On the 3rd of Jan I was starting to feel better so I started my trip to Cuenca in Ecuador (country number 2 in South America, country number 7 of the trip). The bus trip to the border was hassle free, then just over the border we entered a town and I was told this is where I was getting my connecting bus to Cuenca, Nothing strange there except I still didn't have my passport stamped for entering Ecuador. I was reassured that this would be done later (well I think I was but I was worried my basic Spanish was letting me down), Then I got on the bus to Cuenca and we headed out of town, I was on the bus about 20 mins and we still hadn't stopped, I was starting to worry quite a lot but then we stopped and I eventually got my entry stamp - what a relief.

Then we continued on the journey, a lot of it was along a bumpy unsurfaced road, we reached a point where there appeared to have been a landslide and had to wait about an hour for the workmen to fix it. Eventually at about 11.30 at night I arrived into Cuenca, almost 12 hours after setting off and not having eaten since I set off!! I got to my hostel, the kitchen was closed but they could offer me some chocolate cake which would have to suffice!!

The next morning I set about trying to sort out some Spanish classes for myself, this was my main reason for coming to Cuenca. I eventually found a school, the first one I went to had moved, I looked for a while but couldn't find it, the second appeared to be closed but finally the third was where it should be, open and could fit me in so I arranged 3 days of classes for the rest of the week!Not very much but all the time I had! I didn't do much else that day, still pretty tired from travelling the day before. Fresh from my positive experience with couch surfing in Peru I arranged to meet a couple of American people who were living in Cuenca. It was nice to meet up with some local(ish) people who could recommend some decent local restaurants and some local drinks for me to try!

The next day I went to one of the (very many) local museums at Banco Central, it was interesting with some nice gardens and a bird house. I did however manage to miss the most interesting part - an indigenous exhibition; I am convinced that it was actually closed.Then I had my Spanish class, met a Danish girl in the hostel and we went for dinner. Then we met up with the Americans and had a couple of drinks! Not too many because the next morning we were getting up early to go to Cajas, a nearby national park, for a nice walk. We did get up early and go and went for what was meant to be a short walk around a small lake, we did however get a little lost and ended up having an even more enjoyable slightly longer walk around a lake and over some hills. All good though! Then back in time for my Spanish class. The following day I visited the local market, tried some interesting Ecuadorian fruit and then returned to the Banco Central museum to see the bit I missed. This is why I am convinced it was closed, there is no way I could have missed the entire exhibition, it was interesting though (although mainly in Spanish and my Spanish hadn't quite developed that far), but they did have a cool display of shrunken heads. After my Spanish class I had considered moving on to Riobamba but decided to stay and have a night out instead. All good fun until I had to get up early
Saturday morning and make my way to Riobamba!