After a calm, relaxing weekend in Vilcabamba, I awoke Monday morning ready to tare myself away from this refuge of chilled out ex-pat hippies and ideal climate (Vilcabamba is a small town in Southern Ecuador that has a huge population of foreigners searching for a different lifestyle). I climbed on a mid morning bus headed for Cuenca, unsure of what to expect but excited to experience a different area of Ecuador. Four hours and two loud American wrestling movies later I arrived in the Cuenca bus terminal and caught a cab to my hostel with the two Australian travelers I had taken the bus with.
Located in the southern half of Ecuador, Cuenca exudes the romantic, quaint feeling I´ve gotten from walking around old cities in Spain. The architecture of the multitude of churches and cathedrals towered over my head as I strolled down the cobble stone streets in search of a coffee shop my first day here. I stopped still in my tracks when I looked up and saw two radiant blue domes socializing with the rain clouds and had to remind myself exactly which country (and which continent) I was standing in. This city seems very proud of its culture and has enough museums to attest it. Yesterday I visited the Museo del Banco Central which houses art exhibits, a display of old coins, and a collection of shrunken heads. Yes, I really mean multiple human heads that have been downsized and sit in glass cases so you can gock and stare at them. It´s actually more fascinating than disgusting. I learned that a tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle would, after capturing an enemy or criminal, decapitate them, take out the insides of the head, fill it with mud and allow the skin to shrink around it. This practice is certainly out side our realm of criminal justice, but I found it very fascinating and the way the museum presented it was with the utmost respect for this dignified culture.
When I first arrived here I was just going to leave the next day; I even bought my departing bus ticket. But last night I had a change of heart and I will be here for one more day. I am finding it to be an ideal place to be right now!
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