Beautiful Cuenca Ecuador

Wednesday, 10/20/10-Saturday, 10/23/10. Sorry I have been offline. I arrived in Cuenca Wednesday night after a looooooooong bus ride, ate dinner and went to bed. When I got up Thursday morning, my computer wouldn’t boot up. I took it directly to a repair shop where I was told my hard drive had crashed. Lesson #1 – Always back up your computer. Luckily I had done that just before I left the States so there wasn’t much to lose. Anyway, I just now got the computer back and am ready to bring you up to date.

Cuenca is one beautiful city which rests 8200ft high in the Andes. The bus ride up here was harrowing as there were mountains on one side and a cliff drop-off on the other. We rode to Guayaquil from Bahia (5 hours) and then took the bus to Cuenca (4 hours). Lesson #2 – if you are carrying something valuable (in this case, it was my computer) do not put it in the overhead. Always keep it under your feet or on the empty window seat next to you. Nothing was stolen, but I have heard many stories from people getting robbed while their cameras, etc. were in the overhead bin.

Thursday, we took the tour bus around Cuenca and got to know the city. It is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador and is sprawled out. It is also the newest looking and cleanest city I have seen in Ecuador. Maybe because of the huge expat population? We walked around some afterward, had dinner, then came back to our rooms. We are staying at The Macondo Hostal. It is fresh, beautiful and ultra clean. Friday, we visited some churches and museums. For dinner, we went searching for the restaurant owned by a sister of a girl we know in Bahia. She was happy to see us and served us a typical Ecuadorian dinner. Afterwards, she and her husband gave us a tour of all of Cuenca and took us to their house (this is a great honor). Saturday, I slept in then got up and retrieved my computer. We headed to the Inca Ruins, which were closed and then went to another restaurant we had heard of for an early dinner.

I will be flying out of Cuenca tomorrow to Quito where I will spend a couple of days. Lesson #3 – Flying in country is cheap, but country to country is expensive. Hence, I will be riding the bus a lot.