Our van & driver was at the hotel a little early. Ed & I had not finished eating a sandwich, so we had them wrap it up to take along with us. There was another guy with our driver and we had to make a quick stop at their office just a few minutes from the hotel. Ed and I signed a 'contract' and paid the $120 before we departed.
The van was large enough for all our baggage in the back and Ed and I sat in the row behind the driver. The nice thing about having a short driver was it gave us lots of leg room. After we dropped the other guy off at their office, Ed moved up to the front seat.
The early part of the drive was through Guayaquil and not very beautiful. I was getting a bit car sick so I put my coat behind my head and tried to sleep to pass the time. About 90 minutes into the drive we stopped for a potty and drink break. The bano was an experience, when you enter you pull toilet paper from a roll on the wall and take that into the stall with you. I didn't realize that's what I was suppose to do until I had washed my hands and tried to find the paper towels. I always carry my own Kleenex with me so I was fine. But, now I know what to look for in the future.
After the short break, the road starting going up hill and the country side was getting prettier by the mile. I had my large camera ready but the problem was we were traveling at 45mph and the road had no pull off places. So, all the pictures were taken while the van was traveling.
I don't know what I expected on the drive over the Andes Mountains. Maybe something like when we drove over the Continental Divide up in Montana or maybe a reminder of the Swiss Alps. What I got was five times more beautiful than anything I have ever seen. We were so high we were looking down on the clouds.
There was more than one time I just gasped with the beauty I was seeing. I think the first time I did it our driver was sure I was getting sick. The only thing that made me sick was that I could stop the darn van and take pictures.... that was killing me! The back windows of the van didn't roll down and I was left shooting pictures out of a dirty, rain spattered window in a moving van.
We were still going up at this point
When we were coming down on the Cuenca side of the mountains, it did remind me somewhat of Switzerland and small dairy farmers. It was all so lovely.
Then, we came into the city of Cuenca. It is larger than what I expected and does have a slight traffic problem in the Old City.
Then, it was a quick stop and the van's office for our driver to find out how to get to our Realtor's address. So, a local guy joined us and provided directions into the Old City. We pulled right up to the building and Andrea was waiting for us. She got into the back seat along side of me and the guy giving directions and off we went to our new 'home'. It seems the condo is located in the western part of the town, only because Andrea told us. We are just down from the large shopping Super Maxi Store and next door is SuCasa.
Peggy
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