How Volunteering In Ecuador Was The Best Choice I Made

Choosing to volunteer, or rather having to do so in order to not become penniless while travelling through Ecuador was one of the best choices I could have made. Through seemingly random opportunities--Katarma in Galápagos, Sueños del Mar in Puerto Cayo--I somehow ended up in the place I called home: Cuenca. If you would like to read about my experience in Galapagos click here. To read about Puerto Cayo on the coast click here. So, moving onto Cuenca - here is how it happened: I left Puerto Cayo despite their wanting to hire me as manager, because I wanted to see Cuenca before I moved on to Peru for the last month of my trip. I arrived on a Wednesday night. I had made a reservation at La Cigale and, having arrived and set down my bags, I went down to eat in the restaurant. Within moments, a man (who later turned out to be king of the tiburones*) had invited me to go salsa dancing at La Mesa. Long story short--I met another man there who later introduced me to Claudio, the owner of Hostal Yakumama. I had been in Cuenca for only 24 hours by this time, but it was enough to know I needed more time here than I had originally planned, so I casually asked Claudio if he needed volunteers, to which he excitedly replied "Yes! We need one now!"