First Day In Cuenca

I left for the Quito Airport on May 14th (Tuesday) at 6:30 am in the morning to catch a 7:55 am flight via Aerogal (pronounced iyrogal) and had no time for breakfast. Darn near forgot my hat and one of my fleeces in the room. All due to being a bit flustered with carting very heavy luggage and Tiger.

Went through security without any problems except for having to take my laptop out of my backpack and putting all of my paraphernalia into trays. Then taking Tiger out of his carrying case and walking him through the scanner in my arms. I guess he was so stressed he didn't squirm or even try to get away.

The airport security personnel just loved him.

Got him back in his carrying case and then realized I had forgot my hat at check-in. I asked the security guy if I could leave the cat and my backpack so I didn't have to take it all back through security (especially Tiger) and he said "no". Damn!!!  I thought of just forgetting my hat and buying another later, but as it turned out I found a very lovely Ecuadorian woman who spoke quite good English and asked her if she would watch my bags. No problems. Retrieved my hat and was back in order once again.

I'm going to have to glue the hat to my head!!

The Aerogal flight was delayed, 1st a half-hour, then another, then another. Supposedly very heavy fog was preventing any planes landing in Cuenca. Quito was also fogged in but it dissipated fairly quickly. But I am not sure that was the whole story as we didn't end up leaving until 11 am and by then the weather had cleared completely at Quito.

I was feeling very concerned for Tiger. I really wanted that flight to be over quickly for him. Since I was quite stressed as well, mostly again due to worrying about Tiger, I didn't feel very hungry.

Fortunately, I was able to pass the time in the company of three people that were also waiting for their flights. Two of the people lived in Quito as Church of Latter Day Saints missionaries. They didn't try to save my soul, but were very interesting to talk to. The other was a young woman who was going to do volunteer work at an orphanage for handicapped children (I was told - the ones no one wanted).

After boarding the flight and getting underway Tiger was once again very upset by the noise and tried to claw his way out of the carrying case. That case sure took a beating but is still in tact. I guess I purchased a good one. He was so upset I took him out of the case and tried to keep in my lap for a while. But after a bit all he wanted to do is try and get away presumably to try and find a safe hiding place. What he didn't know was there was no place safe (or rather, where there was no noise) for him to go. I had to put him back in his case and just let him get tired out from trying to escape. Not fun for him or for me.

Between worrying for Tiger's welfare, I managed to find some time to look out at the, absolutely beautiful, country I was flying over. Needless to say I was very happy when the plane finally landed in Cuenca.

I loaded my luggage onto a cart (carts cost anywhere from $1 to $3 depending on the airport) and we made our way out to a cab which the porter found for me. I showed the cab driver (who spoke a little English) the map I had from the Casa de Cuenca website and we headed off. 

The day was VERY hot (roughly around noon). The diesel fumes were awful (intensified by the heat). And there was lots of traffic and noise (honking horns and noisy motorcycles). All of a sudden Cuenca turned into a less than desirable place. My initial thought was, I'm not sure I made the right decision. I should have come down for a visit without Tiger and two very heavy bags. But we were here and I now had to make the best of it.

We arrived close to the destination in about 15 minutes, but had a very hard time trying to find the entrance to the place (maybe another 10 minutes - "minutos" in Spanish). 

In retrospect, I should have emailed Malcolm (the proprietor) and had him meet us at the airport. I also failed to write his phone number down so that it was handy if I needed it (and I surely did need it). I was once again very stressed, especially worrying about Tiger's welfare in the heat of the day.

We rang the door bell but no one answered and I wasn't sure we had the right place. Eventually, I asked the cab driver to take me to another pet-friendly hotel called the Otorongo. So, off we went. Another 10 minutes away.

Fortunately, they had a vacancy and I decided to take a room for two nights (as I wasn't sure Casa de Cuenca even existed). I would then figure out what I was going to do. I just wanted to get Tiger into a cool place as quickly as possible.

The room was $25/night. Reasonable but very basic. Not a place I would want to stay very long. To boot, there was a very intense smell from some cleaning solution they used. Not great!

Still somewhat flustered I connected my cellphone to the wireless network and looked up the Casa de Cuenca website to find the phone number. Website not found!! Not good!! You can imagine the thoughts that were going through my mind.

My logic started to return to me and I remembered the emails I had received from Malcolm (while in Canada). There was the phone number. I called him and he answered. I told him what had happened and he said to hop in a cab and come over. At first, I decided to just stay the night to give Tiger a break. But with the obnoxious fumes and the lay of the place I decided to leave right then.

Off we went in another cab and this time I knew exactly where to go. I didn't even have to ring the buzzer: Malcolm was waiting for me. Boy am I glad I decided to leave the Otorongo as Casa de Cuenca is leaps and bounds nicer and more comfortable.

After dragging those awfully heavy bags into Casa de Cuenca and letting Tiger out into a very nice cool room I was SO relieved.

I mentioned to Malcolm that I had not had a chance to have anything to eat that day and he very kindly whipped up some scrambled eggs and coffee. Those were the BEST scrambled eggs I ever had and I was very thankful to Malcolm.

Later that day some of the other tenants arrived back from their daily treks around the city and all of them were very friendly and made me feel very much at home.

This has been a long post so I will add some photos in the next.

I was done in and retired for the evening around 8:30 pm. 

I didn't sleep well as Tiger was sneezing once in a while (loud enough to waken me). And I was also concerned about him as he had not done a #2 at least since the day he was lost. I am not even sure he did one then. Fortunately, his appetite has remained very good.

And I am still concerned as this is now 2.5 days (at least) that he has not had a poop. He is sleeping so soundly that I didn't even wake him when I went into the room a half hour ago to check on him.

Eventually, he will have to do his thing. I just hope it's soon as it will make me feel much less concerned.

But after all that I do now feel better about my decision to move to Cuenca and I think we can be happy here, especially after checking out some of the sights with Malcolm earlier today.