I´m in Cuenca!

My last week at La Hesperia went fairly well. I didn´t spend as much time with the kids this time because I was busy getting one of the new volunteers ready to take over the garden next week. Thursday afternoon Alexandra came to the garden for the first time in about six months (the steps down are very steep, so she avoided it when pregnant) and started making plans and giving directions. It was a little frustrating to have her finally get involved again on my last work day, but also good to see that things there are getting back on track after a few months of volunteer guess work. On my last actual day, I did a waterfall hike with a few other volunteers, which was very fun and very wet.

I spent Saturday wandering around Quito´s old town, then took an incredible bus ride through the Andes from Quito to Cuenca on Sunday. The scenery was, of course, amazing, but also, Sunday is market day in a lot of towns, so the streets were flooded with indigenous men and women in their colorful shawls and skirts and ponchos. For a while on the bus I sat next to a woman in a bright green skirt and bright pink sweater with two bright blue shawls holding her baby on her back.

Now I´m in Cuenca. I´ve done two days of Spanish classes and I think they will be worth it. My teacher, Carmita, is really good and nice and has a lot of suggestions for things to do in the area. Apparently, there is a big Inca festival in a few weeks that is only celebrated in Cuzco, near Macchu Piccu, and in Cañari, which is about an hour away from here and very close to Ingapirca, Ecuador´s big Inca site. She said that indigenous people from all over the country come to Cañari for three days of celebration, so hopefully I´ll be able to go. This week is Corpus Christi, which is a big deal here. There are fireworks everynight and the streets around the main plaza and cathedral are lined with stalls selling sweets. I went last night with my two host sisters. My family is very very nice, but I am of course very quiet and awkward at all times. The mother´s name is something like Katy, but Spanish. The two daughters are Marie Elisa and Angelica. They are both in college, but I´m not sure exactly how old they are. There are also two sons, Eduardo and Carlos. I´m staying in one of their rooms, but I haven´t yet figured out where either of them sleep. I haven´t seen them as much as the girls. I have breakfast with them in the morning, then class from 9-1, then back home for lunch, then I´m on my own the rest of the day and evening.

Also, I put up some new pictures.