El Chorro Waterfall Hike

You won't know this but Cuenca is a haven for retirees from the U.S. who either don't have enough social security to cover their retirement or simply move to Ecuador for the weather and lower cost of health care and living in general. 

Spaghetti O and I have been going to some Spanish language meet ups and met a lot of retirees! Anyway we met a couple who aren't the usual retiree stereotype and they kindly invited to take us on a hike to a waterfall in the nearby town of Giron.

The scenery around here is just gorgeous and Giron was no exception. And every field was filled with baby cows! So cute.

I don't really consider myself much of a hiker (particularly not at altitude where I can barely climb the five flights of stairs to out apartment without hyperventilating) so when our companions told us we'd be climbing up 1000 ft to the waterfall I felt like they might be regretting inviting us. 

At the start we had a local guy walking with us. I asked if he'd lived there his whole life which he had. We chatted for a while before he got sick of how slow we were moving and overtook us. I asked how old he was which I knew was going to make me feel embarrassed and yes, he was 70. 

Did I mention I'm terrified of cows. I'm sure you can't tell. 

I'm not actually sure how long it took us but we finally made it to the top.

And we got back down in time for a late lunch of local trout. Perfecto!