Viva, Cuenca!

This past weekend, six Quito kids (one temporary visitor and five English profs) set out on a 10 hour overnight bus ride to the third largest city in Ecuador: Cuenca. Once we arrived in Cuenca, we trekked through the entire city, at times not knowing exactly where we were going and at times headed to ¨Calle Larga¨(which translates to Loooong Street). Once we arrived in our hostal, where the six of us stayed in a dorm-summer camp setup, we were energized to go. We met up with the other volunteers we knew in the city, some who lived there and some who were passing through as well. It was great to see everyone once again and even better that it was for a 3 day weekend!

Our first wandering through the city allowed us to see and experience a different vibe than the hustle and bustle of Quito. Cuenca is more of a colonial town with a great deal of charm and class to it. There were museums on almost every street and interestingly enough, there are an estimated 52 churches in the town. Jeff and I were only lucky enough to count 7 in our time there, apparently some are more hidden than others. The aspect of Cuenca´s festivals I loved most was the gathering of people in different forms of appreciation for art, whether it be paintings, handcrafts or music. The markets were packed with artisans and people willing to make a deal with you. I was fortunate enough to get a very unique and elaborate bracelet out of the situation with a large jade type stone in the center and smaller stones surrounding it, fashioned with a darker string. Impossible to explain but a great gift, nonetheless. My host family was lucky to receive their thank you gift from Andrew as well: a painting. This gift was not easily decided upon and took another volunteer to help make the final decision but is now hanging proudly in our new house that was missing a certain something.

Aside from our uncharacteristic shopping spree in Cuenca, we were able to enjoy an outdoor concert on Friday, with live music, some typical salsa and some Latin fusion mixed in. Jeff, Hilary, Andrew and I were able to escape from the large group and enjoy the smaller group feel with Cuencans and a nice big jar of Sangria. Another favorite moment of the charming town of Cuenca was walking along the riverside (photo above) in one of our many wanderings through town. It was so beautiful and so ¨tranquilo¨. It was just the opposite of what Quito has to offer and beautiful to see a softer side of Ecuador.

Cuenca is where Andrew split off from the Quito pack and will now head to Pisco, Peru to help with the earthquake and Patagonia to work on an organic farm. Today is actually the day, he embarks from Guayaquil (the biggest city in Ecuador) on a 24 hour bus to Lima. Suddenly the 10 hour ride doesn´t seem too bad.