's worth much more than a day or two to visit, and we certainly don't see the attraction of living here. But we're glad we came to see it for ourselves.

We set out around 10:00am to do some exploring...

Guayaquil is a bit of a sketchy city

Nice to have the included breakfast at our hotel in Manta. We went out after breakfast and bought a few snacks for the bus ride to Guayaquil, then took an Uber taxi from the hotel to the Manta bus terminal.

The ride was about 7 kms (4.5 miles) and cost $3.13 USD ($4.25 CAD). 

First impressions of Ecuador - not the best

Keeping in mind that this quick Ecuador trip is mainly to reset our Mexican tourist visa, the only reason we arrived in Manta is because the flights were relatively cheap. I had done the research in advance and knew that Manta was not a place we would have planned to visit otherwise.

Welcome to Ecuador... country #74

Writing this from our hotel room in Manta, Ecuador.

So lets get you caught up on the last couple of days! We were busy with Lindsey and family on Monday, and then a travel day to Ecuador on Tuesday.

This Valentine's Day, Find the Everyday Expression of "Love" at Walmart

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We are off to Mexico City... and then Ecuador

Sunday was our last full day with Lindsey and family in Valle de Brave. We still have one more day with them in Mexico City today, then Tuesday morning they head north to Canada, and we head south to Ecuador.

We had a pretty full day yesterday!