http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuenca,_Ecuador
When I arrived, I took a taxi to Patricio's house. I was curious because I heard about him before from other Couch Surfers, they told me that he was a little bit strange. And indeed he is, but in a positive way. He is kind of a philosoph. In the first hour we met we talked a lot about life, that life is wonderful if you want it to be wonderful. He has 16 siblings, his grandmother was 120 years old when she died and his grandfather was 140 years old when he died (oh my god, it is difficult to believe!!). Patricio said that people in Cuenca and surroundings used to live very long. It has changed because of pollution, chemicals in food et cetera.
Patricio lives with Mario who he calls "brother" but everyone thinks that they are gays. Maybe it is not easy to be a gay in Cuenca. Sometimes you can get scared by the way Mario talks to you (a very serious, teacher's face) but he is a kind and funny man.
Cuenca is a nice city but it is nothing like Guayaquil, it didn't make a big impression on me. Apparently there are many rich people because they have families in the US. There is why you see so many cars in the narrow streets and consequently the traffic is horrible.
At night I met Christian from Couch Surfing. He introduced me to his friends, among them a lovely German couple (in the picture). The CS community in Cuenca is small but very active. They host a lot of people or meet travellers for a drink, however they don't organise any internal meetings.
We went to a bar, I tried canelazo again (the last time, it was awful...) and then we went to a latin disco. The music was ok, kind of salsa mixed with something, not for me but many people were enjoying themselves.
What I find interesting is that you can't smoke in bars and clubs in Brazil, you can in Venezuela, you can't in Colombia and you can in Ecuador. Here my clothes and hair stink of the cigarette smoke again.
My pictures from Guayaquil:
Guayaquil
