Thursday November 29, 2012

Thursday November 29/12  update #300

After forcing myself to stay in bed until 8am I hurried to do my uploads, emails and chores as hurriedly as I could since I was determined to get out of the house today.

There was a strange helicopter that buzzed by and landed on the hill where the amusement park had been set up last month.  There was a great cloud of dust and then they lifted off again about 10 minutes later.   This is only the second helicopter we have seen here, and the other is the police helicopter which has been conspicuous by its absence in recent months.

I heard from my buddy Chris that he is recovering well from his hernia surgery on Monday.   That is a relief I am sure for Bettye who relies on Chris for many things.

I met Jay Shink in front of Immaculate Conception and we started roaming from there.   I bought two of the pan flute CD’s and got them autographed for gifts.  Then we wandered west to San Sebastian Square, checked out the church and park before going into the Museum Of Modern Art.  There were some very interesting impressionist pieces today but also some realism that was so incredible they looked like a photograph.

Otorongo Plaza appears to be setting up for some sort of fair, probably starting tomorrow.

We headed over to La Condemine to see my Maypole sculpture then we went by that macabre museum which had doors and windows open so we could witness some of its ghoulish contents.

I then took Jay to Almacen Ochoa to buy himself a switchblade for $5, just like I have.   Next we started to ask around to find him a spare battery for his Olympus camera.   I remembered being referred to a Fuji store 3.5 blocks east of Parque Calderon when Dan had broken his camera so we headed there.  And guess what?!  They had the battery we needed, and at less cost than in Canada!

I then caught myself looking at cameras trying to find an SLR that would allow for manual focusing.  There was an incredible $800 Fuji camera with a short lens that went from 55-720 and it even had the tilt screen, etc.  Unfortunately the camera was still too smart for me when it would zoom in as I was trying to focus, to give better definition they said, but definitely annoying when it is not zooming in on the spot you want to focus on…

The fellow in the store then gave me a tour of their developing facilities and then their lovely studio and we got to chatting.  Guess what?  He runs tours and has access to vehicles of all types!  He and his wife are photographers so this could be a very good fit.  I briefly discussed that I am thinking of doing a trip to Saraguro for solstice day celebrations and then maybe to Ona for the late afternoon.    This could be interesting.

I have taken artistic licence with many of the photos today.  I hope you like them.

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