Saturday November 3, 2012

Saturday November 3/12  update #274

Today was one busy day!!  I was awake at 4:30 and up at 6am to do multiple photo uploads, etc, until the gals woke up to.   Bella put me to work hanging on the walls 3 more items she brought from home.  They look pretty darn good in those spots.   Thanks again to Emily Berberich for the lovely hand-made quilted cat wall hanging.

Bella even brought the Boys’ little tent which we have set up on the tabletop on the terrace and they are sure enjoying the shelter from the gorgeous sun we have been having.

I updated Bella’s new computer to include Skype with the same old information and tested it out.  It works.  She is under bbourassa50.

The two military jets that were flying yesterday brought 3 more buddies today and buzzed us a few times, of course always when I had no camera at my fingertips.  There is only about a 5 second window to catch those guys.

Bella and Mavis went to Coral for a few supplies while I was working and then I got a surprise call from Paola and Julio (the nice Ecuadorians who rescued us at the zoo months ago when we got caught in a downpour) inviting us to lunch at 1:30.   We readily said yes!

They arrived right on time and all the children were with them, Carolina, Rafaela, Juliano.  But a huge surprise was when Jan, their mentor from Holland, jumped out of the vehicle!  What a great reunion!! 

All the boys piled in one vehicle and all the ladies in the other for a trip to the Cajas for lunch.  We went to Dos Chorreras which serves excellent trout.   However, since we were having Trout Almondine at Joe’s later, Bella and I opted for the beef and Mavis had the pork.   We were also joined by Julio’s brother, Juan Carlos, his wife Wilma and their 3 boys..

We had a delightful afternoon solving the world’s problems and enjoying the ambiance.  It was so nice to see everyone again, and the added surprise of seeing Jan again was very special.  Jan is a world traveler and a very interesting and well- read man, as most Dutch people are.  Paola said she would call me to go to a soccer match, as Julio doesn’t care for soccer but she loves it.

Dos Chorreras is a monster place with trout ponds, Horn Billed white geese, and a black swan.

They drove us to Joe’s Secret Garden by 5:30 and we brought them in for a look.   They were very impressed with the garden and the huge palm tree.  We have made plans to meet with them all again shortly.

Joe’s was sold out again tonight and we got to sit in the library tonight which is so much quieter than the main room.  Somehow we managed to eat another whole meal and rolled out of there.

Today is the Anniversary of Cuenca’s Independence so we caught a cab to Los Sauces, hoping to replicate the fun we had in that community last year on our second day in Cuenca.  We were so disappointed that there was absolutely nothing going on there, so we sadly continued on home.   Actually we were secretly relieved because we had already had a very full day, and I had lots of chores to complete with the photos.

Our eyelids felt like some lead weights have been added, but we struggled to get all the photos processed tonight.  We finally collapsed in bed at midnight and got up at 4:20am to finish the upload of Joseph’s photos and to do these two blogs.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/