Cuenca Tourism

So the second day after we arrived in Cuenca we went out to lunch with the girls. It was so delicious! We took a tour of the city on a double decker bus. That was my first double decker bus tour ever! It was so cool! I loved it. So the tour was in Spanish and English, thankfully, so that we could understand. The main thing that they talked about was the different churches and when the Pope had come to visit, yadda yadda... But there were some neat facts and such. Like there is a bridge in the middle of town that was washed away in a flood. But instead of rebuilding it to the other side, they just built up the end so that no one could fall off. They use it for displaying artwork and such on certain days of the year now.

The Main Square of Town

No, me and Mechaela don't hate each other, lol. We just wanted to get good views. So we split up to the edges. Right side isn't so good though because the trees aren't trimmed and you get whacked in the face a'lot if you aren't careful enough. So the tour took us around town and then up to a shopping mall. We could have stayed on the bus, but decided to go shopping. So we went into the mall. It was just like any other mall. Except that the prices were even more ridiculously high! We didn't end up buying anything other than a hot chocolate on our way out to catch the next bus. Apparently, though, we had missed out on a part of the tour that was suppose to take us up into the mountains and provide an adult beverage. But oh well. It was still cool.

The city here is absolutely beautiful. Kel kept saying that it looked just like a European city. I can believe it. Just check out the pictures. There were a'lot of different influences in this city though. There was a gorgeous building that had Arabic arches. Unfortunately the photo for that one didn't turn out.

We passed some kids standing by one of the statues in town that were adorable. They were waving and acting all shy because all of the tourists on the bus were taking pictures of the statue and they were obviously in them all. Afterwards we went out to try and find some good clothing stores. We weren't successful that day. It's not easy finding cheap clothes in this city though. Scarves, hats, gloves, blankets, ponchos are pretty reasonably priced. But pants and nice dress sweaters and such are astronomically priced. And forget trying to buy a dress. The dress are typically $80 or more. If you get a dress made, though, then you typically only spend about $30. But it takes about four weeks until its completed.



Kaitlyn's got her bargain face on

So day two is when we actually went out and bought our souvenirs and gifts and such. The girls took us to their favorite shop. It's through a closed off hallway, up two flights of stairs, in a secret room. It was really neat. We spent almost an hour and a half in there. As you can see the place was packed with stuff! So it took quite a bit of sorting to find what we wanted. But it was so much fun!

On Our Way to Cuenca!

On Tuesday the 3rd we made our way to Cuenca to see our girls there! We were slightly nervous, but definitely excited as we headed out. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous. We tried to take some pictures to capture it, but a camera cant hold how amazing it truly is. I did take video as well. So there's a little bit of the on Youtube. We, of course, had to get McDonald's on our way through Guayaquil. It is a requirement. There was talk of Pizza Hut... but McDonald's won out. So we were happily full and on our way. To get to Cuenca we had to travel through a rainforest in the mountains. I kept my window open as long as I possibly could. My ear almost got frostbite it was so cold and wet though. So the window eventually did have to be shut. Going through the mountains is a bit scary in the bus. There are sheer drop offs where there have been mudslides and such. And then on the other side of that, there are towering walls off rock that could fall at any moment. And then there was the fog. Tight winding corners and the bus driver wants to pass a car on a blind curve in the dense fog... It got my adrenaline pumping a few times. But I was the one that wanted to sit in the very front so that I could see everything that was going on, lol. Despite our near-death experiences, it was still worth it to stay up front.
 So we survived the trip to Cuenca! The Cuenca girls met us at the terminal. And we headed to Fabiano's for Italian pizza. They actually import the cheese from Italy. It was amazing! And we met with some brothers and sisters there. Falsto, Jasmin, Anita Munoz. John Lopez and Kah-mei... don't know her last name. lol! They were all very sweet and nice. After the pizza, which was around 8pm, we headed down the street to a Karaoke bar. We all got really into it and had a blast! Kel and Mechaela belted their heart out to "We Are the Champions". And then everyone in the group got up and sang "Dancing Queen". Stefanie sang some Spanish songs that totally blew my mind. The worst was "Ojos Asi" by Shakira. It's so fast!! And there was an attempt at singing "Jenny From the Block" that definitely didn't go too well, lol! But was still super fun to try. Many more songs were sung, since we didn't get out of there until midnight. There is a video of Stefanie and Ariel singing, with a special wave from Kaitlyn.

Los Frailes

Los Frailes is a beach in the national park of Machalilla. It's so gorgeous! The first day we were with Anna, Jenny, Stefania, and Courtz. Carlos was nice enough to give us a ride in. Otherwise we would have had quite a bit of a hike back there. It's about a mile or mile and a half to get back to the beach from the main road. But thankfully Carlos had time to drive us.

So all of us girls hung out on the beach for about an hour. We had been a bit slack and had taken our time getting there. It only stays open 'til about 4pm. There was an exchange of stories. Animal attacks and nasty things you've accidentally eaten... Good times!

Then we headed back to Jenny and Carlos house that they have been working on. After a berry battle in the front yard, Carlos drove us home. And we had a big dinner of alfredo, chicken, and spaghetti. Then later on we watched one of my favorite movies, Despicable Me. "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" The favorite quote that has been used to describe a countless number of things :) Including the pancakes that we ate this morning. Thanks Kel!

The next day we went back. This time we went early enough to go hiking around and see the other beaches. You're not allowed to swim at the other ones. But they were still pretty to hike all around. There was one specially preserved for sea turtles! Didn't get to see any. But it was still neat. We hiked up the top of one hill and there was this beautiful overlook of Machalilla. We could see our house from there! lol. We found quite a few interesting little sea creatures as we were climbing all over the rocks. Some sort of hat/octopus looking thing. I wanted to touch it, but I refrained. And we also saw a sea slug. I took video of it. It looked so cool. Like it had coral growing from its eyeballs.

Then we hiked up to the highest point where there's a little lookout hut. I thought at that point that my lungs were going to shrivel up into nothing and that my legs were going to split in half. I had been in bed sick for a couple of weeks before we did this. So muscle mass was seriously lessened at this point. But I made it to the top and got my picture taken.

Then we had lunch. What did it consist of you ask? Snickers, a couple Ecuador specialty candy bars (kind of gross), Doritos, and animal crackers. The perfect combo to get yourself moving again! After that we hiked all the way back down and spent the rest of the time swimming. Cartwheeling through the water, front hand springs, hugging the waves... yes we did, lol! Don't be jealous. Ended the day with a picnic on the floor of our kitchen. A lantern covered with a red scarf as our fake fire. It's great that we can be so silly and just have fun here.