Cuenca, Ecuador

Me with Isabel,
my massage therapist

SHARLA: We slept in this morning and then went to our favorite massage therapists again for a two hour massage. It did not disappoint....again. Returned to the condo, where we threw ideas around for the afternoon.

The taxi driver tried to get us a sample of their milk,
but they refused us :(

We decided to return to Soldados thermal baths....this time with appropriate clothing. The first place we called wanted to charge us $140 round trip! What??? But, Jessica had a friend who had a friend who owned a taxi and said he would take us for $40 roundtrip. Much better. We were the only ones there and the hot bath was open today. It felt amazing. Our driver told us that there was another one nearby, so after about an hour, we loaded up and drove the short distance to the other one. It was much hotter, and we hopped between the hot and warm baths for another hour.

It was nearly dark by the time that we left, and I was so relaxed that I fell asleep for most of the 50 minute ride home. The taxi driver took us by a little cafe that made empanadas that Jessica had heard about, so that was dinner. One of them was stuffed with chicken, peas and carrots (similar to a pot pie), the other was filled with platanos verdes (green bananas) and cheese. Both were yummy, but the first was my favorite.

Jessica, me and Marsha along with the couple
who own the hot baths.

Very quiet, relaxing day. Going to bed early to get ready for the trip to Guayaquil tomorrow.

The couple that own the thermal baths...OWN this mountain!  Nice!

MARSHA: had a very relaxing day. went and got our 2 hour $26 massage, came home and made a quick lunch and took a taxi to the thermal baths. it is so far out in the middle of nowhere that we were the only people there again. jessica didn't bring a swim suit so we all wore undies and my sports bras which looked like regular swim suits. our driver and the owners of the property were the only other people there and they never knew the difference. we went to 2 different places just across the river from each other. all hot and the most amazing mountains and a bridge crossing the river (which sounded so amazing) anyway, was a great way to end our stay in cuenca. drove back to town and had some amazing empanadas from a small family cafe. we were gonna take jessica out for dinner, but this was alot more fun. didn't have to go get ready, fix hair, make up. back at the house getting our laundry done and ready to pack up in the morning and head to guayaquil. the drive is incredible, so have that to looke forward to tomorrow.