Cuenca Updates: Monday April 16, 2012

Monday Apr 16/12 update
I was up very early to catch the gas man to get two refills so we can again have both hot water and a stove that works.
Bella was also up early to accept delivery of a small 32” square table and four chairs to use for playing cards. It is a good fit in the small vacant space we have on the second floor and much easier for cards than the 6-footer in the dining room.
I was then off to the Street Spanish class for 10:30am, but I managed to catch a bus right away so I was very early, so I did a small stroll along the Rio Tomebamba. The river is actually pretty low right now but in a way that adds to its beauty because you can see more of the large rocks on its riverbed. This would not be a good candidate to raft on.
http://youtu.be/apU5Kutl468
A little further on I was struck by the number and variety of flowers in such a small stretch on the riverbank. This is truly such a beautiful city.
http://youtu.be/Fs9qtrV-sZo
There were only five of us for Street Spanish this morning so that made things easier on Martha, the teacher. It is truly amazing how close Spanish is to French in so many words, verbs and conjugations….
After class I climbed the stairs to El Centro and started hunting for a hummingbird feeder. I had the Spanish teacher translate it on paper for me but it still got blank stares everywhere I went so I had to resort to pantomimes anyway. Oh, I stopped at this place that had a spike of meat in a window, like donair meat so I had to try it. What they gave me was small, with big dishes of salsa and sour cream but it was so darn good I will definitely be back there to spend another $2 when I am hungry.
After stopping at about 20 stores, I ended up in front of Yolanda’s, (Architect Jorge Beltran’s sister) store and I resorted to drawing a picture (I’m not bad at Pictionary) and she fully understood. So she called Jorge and, as far as I could understand, he knows where to get them and he will drop one off at the house.
So then I was off to try to find an eye-bolt to attach a cord to our sunroom to hopefully reel in and out the hummingbird feeder. On the way I took a couple more church pictures and ran into another couple, Charles and Rommie, that we had met a few times before. He is from the US and she is Austrian (and very tall). You can see them in the “Street Scene” photo below. They were headed to a Mexican restaurant that they frequent right next to Santo Domingo.
I did find an eye-bolt at the Rotary Market and quickly caught the #50 home just as the rain started. I was going to purchase some nylon rope for the hummingbird feeder which I intended to hang from the big wires that cross in front of my bedroom and the terrace, but I decided to leave that for another day. Rommie had said that she had been told that hummingbird feeders should be hung about chest high so I checked the Internet and they all recommend around 5’-6’ high so she was right and most of my plans are for naught. Now I don’t know what I will do.
Bella went to the afternoon Street Spanish class and was to be joined by Chris and Bettye, then she was going to bring home supper. Tonight is DWTS again and we still haven’t found a good live feed. It is better to watch the highlights tomorrow.
Enjoy the pics and video. That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.