Cuenca & Coffee Tree

Ali and I are now in the city of Vilcabamba, also known as the "Land of Longevity" ... supposedly people live to 130 years old, but I think it's a lie. We left the city of Cuenca a few days ago and have spent way too much time on buses to get here. I do not handle long bus rides well because of motion sickness. I can't read or occupy my time with anything so I just sit and look out the window the entire time. Tonight Ali asked me what in the world I think about for 5-9 hours straight ... and honestly I really don't know. But this time the bus ride served as a great time for prayer and appreciating how incredibly beautiful the mountains of Ecuador are that we were driving through for five hours.

Our time in Cuenca was so relaxing. We arrived at our hostel on Wednesday and as we walked down the street to begin exploring the city that first day, we only made it down one block when we came across Coffee Tree. You guys, this was the real deal. A coffee shop that actually had coffee! Unlike "CoffeeNet" which didn't actually contain anything slightly related to coffee, this place had every type of coffee imaginable and had free wifi. Ali and I sat down that first afternoon and as we drank our coffee, we couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was to find a real coffee shop in Ecuador. They really knew how to cater to foreigners because they even had a bathroom with free toilet paper that you could use. Yep, it's true. Almost all bathrooms in Ecuador do not have toilet paper, or you have to buy a tiny piece of it for 15 cents from a lady standing out front. So the Coffee Tree bathroom was pretty luxurious.

Cuenca was such a different city from anything we've ever seen in Ecuador so far. It is very colonial, and very touristy. But it was calm, full of good food, and beautiful! Some areas were so fancy I felt like I was in Europe. Such a different side of Ecuador for me.

We introduced the concept of an ice cream sandwich to Ecuador. It caused much confusion and took lots of explaining, yes we want the ice cream in between the cookies ... and yes, another cookie on top ... but they made it work and we were happy.

We walked past a fancy hotel that said something about being a mansion of angels or something, so we were intrigued and went inside. The manager let us explore the building and the gardens outside. It was absolutely beautiful and the fanciest place I have ever seen in Ecuador. I felt so out of place walkin in there with my grungy clothes and Ali's crazy hair (just kidding Ali, you know I love your hair).