24 Sep 2025
Our guide, Diego, was high energy and extremely knowledgeable of not only the flora and fauna of the park but also able to share lots of interesting information about Cuenca and Ecuador. My daughter -in-law is from Ecuador but had not visited this area of the country before.
Diego volunteered to speak in both Spanish and English switching back and forth every few minutes so that I, the gringo on board, could practice my Spanish language skills. He was easy to understand in both languages.
We had a highly interesting hike of about two hours around one area of the park after stopping at a high point by car to see a great vista.
Luckily for me, age 71, he had a hiking pole to lend me as well as a hand towards the end of the hike as we ascended to the parking area. The altitude is around 13,000 feet so this isn’t a mere « walk in the park. »
Diego knew much about the geological history of the park, the various birds we saw, what the paw prints in the mud were likely to be, the medicinal properties of many of the plants, etc.
Finally, he gets an extra star for having some spare toilet paper handy as the bathrooms were bare.
A memorable day!