February 8 to 15- February in Cuenca Week 2

On Friday night we were invited to Cody and Michael’s condo for a Mexican dinner. We had met them more than a year ago at a Thanksgiving dinner on November 2011. During our stay that year, we had become good friends and had hoped to reconnect during this visit to Cuenca.

They own a lovely condo in a brand new building close to the river and only a few blocks from our place.  They had a visitor staying with them, a lovely young lady, Evie,  that Cody had taught when she was a teacher in Prague. Evie had now graduated and was spending a few months in Quito doing volunteer work. She had taken the 12 hour bus ride from Quito to Cuenca to spend Carnaval with Cody and Michael. We had an excellent Mexican meal and great conversations.
                                                                       Our hosts plus Evie

On the way home, we all stopped at a huge stage set up on one of the main streets.  There was entertainment and many many spectators watching and dancing.

 

 

And lots of vendors selling all kinds of food. It was after all the first day of Carnaval!

So, now getting back to Carnaval in Cuenca. We had left Salinas for the month of February because we wanted to escape the huge, noisy party atmosphere at our beach resort and of course, we loved to have some time in Cuenca. What we found here, is almost total quiet! It was very true what we had been told- everyone heads for the coast during Carnaval.

Though we did get sprayed with foam and hit with a few water bombs ( a favorite pastime for children and adults during Carnaval) we had no loss of sleep, no huge neighbourhood parties nada!

On Tuesday, the last day of Carnaval, we took a walk to the historic downtown to check out any action. We were very surprised to find most stores and restaurants closed, all streets deserted and no buses running at all.

 To be exact, we had a hard time finding any place to have a cerveza! We were very thirsty and hungry after our long walk.

We did however, make a new restaurant discovery. The Fogon del Zorro, a Peruvian/ Ecuadorian place that had just opened a week ago and was open for business today- yeah!

 

                                                                  Very nice interior.

A great meal of fish, calamari, shrimps, chicken, pork and steak plus sides of salad, rice and French fries- yummm.

                                         And of course, two very well fed satisfied customers.

A walk along the nearby river had become one of our more beloved daily rituals. It was almost like being away from the city and we never tired of the tranquil scenery.

We also discovered some exercise equipment placed along one of the river paths so that our other muscles as well as those in our legs could get a workout.

After midnight on Valentine’s day we experienced our first Serenada! This is an Ecuadorian custom where a love-struck man serenades his girlfriend outside her house in the early morning of Valentine’s day. In our case, he and his friends ( probably fueled by cervezas) sang a few songs out of tune and burned a huge heart on the pavement below our condo. How romantic!
                        We saw the heart next morning looking out from our balcony.

Friday night we had a dinner party for our friends. We invited Cody and Michael who were anxious to check out our apartment plus Larry and Donna, new friends, who lived down the hall from us. We had some wonderful conversations and everyone enjoyed Uwe’s Beef Bourguignon, noodles and my Caesar salad.