We have noticed more potential pick pockets and trouble makers in Cuenca. We heard from one couple that they got mugged in Quito in a "friendly way" - they approached a greenery covered fence/wall and noticed people behind it. Suddenly they got squinted with what turned out to be mustard. Some passersby on the sidewalk started cleaning them off and proceeded to pick pocket them of their phones and wallets. Stories of this "distraction" method of mugging are more common than anything violent , that we heard of anyway. Still there have been more times in Cuenca when my spider sense was tingling than anywhere to date in Ecuador. Perhaps it's the abundance of foreigners and local wealthy individuals converging in the old town town that makes it more of a perceived risk here. There were lots of refugee/Venezuela types that we'd seen in other cities here, but instead of working menial street jobs like in Quito and along the highways, it seemed like many were just "hanging around" here...
After breakfast, the four of us wandered, with no real plan. The girls wanted to check out a "reiki" like service in the covered market area that turned out to be quite hilarious. For $3, you could have a little 4 foot lady beat you with some fragrant weeds/flowers, spray some stuff (oil?) on you then proceed to rub an egg all over your body (and I mean, all over). She would proceed to crack the egg into a cup with a bit of water then do some kind of energy reading on you. Beth's was "nervous " lol, so the little healer sprayed some stuff on her, put some charcoal on the top of her head and her belly button...ok... and that was that.
Alex also got diagnosed as nervous... Kim... we're not sure, we couldn't understand. I don't suppose it matters since she's now been healed. I volunteered to be the test subject that didn't have Reiki. The weird thing is I don't feel nervous now so maybe it rubbed off on me??
We perused a chocolate store (that's understating it... it was like the Costco of chocolate stores), then dropped Beth at a hotel for a massage (with perhaps a side of weeds and charcoal??) and Kim, Alex and I went back to the new church and climbed the winding stairs up-to the top. The top offered great views of the city and Parque Calderón, as well as some top notch people watching.
To kill time until Beth was done we sat on a bench in the park and watched as Cuenca passed us by. What a great spot for people watching.
We had lunch at the same spot as yesterday while we played cards - Alex and I finished another victory at 10 games to 5 in our ongoing euchre life match.
In the afternoon, we said our goodbyes - they were staying another full day in Cuenca and we were off to Guayaquil overnight as our flight to Miami was 6am Saturday.
It was just a taste, but Cuenca was one of those towns you could stay a couple of days, a week, or more. The Cuenca airport was not far from the old town, and when we got there we were laughing that we had arrived 2 hours early - the place was empty. Most people showed up 20 minutes before the flight.
We stayed at the Windham in Guayaquil - 5 minutes from the airport and attached to a huge, modern shopping mall. What a crazy difference from anything we'd experienced in Ecuador. The mall had every store we have at home... the only difference was that throughout the mall the various cars on display as advertisements were not he usual suspects... they were lesser known (to us) brands of Chinese cars... it reminded me of Freddy.
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