July 1, 16:09

Arrived in Cuenca! Decided that a city might be a nice change before going back to the coast. Although, at the moment I am not sure if I even want to go there anymore. We’ll see. But right now I am on the roof terrace of the hostel waiting for Mike to arrive on the bike. I guess we’re officially traveling together now!

July 2, 09:41

City tour! Tony, the host of the hostel, gave us all the info about the nice things to see in the city centre of Cuenca, so that’s exactly what we’re doing today. Started the day at the famous market, which is just so beautiful! I am so happy that I recently bought my first camera. I am really enjoying the making of photos, especially at a place like this! Super excited about getting more into photography. Even though with Mike next to me, who photographs professionally, I get super self conscious, it’s also a really good help.

July 3, 10:34

These fucking storage problems. Phone is full, iCloud is full, google doesn’t have enough storage space. I am losing my mind here. I cleared out my old photos on my phone, assuming it was synchronised to iCloud. I open the laptop and see the deleted photos are still there. So I have to do the exact same again. What a waste of time. Guess I should have listened and bought an external hard drive from the start. Stupid me.

Other than that the day is super nice. Spending it in coffeeshops to just chill and work a little. And whenever there is no ocean nearby, coffeeshops are my happy place.

July 4, 19:35

This was such a nice day. We decided to extend one more night to just enjoy the city a little longer. Tomorrow will be a day trip on the motorbike and the day after I will leave to a different city, although I don’t know exactly where yet. It’s gonna be so weird to not be with Mike anymore. The past month we spend almost every day together, or at least a part of the day. And the thing now is, we are going in the same direction: south. So we could still be traveling together if I decide to do that. But right now I feel like I am ready to travel and adventure on my own again and figure it out by myself. There are some things in life you just kinda have to do by yourself and this feels like one of those things.

July 5, 11:47

What a ride! This National Park Cajas, next to Cuenca, is so beautiful! All the mountains, all de colours of green and the lakes. So nice! The park was recommended to me by different students of the English Institute in Quito where I volunteered for two weeks. And I kinda forgot about it but so happy we went there. Even when it started raining and hailing and the idea of making a cup of coffee in the mountains literally washed away, it all was really beautiful. And I just cant get over it, how amazing it is to ride on a motorbike throughout a country. Every time I am on the back of it, all I can think of is getting my license, buying a bike and going somewhere myself. Which for sure is gonna happen. Cause my dad bought a new bike himself last week and he even sent me a route for Slovenia we want to do together, next year summer. So much exciting stuff happening!

July 6, 16:01

It’s travel day! To Vilcabamba, about five hours south of Cuenca, in direction of Peru. Which will be suuuper nice, cause we rented an airbnb with a great view, so super excited! And its also kind of symbolic to do this last destination together with Mike cause than we visited all of Ecuador together.

Right now I’m in the bus, feeling both excited and a little car sick. It’s super warm in the bus, the ac is not working and people keep closing the windows. Also, I’ve been on my phone for too long, that was my fault, but for good reason. Cause Helena, my cousin, and I were texting about our upcoming trip to Argentina! She is going to visit me in November for a month. So we’re gonna travel together, super happy! The flights are booked and now all thats left is for us to decide on a route and destinations. Really cool, but for now I am putting my phone away and am gonna concentrate on not trowing up on the person next to me.

July 7, 07:03

Woke up with an amazing view. Now sipping tea on the balcony, while listening to the sounds of the birds. There is honestly no better way to start the day.