Back again,
Yesterday we got up and went to have breakfast at the hostal.  As usual we were talking school stuff.  A man from the US asked us if we were teachers.  We started talking.  He was from Austin and spending five weeks traveling around Ecuador.  We told him that we were going to take the public buses to some nearby villages and he asked if he could go with us.  We have been very surprised at how easy the public transportation is here.  We taxied to the bus station.  As soon as we got out men asked us where we wanted to go and then walked us to the bus that was leaving right then.  For one dollar we went to Gualaceo.  We went to a home that produces beautiful weaving and then toured an orchid farm.

Later we took the bus again (.25 this time) to Chordeleg.  This was a quaint little village that had more jewelry stores than I have ever seen.  There are silver mines in the area so the area is known for jewelry.  I was very excited to be there but after about 10 shops everything started looking the same.  I did find three pairs of silver earrings that wanted to come home with me.  We also visited the church and admired the architecture.  The light posts were decorated with ornate silver decorations.

We got back to Cuenca close to dinnertime.  Brian (from Austin) had been to a Columbian restaurant that he said was great so we went there for dinner.  We had amazing arepas (sp) for $3, yum.  OK that was more or less it until we left today.  I will put that in the next post.  Which I am also going to do right now while I have time and internet.