I don't really know what to say about Cuenca. The air is fresh and there are birds out our window. When we walk around town it's like we never even left home. At first when we arrived in Quito it was scary because it was all new. But now nothing much has really changed. But everything is different like there is a lot more poverty living beside me but I'm not in it.

Spanish class is fun. Our teacher is really smart and she is telling Liam and me about Ecuador. It's really different from San Francisco. It's more conservative and mostly Catholic. One of the people who is taking spanish class is named Dean. He's really funny and is always talking about being "cortez". When he's in the room everyone laughs. Dean is 78.

On Sunday we went on a really long hike with a hiking group called Sanguay. It was fun but I got so tired on the hills I felt like giving up. In my head I was being melodramatic and thinking that this was true pain. But when we got to the top it was a huge relief. There were a lot of beautiful butterflies and nice flowers. On the way back down a woman fell and probably broke her ankle. It must have been really embarrassing. She was wearing little pink socks with cows on them.


Ailish
photos by Liam