Moving on from Quito today to Cuenca where we will be staying for the next 2 1/2 months but before we went we had to go have breakfast at the little cafe round the corner. We had excellent pancakes again, and loads of fruit; I think I've eaten more fruit this past week than in the last five years.
After having breakfast and saying goodbye to the little man that worked at the cafe we checked out of the hotel and headed for the airport. We had no trouble checking in and getting rid of our luggage, and then we just waited. The domestic terminal at Quito airport is not very big and there were loads of people in it so it was super hot. It doesn't appear that anywhere down here has air conditioning so it was a welcome relief when other planes were boarding as they opened the doors to the outside and let some fresh air in. We thought the flight to Cuenca was going to take just over an hour but it turned out that it was about 35 minutes, so as soon as we had levelled out it was time to land. It was all very efficient, the plane stopped, we got off and walked across the tarmac to the terminal, retrieved our bags, and got outside and in a taxi all in about 10 minutes. The thing that took the longest was the men who were actually checking everyones bags against the claim tickets that we had been given; I've never had that done before.
It turns out that the airport is just on the outskirts of town to the north east, and only about a 10 minute drive from our hotel. The hotel is really nice, and is right on the Tomabamba river. We got all checked in and Sven helped us with all our luggage. We have an inside room as opposed to one over looking the river but it'll be fine for a few days. We have lots of space, it's clean, and we have a lovely hot powerful shower. The taps here are not confusing either, it took me a while at the last place to figure out that C doesn't stand for cold down here; I much prefer the red for hot and blue for cold!
This afternoon we took a walk up into the old part of Cuenca and we almost didn't make it. To get there from our hotel literally takes about three minutes but it's all up hill; actually it's all up steps, 89 of them to be exact. By the time we got tot he top I thought my chest was going to explode; we had to rest before we could venture any further into the city.
We walked around old Cuenca for a while and found the tourist info place and got a map; the city makes a lot more sense with a map in hand, This part is basically a grid and most of the streets are one way which is good as its hard enough trying to cross them when the traffic is only barrelling down on you from one direction. Oh and the people in Cuenca are just as fond of their horns as the people in Quito.
We ate at a little vegetarian cafe that was ok before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Mike: Just to consider that this city has been around for over 3500 years and is in
the Western Hemisphere is amazing. The "modern city" started in the early 1500's.