Cuenca,
Ecuador
Friday, August 10, 2007
Day 7: So, as you can tell by the title of today, it wasn't our best day. The night before, we went to bed, excited to go on a day trip the next day to Cajas, which is a beautiful national park. Well, that didn't go according to plan. Mike got a fever over the night and was really not feeling well. We sadly cancelled the tour to Cajas and went back to sleep. At about 10am, unsure what to do, I headed down for a late breakfast to figure out whether I was going to try to get a doctor or go to the pharmacy. As I left the room, the Swedish couple was also leaving theirs. She asked where Mike was and I told her that he was sick. She was so nice and said that she was actually sick too and that I should join them at the pharmacy. This was a very good thing since she's fluent in Spanish and I have no idea how to describe an illness in Spanish. I ended up having breakfast with them and we made a plan to drop off our laundry and then go to the pharmacy. We ended up having a beer in between the laundry and pharmacy (yes, being on vacation is difficult). I was able to get Mike antibiotics and some other medicine so Mike was very relieved. It's amazing how you can get antibiotics from a pharmacy without a prescription...and it was cheap.
While having the beer, we learned that it was an Ecuadorian holiday the next day - their first attempt at independence - so we checked with the tourist office to make sure we'd be able to get on a bus the next day. All was fine. Later I attempted to pick up the laundry but apparently it wasn't ready. I would have to pick it up in an hour from the place they actually do the laundry...down a sort of alley (which would be scary and dark in an hour). So, I got Mike and we went their together. Very nice to have clean laundry. We went back to the hotel with some fresh bread to stay in for the night...both hoping Mike would be able to travel the next day...we had a bus and plane to catch to Lima.
