What A Difference A Daze Makes

“Hola” here I am…same town, different day, and the weather has improved significantly….it’s now approaching “hot” in the afternoons, and I have learned to stay on the shady sides of the streets when walking around. The sun really is directly overhead at noon, and even with sunblock slathered all over my face I do turn red…at least I did yesterday while huffing up the 89 steps that lead to and from the Rio Tomebamba off Calle Larga north.

“Barranca” means "ravine", and the photo in the area showing the homes above the river is known as “La Barranca”. On Saturday night a bus went off the mountain road from Cuenca to Quito into a barranca 70 meters below when the driver fell asleep, killing 42 passengers. The other photos I took over the past few days are from different areas in the city and nearby surroundings. For the most part they are self explanatory.



Yesterday I moved into another hotel just to see what it would be like staying next to the local casino (Presidente Casino y Hotel). It was like this: I dropped $50 at blackjack in five minutes and called it a night. It was six decks (in a shoe) and I don’t think they had changed any of the decks out in years. This was the first time I’d ever seen cards that could be described as being "unctuous".

The new hotel I’m at (El Conquistador) is more upscale than the previous two, but for some reason my wifi connection doesn’t work well in my room (again, I’m on a 5th floor, “piso quinto”, but this time I have an elevator and amenities), so I’m writing this while in the hotel restaurant having the buffet, some tea, and “jugo de babaco” which I think might be pineapple juice. The picture of me below was taken at a hammock shop, and I'm really not that fat...for some reason it just looks like it, but anyway, I've decided to stop eating so much food all day long...even though it's everywhere and cheap!

Looking a little unctuous myself

On Monday I went looking for a couple of health spas to try to work off some of the food I’ve been eating, and my taxi driver took me to one on the other side of town (great, but too far away), then he took me up the hill to Turi, where the grand vista of Cuenca was shot. The view literally gave me a whole new perspective of the area. It’s absolutely beautiful here.




The newer part of town is south of the river, with many new condominiums and apartments being built in anticpation of more people moving here. I asked my taxi driver Felix how many people he thought lived here now and his answer was simple: "I don't know."

 Anyway, the view from the little town of Turi shows that there are plenty of buildings down in the basin below, with beautiful mountains surrounding them.

I’ve included a few church scenes that I took on Sunday…the one I didn’t take was of an old lady hawking Lottery Tickets outside the Iglesia San Blas as the thankful parishioners flocked out. That church is a few hundred years old, and if I went into it I would be praying that it didn’t fall down on me…at which point I would be buying lots of Lotto Tickets upon fleeing it after the service.

I have some ideas for some further blogs including: “Sombra Means Shade”, “Yes, But Can You Drink The Water”, and “Things That Might Deter My Sister and Cousin Denise From Moving Here”. The meat market lady pictured below was selling fresh meat at the open market, as they do every day...but I wonder...???

So, that’s it for now…I’m going to try to post blogs on Wednesdays and Sundays, but if my wifi connections slow me down so be it. I have to post the dialogue first, then put the photos up, as they take forever, and I can only post one picture at a time, then upload. Just as a sidelight, I’ve tried uploading for fifteen minutes now and can’t get it to move.

Here in Cuenca “Mas tarde” means "later", and “Manana” means maybe if you’re lucky you might get it in a few days. Well, I say Buena Suerte!