February 21 to 22- Our Mini vacation at Dos Chorreras in the Cajas

 

Yes, I know what you are thinking. How can they possibly call this a mini vacation when they are in retirement and permanently on vacation! LOL

So we decided to spend a night and a couple of days at a hotel that we had heard lots about from friends at the foot of the Cajas National Park . The Cajas are part of the Andes Mountain Range that goes through Ecuador. One of the many things on my bucket list during our month in Cuenca was hiking in the Cajas and this we could definitely do at the Dos Chorrerras Hotel- http://www.hosteriadoschorreras.com/index.php/en/home-site-frontpage

The hotel was beautiful, lots of wood, many different sitting/eating areas amid incredible scenery.

 

 

Our room was on the lower floor and overlooked a green meadow, grazing horses and ponds reflecting the amazing Cajas mountains.

 

 

 

After an excellent lunch of trout- I had fried and Uwe had smoked- we took a hike up the mountain. We were lucking out on the weather so far- no rain or fog and intermittent sunshine. We were maybe 20 minutes up the trail when we decided to try the turn to the right.

 

                                         A rather rickety bridge awaited us at the bottom across the river.

                                                   Hmm, no, I don’t think so, let’s try this way instead.

This very narrow, overgrown, rarely used trail followed the river. It felt much like the jungle trails we had explored during our stay in Panama ( check BLOG during March-April 2012).

                                                                     We saw waterfalls

                                                                  Exotic trees and plants

And after some time we came upon this strange hut- I assume built to look like an old Indian place including a pretend corpse with a llama skull.

 

 

After the trail became so overgrown that even a short person like me had trouble getting through, we decided to turn back and go up to the old mining camp that we had been told about.

                                                            This camp had been built and used in the 1920’s

                                               Lots of old buildings & artifacts

                                      Including the first electrical plant run by this man-made chute of water.

 

 

                                                   This huge stuffed anaconda was in one of the huts.

                                                                                Nice teeth, eh??

After the camp, the scenery became awesome. Our path up was bordered by pine trees- who would think pine trees only a few degrees south of the equator.

                                                                           And more eye candy

 

 

When we came back from our hike we checked out the trout ponds. There are many many ponds starting with thousands of tiny tiny trout.

At each pond the fish became bigger, until at the last they were eating size. The hotel offered fishing at the ponds and would clean the fish you caught for you so that you could take them home for your own trout feast.

                                            We also came upon a cute tame deer- very curious.

That evening our dinner was wonderful. We ate in at another section of the hotel dining room with a very romantic setting.

 

Our chef was from Spain- working in Ecuador because of the very bad economy at home.

Our meal was pan-fried trout with red peppers and potatoes with a side of rice and vegetables- very tasty!

                                                           Two very satisfied customers

The next morning the clouds had come down and covered the mountain tops- more amazing scenery.

 

 

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.

 

February 1 to 7- First week back in Cuenca

For the month of February we are doing a home exchange with another retired couple who live in Cuenca. We advertised on Gringo Tree  http://www.gringotree.com/cuenca/ and received 6 different replies. We ended up exchanging with a couple from Texas who lived in a similar condo to ours in the area of Cuenca that we were familiar with after having spent 3 months there last year.

Their driver, Rodrigo, drove them to Salinas on Thursday, we all went out for dinner at a nice restaurant on the Malecon and then Rodrigo drove us to Cuenca the next morning. The drive took approximately 6 hours plus a stop for lunch. It rained almost the whole way until we went over the continental divide about 35 minutes from Cuenca where we finally got sunshine.

Their condo was very lovely, also on the 16^th floor with a wonderful kitchen.

                                                  And a great living  and dinning room

                                                              Nice bedroom

                                        And excellent views towards the historical center of Cuenca.

On Saturday night we went out to dinner at the ‘Secret Garden’ Restaurant http://jardinsecreto.webs.com/ . We hadn’t been since we left Cuenca a year ago and were looking forward to reconnecting with old friends plus the excellent food. Although we didn’t see a single person we recognized from before (except of course Joe & Joseph the owners), we made 8 new interesting friends.

                                            Here are some of our dinner companions

                                                 And Joe & Joseph with another new friend

                                                And the excellent main course- Seafood Pot Pie

We walked home with another couple from Texas who live down the hall from us- small world! We also went to their condo for cocktails & snacks Wednesday night.

Now of course the only downside to this apartment and our own in Salinas, is that our Ecuadorian neighbors in the houses near our condos insist on Saturday night parties. This one went from 11PM until 4AM with a loud DJ and very loud music! No sleep for these gringos.

The next day we took a walk along one of the four rivers that flow through Cuenca, one was only a block down the road. Walking here is almost like being in the countryside as you can’t always hear or see the city traffic.

                                                                      Very pretty!

                                                        The Cuencanos washing clothes.

We are approximately a half hour walk to the historical centre in downtown Cuenca. Lots of pretty churches

                                                           And the very nice Calderon Park.

Of course, we had time for a nice lunch and cerveza in a pub with an outdoor garden.

The very large Mercado, Feria Libre ( think humongous farmers’ market) is also within walking distance. There are lots of fruits and veggies.

 

And almost everything else you may want to buy- clothes, meat, baskets, goats, live chickens, puppies and kitties.

Now normally I only post good things about my adopted country but I do have to mention this. On Fridays  all the little restaurants serve roast pig. Everywhere you walk you see these giant roast pigs cooking outside. It was something we definitely wanted to try one of these Fridays- we love roast pig! Up the hills behind our condo are several homes that raise pigs, cows etc. On Friday morning while I was working on my computer, I heard this horrible screaming! On checking out our balcony, our Cuencano neighbours up the hill were killing their pig- by bludgeoning it to death! The screaming lasted at least 5-8 minutes. How horrible but then are we aware of how the animals die in our slaughter houses back home before we pick up the packaged meat in our local grocery stores?