Hotel Oro Verde Cuenca

... bars drinking wine (Stomach sorted and I'm back in the game!)

One really interesting place we went to- of course ALL the churches we went in were very interesting too.. mostly- was the town museum. Lots of catholic relics and statues, of a massive variety of skill and material. Then the most interesting floor detailed the history and diversity of Ecadorian culture. Which in a country which contains coast, desert, jungle and volcanic mountains is as you'd ...

... etc but all lesson plans are somehow tied to the environment and organic farming. They are all about organic and permaculture: no chemicals, allowing what grows well to grow versus what will reap the largest profit, etc. We were given a tour of the farm, which is located right on the transition zone from where it changes from a wet to a dry forest. So, they are able to grow a huge diversity of crops. We saw banana trees, yuca, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, cocoa, coffee, basil ...

... for Godīs guiding hand in getting us to the right place at the right time.

We ended up paying cash for our medical outing yesterday, which wasnīt bad. For an emergency room visit, consulation and bloodwork, it was $20 USD. The chest x ray was $15. Finally, the nebulizer treatment was $4. All her medications came to $120 but only because we had to buy her antibiotic twice after she spat out the tablets (HORSEPILLS!) We ran out to the ...

... chair was too high for him and wasn’t adjustable so he just grabbed my head in what felt like a head-high tackle and sort of dragged my head down sideways and started hacking away. He stopped and started taking the towel from around my neck and when I looked in the mirror I looked a bit like Lyle Lovett with shaved back and sides and hair sticking way up on the top of my head. I asked him for ‘corto’ and we repeated the head high tackle with more ...

... mental issues until he started accosting people with chocolate bars, such was the commotion he made as he got on.

For an hour or so these beautiful fields continued on either side of us. Little road-side shacks, small shops every now and then, more merchins, farms, little villages. After about two hours we began our ascent into the mountains. Every so often there were absolutely breath-taking views of the valley below as we snaked around it ...

... a self-taught hombre, Iīm not actually that bad. I need a lot more practice, but doing OK.

Right, thatīs the lessons out of the way (not all that interesting). The hostel. Probably one of the better options (I should know, I schlepped around pretty much all of those within my price range) but not exactly nice. The main issue was that my bedroom was right behind the reception; the reception that had a TV which the night attendent person ...

... br>Cuenca is a great little colonial town, with the added bonus of being a uni town; so it’s full of cool bars, Mexican and veggie restaurants and cinemas; all of which happen to be closed today. It’s like Hervey Bay, except with a few more indigenous people, and less Victorians (present company excluded). For lunch today we went to a pizzaria and had lentil soup, or as they call it 'gentle seed sopa'. Love South America.

Peru in 2 days!

... the stairs to the room and discussed whether he was actually leading us to be mugged by his big brothers. The next place was just as bad, but at this point we just wanted to be off the streets. We ended up grabbing two croisants each for tea and going back to the room where we baracaded ourselves in by putting a chair in front of the door. Mental!

Yesterday morning we went to get the train, for which we got tickets easily. It was rubbish ...

... camera out for a picture of the peaks behind me... hehe. A bit dissapointed, I sat back down to wait for the bus (which they say takes about 30 minutes between each one, and that was pretty acurate for me as well, as I waited about 35 or 40 minutes). So yeah, good day! Also, I had nice weather most of the time, having to put on my rainjacket a couple of times for the drizzle/weak rain. It was even sunny at several moments, getting nice and ...

Cuenca is described in the guidebooks as quaint and picturesque colonial town famed for it's Christmas parades. Given that the big day was fast approaching, we hoped for some festivities that would get us in the swing, so had planned a 2-day stay before heading to Quito to begin our Galapagos cruise. Unfortunately I think we had over-estimated the time needed ...