A week in Cuenca

We are coming up on one week in the next city, Cuenca. It is known for it's markets, churches, history, architecture, safety, and kind people. We have experienced every aspect and more of these elements!

We took our last Spanish class today and had a small party at the school tonight. The class was a trip highlight. It consisted of 4 hours per day using Spanish immersion, meaning only Spanish was used. Each afternoon, there was an optional one hour additional class with activities including a cooking class, salsa dancing class, cocktail making class, a city tour, and a language exchange. We took full advantage of the opportunities and went to each one! Sam came into this trip having taken Spanish classes for 7 months. He has really applied those skills and impressed me. I can understand more than I can speak but I have definitely improved as well.

There are a few convents in the city where nuns are sequestered for their entire lives. They make products to sell including wine, bread, soaps, creams, shampoos, etc. During certain hours of the day, they are “open” to sell products. Through a revolving door, you can ring a bell, ask for your desired product, place your money, and rotate the door. A few minutes later, the product comes through on the revolving door. We witnessed it happen today and would like to buy some wine from them this weekend! In a rare occurance, we were there when one of the sisters was being visited by her family. The family was bringing in about 6 rotisserie chickens (nuns gotta eat too!) and the door opened while I was standing there, revealing the nun (who is completely sequestered and is not visible to the public). She smirked at me, bowed her head, and closed the door.

I read an article a few weeks ago that mentioned having a mental win, a physical win, and a spiritual win everyday. I've used this mindset this week as I've been searching for “structure” in quite possibly the least structured thing I have done in my life. And it's helped and grounded me. Mental wins this week: 20 hours of Spanish classes. Physical wins: going on runs, bike riding, walking everywhere. Spiritual wins: yoga, journaling, time in nature, and the smirk from the nun.

Time is going by so fast. On Tuesday, we head to the next city where we will fly to the Galapogos Islands! Which is sort of the last “leg” of the South America portion of our trip. We're going to stock up on sunscreen and island vibes as we head out. Thanks for reading :)