Day 31: Saturday 22 May – Getting to Cuenca

Today I can get up later than normal. I don’t have to go to the office: I’m taking the bus to Cuenca. I take it easy in the morning. I have some bread rolls for breakfast and read a little of Coelho. I’m waiting for the girls to get up, to say goodbye and ask for some details of taxi rides to the bus station, but it takes too long, so I go to the hairdresser first. I was getting comments that I look old with my hair and it was getting unmanageable, so time to get a fresh cut. The quality of the cut is not that good, but when I put my hair in I-just-woke-up style, like I always do, nobody will notice.

Back at the house, 2 out of 3 girls are already off to work. I pack the last things and grab a taxi to the bus terminal: a huge, relatively new, complex with busses leaving from 3 floors. First I call Sarah about the direction to the hotel, and then I take the first bus company I encounter for a ticket to Cuenca. Without comparing or checking the real price. Only later I find out I was overcharged by $2,-.

I move myself to the second floor, from where the inter-regional busses leave and buy some bread on the way. I head on to the platform (way too early) and wait with a coffee and a newspaper in my hand. The other passengers waiting are very nice, checking my ticket to see if I got the right bus and so on. The bus ride itself was long and uncomfortable. The chairs in these busses are made for people of 1m. 60, not for tall Dutch guys, so the head rest is sticking into my shoulders and it’s hard to keep a straight back while sitting. Half way, there is some work being done on the road and we have to wait for the other side to pass for about 45 minutes. Making the trip eventually about 6 hours long, instead of 4,5.

Finally in Cuenca I call Maguy for the exact address, because the one I got was not entirely correct. A few seconds later Riwal calls me to tell me the same info. I grab a taxi to the hotel and when I arrive I see three of my French friends looking down from the balcony. A happy welcome in a very friendly hotel (El Capitolio). 2 others are in a separate room. We go for a walk through the city with its churches and cathedrals lit by spotlights and go for a dinner in a small restaurant with a simple rice-vegetables and patacones.

Then we ditch our cameras in the hotel and head out for a drink. Again the altitude gives extra power to the two beers I drink and it almost gets me drunk. We hang at the bar for a while and then head back to the hotel. But for some reason, I have difficulty sleeping here.