¡Las Aventuras en Ecuador!: Happenings in Cuenca

I didn't think that I would ever get to see my Ecuadorian boyfriend again. But I did :) He was in Thailand for a month and only came back to Ecuador for about a week to do some really important paper work stuff for his University. He is now back in Thailand :( It is crazy if you ask me that he only came back to Ecuador for a week all the way from Thailand. But I am so glad that he did so that I could see him again! He will be i Thailand until January and I will already be back in the US by the time he returns to Ecuador. We had an amazing time together and are awaiting the day when we will be reunited. Who knows when that day will come, it could be as far away as a year or it could be sooner. I also now have something else that is drawing me back to Cuenca that I will tell you about...but first, here are some photos of my time with Leandro. I took the 10 hour bus ride to visit him for a few days and it was so worth it :)

So handsome :)

So as I said, I now have another reason to be drawn to Cuenca (the city where Leandro lives). I spent an extra day and a half in Cuenca after Leandro left to go back to Thailand because I wanted to visit with my friend Will (a friend from my University) who know lives in Cuenca and is teaching english. Will took me to this orphanage in Cuenca that he has been spending some time at in his free time. It is an all boys orphnage with only eleven boys. It is called "El Hogar de Nazareth" (The Home of Nazareth). Even after just spending a day and a half with them, I feel in love with these boys like crazy. They only have a man (a catholic decan) who cares for them so they do not have any women role models or figures in their lives. They loved having me there and got really attached to me. Like I said, I also fell in love with them and I am definitley planning to go back to see them. They need a positive women in their life to love them. They are also really in need of a social worker. My dream is to someday return to this orphanage to be the social worker/mother figure to these boys. It may sound crazy but that is really what is on my heart. I will definitely be going back to visit them in Cuenca. It will be really sad to go back to Cuenca with out Leandro being there, but life has to go on with out Leandro and I need to see these boys again. Here are some photos of my time with the boys at the orphanage in Cuenca.