CUENCA
Cajas
Please put on a heavier jacket: we're now departing to the highlands. These are older mountains: peaks are lower, volcanos are inactive, it pleateaus, which in turn allows for water banks to accumulate. There's about 200 lagoons that are larger than an hectare; almost a thousand smaller. Sights are impressive, yes, but El Cajas is the perfect place to slow down and reconnect with yourself.
❧ The park is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including the Andean condor, the spectacled bear, and a wide variety of llamas and alpacas. It also hosts the very peculiar polylepis tree: as you hike your way through the park, you'll see hundreds of these paper-like-trunk specimens.
❧ El Cajas is a fantastic place for hiking, whether you've got 30 minutes or three whole days. If you've got the time, and the spirit, we can take you camping and go through the Inca Trail, or go fishing at Soldados, or go to the Llaviucu forest, a great place for birdwatching (there's tucans, the tit-like dacnis and several varities of hummingbirds).
