Saturday, June 5, 2010

Cuenca!

Ehhh so my last blog post was lacking a bit.  Oops.  I think I was still processing the fact that I for real just said goodbye to the kids that I spent a month with.  It still feels surreal, that I´m not going back...

This morning, I landed in Cuenca, Ecuador, which is the city where Matthew was born and where he stayed at an orphanage for the first 8-ish months of his life.  Woke up at 4:45, got to the airport a bit early, sipped a Nescafé (only the best!!), and took the 45 minute trip to Cuenca.  Landed, found a hostel.... kind of?


My hostel is kind of funny.  The running water only runs every now and then.  I think I´m the only one staying there.  The owners live across the street.

BUT!! They gave me a towel AND toilet paper.  Also, I have my own room for $5 a night, which is prettttyyy sweet.  I´ll take it!

This is my first time traveling alone, and also, traveling without a game plan.  I kind of just landed, wandered, and we´ll see what happens?  So today I´ve been to a few of the plazas, and to a mirador that looks over the entire city.  And it´s only noon....

Tomorow, I´m going to Ingapirca, which is the best-preserved Incan ruins in Ecuador.  That should definitely be cool.

Monday will probably consist of more museums and wandering.  We´ll see.....

Dang.  Traveling solo is kind of fun.  I like the fact that it´s just me, doing whatever the heck I feel like.  It´s bizarre for me to feel this carefree, to be honest.  I feel so comfortable here, for some reason.  I like it. 

This morning, I also went around to some of the addresses/etc that meant something when Matthew lived here.  And I was not expecting it, but I definitely started crying.  Thank GOD it was raining, or I´m sure I would have looked even more ridiculous: the random gringa with hiking shoes and a bright green bolsa sobbing in a residential neighborhood.  I didn´t think that being here would impact me emotionally like that.  Maybe I´m just tired?  But it´s also 100% unbelievable that the little boy I love so much actually once lived here, in this remote city thousands of miles away from the house we share in Massachusetts.  It´s kind of an overwhelming thought, and the experience is much more powerful.  I´m not sure I´ll ever be able to explain what being here is like.  All I know is that the longer I stay in Ecuador, the more amazing it seems that he lives with me and not here, and how thankful I am for that. 

Okay.  Enough time at the internet café. The sun is coming out!  Who knows what I´ll do from here...

Whatveer comes next will be next. 

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