Cuenca

So I was going to spend a couple days in Cuenca before heading to Peru but because my friend Anna came, 2 days turned into 4 days. Cuenca is a gorgeous city full of Colonial architecture, beautiful churches and plazas and parks. The people are not as bothersome as other places, which at first we thought was unfriendly but then grew to appreciate the lack of harassment because if you initiated a conversation they were incredibly helpful and warm. The indigenous dress was different than in the north--much more colorful and fun, topped off with Panama hats. Panama hats are misnamed because they really come from Ecuador but got exported through Panama. One of our best adventures was visiting some small towns surrounding Cuenca: Gualaceo, Chordeleg and Sigsig. In Sigsig we wandered down a path and ran into an old man who took us to his farm and showed us his cuyes and made us pick strawberries. He was really sweet and not creepy. We then got stalked to the a women´s hat making cooperative my a different creepy man. It was a little ways out of the city so we really didn´t want to walk the 20 minutes back to town alone with him so I distracted him while Anna told the woman there what was going on. The three women working there took care of us, hid us in a back room while watching to see if he had left, fed us apples, flagged down a pickup taxi for us, rode with us up to the bus terminal, told the bus drivers what was going on, and waited until the bus had left for Cuenca. These women were so sweet and incredible. Nothing probably would have happened, but better safe...

I left Cuenca this morning chasing down the bus in a taxi because our jerk of a bus driver from the city to the terminal was not helpful in telling us where to get off and we missed the terminal. Anna headed back up to Quito and I am on my own heading South. A random couple on the bus kind of sheparded me through customs without me asking and we shared a cab ride to Tumbes. I´m glad they were there because I ran into some girls coming across the border from Peru who asked me if there were strikes going on because someone had told them there was and they couldn´t cross. Lies. There was nothing and they had gotten ripped off. But we swapped guide books! which is really lucky for both of us because lonely planet has become a good friend.

Off to Trujillo overnight, then to an Eco Village I found through Couch Surfing that is just North of Lima. I will meet up with my friend Ashley on Sunday and be traveling Southern Peru with her for a few weeks.