Day 4 in Cuenca 01.02.2023

Today unfortunately was the last day in Cuenca. I have to admit that I really love this city because of its manageable size, cleanliness, beautiful colonial architecture, and above all, the friendliness of its residents.

In the morning, we enjoyed the friendly attention of our hostel owner, Franco, with wonderful cappuccinos and a varied, delicious breakfast. Unfortunately, Pauline couldn't have breakfast with us because she had to hand over her room and the house to Jackie. After checking out of the hostel, we asked Franco if we could leave Pauline's and our luggage until evening. It was natural for Franco, and since our room was supposed to be vacant that day, we were able to leave it in the room. We could keep the key for that time as well. Unfortunately, this generosity is not always so obvious, I found it great again.

Pauline wanted to arrive with her luggage at around 11:00 a.m., so we still had time and went to the center of Cuenca. We visited the cathedral and climbed the cathedral tower to see the city. So we were right next to the blue domes. The view was good too, although not as overwhelming as from Turi. Then we went back to the hostel, where Pauline appeared shortly afterwards. We deposited her suitcase and bags in our room and then went into the city together. She wanted to show us her place of residence today, San Joaquín, the bus ride to the museum, and the museum itself. When the bus to San Joaquín arrived, it was very crowded, so we had to stand at first. After about 10 minutes, we all got a seat. The ride was bumpy, going over bumps at full speed. We also passed by Feria Liebre, but stayed on the bus. On the way, another couple got on, but this time they were campaigners for the mayoral election. The man gave a 5-minute monologue and the woman distributed campaign flyers. We got off at the final stop and arrived at Volunta's shared house after 3 minutes. We admired the view of the mountains and Pauline said goodbye to the neighbor's dogs. Then we returned to the bus and drove for about 1 hour to the other end of the city to the Pumapungo Museum, Pauline's daily commute. After a 10-minute walk, we arrived at the museum. After the reception, Pauline showed us the inner part, with the interesting exhibition about Ecuador's indigenous people. We learned a lot about the different tribes and their way of life in the Andes, Amazon, and other parts of Ecuador. Then we met Theresa and Alfred, who also wanted to visit the museum as Theresa had worked there for a while. Then we went to the outdoor area, where we first visited old ruins, then the alpaca park and the bird area with many parrots. Then we continued to the flower and herb garden, where Pauline had also spent a longer work assignment during her volunteering time. After about 2 hours, we had to leave because we had planned a farewell dinner at La Cigale. By now, we had our regular spot in the courtyard and enjoyed cocktails and delicious food again. Theresa and Alfred came by around 6:30 p.m., and we chatted a bit more. Then we had to leave because we wanted to catch the 8:00 p.m. shuttle to Guayaquil. So we said goodbye to Theresa and Alfred, picked up our luggage from the hostel, and then took a taxi to the terminal. There was a lot of traffic again, and it started to rain. Anne started to panic that we might not make it, and I started to think about plan B, but we arrived around quarter to 8:00 p.m. I gave the taxi driver 5 dollars, which he was very happy about, and then we got on the back seat of our shuttle van. The journey was supposed to take about 4 hours and cost 12 dollars per person. We discussed with the driver that he should take us to the airport in Guayaquil. There were two more people in the shuttle besides us.

At 8:15 p.m., the trip started in pouring rain. We quickly left the suburbs of Cuenca and headed into the Andes. The visibility got worse due to rain and fog. Regardless, the driver was confident and joyfully overtook long, brightly lit truck convoys in blind curves. I decided to look out the side window instead of the front. I thought I saw Anne praying, but I wasn't sure. She was still staring straight ahead, almost like a co-driver. Besides driving, the driver also had to deal with his phone. Pauline was already asleep. Since I couldn't see much from the side, I started listening to an audiobook and closed my eyes. Our fellow passengers seemed to be sleeping too. After a while, I opened my eyes again and saw large boulders on the road that the driver skillfully avoided before a truck came from the other lane. Anne still looked amazed towards the front. When I looked to the side, I felt like I was sitting in an airplane and seeing lights miles below me. We must have been at an altitude of over 5000 meters. The rain had stopped by now, but it had gotten colder. I put on my jacket and dozed off. After about 2 hours, we took a break at a rest stop. I stretched my legs and looked from our second Andean pass down to the coast.

Then the journey went downhill and was just as fast-paced as before, with overtaking in the curves. But everything went well, and the brakes seemed to work too. I dozed off a bit, but suddenly I noticed that it was getting very warm. I opened my eyes and saw that we had arrived in the lowlands. Here, the temperatures were much higher than just a short while ago in the Andes. So, I took off my layers of clothing again. Shortly before Guayaquil, the road was closed by the military, and we had to take a detour. In the distance, we saw a thick cloud of smoke, and Anne said she understood that there had been an explosion at the airport. I couldn't believe it, as the airport was still far away. However, there was a state of emergency and a curfew in that area. But the driver didn't seem worried and continued driving. Then we arrived in Guayaquil and stopped at a gas station on a major road. One of our fellow passengers got off here. Then we continued to the airport, where we arrived at around 12:30 a.m. We got off, took our luggage, and said goodbye to the driver. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 4:25 a.m., so we still had plenty of time.