Viajar es la unica cosa que compras y te hace más rico

I discovered a taste of Europe in Ecuador this weekend: Cuenca. The city is described as "the economic center of the southern sierra, [which] has long been known for a rich intellectual, artistic, and philosophical tradition that matches its colonial architecture." 

While I love to meander through museums, I really took in the city by winding through the streets and hunkering down in different cafés and restaurants to read and people watch. 

After a weekend of sipping a lot of tea and agua de coco, turning into something of a social anthropologist, and enjoying a quaint, tranquila cuidad, I've arrived back to school quite calmada. 

Through photos I'd like to share the belleza de Cuenca con ustedes. 

So come, together let's see what we might find...

1st stop (well, and 3rd, 7th and last--when I find a good restaurant,
I eat through the menu): El Mercado.
 Great food, great vibe, great tunes

and a great view of the river.

Aaand notably good coffee with a cozy chair for reading. 

El Mercado by evening--with Celeste and Greg, friends from Americano. 

Strolling around town one runs into beautiful buildings as such.

Making my way down by the river I saw street art that is nothing like the graffiti we know back home. The street art has good purpose; it makes a statement and speaks a truth.

Good thing I love to walk, right friends, because I ended up back up from the river in the main square. I spied a parade and then found the best seat in the house. Sipping poorly brewed coffee was okay if it meant taking in the scene from above. 

After the parade had passed, the square makes a superb place for people watching and hunkering down with two of my favorite things: a brilliant book and large coco. It seems I was being watched as well as a desconocido plopped down next to me and started chatting. I found the conversation pleasant until the middle-aged stranger wanted my number. With a "mucho gusto" I was off and walking again...

While I may be, in the realm of shopping, the most conservative Baci woman, still I get the itch, so I was off to find some shops, continually happening upon interesting sites and scenes.

The mosaic paired with the family enjoying one another's company was just too lindo.

To travel is to live, said Hans Christian Andersen. Simple words, but I heartily agree and the town continued to just delight me with its beauty and tranquil energy.

For me that beauty included visible "flaws" as well. If imperfections are always so consciously concealed, I struggle to relate to those persons or places.

A good traveler has no fixed plans...further wise words, spoken once by Lao Tzu. My experience in Cuenca was largely marked by arriving without a set itinerary. Allowing the day to unfold the way it would, I feel I got a real sense of the town and its people. 

As my legs were walking that city center, I stumbled across the famous domes of Cuenca,
 the top of Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. 

Before catching the plane back to Quito, I nestled back onto a bench in the main square, peered through the trees to once again allow my senses to take in the sites, sounds and surroundings of this lovely town.

These past months have been filled with especially memorable trips. February began with the Galapagos, then the whole family gathered in St. John's and the next weekend I was exploring Cuenca. I don't take this life for granted, that's for sure. I'm so privileged. These experiences are certainly enriching, and I hope that as I feel my life is quite indulgent, I also continue to bring positive energy to the world and people surrounding me. It is something upon which I reflect daily, my purpose in this place. A friend posted an article recently that was thought-provoking in this vein of purpose and making a difference. I'm reposting it here  as these words might speak to you as well. 

The title to this blog translates "To travel is the only thing that you buy that makes you rich." ...and may that richness also somehow enrich the lives of others...

For now, love from Cuenca. <3 

Jame