Cuenca

After an hour and a half of packing we embarked on our one week adventure to the Sierra; first stop, Cuenca. An uneventful 5 hour bus ride left us tired and hungry (although we did miss out on $.50 pineapples). Upon arrival we decided to walk from the Terminal Terrestre to the center of town, no small feat. About half way there, and looking like the tourists we are (envision huge green rucksack towering above my head) a Cuencan with a friendly smile asked us where we were headed. We struck up a conversation, me doing most of the talking with Lizz´s interjected ¨¡Si!¨and ¨¡Que bonito!¨ He gave us the grand tour, pointing out banks, churches, telephone cabinas and the local gradeschool as well as the building that his rich relatives own (he was a self-described ¨pobre¨). Finally leading us to the main square and afterwards to a hostel that he highly recommended we said our fairwells. After checking in at the Hostel ¨La Monastería¨we headed down the block to eat dinner, Chinese of all things! A delicious meal of chicken fried rice and Jugo de Piña was more than enough to fill us up. We took the rest to go and gave it to a delighted mother and daughter who approached us asking for ¨comidita.¨ Now we´re off to bed early tonight so we can get up and head to the Incan ruins of Ingapirca in the morning.