Over the hill and into the city.

First a photo from yesterday of the main church in El Tambo.

One blog I had been following cycled from El Tambo to Cuenca in two days. I decided it probably wasn’t too difficult to ride it in a day (only 75km) and then take a rest day.

The first three kilometers were downhill. After that the next fourteen climbed up and over a larger hill. However, again grades were never very steep.

On the way up was this monument in Canar.

Looking back on Canar itself. Not long after this, it became more cloudy as I climbed into and through some of the clouds.
Not too far from the top was this radio station. Always nice to see those towers and stations since give a good indication one is almost all the way up.

Here was the top itself, second highest point I’ve cycled on the trip and don’t expect to exceed this until later in Peru/Bolivia.

Bibilian had this nice little shop. By now it was off and on drizzle. This also marked bottom of the hill after ~600m (2000ft) of descent from the top. Some hills to climb over here to Azogues. This is where other cyclists had stayed and given it was still early, made sense to keep going.

The road became three lanes but never extremely busy so for most part traffic moved around me. It was mostly descent until the 55km mark. After this a slow but overall climb back up to Cuenca. Without too much difficulty, I found myself to the central square.

Above is a picture of the New Cathedral, completed in 1885.

Statue in one of the parks.

By now it was raining more heavily. The pigeons had taken roost under the eaves to get out of the rain.

There was a nice indoor market here.

Overall, look forward to a rest day here in Cuenca. Chance to look around a bit more. Also, after this I expect to descend down to the lowlands and coast before crossing into Peru. Hence, will also be a chance to review some of the blogs of others that have ridden north coast of Peru.