After Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, we wanted to skip over Peru and head to Ecuador. We have plans to do some big hikes in Peru, but wanted to leave them until later after the worst of the rainy season. In-country flights in South America are relatively cheap, but as soon as you start crossing borders the price rises quickly. So to save some money, we bussed just across the border to Juliaca Peru, caught a flight to Lima, then another flight the next morning to Tumbes in northern Peru before walking across the border into Ecuador. We then jumped on two more busses to make our way to Cuenca Ecuador. We had lunch in Copacabana Bolivia and three bus trips, three taxi rides, two flights, two border crossings and thirty six hours later we had a late night drink in Cuenca.
We had signed up for another week of Spanish lessons in Cuenca. Unfortunately, unlike our teacher in Chile, our Cuenca instructor left a lot to be desired, and the lessons were a waste of time and money. On the other hand, we had a great homestay arranged through the language school and really enjoyed staying with Elena in her lovely home overlooking the city. She pampered us during our time there and was very good at engaging us in conversations in clear and slowly spoken Spanish.
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| View over Cuenca from our homestay at Elena's. |
