Cuenca!

I am in Cuenca, the thrid most important city of Ecuador, just 25 minutes away by plane from Guayaquil. The city is in the Andes, at about 8000ft altitude. The weather is perfect. 22 degrees C during the day, a little chill at night, and no mosquitoes, what more can one ask for? I got here some time in the afternoon and was surpised to have a lady come up to me and ask 'are you sylvie?'...so from there three people took care of us (me and the other student from stanford who is travelling with me)...the lady and her daughter as well as a pediatric doctor. They drove us around, showed us the city (which is truly beautiful and has pretty churches at every street corner), took us out for lunch (mmmm all sorts of grilled meat, yep, ecuador is not for vegetarians, potatoes, corn, ...). We are staying at their house...we met their family (the lady has 10 brothers and sister who came to meet us), got converted to being Jehova witnesses,...After that we headed out to the hosue of the ex minister of health of Ecuador, who happens to be the doctor I am going to spend a week with in the jungle. I met a retired anesthesiologist from Stanford and his wife and plenty of other interesting people. This is better than expected, really...Anyway, we are leaving with a truck to the jungle tomorrow morning and will be back on thursday, hopefully with more stories...one recommandation so far...come to ecuador if you can! Oh small technicality, both the currency and the electrical plugs are the same as in the US,...so no excuses not to make the trip!