Las Cajas

The E582 is the road that from Cuenca takes us to Guayaquil.When the owner of the hotel suggested we should take this road instead of the easy E40 we didn't know what to expect.
The road initially climbs from 2500 to 4200 meters; after that it plunges down to 0.........
As you can see from the sign pictured, this mountain pass is the closest point to the Pacific Ocean which act as point of division between rivers flowing toward the Pacific and rivers flowing to the Atlantic

On a very positive note it appears we have acclimatised to high altitude.
This time we didn't even noticed we went over 4000 meters although, I guess, we were probably distracted by the beautiful sceneries around us.

Inspite of all this natural beauty it appears that Las Cajas are not a well renowed tourist destination.

In actual fact during our 2 hrs journey we probably crossed path with less than 10 cars, all driven by the locals.

And yet there was almost a moment of panic when Elena forced me to make an emregency stop to make this picture......

A Llama crossing sign is not to be missed!

Then we begin our descent to Guayaquil.

In the distance we can see clouds waiting below us

Here they come....

Here we go again

30 minutes later 20 degrees warmer and 4000 meters lower we acquire visibility again, just to discover palms, banana and sugar cane plantations all around us.

What a drammatic change in such a short period of time; It's now time to press on toward our destination.