On Christmas Eve there was a wonderful procession through the city, complete with Mary and Joseph and a doll. The parade winds its way through the streets of Cuenca while the couple walks in the back, toward the Cuenca Cathedral. Then the couple places the Baby Jesus in the nativity creche prepared for him.
You can climb to the top of the cathedral and enjoy the view.
Plaza Calderon is a central hub for meeting and gathering. I even caught sight of Amelia & JP who were walking through. They promote Ecuador living on their YouTube channel.
We were able to buy some couverture chocolate in town, but got turned around and were lost. Sure enough, we ran into four young elders who were happy to get us to the correct bus stop.
As we began our trip out of the Andes (8400′) we started noticing these llama signs. Since it had been dark on our arrival, we hadn’t seen them coming up the mountain.
It wasn’t a minute later that we saw llamas on the side of the road.
And then an hour later, saw cows using the highway to move to higher ground.