Tuesday, February 8

Never a dull moment while traveling — Today, our day started with donuts and a spiritual cleansing.

The New York family we met yesterday, who’s coincidently staying in our airbnb apartment complex, knocked on our door around 8:30am this morning to ask if we’d be interested in walking with them to Dunkin Donuts in Cuenca’s city centre & then going to the Mercado 10 de Agosto for a limpia cleansing. “Sure, why not” I said. Tory and Aden pulled on their shoes and were out the door at the mention of donuts.

Our two families walked about 8 blocks to the donut shop. I didn’t even notice there being a Dunkin Donuts in downtown Cuenca when we walked through the city centre yesterday. We ordered donuts for the kids and sat at the tables inside the cafe. Four donuts cost $7 which is one of the most expensive breakfasts we’ve bought in Ecuador so far. Tory and Aden were happy though — it’s been really nice for them to have met a friend their age here.

After donuts, our group walked across the San Francisco plaza to the Mercado 10 de Agosto. Every Tuesday and Sunday, Limpias, who are indigenous spiritual healers, set up under the escalators at the market to perform spiritual cleansing for locals and tourists alike. Limpias use ancient Incan rituals to provide a “diagnosis” of what is wrong with the person’s soul and then heal that person using aromatherapy.

This is one of those travel experiences that only come along once in a lifetime. So, Erin (our new travel friend from New York) and I decided to try it. I had no idea what to expect. We each sat down on a stool in front of a Limpia. The spiritual cleansing involved several steps — first, the Limpia shoved a bouquet of flowers into my face and had me take a few deep breaths. It actually smelled quite nice, but it was a little strange having flowers thrust onto my face. Then, the Limpia smacked the bouquet of flowers all over my arms, legs, head, back, and stomach.

Next, the Limpia rubbed an uncracked egg over my body. This is how she would tell what is wrong with my soul. I’m not sure how the egg didn’t break because she was rubbing it fairly rapidly and forcefully all over my head, neck, chest, arms, stomach, back and legs. There are no words spoken during this time, so I really had no idea what was going on or what was coming next. She worked quickly, but with intention.

Then, the Limpia poured a small amount of liquid into a cup and cracked the egg that she’d just rubbed all over my body into the cup. Supposedly, the egg harnesses the energy from the cleansing. She showed me the egg yolk in the cup and told me something in Spanish. This was my “diagnosis.” I couldn’t understand what she said, but if I had to guess I’d bet she said “nervousness” because I wasn't really sure what was happening! I just smiled and tried to take in the experience.

The last step of the Limpia’s process is to heal whatever ailment the egg diagnosis determines. I read later that Limpias used to spit (yes, spit) a liquid into your face & onto your body to heal you, but I think they stopped doing this because of COVID. Instead, the Limpia used a spray bottle to spray something directly into face and then into my hair, on my neck, and under my shirt on my back and stomach. Then, she made a cross on my forehead, back and stomach similar to what some churches do on Ash Wednesday. The whole experience cost $3. I smelled like a bouquet of flowers when I was done. Erin had grass stains all over her white shirt from being smacked with a bouquet.

Erin and I’s cleansing finished about the same time, and then the Limpias motioned for the kids to sit down. Tory didn’t want to do it, but Aden and her son Patrick each got a spiritual cleansing from the Limpias next. Could you help Aden listen better? I really wanted to ask the Limpias for that.

I read later that in order for the limpia cleansing to work, the person has to really believe in its healing powers and that you can’t take a shower for 24-hours as not to wash off its effects. I can’t say I felt any differently afterward, but I did sense a feeling of happiness and gratitude for the opportunity to encounter such experiences. The world is so vast, with so many different cultures and traditions, and I really do feel blessed to be able to experience some of it first-hand.

After the market, our group walked around to a few more stores in the city and then cabbed back to our airbnb. It was time for Tory and Aden to do a little schoolwork, so we spent the next few hours studying math and reading. I’d say we covered plenty of social studies by visiting the market today!

The New York family we’d met came over around 5:00pm to say good-bye. It was such a blessing to have met them along our journey & hopefully one day our paths will cross again.

Andi suggested we go back to the Mall de Rio that evening for dinner and shopping. I thought he was kidding! But, he wasn’t. He actually wanted to get a pair of Crocs there and promised Aden he could ride these animal cars he saw there. Whenever Aden visits Andi’s mom in Minneesota, she always takes him to the mall to ride these animal cars around. Apparently, he loves it. So, the four of us hopped in a taxi around 5:30pm and took a 20-minute ride to the shopping mall.

It’s funny that somethings are so different while traveling in another country, and some things are so the same. We could have easily been at the mall in Minneapolis — except for all the signs being in Spanish, it felt exactly the same. The four of us window-browsed a few stores and then popped into Crocs so Andi could try on a pair of slip-ons. He owns about 3 pairs at home, but is regretting not having brought any with him here. A pair of Crocs were $50 and in the end, Andi said he just couldn’t pull the trigger knowing he has several pairs at home already. We didn’t bring many pieces of clothing with us on this trip, but there hasn’t been anything I’ve really missed. I don’t mind wearing the same leggings or t-shirt every other day.

Aden wasn’t going to forget Andi’s promise to ride the animals cars around the mall, so we went there next. For $2, both Tory and Aden got to pick an animal to ride around. It was honestly so ridiculous! The kids were having so much fun though. Andi sent a video to his mom to show Aden riding on the animal cars at the mall and she said it cost $18 to ride one at her local mall in Minneapolis. $2 here vs. $18 there — that’s crazy!

Here’s something I saw at the mall that’s different than the US — a juice vending machine that actually makes fresh-squeezed juice. I didn’t see any soda vending machines in the mall. Ecuadorians love juice, so seeing this vending machine didn’t surprise me but I couldn’t help but think what a healthier alternative this is to buying soda. Andi bought a cup and the orange juice was very tart because it didn’t have any added sugar — just freshly-squeezed juice.

We decided to have dinner at the mall, but there weren’t very good options. There was a KFC, but it was really expensive for Ecuador pricing. There were several grill fast food places that offered burgers, chicken and steak with fries. Tory and Aden ended up getting a cheeseburger and chicken wings from a place called Turbo Burger while Andi and I tried to find the healthiest, not-fried option available. In the end, we chose ramen bowls with noodles, egg and chicken.

Aden wanted a pair of goggles for the beach, so next we went into a big-box discount store connected to the mall that sold everything from sporting goods to household accessories to groceries. We found a pair of goggles for $1 and picked up a few groceries while we were there for lunch tomorrow.

Andi promised the kids dessert if they ate all of their dinner, so our last stop was a McDonalds kiosk for ice cream cones. The mall was closing soon, so we hopped in a cab and headed back to our airbnb.

Wednesday, February 9

Wednesdays are a catch-up-on-life day for us on this trip. Andi had several calls to make while the kids and I did school at the airbnb, and Andi also spent a good portion of the day arranging our travel plans to the Galapagos Islands next week.

Since we’re traveling for an extended period of time, it’s nice to have one day every week where we stick close to home and have time to relax, catch up on phone calls, and do school work. The airbnb we’re staying at this week is so comfortable that it makes hanging out here at “home” really easy to do. Nothing too remarkable about this day to share otherwise.

Around 5:00pm, the four of us cabbed to a restaurant called Cafe del Museo for dinner. The restaurant had a gorgeous outdoor patio overlooking the Tomebamba River. Andi and I ordered two glasses of wine and decided to split a few plates of food for our family’s dinner. Andi promised Tory and Aden dessert, but told them they needed to decide on one together before the waiter returned to our table. They had one minute to decide & it was so funny watching them come to an agreement. In the end, Andi secretly ordered both desserts for the four of us which really surprised Aden. He got his choice dessert of chocolate mousse after all. By the time the four of us at all that, we were rolling out of there. So stuffed! We cabbed back home to our airbnb and called it an evening.