Cuenca

Hola NZ,

Just a wee post to let everyone know we are still alive! We have been in Cuenca for two weeks learning español and have two weeks to go.  We have been living with a lovely Ecuadorian family who are feeding us up on amazing soup.  Cuenca is a pretty cool safe city thats way richer than Quito with heaps of American expats and tourists. The traffic is insane and the car alarms wake you up at all hours.  We are starting to think this alarm may well be the national anthem. Hm...
 Most people think we are americans and its a rarity to find someone who knows where NZ is and doesnt think its attached to Australia or in Europe!

It has been a bit of downer after Quito as the español learning is really full on and we havent met as many people yet.

But weve had a couple of great trips...One to Cajas Nacional Parque, a bizarre beautiful place at 4000m high with hundreds of lakes.  Tramping here was insanely difficult, with such thin air its impossible to get a proper breath full.   Weve met a bilingual parrot, and visited a wee market village today where we bought authentic panama-but originally Ecuadorian- hats.

photos to follow soon...