Cuenca

We're in Cuenca now - arrived beat after 3 unrestful nights in a friendly but noisy hotel with massive rock-hard pillows right next to numerous discotecas in Guayaquil. Won't miss that. Guayaquil did have a nice walk-way called the Malecon right along the river - we enjoyed that and brainstorming vacations we have no interest in going on...things like "sailing in a small ship all the way across the Pacific", "canoeing in a mangrove", "hiking through a rainforest", "scuba-diving to feed sharks from a cage", and "going on a guided city tour in a city with signage in Roman script" made the list.

Jason and I arrived in this beautiful mountain town in the pouring rain after a 4+ hour bus ride through banana fields and hair-pin turns on mountain roads through clouds. People get on and off the bus selling things along the way - I saw or smelled ice cream, plantain chips, empanadas, and fried chicken at various points. One man was also selling flashlights with the advertisement being "to chase away the dark". Wow - who wouldn't want one?

We found a great hostal here, Hostal del Barranco, and crashed for a 2.5 hour nap yesterday. Woke up, found Colombian food which tasted like sloppy joes (don't remember that in Colombia...and unfortunately don't like sloppy joes but it filled my empty stomach), a 6 liter bottle of filtered water since we can't drink the tap water, and then crashed for an additional 8 hour nap (otherwise known as going to bed for the night). This is our first place with a real mattress in the last 2.5 weeks and we even have a fun view overlooking a rushing river through town.

In about an hour we'll text our contact here in Cuenca and figure out where and when to meet him. We know there's an association meeting at some point this afternoon/evening so are gearing up for that. In the mean-time, we are making reservations for our final hotels and flight (yep, decided after a complex equation including time of travel, cost of travel, and our hourly wage that we would fly not bus 15 hours from Loja to Quito). Dan and Sarah are in Portoviejo now - they say it is hot like a jalepeno but they found a hotel with character so hopefully they are enjoying the novel Ecuador experience. They, too, have meetings this afternoon/evening.

We have roughly one week of work left here (not including a rest-day somewhere in the middle) before flying to Dallas. We have exactly 2 weeks left until we fly home and get to hug Peluche. This morning as we were looking for the lavandaria (laundry mat where they charge per kilo or per pound) we saw a fuzzy dog prancing down the road with its owner. We see this or that of Peluche everywhere. Well, the lavandaria wasn't open and as we walked back into our own hostal they asked if we were looking for one because they could do it (yep, didn't think of that). Works out great because instead of waiting until Monday to get it back, we should have it back this afternoon. And everyone around us should be thankful that we have clean clothes again.

Well, it's time to go explore this UNESCO world heritage town for a couple hours before meetings! The rain stopped and the sun is out, which means that our shoes are off and our chacos back on. It must be time to play the tourist!