Carnaval fell early in 2005, so when I arrived in Cuenca less than 3 weeks before the big event, the natives were restless. Ecuadorians celebrate Carnaval with waterfights, which are particularly popular in Cuenca. Waterballoons are flung mercilessly at passerby, and full buckets are poured off balconies. As the alien Asian girl I was definitely a target, although Sunday, when I arrived, was really the only bad day. Once the kids went back to school there were no more waterfights.

I hadn't fully experienced a "normal" Sunday like this yet, without a full day of exploration planned out. Almost everything was closed.

Starving, I wandered around just trying to find ANY open restaurants, dodging waterballoons with every step. Café Austria was overpriced but cute, and the only place open. By the time some screaming boys nailed me full-on with a balloon from a speeding car, I decided it was time to head back.

Back at Hotel Pichincha, I was happy to meet some fun fellow travelers: Deric and Geertjen from Denmark and Anna from Germany. Very friendly, smart and funny. We decided it was time for a drink. We consulted our guidebooks and found a place that sounded sufficiently gringo enough to be open on a Sunday.

On our way to El Cafecito, we approached someone to ensure we were headed the right way. This is how I met my second asshole Swiss. He began nice enough, guiding us to Cafecito as he was on his way there as well, confirming it was the only place open on Sundays. Because he seemed cool, we invited him to have a beer with us after he'd checked in with his friends.

Soon enough he started ragging on everyone's country and government and just generally being rude. What IS it with the Swiss? People from a neutral country whose only accomplishments are chocolate, watches and convertible knives do NOT get the right to say shit about everyone else in the world.

Geertjen and I had dinner alone the following night after I visited Ingapirca. Deric was sick and Anna had to leave early in the morning for the jungle. We went to a great Italian place called La Viña and unfortunately ran into the Swiss there! Turned out Geertjen had the same instantly negative reaction to him that I did, even though I personally felt that as usual, he had dumped on Americans the most.

The next day I met up with Jenna from the Academia at Café Austria after a hellish day of trying to visit Cajas. She had re-started her lessons in Cuenca and was progressing nicely. While getting a drink, we once again ran into the Swiss. For all his claims that Americans didn't get into the culture and kept to themselves—and that Café Austria was egregiously gringo—we sure seemed to be hitting all his spots. And for $1.50 caipirinhas, I don't care how gringo it is!

Jenna was so much fun to hang out with. Her tales of working in lighting for films and TV made me miss Kip and his location-scouting adventures. She was really sweet, certainly making the loss of Geertjen, Deric and Anna more palatable!

After dinner at the Colombian Café Moliendo, Jenna and I checked out Wunderbar, near her school...nothing like the old Wonder Bar in New York! It was chill and nice, but it was weird running into the same people again...Cuenca is so small! I did not see the Swiss, but people I'd seen on top of Bellavista, who were thoroughly unfriendly. These people confirmed for me that people in groups don't want to talk to solo travelers. They noticed me and waved...too little too late!

The shopping in Cuenca is pretty good for a town this size. In addition to the many jewelry and leather stores along Gran Colombia, there are two regular markets to choose from, as well as a larger Thursday market, mainly used by locals.

The crafts market is organized into sections. There's the pottery section, the basket section, and of course, the farm implement section. I was actually searching for baskets and found a great variety of beautiful examples. Cuenca is a major center for basket-weaving, and I caught a few people at work near the market. It's a pretty chill experience, as there are not many tourists and the vendors are pretty relaxed. I got a really uniquely shaped basket with colorful plastic ribbon woven throughout for just $2.

There is also an indoor artisan market in Cuenca a bit closer to Hotel Pichincha. Here they sell everything that the southern highlands are famous for—"panama" hats, delicate baskets woven of the finest straw, and carvings from tagua nut, known as "vegetable ivory." Jewelry, small leather items, and musical instruments are plentiful in the market.

The town basically shuts down from 1 to 3 for lunch. I can't imagine this happens in Quito, and until I got to Cuenca I'd been exploring the countryside around this time of day, so this was new for me. Restaurants are still open, but shops along Gran Colombia and the whole artisan market closes up.

The best thing about Cuenca was just hanging out in the charming, slow-paced town. The colonial buildings were beautiful, the shopping was fun, the locals were generally friendly (even the ones with giant machine guns), and the daytime weather was perfect. Having people to play with helps, but I can see how some travelers might find Cuenca sort of low on activities.

After a fun drunken dinner with Jenna at Café Eucalyptus, I considered staying just one more day. Cuenca really was remarkably mellow. But on my fourth morning waking up shivering in my long underwear, I realized it was time to get to the coast!

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