I had woken up early after spending the night in the expensive, hot & noisy room in Guayaquil, so there was no need to hang around! I took a cold shower, got my things together and walked to the bus terminal (which of course, I had stumbled across the day before during my insane wanderings!) I found the ticket desks and within minutes, I'd bought a ticket, made it up to the second floor of the terminal and had boarded the bus! Perfect timing, in four hours I would be in Cuenca! 5½ hours later, I finally arrived, in a less amiable mood! Well, in my book, a spade is a spade, so if it is going to be a longer journey, just tell me! It didn't help that after 3 hours, the bus was completely full and the guy stood in the aisle next to me thought it was acceptable to lean on me. Not just my seat, on ME, and no amount of huffing and puffing and jerking of my chair made any difference!
It was good to get off the bus in Cuenca and of course, I did my usual trick of walking straight out of the terminal, avoiding the taxis and touts! I took out my GPS so I knew which way was north, and thus I set off in a westerly direction. I was off my map and so had to wing it at first, but soon I was on the right street and found the hostel I was looking for. It was a bargain, just $5 a night and after an easy check-in, I went out looking for Spanish schools! It was only after I left the hostel that I spotted the one I shoould have checked into across the square... I meant to go to Hostal Norte, but I'd seen Hostal Estrella del Norte first and went there! Well, the "Estrella Del" part was in miniscule letters! Oh well, the right one looked much nicer, but probably more expensive, so I'd be better off in the wrong one after all!
The lady in the Tourist Information centre was really helpful and gave me a list of all the recommended Spanish schools in Cuenca. They were a little more expensive than I had anticipated, but I went along to Simon Bolivar Spanish School, as their Quito branch had been highly recommended. To study individually, it was going to be 60% more than I had budgetted for, but they were running a promotion whereby it was half price for lessons for 2 people, making it 40% less!!! However, it would all depend on another guy sharing with me and he would only be in Cuenca on Saturday, so until then, I was unable to book anything!
I then had some time to kill, so I thought I had better check the damage to my bank account after my Galápagos trip! To my absolute amazement, I was considerably better off than expected and so I decided that I would return to the school the next day and book the individual lessons and treat myself! Well, the school also offered free internet and free salsa lessons as well! I then had a lazy afternoon wandering around Cuenca, I instantly liked the town and I also found a lovely hostel to move to for the rest of the week. That evening, I had a great chicken kebab and corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor and felt really quite good about the week ahead!
The New Cathedral
On Saturday, I headed back to the school to organise my lessons, but it was closed. Oh dear... well of course, it was the weekend, but Pamela (the girl I'd spoken to) never mentioned that! I had a few hours to kill before I could move hostels, so I started the mammoth task of uploading my Galápagos photos, before collecting my bags. The hostal had been fine, a bit on the shabby side, but I think it may have doubled as a brothel as well! There were some interesting noises coming from the adjacent room and there was a random guy hanging around in the lobby, outside the door - must have been the pimp, and all at 11.30am! It was good to move to Posada del Rio, an absolutely lovely little place with friendly staff and a nice, cheap dorm! There I met Scott (USA) and spent the remainder of the day bending his ear (no change there then) and fretting about my Spanish lessons as the school didn't open that afternoon either! How was I supposed to start first thing on Monday morning???
Sundays in Cuenca are completely dead, so I stocked up on food the night before from the nearby supermarket and decided to use the free time to finish uploading my photos. Luckily, I had received an email from Pamela saying that I could come along to the school on Monday afternoon to register and start classes, so that was a load off my mind! It then took four hours to get all the photos onto my Flickr page AND I had found a computer with a DVD burner that I was able to use myself! Fantastic, as I would now be able to back up all my photos from February onwards!! Not fantastic, I would have to return later in the week and spend several more hours doing that! Once back at the hostel that afternoon, I was shattered and took it easy. A new girl, Anh (Germany), had checked into the dorm. I was supposed to be cooking dinner that night, but I spent the next few hours bending her ear instead!
On Monday began a week of studying, eating, wandering, relaxing and having a genuinely great time! I'd had a bowl of granola (the same as on the Darwin!) for breakfast, but I joined Anh and James (USA) at a German bakery. Of course, I had to have a danish pastry, it would have been rude not to! We then headed to Bananas Cafe next door to the hostel, where everyone who stays there tends to hang out! James and Scott have been helping the lovely ladies there to develop their menu, and so I had my third breakfast of the morning!!! I then got ready for the rest of the day, and headed to the school to register and begin my lessons!
My first lesson went well and my teacher, Mery, was lovely. I had ideally wanted to study in the mornings, but I'd enjoyed the class and decided to stick with her in the afternoons. However, after a little confusion as to whether or not that would be possible, it transpired that Mery also teaches privately. In order for her to continue with me in the afternoons, she would have to come into the school and be paid much less and it would also be costing me much more that way as well. Unfortunately, our hands were tied! If only I had known about her before I had committed to 20 hours at the school - and she even had adverts in my hostel that I hadn't noticed!
Tuesday was another lovely day, and the sun was out! Cuenca is one of Ecuador's rainiest places and so far, I had been lucky for it just to have been mainly overcast. James, Anh and I headed to the main square (which is my favourite in all of South America so far) to take an open-topped bus tour of the city. Unfortunately, all the top deck seats had been reserved and so we decided to go the next day instead, rather than be sat on the bottom deck inside the bus! That gave Anh and I some time to kill before my class. We headed to the main market and then treated ourself to lunch in an Indian restaurant. I had a chicken madras with rice and a naan, washed down with a Pepsi, all for only $5.55!!! That night, back at the hostel, I met up with Scott and Anh and we went out for sushi! A beautiful friendship was forming between Anh and myself, but it was starting to become expensive!
Parque Calderon
Anyway, we all had an absolutely lovely evening! I tried Norimake (I think) which is raw tuna wrapped in rice and seaweed. I have to be honest, the first bite was squishy and a bit tasteless, although it was reminiscent of Grimsby docks! However, which each bit it grew on me, especially after a liberal dunking in soy and wasabi with a piece of ginger on top! I had been wanting to try sushi for a long time and so it was good to finally do it and, as Anh assured me, in a good restaurant! That was enough splurging for one day, but then Scott asked to see the dessert menu... oh dear, I had soon comitted to a chocolate volcano and vanilla ice cream! Yikes, I had only take out a $10 note (thinking that would be more than enough) and I had accounted for most of it! In fairness, although an expensive meal by my usual backpacking standards, it was still very cheap compared to the UK and it was worth it! We did get a bit of a shock though when the bill arrived - we expected to tip but they had added on a staggering 22% for tax and service! My $10 bill was no longer adequate!
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