Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Wednesday March 7, 2012


Wednesday Mar 7/12 update
What a glorious sunny morning and it makes one want to get outside.  I wanted to go see Turi, to the southwest, but I can’t find a 25c bus that goes there.  There is this beautiful white church that is lit up at night and I would love to see it.  The closest the buses go is to the Mall De Rio but I have no idea how far it is from there, probably not more than a mile or two.
I woke Bella to see if she would be willing to join me to El Valle to the southeast where our main bus, the #15 ends and she was agreeable, but wants to go one further, also take the #19 or #8 to San Joaquin.  Our Coopera medical plan basically dictates that our Dr. Pena, and our dentist, are in San Joaquin,  For $4.72 per month we can get 70-80% of our medical bills covered up to a maximum of $400 each.  That goes a long way here.
We are nearing our longest day (twice a year here) at 2.53 degrees south of the equator.  Today the sun’s path is over 4.19 degrees south so it will be directly overhead in a few days.  It took me a while to find a site with this information, but it is at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html.   I took a couple of shots about 1:30 during our trip and there was almost no shadow.
The trip to El Valle isn’t that far but it is uphill all the way and it is so picturesque as we travel upwards between two huge valleys.  We got off the bus at the top and walked over to where we saw some baby lambs.  They must have just been recently born as one was still trailing remains of its umbilical cord and was pretty unsteady on its tiny hooves.  Then we started walking down and the first thing that struck us was the wonderful quietness.  Traffic is really far apart and there is no industry, just some house construction here and there so it is really peaceful.   If a person had a car, this is one place to enjoy living.
Naturally the valleys are green, green, green and the surrounding hills are too.  There is an unusual plateau to the south that did not seem to have any buildings but we suspect there may be a small airstrip there.   There is a huge townhouse complex on a hillside and some new developments and a country club on the lowers portions.  Higher up there is a beautiful convention center/meeting hall called the Olive Garden that was just gorgeous inside and had breathtaking views.
Once we got to Huyana Capac we were going to catch the #8 or #19, whichever arrived first, which was the #8.  Bella wanted to take it to both ends of its route so we started by going northwest into the industrial area of Cuenca called Trigales, past the airport, SuperMaxi, Kywi, etc.  It is an older area and the bus just kept climbing and climbing to its turn-around area.  We had to change buses for the return trip and this involved crawling through some streets just wide enough to handle the width of the bus.
The trip down took us back through El Centro to the west end of Cuenca.  When the bus turned around and everybody got off we asked the driver why he wasn’t going to San Joaquin.  He pointed to a bridge on the right and indicated that we had to walk the rest of the way.  Our mistake.  We should have caught the #19.  So we walked, uphill, (why is it always uphill?) about 2 kilometres to the centre of town as we knew our doctor was somewhere near the church and we were pretty sure the #19 went there.  This walk wasn’t pleasant as the dirt roads were dusty and uneven, however the scenery was interesting.  This is a garden town and nobody would ever go hungry here.  They grow everything here, and we saw loads of cabbage and corn.  We also saw many of them tilling straw into the soil, even the old way, with oxen.
When we got to the church we did indeed see some buses go by but didn’t immediately see the office of the doctor and dentist.  Just to the left of the church we saw a woman go down the street and we could see some police and security guards so we ventured down.  At first I dismissed it as only the main Coopera bank here but we asked a security guard where the medical/dental offices were.  He pointed and said to go around the building, which we did and found a second building at the rear.  We even had a chance to talk with Dr. Pena who speaks excellent English and she gave us the entire lowdown on how it operates.  Basically we make an appointment to see her when we have a non-critical ailment, otherwise we can go to the emergency at any nearby hospital and submit the bills later.   All in all, these were a very informative trips.
Bella made her own beer-battered fish and chips plus onion rings tonight.  Ummm Ummmm, she did an awesome job.  The tilapia fish was as good as halibut.  I am sure she will try that again.  The leftover beer was very tasty too.
That was today’s excitement.  Enjoy the many pics.    Hugs to all.

120307 Sweet baby

120307 Sweet baby 2

120307 Oh isn't this just ducky!

120307 Interesting flowers

120307 Bella strutting between the valleys of El Valle

120307 Just the corner horse wash

120307 Showing off his clean horse, now to wash the dog..

120307 Lovely foliage in El Valle

120307 Painting the sign for the Olive Garden

120307 Inside the Olive Garden

120307 Gorgeous spiral staircase there

120307 Lovely El Valle View there

120307 Reversing flower in El Valle

120307 Gorgeous colour at El Valle

120307 Butterfly courtship

120307 Milagro church, Cuenca

120307 San Joaquin, working the gardens

120307 San Joaquin, working with oxen+plow

120307 San Joaquin, gorgeous yard

120307 Solving problem with counterbalance

120307 San Joaquin, working the gardens 2

120307 San Joaquin, working the gardens 3

120307 San Joaquin church

120307 San Joaquin indigenous gossip

120307 San Joaquin flower

120307 Doctor Pena

120307 San Joaquin church bell

120307 Trigales view

120307 Not much shadow near equator

120307 Trigales - Just enough room for the bus to go through

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