Parting shots of uenca

I loved going down  these steps to the Rio Tomebamba, but I never got to the point I could make it back up with out gasping for air at each landing. Gettung fit will be one of my first prioroties before I return.

Watching the city come to life on our last morning in Cuenca.

Bye bye for now, Cuenca..on to the Northern Sierras

We were out of the apartment by 6:45 this morning and now, 13 hours later I am tired and once again stuffed full of dinner.
We almost missed our plane to Quito,dispite the fact we were at the airport almost two hours early. We were chatting away at departure gate lounge for our flight, when a nice English speaking lady mentioned that she thought our flight had moved from gate 1 to gate 3. We looked down thar way and  saw people boarding. We grabbed our bags and dashed to the gate and were the last two to dash up the stairs to the plane. As I said before, God watches over fools and old people.
50 minutes later we were on the ground in Quito. Stored our luggage at thr airport, except fot two days of gear in our back packs for our Otavalo trip. We took a cab to the bus terminal and began the search for which bus line was heading to Otavalo. Luck was with usonce again  and the first person we asked pointed to a bus that was loading and said to hurry and we could make it. Off we dashed once more, and within 10 minutes we were on the road. Two stress free hours later, we were in Otavalo. I love this country!

We checked into our room at Rincon del Valejro and then caught the local bus to Cotocachi. The trip took 15 minutes. We spent the afternoon roaming the streets and browsing the leather shops. I had to keep reminding Doug that he did not need another leather coat. But, I have to admit, the prices were so low and there was a green leather jacket that he should have bought..............maybe tomorrow.
we headed back to Otavola about 4:30, roamed town a bit, had dinner and now it is time to catch up on my sleep.
Tomorrow is the big Otavalo market. I have been waiting this whole trip to buy something so I am due for a shopping spree.
I'll have lots of pics to post.
Otavalo is much bigger than I had expected.it is also 2000 feet higher than Cuenca and i am suffering from the thin air...........hopefully a good nights sleep will cure me.
Sweet dreams all

Sunday night dinner at home..............

This is the meal  Doug prepared for our Sunday night dinner:

Minus the bottle of wine, this salad for two cost less then 10.00 to prepare, including 1 1/4 pound of giant prawns.
A person could eat very healthy for a realatively small cost.

Our last Sunday in Cuenca...........Mira Flores

The morning was grey...kind of like my mood when I lay in bed thinking about the fact that we were soon leaving. 
There was quite a ruckus going on down by the river and we headed up to the roof top to see what was going on.
It seems that all the marchers of yesterday were now on bicycles and the boulavard was closed to traffic so that they could parade.
The football stadium was filling with thousands of people and much cheering, chanting, and singing was going on.
Cuenca is never boring..............
We ventured out and soon we were happily walking the streets again.
We walked a while and then hopped a bus heading north. The bus wound its way up the hills of the city ending at Mira Flores.
The sites on the way were and  very interesting and the neighbor hoods quite picturesque. We passed a very pretty artisans market and decided we would stop there on the way back.

The market we had seen was called Rotary Plaza and we spent an hour admiring the arts and crafts before ducking in to a cafe for almuerzo. Yep....I was eating again............

We wound our way thru the streets and back to Calle Larga. We got to the market just in time to score some giant camerones and veggies for a shrimp salad for our dinner.

After we prepared the veggies and cleaned and cooked the prawns, we headed out for a walk along the Tomebamba River.

The rain showers seem to have set the trees and flowers into bloom and I noticed plants I had not noticed before.

San Joaquin

Saturday morning we hopped a bus and headed west to a small village called San Joaquin, in search of the rumored golf course. It was a very tiny place and we stayed on the bus as it headed back to Cuenca. We circled the town square and turned back towards town. As we came back to the main road, Doug asked the bus driver ( in a mix of Spanglish and pantomime) if there was "golfito" near by. The driver pointed off down a country road and off the bus we jumped at the intersection of " no where" and "any where". As we watched the bus drive off, I must admit, I did have one of my panic moments. Doug assured me that the driver had told him it was a half a kilometer down the road so off we went. It was a gorgeous day for a walk in the country.

About a half a kilometer down the road, we came across a Gringo, ( who by the way, had been in the same restaraunts we were in for the past two nights) headed the opposite direction from us. He said the golf course was right down the road, about a hlf kilometer. hmmmmmmmmmmmm....Hadn't I heard that before?

We continued our walk and sure enough..............

We were not allowed to go beyond the gates, as it is a members course, and there was no management around because it was the weekend. We hung around out side the fence and watched the golfers for a little while and then began our trek back to the main road. it was a great walk.

We got back to Cuenca about 1:00 decided to try Chinese food for a light lunch as we were going to meet friends for dinner. Once again, I say, I haven't had a meal in Ecuador that I didn't like.

We spent the afternoon up on the roof top terrace watching a student march of some sorts paradeing down the boulavard. I don't know what it was about, other than it was something to do with education and students rights. There must have been between 3 and 4 thousand people in this march. Hundreds of differnt groups in different colors.

Later we met up with a couple from Vancouver and a Jim,, from Chicago for dinner at a fantastic Italian restraunt. We had a great evening of eating and talking...........am I eating my way thru Ecuador?............
Shelly and Brian were introduced to us by Jim, and have been a fountain of information for us as well as very enjoyable company. We look forward to future times together.

The thought of how little time we have left here saddens me. But, the sooner I leave, the sooner I can return..............

Green houses at the Equator??!!!!

Yesterday we hopped on a bus and headed out of Cuenca in a north east direction.
We wound our way around the rivers and dropped about 2000 feet. The scenery was amazing.  Jungle plants and cactus growing side by side. And much to our surprise, green houses pearched on the sides of hills
appearing almost. Green houes at the equator? We found out that these are used to grow roses. Roses plants can be forced to bloom every 6-8 weeks in a green house instead of once a year. Roses account for 49% of Ecuadors export business.
We got off the bus in a small  but bustling village called Paute. We roamed around for a few hours, strolling along the river, checking out a resort, and just enjoying. The 2000 foot drop in altitude resuled in a 10 degree temperature change and we soon grew hot under the 80% sun shine. We found the town square....every town has at least one.............and had a freshly made coconut smoothie. Set up around the square were several women selling various varietis of lunch items. After we perused the goods, we were having a hard time deciding what we wanted. We noticed a young Ecuadoring man  having lunch with his wife anf son and were admiring the lunch on thier table when the father said Hello, this is the best food in the square. We were a bit surprised, as we don't often get spoken to in English except by other foriegners. He invited us to join them for lunch and pointed out the proper booth from which to order.
We had a marvelous roasted pork lunch and enjoyed chatting with Gonzalez. He had lived in Minnasotoa for nine years and had been a shushi chef...of all things. He had come back to Ecuador, and was now a businessman with his own stotre in Paute. He was very proud of his village and of Ecuador and had a delightful time together.
After he and his family left, the lady that had cooked our lunch sat down with us and we had aconversation in Spanish........not sure what we talked about, but it was fun to try.
Here are a few pictures of our day.

The first picture is a poinsetta. There were two of them growing in a yard that were 10 feet tall and branched out about 12 feet across.........beautiful!
The cute little local baby was with her Mom & Dad on the bus.

We often find religious carvings and worship sites, or alters on the road side and carved into rock out croppings

 Every town or village has a square and a statue or bust of the foundinf father, with a church facing onto the square.

 Here are a few shots taken from the bus and while we were walking about town.

This wonerful outing into the country side cost us a grand total of 8.00 for lunch, two fresh coconut smoothies, and transportation!

And....one more bit of informtion that I found interesting....................in thier natural setting, tomatoes are a perrinial! They harvest  the same plalnt for about 7 years here before they replace it.

Today we are going out to explore west of the city.There is a rumor that a golf course exits there..........................

Panama hats........and a dining experience.

Another afternoon of fun.

Doug is having a hard time selecting a Panama hat.

We went up to the roof top at sunset and opened a bottle of Champage to start our anniversary dinner.

Our dinner was another amazing meal.
We went to Tiesto's after hearing so many good reports on the place. It did not disappoint.
The place was fully booked on a Wednesday night....glad Doug had made reservations.
The owner/Chef met us at the door and welcomed us to his restaraunt. Our sharply dressed waiter bought  hot bread with 7 differnet kinds of fantastcaly delioush dipping sauces to our table. As we perused the menu, the Chef returned to our table to see if he could offer any suggestions. Doug asked him if he would do the honor of cooking us his choice of dinner. After a short discussion of our preferences he scurried back to the open kitchen. We knew  we were getting a seafood appetizer and a meat and vegetable entre.
The Chef came out and greeted every person who entered the door, all the while overseeing every dish being prepared. Every item that came out of the kitchen was delivered by the Chef and served up by the staff, which rivaled any wait staff in a 5 star place in Vancouver.
Our appetizer was delivered by the Chef with great flourish at the same time as the waiter delivered our white wine. Off came the cover from the dish to reveal a  platter of 10 giant prawns sizzleing in a garlic butter sauce whos aroma made me drool .Along with this dish, which was a meal for two by it's self, came several dises of various contents...rice, hot steamd baby potatoes,fresh veggie salad, a couscous salad, baby dilled potatoe salad.....and more. We were in trouble.....dinner was still to come!
We managed to eat all the prawns just as the Chef came out of the kichen to tell us our dinner was coming out in a moment or two. While at our table he looked at the pile of pawn heads on our plate and said "madame, allow me to show you how to ejoy the finest part of the camarone"............where upon he took up my knife and fork and carved a tiny morsel out of the head and fed it to me! It was indeed very tasty.
doug and I tried to duplicate his knife skill but were unsucessful in getting a big enough bite out of the shell without mutilizing it.
The wiater came and whisked away our plates and right behind him was the Chef with another covered sizzling platter. He whisked away the cover to display an array of meat that surely was meant to feed 4 people. There was pork ribs, veal medallions, fillet stuffed with bacon, chorizo, and I don't know what else..........we looked at each other and said no way could we eat this. The waiter appeared with a bottle of  red wine. He very deftly served a portion of the meats onto our plates and we dug in. It was excellent and surprisingly we managed to eat what was on our plate.
We were at the point that nothing more could go into our mouths when dessert was offered.
Sadly, we both said no thank you.
We rolled out the door and had a leisurely walk back to the apartment, where we plopped on the bed and did not move untill morning.

Life is good.