October 1-5, 2007
Days 733-737
The couchsurfing group.
I stayed at a hostel in Cuenca for a couple days and hung out with the other backpackers there. The most interesting one was a guy from Milwaukee who had been traveling for the last four years. He joined the Peace Corps after college and got placed in Vanuatu. He got a small living allowance there, but he lived in a bamboo hut with no electricity, so he had no way of spending his money. When his two years were up, the Peace Corps was going to pay for his flight home, but he took the money instead and has been traveling with it ever since, mainly through India, South East Asia, China, and Australia. It seems like he's been everywhere in the world, but he doesn't see settling down in Milwaukee anywhere in his near future.
Eventually I got in touch with Roy again. He, a Turkish Couchsurfer named Alper, and I hung out around Cuenca together for a few days. I needed a lot of time to work on my blog and photos after the Galapagos, so I didn't do anything too exciting. However, the three of us did get to go a great jazz concert, to a fireworks show kicking off a month of celebrations in Cuenca, and swimming in an Olympic pool. I enjoyed taking it easy and felt like I got to know Cuenca pretty well. It's a nice city that's starting to grow on me.
The photo album for this entry is here.
