Oh, right. Technically it was eight days...

... the last 12 hours consisted of me asking for snacks and watching Tour Guide pour some peanuts on a plate and plop the plate right in front of himself in response,* running out of fresh water with which to shower or brush our teeth, getting little sleep because of all the late night visitors to the boat, getting my feet rained on and not caring enough to shut the overhead window, and some sea lion hijinks in the morning followed by a million hours of travel smelling and feeling like that boat. But who wants to hear about that?

* I was this close to forgiving him because we had a good snorkel session that morning, but that was the final straw.

The overnight bus to Cuenca was uneventful other than being uncomfortable. I may have slept about three hours after the little girl next to me (who kept falling asleep on me and waking me up) got off with her dad in the middle of the night. The last few hours of the ride were light and I struggled to stay awake - the countryside was absolutely beautiful and I didn't want to miss it. We passed the most amazing mausoleum/cemetery that I hoped would be closer to Cuenca so I could get back somehow, but it was another hour or so into town so I probably won't get back there. It's also quite possible I hallucinated the whole thing anyway.

I arrived at El Cafecito groggy and not able to form English sentences, let alone Spanish ones, but the guy was nice and allowed me to check in early and brought me not-Nescafe. At that moment he became my BFF.

Turns out today is the anniversary of Cuenca's founding so I got to witness parades, singing outside the churches, and people generally treating Monday like Sunday.

Spent most of the day wandering the city admiring the cobblestones, the river that separates the old and new areas, and the architecture... It really is a lovely city.

Tomebamba River

Now the hostel has turned up the volume so my dorm mate and I are going to wander in search of more celebratory activities and some food. Hopefully the former will be fun and the latter will not involve rice or bread...