Lifestyle of Wandering: Reflections of a Wanderer

I know, I haven´t posted much recently…I´ve been goofing off, which is the point of being here, right? I can´t stay on long, because I am going to an indigenous village near here from this morning until tomorrow morning. Plus, I´m at an internet place, not on my own computer. So I´ll try to figure out how to use this Spanish keyboard well enough to update everyone.

I´ve been in Cuenca, Ecuador since last Sunday at 12:30 in the morning when the bus rolled in. I can´t remember if I mentioned in my last blog that I´ve been staying at the Hostal Macondo, which is a beautiful hideaway in the heart of “al centro”. If you remember, I was going to stay here just a couple days and then head for Peru since my rainforest plans fell through (I WILL be back here next year if the Lord tarries and allows)…but when I spoke to the airline, they told me that because of the type of ticket I have, I couldn´t change my flight. OK, so the best laid plans of mice and men (and women) sometimes fail…

Plan B. There are always Plan B´s when you’re vacationing in South America. There’s too much to do to get frustrated when your plans fall through…So When the airline said I couldn’t change my flight, I decided to stay in Cuenca for the week and do Spanish classes here…which are very inexpensive…and be a tourist. I have to be in Quito Sunday night, because I have to catch my flight to Lima EARLY Monday morning. (That’s the segment that I wanted to skip- Quito to Lima.)

So a quick update on my 6 days here… On Sunday, Mother´s Day, I walked around the old part of Cuenca. Cuenca is a beautiful city, and it is one I could move to in a heartbeat…in God´s timing. Which reminds me, I’ve talked to several people who don’t think I’m coming back. I wanted to confirm that I AM coming back. If for no other reason than that God has called me to the place of ministry that Í’m in at Valley Word, and until I’m released from there, I won’t be MOVING anywhere. I can still WANT to move though…

Back to Cuenca. I’ve uploaded plenty of pictures from around the old city. I started Spanish classes on Monday, and am now armed with enough Spanish to be dangerous! I can at least understand a lot more than before! I met another solo woman traveler at the hostel on Tuesday. Her name is Brenda, and she’s from Seattle, Washington. We’ve hung out and walked around Cuenca quite a bit. Yesterday we met another lady at the hostal, Kappa from Hickory, NC. She’d just graduated from UNC, Chapel Hill on Sunday and hopped on a plane Monday morning to come here. So the three of us did more sightseeing yesterday.

We also went to the suburb called Baños, not to be confused with the Baños where I stayed for 4 nights. They did however have a thermal fed pool and a Turkish bath at the one hotel…$5.50 for the day. It was wonderful, and the setting with the mountains around us was perfect. We soaked in the naturally hot, mineral rich water for a long time.

Our taxi ride back to Al Centro was definitly interesting. I think I´ve mentioned the driving here…Picture doing 50mph in downtown Roanoke (or whatever town you live in). Remember, traffic lights and stop signs here are just mild suggestions. And he who has a louder horn and is daring enough to face head on traffic to pass 3 vehicles on a blind curve gets there first! Yeah, anyway…It was an experience.

Then we finished the day with a 1/2 meter of pizza (Yes, they sell pizza by the meter at one of the local places here. It was REALLY good.) and ice cream from the local ice cream store that would remind you of a Baskin Robbins back home.

So anyway, I’m getting ready to head to this indigenous village for 24 hours (for not much more than the normal cost of a hostal and food.). We get to learn about their customs and rituals, find out about the medicinal plants they use, hike in the forest, ride a horse, eat comida tipico (typical indigenous food) AND we get to slow roast our own Cuy (guinea pig) tonight! We’ll sleep there, eat breakfast in the morning, and then come back to Cuenca in time for me to do a little work and catch my bus to Quito.

Well, my time is up…have to catch another taxi to get to where I leave from (another adventure in itself). I haven’t had time to proofread this post like I normally would, so I hope there aren’t any typos. There are extra keys, and keys in weird places on this keyboard, so….

I give my love to all. I’ll be home in a week from tonight!