Nov.20 to 27- Week 4 in Cuenca

On Sunday we decided to stay in and watch football as there were games on our cable channels for all 3 times. However, because the day started with beautiful blue skies, no clouds and warm , we went for another long exploratory walk. This time we thought that we would walk north towards the foothills that we could see from our balcony.
                         We did get some extraordonary views of Cuenca.

                       That is our apartment building seen from the hillside.

                                  And lots of hilly streets- we had a real workout

On the way home we went down these stairs

Better down than up- LOL

One evening during the week, we finally went to an Expat night at one of the many local bars that hold these. This was held at Di Bacco, an Italian food restaurant and bar that is popular among the expats. We were to meet a couple we had conversed with on ExpatBlog who were here on a two week vacation to check out Ecuador.

When we arrived shortly after the opening time of 5PM, the bar area was already crowded with many people our age who were already living here or, like us, exploring the possibility of a move.

Di Bacco is relatively small but very friendly

And we finally did run into the people we were to meet.

As we are becoming more and more comfortable in Cuenca, we took the bus home after having a nice dinner.

On American Thanksgiving- November 24- we had made reservations at yet another new place ' Don Carlos' where a huge Thanksgiving buffet was being served.

Since it was raining, we decided to get there by bus. If it had been sunny we would have gone for the nice half hour walk along the river.

This restaurant had dozens of tables for 8 or 12 set up and most seats were filled by the time service started.

We met a very nice couple during the line-up to get in and shared a table with them. We exchanged emails and hope to meet them again for exploring & hiking.

As well as the excellent buffet of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roast pork, roast beef, varied vegetables, cranberry sauce and a wide selection of deserts , we were also entertained by a piano player.

Another day, another 2 hour hike. We again set out for the foothills, this time a little northeast of our apartment. We checked our city map first to figure out how to start and after selecting the starting street we set out.

And ,WOW, do we know how to pick them. This street continued at a +50degree angle up the hill for a least 20 minutes of walking. We stopped many times to catch our breath- remember we are at 8000' above sea level- and drink some water.

The street up- this picture does not do the incline justice!

Some of the sights along the way

The city view from there

and there are some lovely homes up there

More city views on our way down- finally

And finally the stairs taking us back to the final level

And I'm sure I did mention before that we are keeping in excellent shape walking around this very hilly scenic city.

In  Uwe's search for beer other than the light Ecuadorian brands, we found another Sports Bar. This one was located in a nice mall where for desert I found gelato ice cream- hmmmm- and of course more Christmas trees.

Nov.13 to 19- Week 3 in Cuenca

During week 3 we became much more adventurous! We started taking the local buses to a couple of places along with our daily 2-3 hour walks. Did I mention that we are definitely not gaining any weight. We had been supplied with a wonderful booklet showing all the bus routes and each bus was labelled on the front window as to which route number it was and a list of where it went- very organized and easy for gringos to manage.

Our first ride was on bus number 12 to the village of Banos. This village was famous for it's thermal waters and there were several hotels where you paid a couple of dollars to enjoy both the thermal pools and baths. We didn't bring our bathing suits this time but next time for sure.
                                      Our bus taking us the Banos

The beautiful village church

And some mountain views from the top of  Banos

This week we also took a bus ride to the large mall in Cuenca called Del Rio. It consisted of 120 stores plus a lage department anchor store.

Inside of mall looks much like our malls back home

                                       Along with pretty Christmas decorations

It felt like we had taken a short trip back home without ever leaving Ecuador!

On Saturday we went to the Secret Garden Restaurant for a back yard barbecue. It was a warm sunny day and our hosts Joe & Joseph out did themselves in the scrumptious food they served.

The meal served consisted of barbecued ribs, pulled pork with Joe's homemade sauce, beef brisket, baked beans, slaw, baked potatoes, buns and a brownie with ice cream for desert. Needless to say, we didn't need to cook dinner after that incredible lunch!

Lot's of expats attended, many of whom we had not met before.

Their back yard is truly beautiful and a relaxing place to spend an afternoon with new friends.

Nov.6 to Nov.12- Week 2 in Cuenca

On Sunday, as had been our custom in Salinas, we went to our newly discovered Expat sports bar called Inca Lounge where three screens showed various NFL games. The bar showing the games on the upstairs floor was quite small and packed with expats. We met some interesting people, a younger woman travelling around the world- lower hemisphere- on her own and an American couple who had moved in beside us from Chicago that were travelling all around Ecuador. It's amazing the different people you meet, many that are even more adventurous than us.

                                         The outside of the Inca Lounge & Bar

The bar was beside the river so again that's how we walked home.

On Monday, it rained all day! We had read about the rainy weather in Cuenca but had had mostly sunny days until then. We did our housework, laundry, read a lot, wrote in my blog and basically amused ourselves with mundane stuff.

The weather this week seemed to follow the same pattern, day after day. Very sunny and warm all morning until about 2PM, and then rain. We got into the habit of always carrying an umbrella.

All week long I had sought help in getting our Censo ( identification card required if staying longer than 90 days). I had emailed various laywers suggested both in Expat Express and on Gringo Tree but no one emailed or called me back. I finally emailed a friend of Eddy's and she was kind enough to get back to me immediatly. We met her associate, Efrain, who accompanied us to the Censo office. An hour later we had our Censo, no problem, with Efrain's help in both interpreting the questions for us plus persuading the official that some of what he asked for was really not necessary. It sure helps to go with someone who can massage the system! As well, his fee was below what I had been quoted on the other websites.

Thankyou so much again, Efrain

eelpabg@hotmail.com

This week we finally went to the big Mercado- a huge market for everything under the sun, veggies, fruits, meats-both live and ready, shoes, clothes etc etc. This market encompassed an entire block- it was HUGE. we bought an over-night bag and enough fruits and veggies to last the next few days.

Here are some of the produce stands

They also sell live animals

Many chickens, guinea pigs, rabbits to eat, and puppies for pets

An amazing experience and one we will be repeating weekly.

On Saturday night we went to yet another gringo restaurant 'The Secret Garden'

http://jardinsecreto.webs.com/ for one of their excellent theme dinners, this time Mid-eastern. The food was excellent and plentiful- thankyou, Joe & Joseph.

We met more expats from various parts of the US, several couples retired like us and, as well, several  women on their own that are either residents here already, working here as English teachers or planning on retiring here soon.

Some pictures of the Expats we met- Claudia is working here till June

Kathleen who is planning to move here and Linda who already calls Cuenca home.

Oct. 31 to Nov.5- Travelling to Cuenca

On Sunday we went for our final visit to Will & Wendy's Score Sport's Bar where we have had the pleasure for the past month of meeting lots of other Expats plus watching NFL football. This Sunday we met Bob & Barbara- nicknamed the Killer B's by their friends. They used to live in Casa Grande, Arizona just a few miles south of where we lived in Chandler, Arizona. And now they live in Progreso, Mexico near Merida which is also on our 'Year of Travel' list. Small World!!!!

Eddy picked us up on Monday to drive us to Guayaquil. We had decided to stay overnight there and rather than take a bus or taxi to Cuenca- a 4 hour drive- we were taking a 40 minute flight on Galapagos Airlines instead.
After checking in to the hotel, we took another long walk along the Malecon.

Most of the Malecon was very busy with costumed children- it was Oct.31- Halloween, so we tried to stay away from the crowds and explored  the far end.

Next morning we took a taxi to the National Airport in what we thought was lots of time- wrong! It was the big holiday week throughout Ecuador and we ended up in a gigantic line-up with many many Ecuadorians returning home from the USA.

And even worse, after we finally got through check-in and security,  our flight was delayed for 2 hours.

Once in Cuenca, our luggage was the last to arrive on the baggage claim. We were met by Svein, a transplant from Norway, who took us to our apartment that again we had rented through the internet- our fingers were crossed!

Our kitchen and dining room

Our living room

View out our balcony

All in all, we were pretty pleased this time, much better than our Salina's apartment. So this will be our home for the next three months.

The next day, which was the start of the holiday week and festivities, we took a walk to Centro- the old part of downtown Cuenca. It is full of incredibly beautiful old buildings- Cuenca was designated a World Heritage City in 1999 and has some amazing architecture.

We also enjoyed watching the many festival activities- food.

Many bands entertaining

And many stalls set up selling food, flowers, leather goods etc

We also spent some time in Parque Abdon Calderon, a beautiful green park in the center of old town with many benches and huge old trees donated by Chile more than 100 years ago.

A truly wonderful place

The next day we took a walk along the Rio Tomebamba, one of three rivers that flow through Cuenca. This one was only a short walk from our apartment and we could follow it all the way to downtown.

Very scenic and tranquil- in the middle of the city. Cuenca has a population of approximately 600,000 so it is fairly large compared to Salinas which only has 50,000.

More river pictures- we walked for a couple of hours.

Near downtown we found a large craft fair- many many stalls of purses, blouses, colorful material and original paintings.

Many native women selling colourful scraves & fabrics

Wish we had somewhere to put some of this artwork!

When we arrived back home we were beat! This high altitude- Cuenca sits at 8000'- is pretty tiring when you are not used to it.

So what are our first impressions based on 4 days of exploring? Cuenca is very clean, no garbage in the streets, no stray dogs and very few beggars- only saw 2 very old ladies- so sad, while I'm enjoying my retirement, they are reduced to begging!

On the downside, prices in the grocery store- SuperMaxi- are slightly higher than Salinas but we still have to check out the very large mercado ( market) before we jump to conclusions.  Tune back in next week for further explorations!