It’s time for another quick travel update. The last time I updated you all about my travel situation was just over a month ago, when I just arrived in Ecuador from Paraguay. A few days after that post I uploaded a video from Puerto López and Machalilla National Park.
Since then, we have been staying in the beautiful city of Cuenca, the third biggest city in Ecuador that is packed full of culture and history (and retired North Americans!). I have really enjoyed my stay here. The temperature is perfect here and everywhere you turn there is a church or plaza. They use the US Dollar here too…which saves my little brain from getting sore from doing currency conversions.
I have been attempting to improve my Spanish since I first came to South America in August 2011. In the first few months I was very pro-active about the issue. I read lots of books and downloaded lots of Spanish learning applications. Along the way, I kind of stopped putting any effort in. It was difficult to work so much and find the time to learn. My Spanish has improved since I first came here, due to spending so much time here, however I wanted to improve. Therefore, when I arrived in Cuenca I enrolled at a Spanish School.
Today was my last day at the school. After 4 weeks at the school, I feel like I have improved a lot. I didn’t learn anything new per say; I already knew all the rules etc. However, the teacher was able to fix a few bad habits I had picked up and explain some of the rules better than any book could. I need to make a concious effort to continue to read and speak more in Spanish.
I have spoke before about our photographing habits. When we are somewhere for a few days or less, we make a point of taking lots of photos. it’s a different story when we are staying somewhere longer. In the last month, we had taken about 10 pictures here, despite having so many opportunities to address that.
On Saturday morning we are leaving Cuenca, therefore we spent a few hours today browsing around some churches, museums and the city bus tour (the quickest/laziest way to see a city).
Tomorrow, we are hopefully going to visit Cajas National Park. Then on Saturday we are heading to Baños for a few days.
After Baños we are going to go to Quito and then onto Cali in Colombia. Then we are heading back to Bogotá, which is where we will probably be before heading back to Scotland (…although I do hope to take in a few other Colombian cities before heading back to the Sunshine of Scotland!).
If I get a chance, I will take a video for you guys along the way. I am keen to continue with my podcast too, though it could prove difficult whilst on the road due to connection speeds etc. I suppose I could always do a 30-40 minute recording myself if there is a demand for it, so let me know if there is something you want me to tackle and I will make a point of speaking about it in my next podcasts.
Thanks for reading,
Kevin