Warning: flower photos

After Vilcabamba I headed to Cuenca, which is the third largest city in Ecuador and famous for its beautiful colonial architecture. It was also packed to the gills with bakeries and ice cream shops. I can't believe there aren't more obese people here! They eat so much ice cream! And not just ice cream, they get it with whipped cream and toppings and the whole bit. Intense. But delicious...

In Cuenca I pretty much just wandered around. I went to see the University of Cuenca's prize-winning orchid collection, including some new breeds that they had created in the lab. Creepy. Then I hesitatingly went to the Panama Hat museum (I was killing time okay?) and ended up having a lovely old time and walking out of there with my very own Panama hat. So now I can be a Colombian druglord for Halloween! Cool!

I was snapping photos like a maniac at the Orquideario, so for those of you who love close-up photos of exotic flowers, enjoy! Notice the third flower, which is called Monkey Face. It actually looks like a monkey's face! Nature is CRAZY!