Letting Go

Week Four

El Cajas National Park

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Where am I?

Cuenca, Ecuador.

Cuenca is a city in the Southern Andes Mountains. It is known for the central plaza, Tomebama River front, blue-domed Cuenca Cathedral, museums, Pumapungo Ruins, cute shops, cafes, and a short bus ride from Cajas National Park.

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My Adventures.

Cuenca is absolutely charming and I was able to spend a few days exploring the city. I ventured to the Pumapungo ruins and museum, toured a few churches, ate ice cream in the central plaza, and received a traditional limpia cleansing at the Mercado 10 de Agosto. Limpia is an indigenous ritual performed by curanderas to rid the body of any bad energy, attain balance, and heal medical issues. Below is a video that shows what the limpia cleansing entails. The limpia cleansing was by far my favorite activity. After the ritual I immediately felt lighter and anxiety lifted from my body.

After exploring the city, I headed to Cajas National Park and did some hiking. Cajas is a short forty minute bus ride from Cuenca. It is a gorgeous national park and the bus ride only costs a few dollars. Once you make it to the park, entry and hiking is free of charge. The park rangers will even suggest which trail will suit you best. Most of the park sits above 10,000 feet of elevation. The group I was with hiked trail number three and it was a beautiful six mile hike through the park with stunning views.

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@samincuencashe also told me (only) that I need to come more often #ecuador #ecuador🇪🇨 #cuenca #cuenca_ecuador #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #lifeabroad #livingabroad #limpia #curaelespanto #cleanse

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A Lesson I Learned this Week.

Google maps is my BEST friend now. I use it daily. I am honestly not sure how people did this prior to GPS and smartphones. God bless google maps because I am using all the features on the app now. Pinning important places where I need to go and downloading offline maps is such a game changer.

My second lesson this week has me feeling so grateful to have drinkable tap water where I come from. Most of Ecuador does not have drinkable tap water and people have to filter or buy bottled water. Cuenca is one of the few cities where tap water is drinkable and it tastes wonderful.

In My Feels.

So much of this experience for me is connecting with spiritual and emotional healing. I feel like I am on an emotional rollercoaster at times. This travel journey has some high highs and low lows. The absolute feeling of exhilaration after a day of exploring a new city can be met with the feelings of grief and having to let go of my old life, old self, and past hardships that tend creep in and haunt me. Everyday I am growing and changing at a rapid pace, sometimes it is so fast that the overstimulation hits like a freight train. I am a very sensitive person and letting go can be hard for me. It has been something I have been working on and practicing for awhile now. Little by little I am letting go and releasing.

What I Miss Most from Home.

I miss being able to use a credit card and make electronic payments. Cash is king here. Ecuador and most of South America are cash based systems. I actually think it is helping my budget and keeping on track of my spending. However, I miss the convenience and ease of swiping my credit card or sending someone a Venmo. Monitoring cash levels and finding ATM’s takes more effort and planning than I thought.

Kindness I Received from a Stranger.

This week I was able to travel with another backpacker I met my first week in Ecuador. Her name is Jules and she is a nineteen year old from the Netherlands. She might be one of the coolest people I have met. She shared with me that she started solo traveling in South America at the age of seventeen. She is confident, assertive, pursing art school, speaks several different languages, and knows how to travel like a professional. That is life goals for me. She showed me an abundance of kindness and helped me in my journey this week. I learned so much from hearing about her travel experiences and all her backpacking tips. She really gave me the confidence that I can do this. So the kindness I have received from a stranger has now turned into a new friend.

Music I am Playing on Repeat.

This song is beautiful and confronts the grief that comes with growth or outgrowing yourself and the past. It is perfect for me this week. Change and growth can be scary especially knowing I will forever be a different person after this. The realizations that I will be not be the same person as I was yesterday are coming through strong.

“So even if I could, wouldn't go back where we started
I know you're still waiting, wondering where my heart is
Pray that things won't change but the hardest part is
You're realising maybe I, maybe I ain't the same
And what you're waiting for ain't there no more anyway”