Cuenca Updates: Friday May 11, 2012

Friday May 11/12 update

To bed at 1am, up at 4:30, work on more pictures, back to bed at 7:30, then I got a call at 10:30 from Chris and it was time to get moving. Chris and Bettye were coming over at noon and the girls were playing bridge all afternoon so Chris wanted to buy me lunch somewhere.

When they arrived Chris and I headed across the bridge and had almuerzo at a restaurant that is always busy but we had never tried yet. The lomo plancha (minute steak), beans and rice were excellent.

We continued up the street to Monay Mall and the Coral store and noticed this sign on the way in that appeared to say YO MAMA. See the photo below. At first glance it was shocking until upon closer examination we noted the heart in between. Then we had to recall that Yo in Spanish means “I”. Mystery solved.

We poked around and went through every department and he picked up few items he needed. Then I showed him the rest of the mall and he was very impressed. For a small mall it really has a great selection of items and a decent food court.

Next was to show him GranAki, another grocery/department store that had many items that piqued his interest like a carafe coffee maker for $32. He also got to see the same computer desk as mine plus other furniture tables, exercise stuff, etc. Again he was very impressed that we have all this within easy walking distance.

Then my regular computer store was closed but there was another one further up that was willing to also negotiate for the printer ink he needed as he has the same printer as me.

As we continued up Gonzalez Suarez I pointed out the various stores where we had bought different things as we made our way to our old neighborhood. As we had been wandering for 3.5 hours already we took a load off our feet and shared a large Pilsner at Segundo’s restaurant. We saw four of the daughters and then Segundo and his wife Carmelita showed up and chatted with us. We had to leave quickly when the restaurant got overly smoky when one daughter was fanning the coal and wood to get their small BBQ fired up.

The next stop was at the Italian meat shop where we get the best pork chops. Bella had given me vague instructions to get some and had given me a $20 bill. So the hilarity started when I was trying to get them to give me $20 worth, but in packages of 3 (which worked out to be about $4 each). After many pantomimes, laughing, and continuous flashing of the $20 bill one girl finally understood.

I then took Chris down Max Uhle, again pointing out the various vendors we had used, including my great bike mechanic, before we walked home along the Tomebamba. There were some boys getting soccer instruction along the riverbank so I managed to drag out my camera. Not too many photos today…

Once bridge was concluded we had cooked chicken sandwiches in freshly baked bread with Bella’s phenomenal mushroom soup. Dessert was chocolate chip cookies in a cake style which was too decadent to describe but definitely too hard to resist.

The four of us then played some more Rook and I finally remembered some key rules that made playing much easier. A good time was had by all and then I had to do dishes after they headed home.

Enjoy the pics. That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.