31/2 Hour Hike at 9,000 Feet

I wrote the following on Tuesday, July 5th:

It’s Tuesday, and I awake with the awareness that this is my last day in Cuenca. Tomorrow Emilio will drive us to Guayaquil where we will catch a flight to Quito, spend the night, and then Thursday morning fly back to California.

It’s been like a cocoon month. I entered not knowing what I would be like when I emerged after this month’s adventure, and I prepare to emerge anticipating the joy of discovering what awaits me.

It was perfect that we spent a lovely 3-½ hours hiking around Amaru Zoological Forest today, and the temperature was temperate. The park is huge and is on a hill high above Cuenca. As we enter there is a panoramic view of a part of the city below.

Amaru is a sanctuary for rescued animals and endangered species. They do a wonderful job of hiding expansive enclosures amongst the brush and trees, so it feels as if we are guests in the animal’s natural homeland.

As an example, while only 60 Andean Condors exist (they are related to the American turkey vultures), this “zoo” has two adults and two young ones. Notice the photo of me below standing in front of a sign showing the ACTUAL wingspan of an adult Andean condor.

The 9,000 foot altitude, plus the ups and downs of the dirt paths as we ducked the overhead brush, gave us a real workout!

Here are a few of the animals we enjoyed seeing. FYI, those cute little monkeys were hopping around the picnic tables right next to us at a rest spot hoping we would toss them something to nibble. The group of lions was amazing, but they were too far away to show well in a photo.