Sunday July 22, 2012

Sunday July 22/12 update

Bella was still ill today so had to cancel her bridge game (that means she is really sick) and she spent most of the day in bed.  She finally managed to keep some food down but can’t stray too far from the bathroom.

I awoke to find a GringoTree recommendation for our Photography Tour that caught me completely by surprise:  ~~~~~ We would like to recommend the night photography tours offered by Al Bourassa, James Drummond, and John Davila and organized by JD's Private Transportation & Custom Outings.  Their choice of locations in Cuenca at night were great and one location, which provided a great vista of Cuenca, would have not been accessible without them. All three members of the tour team were fantastic, professional and attentive to the tour guests.  If you enjoy photography, join them on their next trip.   Contact information: Contact Al at albellaecuador@gmail.com  Recommended by Michael and Anne Roche,  Wldcelt@sbcglobal.net.~~~~

I guess we have to do more tours now……  Then I got an email from the US asking me to recommend cameras!!   I am getting positively notorious!

We had been invited to the eighth annual Latino Festival by Jesus at Big Kabuda’s.  He was supposed to confirm details with us but we never heard from him.  Bella said she would be OK alone so I went with my small camera anyway and easily found Jesus at the Venezuelan food booth.  He suggested I try this pita filled with chicken so I did, with a drink for $2.  He wasn’t kidding, it was really good!  

I got introduced to his Venezuelan buddies and Jesus says he is going to join forces with these folks for next year.   The blurb on GringoTree described it thus:  ~~~ The 8th Annual Latin Festival is Sunday July 22 at Parque El Paraiso. Singing and dancing groups from Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Ecuador will perform from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. In addition, there will be booths selling food from the participating countries. Admissions is free.~~~~

They had good entertainment, a loud puppet show, lots of hawkers and you could get your picture taken with a llama.  Kids were blowing bubbles everywhere.  I opted for a caricaturist for $2 and it was good for a laugh, especially to the hundreds watching….   The people were there from ARCA with lots of dogs to adopt.  I hope a few of those lovely animals found good homes.

I took a few videos, mostly of Colombian performers and strung them together.  It is long but you can fast-forward to catch pieces of different song and dance routines.  Here it is:  http://youtu.be/L72wnqptD3s

As I was walking out I saw two mounted policemen on fine steeds and then saw two pickup trucks with family seated in the box.  I got a shot of one group, but the other one had six people in the back, with room for six more.  This reminded me of Hobbema….

Enjoy the pics at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/.    That was today’s excitement.    Hugs to all.