Postcards The incredible adventures of Madame Putrid and Rotten

Not much to write about as these are lazy days now.  After ambling along the coast of Ecuador, Puerta Lopez and Montañita, soaking up the sun and surf, drinking too much 1.50 a bottle rum (aye aye aye, never again) and eating too many set almuerzos of rice and chicken, soup and cordial, I now find myself in Cuenca.  Cuenca is the friendliest of towns, picture perfect, pretty safe, muy tranquillo and close to Caja national park and the thermal baños suburb in which I have only moments ago returned from, ahhh. Its a good place to practice spanish as people are happy to chat away to you, give you a lift, with much pride in their town and rightfully so.  Dave is teaching me a little spanish as we have a session each day reading Condorita, a quirky comic about a sleazy condor (the symbol of ecuador) who is always falling for beautiful cartoon babes and almost always inevitably ends in someone falling off their chair and a ¨PLOP¨.  I am staying in a cheap hostel with a kitchen and have obligingly been to dinner with a peruvian drug dealer and his friend/girlfriend? and cooked dinner last night for the first time since I can remember... fresh healthy vegetarian food - bliss! Tomorrow I am heading off to Cajas national park and then will probably move onto another town further north, also called ¨Banos¨ where there are more thermal baths, mountains to hike, cheap spanish lessons and more.  Hasta Luego, Adios!