Monday July 16/12 update
Bella was off to Coopera to manage our CD’s and to get my
airline tickets for January.
Morning was Spanish class for me then I rushed home to pack
up for our night photography tour. We
had an awesome bunch of people join us, from novices to semi-professionals.
James and John from JD’s Private Transportation picked us up
at the Coffee Tree corner on Calle Larga.
Because we had so many participants, they had to borrow a van from the
richest man in Ecuador ,
Juan ElJuri, with whom they have business ties. This was a 12-passenger Hyundai van that
came with an Ecuadorian former military driver/bodyguard, in addition to John’s
Hyundai SUV 7-passenger. Altogether we
were 15 people.
Our first stop was part way up the hill to El Valle where we
had a view of both valleys to the north and south. We also managed to catch a few of the locals
nearby, as well as some sunrays on the east of Cuenca .
Then we zipped off to the east to a pointy mountain above
the town of Cojitambo ,
after which the mountain is named.
Almost immediately we had an issue with the big van which didn’t have
the power to go up the steep dirt road with a full load of passengers. John ended up ferrying people in the SUV to
the town so it could come up empty. Then
the van had the same problem further up the mountain so John did the ferrying
routine again. None of us were too
impressed with the driving skills of this Ecuadorian commando.
Regardless, we all made it up the impressive Inca ruins near
the summit. Some stayed at this level
which has some spectacular views northeast and southwest to several towns, and
even a portion of east Cuenca . About five of us continued up the rocky path
to the top of the mountain for the 360 degree view at 10,000 feet altitude. Looking down the sheer cliff to the town of Cojitambo below is very
sobering when the huge church looks like a loaf of French bread. We all had flashlights because darkness
descended very quickly and the uneven footing was not to be risked. The lights in the neighboring towns grew
brighter and brighter and we managed to get a few decent shots but certainly
not as many as we had hoped. We had the
feeling that the tripod was too light and feared we would lose a lot of
opportunities as a result.
We then zipped back to Cuenca
for supper at Fogo’s, a restaurant just below Turi which has a decent city view
and a good menu. Trying to get service
for this many people was an issue, for food, drinks, and especially the bills
at the end. They cost us a lot of extra
time, in spite of the great meal.
Next was the ascent to the top of the neighboring mountain,
the highest spot in Cuenca ,
where all the telecommunications antennae are.
This made the trip completely worthwhile, to have the uninterrupted view
of the entire city from east to west. I
think I had my tripod better secured over a mound because I got much better
shots and panoramas here, and a fairly nice video:
We came down the hill and zipped
up to Turi only to find that the church was not lit up! In all my time here, I have never known a
time when the church was not a beacon to the south. It was a disappointment but not a great
concern as we were sure that most folks had visited Turi but daytime and
nighttime at some point.
Then the plan was to try to see
as many lit-up nice buildings in the city as we could, starting with El Vergel
church, the nearby Inca statue and ruins.
Unfortunately they weren’t lit up sufficiently so we continued on to San
Blas square and were rewarded with some great photo opportunities. We were just finished when the lights were
turned off at 11pm.
Then we went west a few blocks
to Parque Calderon and the cathedrals.
We hadn’t even got out of the vehicles when a fireworks display erupted
between the main cathedral and the flower market. Here’s a video of that:
Once we got our shots of the cathedrals we walked up to see
if San Francisco
was lit up, but no such luck. We then
drove by San Sebastian
too quickly because the church was not floodlit but later we saw that the
surrounding park was.
Lastly we went to a high spot on the North hill for an
opposite view, but with most of the church lights switched off it was pretty
anticlimactic.
We got many folks cabs along the Avenida De Las Americas and
drove a few others home. I got home at
12:15 and was surprised that Bella was still up and reading.
Enjoy the pics and videos.
That was today’s excitement.
Hugs to all.
Tuesday July 17/12 update
I had my coffee cup in hand at 5am as I started the
processing of the 100 photos and 3 videos I had taken last night. I whittled it all down to 59 photos and the
above 2 videos. I was glad to get that
chore done by 10:30am. I sent off an
email to last evening’s tour participants to get feedback for possible future
tours so we will see how that all pans out.
I think they have to be satisfied with an 8-hour tour for $25 after all,
in spite of the minor glitches. Everyone
was good-natured about everything, they were a great group of people.
Bella is off to the Book Exchange and then to play bridge
again today.
I will continue with my photos today until I collapse into a
nap at some point.
That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.
El Valle
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| Sunrays on our neighborhood |
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| Add caption |
Cojitambo - Day
Cojitambo - Night
Antennae Mountain
San Blas
El Centro
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