While back in Cuenca, we went to the post office so Maya could maybe actually get some postcards off to people before she returns to the states. While there, I thumbed through a little booklet in Spanish (of course) with the postal service logo on the front, and the clerk insisted I take it. I figured it had something to do with sending mail in ( Read more... )

After a very full day of tourism, Maya and I rested and then took a cab to where she first lived when she arrived in Cuenca. Isabel and Xavier had invited us over for dinner at their condo. I, unfortunately, did not get pictures of the home (inside or out) but I know Maya has some somewhere. I did get these photos of the host family and the hosted ( Read more... )

We were done with the train ride a lot faster than I think we'd expected, and we got back in the car and headed south again to the Incan and Cañari Indian ruins called Ingapirca. But first we stopped for lunch. Lunch was included in the price of this tour, and we turned down a dirt road and came upon some sort of hostel or resort or public park ( Read more... )

We hopped on the train, which looked more like a bus but really was a train, and took our seats in the way back inside of the train car. There was only one train car, so it REALLY looked like a bus, and they told us that this was because it was off season. I've seen pictures on other blogs of this train having 5 or more cars, but those blogs also ( Read more... )

Yes, so, we had hired Terra Diversa, a tour company, to take us to the train through El Nariz del Diablo (The Devil's Nose) where you get to ride on top of the train car as it takes you down steep switchbacks through the Andes. We were told it was a 4 hour drive to Alausi, and the train we wanted was at 11 am. We left the hotel at 6:15 am, with ( Read more... )

Seriously, I don't even know why I'm including this tragedy in the journal, except that it was something we witnessed. It was ugly and bloody, and seriously skip to the next entry if you want. I won't be offended. The next one will have the good, the weird, and the beautiful from Sunday. This one has the sad, horrifying car accident we happened ( Read more... )

Back in Cuenca Maya went to sit down while I collected our luggage. There was only one luggage carousel and we were both interested in the woman who retrieved her little dog in a carrier from the carousel. I saw our bag, and I then saw an Ecuadorian man take it. He didn't look like a thief, just like a guy who confused his bag for ours. "Pardon, ( Read more... )

Our airplane back to Cuenca was quite delayed, and the screen that posted updates on the status of planes kept saying that ours had already taken off. I knew that all the 100 or so people in the terminal were all waiting for the same plane that we were, but I kept worrying anyway that we'd missed our plane. Especially because we were listening to ( Read more... )

Saturday morning we woke up early. I should say, I woke up early and asked Maya if she wanted to wake up. She apparently did, since we had only 1/2 a day left to explore Quito and we wanted to go to El Teleferico - a newly built tram that takes you waaaaaayy up to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. Maya wore her new sweater, one that she'd ( Read more... )

Also in Quito, after we took the bus back from Otavalo, we ended up in the major bus terminal in Quito with no idea how to get back to the hotel. I thought we could find the bus, but Maya pointed out that besides a back pack jammed full we also had a bunch of shopping bags and we would be easy marks on a crowded city bus. We opted for a taxi, but ( Read more... )