Cuenca

August 20th

We got into Cuenca last night, long bus ride from banos. We went from Banos to Riobamba which was an hour and 45 minutes, then 6 hours to Cuenca. I was tired and a bit cranky when we got to our hostel that was highly recommended by our guide book and other people ... We were quite disappointed to find our room placed directly next to their restaurant that was playing loud musics until midnight! Ear plugs work well though. Its not bad here once you get past the blasting music - well they have a blacklab here that is very playful ... that helps! We were going to move hostels but we decided to stay. I got up this morning and explored the city a bit. It is really beautiful here. It is a colonial city, it has a lot of character yet is modern. Looks European. We toured one of their cathedrals today, they called it the old cathedral. It was interesting they had pictures from the 18th century. The church itself, like many of the old churches here had many rooms filled with sculptures and beautiful paintings. It amazes me how much they put into these churches - they are beautifully crafted. We also visited a cathedral called the "immaculate cathedral" it was gorgeous. They had a small mass going on while we were there - it sounded very familiar - only in spanish. "The word of the lord," and the hymn "glory hallelujah".

The "immaculate cathedral"

Outside one of the cathedral doors

Picture break on some stairs in Cuenca.

To finish where I left off of Cuenca. Cuenca was pretty but not as safe as other places so we didn´t do much at night except for go for dinner. In our hostel two new girls showed up in our room. Also I forgot to include before that another Hannah joined Hannah and I on the bus ride to Cuenca. She stayed in the hostel with us as well. So the new girls, Yvette and Salina as well as the new Hannah, old Hannah and I all spent the weekend together. The 5 of us had a lot of fun. Yvette and Salina were from San Diego, both spoke Spanish fluently. We didn´t do a whole lot in Cuenca but we had a lot of fun with the new girls, we sort of spent the weekend having a "slumber party" I guess you could say. It was good to relax and not do much.

The 4 girls - I´m taking the picture.