Cuenca, Ecuador

After our long stay in Montanita we had originally planned to head to Peru. We'd spent over three weeks stationary to learn spanish and we've been in Ecuador for over a month, more than we orginally anticipated. However, we'd heard from several people that Cuenca was beautiful and was not to miss. Plus, they have Ecuador's only potable water and we were really sick of using water bottles while we brushed our teeth. Given our lack of a schedule it seemed silly just to skip somewhere just to say we'd changed countries. Wikipedia says Cuenca is located at just over 8,400ft above sea level, the metro area is home to over 500,000 people, and is the capital of the Azuay province in Ecuador. It was founded in 1557 well after many of the other major cities in Ecuador. It is know for its colonial architecture andthe downtown historical area has been dedicated an UNESCO heritage site.

Cuenca is a nice medium sized city, not as overwhelming as Bogota and not so small as the cities of Puerto Lopez or Montanita that we visted on the coast. The architecture is absoutely stunning, make sure you check out all of our pictures to see what I mean. There are lots of churches scattered throught the city and at every turn you'll see buldings showcasing exquisite colonial architecture.

We did a bus tour from the city center that shared some of the cities history and brought us to many of the most interesting sites in the city. It also brought us to Mirador de Turi, a fantastic viewing point that overlooks the whole city. I recommend the ice cream joint on the opposite side of the square from where the tour busses leave, their Tiramisu, Oreo, and Mora (rasberry) flavors are to die for (scoop of ice cream + brownie for $2.50 and or two scoops on a cone for $1.80).

We also visited the medical museum in the city. This was a bizarre experience as it didn't seem to have a real entrance other than for cars to enter. We ventured into the parking area and through a hall that had a sign indicating it was the museum. We were greeted with a delapidated courtyard that looked more like of a storage area for broken medical machinery than a museum. I wanted to leave, but Jordan pushed me forward and we began to explore. The bottom floor is just a bunch of retired medical devices (complete with autoclaves, a hyberbolic chamber, and centrifuges) sitting around, you're able to touch and play with them to your heart's content.

Venturing upstairs we were asked to pay $1 each to help the museum and sign in. For our $2 we we allowed to wander through 4-5 rooms full of old medical equiment. This included old compunding and drug related equipment which Jordan was really excited about. Honestly, while I found the whole thing interesting, Jordan spent the entire time like a kid in a candy store, running from case to case. I defienently recommend a visit to this odd, but very interesting museum.

We left Cuenca for a day to visit Parque Cajas Nacional which is a large national park about 30 minutes outside the city. That will get a future post of its own, but I'll just say that it was one of the most stunning (possibly THE most) landscape I've ever seen.

We left Cuenca yesterday and our next stop is Peru.

Check our our pictures from Cuenca.

Nuts and Bolts

Here I'll talk about some of the bits of information that might be helpful if you visit Cuenca.

• We stayed in "La Casa Cuencana" on Hermano Miguel, right by the intersection at Calle Larga. We paid $8/pp for a private room with shared bathroom. There are only two rooms that really share the bathroom so it was worth saving the $2/pp. The hostel was quite, clean, and nice. We made use of the kitchen almost every day. The owner is also ridiculously nice
• Visit the Mercado for fresh vegetables and fruit, it is west on Calle Larga something like 5-6 blocks
• This is a great jumping off point for Cajas National Park, I recommend a visit, see our future post about it specifically for tips
• Vist the medical museum, it was only $1/pp and had some interesting stuff.
• There is a Tia (supermarket) the block north of the central square where the "Old Church" is.
• From Calle Hermano Miguel, descend the (enormous) set of steps and proceed across the bridge the major road there (I have no idea the name). There you can catch the 7 bus (westbound) which will take you to Mall Del Rio where there is a huge Supermercado (we were able to get new waterbottles, a travel hairdryer, and peanut butter). There are lots of stores and fast food joints if that is your thing. Take the 7 bus back to Avenue Fray de Vicente and get off to walk home

Montanita, Ecuador: Part 3

After spending three weeks in Montanita and taking a bit of a blogging hiatus, there was a lot to write about. If you haven't already, you should start by catching up on Part 1 and Part 2.

Montanita is a small pueblo that is situated on the beach and is known for partying. The town is so small that only two roads actually have names: "calle principal" and "cocktail alley". It is relatively deserted during the week, but Thursday through Sunday are filled with locals and tourists for the fiesta. This may seem like a strange place for us to settle down since we aren't exactly party people, but we were mostly there to learn Spanish and spend some time on the beach.

We opted to take small group classes from Montanita Spanish School... What could be better than an outdoor balcony classroom overlooking the ocean? The classes were two hours each, twice a day, with the morning focusing on grammar/vocabulary and the afternoon focusing on speaking. It was intense and quite exhausing: By the end of three weeks, we had progressed beyond what is covered in two years of a typical high school Spanish curriculum. Since we were in a class of only 2 to 4 students, we spent a fair amount of time at the end of each class chatting with the teachers in Spanish, which helped our speaking tremendously.

Learning Spanish has already been worth every penny. While we aren't fluent, we are able to communicate fairly well and are much more confident as we are traveling. Things like ordering at a restaurant or booking a hostel room used to be agonizing, and now they are no big deal at all. Also, the local people are ridiculously nice when you make an effort to speak to them in their language. We are constantly being asked where we're from and how we like their city.

Another great thing about the Spanish School is that it helped us meet some great people. We celebrated the Fourth of July with another American couple and (ironically) a Brit. We have exchanged information with people from around the world who have told us to look them up when we get to their country. It is amazing how quickly you become friends with people when you're traveling... after only three weeks, we were sad to say goodbye.

We settled into a routine of our favorite places to go, and the people who worked at those places all came to know us quickly. It is not uncommon for restaurants or stores to not have names, so I will describe them the best I can. We found a wonderful hostel called Charo's (it was more like a hotel, really) a bit outside the main part of town that was comfortable, quiet, and had air conditioning. Since we stayed for three weeks, we were able to get a bit of a discount and all of the employees were exceptionally nice

For breakfast, we usually ate scrambled eggs or an omelette from our favorite fruit stand on our way to school. There was also an amazing Colombian bakery that we stopped at almost every day to get some bread or a fresh doughnut filled with caramel. One routine that we have started is eating a nice breakfast out on Sundays. We found a place that made fantastic french toast with fruit salad, and made it our Sunday spot.

The restaurant next door to Charo's had almuerzo (set lunch) for $1.50 that consisted of a soup, meat, rice, and some type of vegetable. We ate there most days, and enjoyed chatting with the owner (the man who cured my stomach woes). The soup was fantastic, and the main course was acceptable or a notch above. The restaurant was always packed with locals, and we decided that it was because it is the cheapest restaurant with a big screen television. Our other favorite place was called "Pollo al a Brasa" (or as we called it, "Cheap Chicken"), where you could get 1/4 of a charcoal roasted chicken with salad and plantains for $3. It ranks as some of the tastiest chicken I've ever had.

As far as dinners were concerned, we tried most of the restaurants in town. For the mostpart, the food was somewhat disappointing because they tried to serve American food, and it just didn't taste right. We did find a great Medeteranian place, and later found out that the owner of our hotel is the restaurant owner's father in law... how's that for a small town?

I also had a favorite cocktail maker, beach spot, and three legged stray dog. I saw some weird things on my running routes, like a wild peacock and a tree full of chickens. We did some fun things like rent a motorcycle and drive for hours along the coast. We figured out the tricks of the city, like how nobody ever has any change and how you should always get money out of the ATM in increments of $15. After three weeks, we were almost too comfortable, and knew that it was time to get back on the road. We packed our bags and boarded a bus: next stop, Cuenca!

You can see the rest of our pictures from Montanita on Flickr.

Montanita, Ecuador: Part 2

To those who subscribe to our emails, Montanita Part 1 was sent out incomplete. If you missed the ending to the story of our arrival, you can read the full post here.

Imagine sitting at your favorite hole in the wall restaurant, where the expensive dinners cost $4. You finish your meal and find your "amigo" to pay him, and hand him 10 dollars. He wanders into the back, presumably to get change. The you hear a loud commotion and all of the staff leave the front of the restaurant. This was the scene at the conclusion of our otherwise typical dinner.

We heard a loud yell and some commotion. A few other family members who work at the restaurant walked into the back of the neighboring restaurant.The man we gave our money to sprinted out the door and down the street yelling something about change. Daniel and I looked at each other. "I don't think he's going to get change... they never run that fast for change," I said.

Daniel had the gut feeling that something was wrong, and was sitting on the edge of his seat. The man returned shortly in a taxi and ran back into the house. A minute or so later, he emerged at the doorway attempting the carry the neighboring restaurant's owner, who was completely unconscious. Daniel ran faster than I have ever seen him move to help him carry the man to the taxi. All I could think of is, "Oh crap, I am the only medically trained person here, and I am going to have to figure out how to do CPR in the back of a taxi!" I managed to find out that the man was still breathing, although very shallow. Daniel and the other person helping carry him managed to get him pushed into the back seat of the cab, which is when we realized that Daniel had blood all over his shorts. Someone slid into the cab under the unconscious man for the ride to the hospital.

It turns out that the man had cut his wrist and was bleeding profusely. In the kitchen, they wrapped it tightly with a rag, and Daniel was able to conjure the word "Arriba!" (up!) and instruct the person to elevate the man's arm before they took off toward the hospital. We immediately went back to our room, cleaned Daniel and his clothes, and took a few minutes to calm down from the adrenaline. Amazingly, all of the blood came out of the clothes and a very minimal amount of blood came in contact with his skin. Regardless, I am very happy that we opted to get all of our vaccinations updated prior to traveling.

There were no ambulances, police, firemen, or paramedics... just an unconscious man bleeding all over the back of the taxi heading to the hospital. Everyone acted as if nothing unusual had happened at all. The next day, we ate there for lunch and the incident was not acknowledged at all until we paid. They gave us the $2 we were owed off of our meal, and we asked if the man made it to the hospital in time. It turned out that he was sleeping upstairs.

I got sick two days later. I didn't have much of an appetite all day, and started to feel terrible during our afternoon class. I went back to our room around 5:00pm, skipped dinner, and laid in bed. My entire body ached, I was feverish, and my stomach was off. At around 5:30am, I woke up with intense stomach pains. I went to the bathroom, stood up to get back in bed, and proceeded to get so weak, dizzy, and sweaty that all I could do was lay on the floor and cry. My muscles and bones were aching. My head was throbbing. I didn't want to take any medicine out of fear that my stomach would get worse.

I woke Daniel up after a few minutes (he sleeps like the dead) to help me get back in bed and find some gatorade. I was miserable for the rest of the morning, and it was an easy decision for me to skip class. Since we are the only people in our class this week, the teacher obviously asked where I was. When Daniel started describing what my symptoms were, the teacher told him that she thought I had dengue.

It's been awhile since I've studied dengue fever, but I knew that it was a tropical disease transmitted mosquitoes in developing countries. There is no vaccine and no treatment, it just has to run its course. Two people who work at the school had been diagnosed with dengue a few weeks earlier, and there are a few PSA fliers about it posted around town. I could go to the hospital to have blood drawn to be diagnosed, but I decided against it. I figured that since the treatment is rest, tylenol, and hydration, there was no reason to expose myself to other hospital germs and risk having a needle stuck in my arm by someone who doesn't know what they are doing just to have them say, "yes, you have dengue".

In the afternoon, I decided that it would be a good idea to try and eat something. I sent Daniel to the same restaurant to get some plain white rice. The man, of course, asked why he wanted plain rice and where I was. "Ella esta enferma." "Tiene dolor de estomago?" "Si..." and the man ran into the house, not even allowing Daniel to finish describing the symptoms. He yelled for someone to go upstairs and get something, and came out with a mug with some liquid in the bottom. He proceeded to pour a huge packet of a salty powdery substance in, and squeezed two limes into it. It foamed, and he instructed Daniel to bring it back to me with the rice and that my stomach would feel better.

So here I am, laying in bed, waiting on Daniel to come back with my rice when he steps into the doorway carrying the mystery remedy. It looked pretty sketchy... a little bit of cloudy, foamy liquid at the bottom of a mug with chunks of lime pulp and seeds stuck to the side of the glass. I could have dumped it, but I felt guilty since the man was nice enough to go through the trouble of making it for me. I managed to choke down about half of it, and it was quite possibly the nastiest, most salty and sour thing I have ever consumed. Miraculously, my stomach felt entirely better about 30 minutes later. I managed to eat the rice for lunch and have a normal dinner that night. I don't know what was in that mug, but it worked! I spent a few more days generally run down, but was back to normal after about 3 days.

The rest of our time in Montanita was significantly less eventful, and will be covered in Part Three.