Eric and I left Salaska on Saturday morning. It was a sad departure as we had formed some great relationships with the kids and other volunteers. Hopefully someday our adventures will take us back to Salasaka. We've already invited plenty of people to visit us in Austin and have invited ourselves to friends' couches all over the world.
On Friday night a group of six of us hopped a bus to Baños for dinner and caught a camioneta (the back of a pickup truck) back to Salasaka. There were already some Ecuadorian teens in the truck as well, so we had a sardine-packed but hilarious ride back to Salasaka with them. One even serenaded us to REM's "Losing My Religion," one of the songs he knew in English. Of course, we all joined in.
On Saturday we packed up and caught a bus to Ambato, hopped off on a corner, crossed the street and caught another bus to Riobamba, about an hour and a half away. We had hoped to catch a train over a section of tracked called Nariz del Diablo (The Devil's Nose), which is supposed to be a crazy ride, but it's closed until February. So instead we crashed there for the night, and caught a mid-day bus to Cuenca where we are currently.
We went to two museums this morning, had lunch, and then just walked around town--by the river and to the main plaza. Cuenca is a huge city now, but at it's center is impressive Spanish Colonial architecture.
We'll head out tomorrow for Lojas, which is supposed to be a beautiful town with hot bathes. From there we'll make our way back into Peru. Two weeks and lots to do still! I have a feeling we won't have great access to internet when we're crossing back into Peru, so I don't know if I'll update again this week (but I've been wrong about that before).
Until then, hope everyone is well and that those of you in the midwest are enjoying the snow!!
