Day 2 in Cuenca

First things first, I changed hostels. Now I am at Yakumama, which has a lot more going on than the last hostel, plus I am a lot closer to the city center. My roommates are nice, too. One guy is headed to Lima on the same schedule, so I am going to include him in my border crossing.

In my morning walk around the city, I contemplated getting a $10 haircut (people in Cuenca have nicer hair than anywhere I have been in South America so far), got the most delicious fruit drink of my life at Live Organico, and stopped to get pizza and have a long, Spanglish conversation with the pizza guy who spent 10 years in NJ of all places, and wanted to practice his English.

In the afternoon, I visited the Panama Hat Museum, where they show you how hats are made. I tried on lots of beautiful hats that grandpa would love. Later, I walked around the local fruit, meat, and vegetable market, where I bought tons of fruit for two dollars. At the market, there was a section of woman sitting with herbs and branches. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but I saw the woman were literally beating small children with the herbs... In the face, across the back. I can only guess it has some medical or spiritual significance. It was crazy.

After a delicious dinner at Taj Mahal, I bumped into Stephanie and her friend, and we all went to a cafe to practice Spanish for a couple hours.