A most excellent thanksgiving

First off, I hope everyone reading this had a good turkey day. I have to say, mine definitely ranks up there as one of the best. A group of us got together near Cuenca, in Cajas national park. Originally I wasn't planning on going, but after talking to my friends the other weekend I decided to go. The trip down was a bit of a pain, 15 hours in various buses, including a 2 hour delay near Riobamba (which I found out later was due to a bike race on the panamerican highway). I got into Cuenca pretty late and found a cheap hostal to crash at since we weren't getting together until the next day. The next morning I was up early (having gone to bed at 8) so I wandered around Cuenca a bit. It really is a beautiful city with a church every few blocks. I went into a couple and watched the morning mass. I have lots of pictures of the weekend, but unfortunately I seem to have lost the connector thingy so photos will have to wait till xmas. Anyway after wandering around a bit I took a bus to my friends house outside of Cuenca where we were all meeting. Then we headed into the park, which I have to say is absolutely gorgeous. The cabin we were in was really nice too and everyone brought good food. So after munching a bit we headed out on the various trails. The hiking was great if a bit muddy. We were pretty much the only ones in the park so no dealing with stupid tourists and loud drunk campers like in the states. Plus the water for the city comes from the park so the park gets a lot of funding to keep things clean and taken care of. We had a very nice thanksgiving meal out on the porch overlooking the lake and the mountains. Then it was game night with a variety of card and board games. The next morning we did some more hiking and ate the leftovers for lunch, then crammed into the van to head back to Cuenca. I spent the night at my friends' house before heading back Saturday. All and all a great weekend!