Today is our last day in Cuenca, tomorrow we fly to Quito and then Chicago. I hear a little voice in my head saying, ¨"What, no more Ecuador, no more Latin America??" at the same time as I anticipate with pleasure seeing my family and friends at home. We've truly had a grand adventure. I can't count how many times we've been asked if we were traveling with a guide with an astonished response when people realize we are navigating on our own.
Yesterday morning we set off to see 3 neighboring villages that were reputed to have find artisans and craft markets. After some confusion in the first town, we were told they really didn´t have a market. On to a town reputed for it's silver work. Again a disappointment so we skipped the 3rd town and got a cab ride back to Cuenca. The cab driver talked all the way, pointing out an area devastated by a landslide caused by careless mining at the base of a mountain while people lived above where they were mining. He was most interesting, giving us a mini-class on the environment, the state of the current government and more.
In the afternoon, we were graced with a visit from Sylvia Kaufman, the current Peace Corps volunteer in my site of La Cruz, Tumbes. She traveled by bus for 7 hours to spend the evening with us and then headed back at 7 this morning. Sylvia and I had been introduced by e-mail but had never met face to face so it was just wonderful to have this time with her. We took her to dinner at a place that had Indian food and shared vegetable curries, garlic nan, spicy potatoes and ravioli. International dinner followed by wonderful ice cream. Then we took a cab ride to a place where we could have an overview of this city of 400,000 at night. Sylvia and I stayed up almost to midnight sharing stories and then we saw her off on a very early bus. We all were delighted to meet her, hear about her life and relish her enthusiasm, creativity and energy.
Today, Phyllis had quite a few things she wanted to do in Cuenca so she traveled through the city by herself. Helen and I wandered at a slower pace, found a yarn shop so I have a project for the plane ride home, watched a metal worker make his beautiful tin work and made some purchases from him, and I took a much needed nap. We sat for some time in the beautiful sculpture garden of the museum of modern art nearby. The garden was a peaceful oasis from the traffic, busses, exhaust and noise of the streets. We watched a very large dark green hummingbird flit from tree to tree.
We've been the recipients of much wonderful hospitality and had many magic moments throughout this trip. Being robbed at the bus station was simply a reminder to stay awake and alert as well as motivation to go back to keeping my money in my bra AKA Peace Corps days. We've stayed in great places, enjoyed each other's company, stayed in good health and traveled safe even through mountain roads and fog.
I feel most grateful for this whole journey.
Sara
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