Cuenca, Ecuador, South America

I really enjoyed my day in Cuenca today. It was pretty relaxed, but it was great. I had a good night’s sleep at my hostel, had a great breakfast that was included with the room, and then went out to explore. I had a short walk around the historical center and then went for a bite to eat. I met a nice american couple from Arizona who are living here for a year to learn spanish. That’s a pretty cool thing to do when retired. They’ve got the right idea.

Noreen and Andreas gave me a few tips on what to see in Cuenca, so I took one of their recommendations and put it into action as soon as I finished lunch. I went for a walk to a place called Turi, and then climbed over 500 stairs to get to the church at the top of the hill. The church was nothing impressive at all, but it gave an amazing view of Cuenca from above. It was a beautiful day too with the sun shining the whole time, so it was a great day to get out for a walk.

I considered getting a taxi back into town, but since I’ve been really lazy the last few days, i decided to walk. It was a nice hour long walk back into the center of Cuenca, and it just reinforced how safe it feels here. I came back to the hostel and chilled for a bit before meeting up with a new friend.

I received an email this morning from a girl named Andrea who I did not know at all. Apparently Melissa let her know that I’m here in Cuenca, and Andrea was nice enough to offer to show me around. She picked me up from my hostel at 8pm and we went out for a bite to eat and a drink at a restaurant called Fogo. It was in Turi, near the church I had walked to today, and it was great to see the view of the city at night.

We had a nice chat (luckily her english is nearly perfect) and drove around the city for a bit before she dropped me back off at my hostel. She’s convinced me to hang around Cuenca through the weekend so she can show me around when she’s not working. It’s so nice to have a local to show me around, that I’m definitely going to take advantage of this opportunity while I can.