{"id":4891,"date":"2024-03-29T23:38:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T23:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=4891"},"modified":"2024-03-29T23:38:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T23:38:34","slug":"sabbatical-week-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=4891","title":{"rendered":"Sabbatical Week 43"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am writing this blog after my move to Redmond on a sunny Friday when all the happy souls are out. It’s a full circle that both my employment and life seem belong here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bittersweet, I said goodbye to Galapagos and headed to Cuenca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is not Cuenca, just a transit city I flew over. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It’s a travel day with long layover at Guayaquil, by the time I arrived at Cuenca it’s already pretty late. Luckily, everyone including the taxi driver’s been telling me how safe the city is. I decided to take a walk to get some food<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First beer, it’s an APA. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Food is alright, I was hungry. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It’s my full loop interview with MS this day, I didn’t do much rather than getting a few things from a supermarket and prepared myself a soup dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The hostel was amazing. Affordable, friendly staff and great kitchen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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my hostel, the door is to my room. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Randomly, there are lots of French establishments in town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Old town walking tour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s not a beer. It’s a hangover cure. It’s at a German phamacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The biggest and yet unfinished cathedral in town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Flower market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Herb “treatment”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cuenca is just perfect. Amazing weather, great infra and it’s safe and it’s beautiful. I have no doubt I will return, possibly as my winter home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Market food <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Random restaurant patio <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hiking day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walking towards the bus terminal <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Random highway scenery <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite me departing from my hostel very early, but the bus broke down and took me a while to get to the trailhead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trailhead. it’s already at 4000 meters. The city’s portable water actually comes from the high mountains <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since I got there so late, I decided to eat at the restaurant at the park office<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Surprisingly, the price wasn’t too insane <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My first time hiking alpine lakes near the equators<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forest along the trail path <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I ran out of water at this point, I just refilled with the water I saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was hoping I could hitchhiked my way back like my hostel host said. Tried for 30min ended up just giving up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s almost sunset when I got back to town <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dinner I did some stir fried chicken. It was delicious<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I decided to explore museums this day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Money museum basically <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Culture and arts museum. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Birds! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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lazy animals <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Demo farms – how the indigenous used to cultivate <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, I went for a walk around the river bank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everything was so perfect<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later, I found a brewery to chill for a bit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At night, I took a walk around the river near my hostel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got an email from my sourcer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s likely a good news. It still amazes me that it took them 3 months to get me to actually work. In part, there was elements that I wanted to stall for the purpose of travelling more. I’d say despite that it’s showing the efficiency of my employer. Perhaps, that’s why it draws to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Local Concert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chill day. Walked around and cooked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last day in the city. Bittersweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Found a gourmet restaurant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brewery day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real belgium fries and sasauge <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later walking back, there’s parade in the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s relaxing, and Cuenca is exactly what I want as a city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Week 43<\/td>Currency:<\/td>USD<\/td>1<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td>Day total<\/td>Country<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$13.00<\/td>$11.92<\/td>$130.21<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$155.13<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>$22.00<\/td>$11.92<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$33.92<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>$24.20<\/td>$11.92<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$6.00<\/td>$42.12<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>$18.00<\/td>$11.92<\/td>$5.10<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$35.02<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>$26.90<\/td>$12.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$38.90<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>$7.80<\/td>$12.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$19.80<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>$46.04<\/td>$12.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$58.04<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>$157.94<\/td>$83.67<\/td>$135.31<\/td>$6.00<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Total<\/td><\/td>Grand Total:<\/td>$382.92<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
still affordable despite counting the flights from Galapagos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am writing this blog after my move to Redmond on a sunny Friday when all the happy souls are out. It’s a full circle that both my employment and life seem belong here. Day 1 Bittersweet, I said goodbye to Galapagos and headed to Cuenca. It’s a travel day with long layover at Guayaquil,… Continue reading Sabbatical Week 43<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sabbatical","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4959,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions\/4959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}