Today we spent doing laundry and repacking our bags. Tomorrow morning we fly to Cuenca.  Cuenca is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is located in the highlands of south central Ecuador at about 2,500 meters (8202 feet) above sea level, with an urban population of approximately 400,000. The city center is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site due to its many historical buildings. We are scheduled to stay for 3 nights.

For our “down day” we only hiked 5 miles. We decided to skip the bus and walk to the Lizarran, my favorite Ecuadorian Spanish Tapas Restaurant. We have put on a few miles so far this trip. Tod has been keeping track of the steps and converting to miles to let me know how we are doing. All of our trekking is together so our miles are the same distance other than the day I was completely down with altitude sickness. So far we have a total of 60 walking miles (all uphill it seems) for an average of 5.5 miles a day! Not too bad considering one day was travel to get to Ecuador and one day I was in bed most of the day.

In Ecuador most homes have gas hot water and a gas stove. (I love our little gas stove, it reminds me of camping, you even have to light the burners each time you use it). The Gas man drives around usually in the morning and honks the horn. Then circles the block so if you want or need gas you go outside and open your gate and then he stops. We asked Sandra “What if you are not home or you just miss him?” She misunderstood me and said “Oh I have extra tanks I don’t run out”. We finally made ourselves clear that we were not asking about her specifically but just in general what if people work during the day. She said that you just arrange with the security guard and he will take care of it for you. We met the guard the first night here, he came up to the car and got Sandra’s keys and unlocked the gate so we could just drive in. Of course Tod and I had to get out anyway because the space is so small inside the parking area but it was sort of sweet and made us feel safe knowing he was there guarding our house.  The photos below are of the outside of our flat, the security guard shack (they are all over the residential areas), and the gas man.

While the Gasman was connecting our new tank, a broom man walked by. I am not sure if he was walking the neighborhood selling brooms or bringing them to one of the mini markets to sell but whatever the case it was an unusual sight.