Monday May 7/12 update
Off to Spanish class again this morning with a stop at Etapa
to pay our cable bill in person, then it will be monthly withdrawals from here
on.
I had happened to catch the #16 almost immediately before 9,
and the lineup at Etapa was only 5 people so I was done there by 9:15, so I
walked to Parque De La Madre and the Tomebamba.
I stopped by Michael Berger’s
office but he wasn’t there so I took a couple of shots from the fifth floor
windows. They have some great views from
that building.
I saw two young ladies taking pictures of each other so I
offered to take the photos of both of them together and they were happy with
the offer. It turns out that both of
them are from Quito
and both speak pretty good English. The
shorter gal actually lives in Boston now, and
the two of them had been in Cuenca
for 4 days already and loving it.
I could hear the hummingbirds along the river so I waited
for a good ½ hour by some flute-shaped flowers but they never came down to
feed.
We have an interesting assortment of people in our Spanish
class, starting with Martha Mays, the teacher who has lived in Spain and still
doesn’t consider herself fluent in Spanish.
Ray, originally from Kentucky , but
lived in Florida
for 30 years, is single and moved here permanently. Paul, who does infomercials for a local
restaurant also wants to branch out to other companies. Since he is in sales and advertising, and
knows a video whiz, I have given him my amateur DVD of the kids of Cuenca to get their
thoughts. Michael Keith, from Toronto , who wears a
Tilley hat also, runs an online travel firm with his wife Susan
Birkenshaw. For the last 3 years they
have been snowbirding here for 6 months each year. He and Susan rents the whole floor of a building in El Centro , with 2 apartments for $400 a
month. They have invited us to a party
at their place on May 26 before they go back.
I am not too familiar with the nice couple of Mike and Patty other than
they just bought a car in the northern country town of Cotacachi and drove it back because the
vehicle prices are so much better up there,
Cars are very expensive here.
Some small puddle jumper with 200k on it still will command $6000 here.
Outside the window of the class is the Parque De La Madre
with the statue of Jeffersen Perez, the only Olympic gold medal winner from Ecuador , in
speed-walking. Along the road in front
it must be illegal to park because I saw this female meter maid taking photos
of licence plates and also the serial number through the windshield.
Ray and Michael joined me at the Sabor latino for the
almerzo lunch and they were properly impressed.
After lunch I am walking down the escalinata (stairs) ands I see these
guys on a scaffold at a 10 degree list, loosely supported on bricks and a beam. It seems to me we get a lot of emails with
this type of danger photo.
I had heard that the Papeleria Mosalves near the soccer
stadium was having a liquidation so I decided I would investigate. I got some photo paper, business card stock,
2 pads of stickies, a good set of scissors, and a good English-Spanish
dictionary, all for $13.88, and most of that wasn’t part of the liquidation.
As I got home I broke down and stopped at the local video
store. They have a lot of those triple
feature compilations so I had to check.
I came home with 8 more movies for $5.
Our collection is now 125 movies.
My little buddy is being shy today only coming in twice so
far but checking me out several times.
Maybe it is because the window isn’t open far enough because it is
pretty cool with the heavy cloud cover.
I want him to adapt to the smaller opening. Then I relented and let him in. I got a video of him having a good feed then
he went to the wire outside and chattered up a storm. See http://youtu.be/U-jvt3h4JJM
Bella says he yakked at her all morning because my window
wasn’t open for his treats. After supper
he stopped at the closed window and made a disgusted sound and took off
again. It is getting dark so I doubt he’ll
be back.
Enjoy the pics and video.
That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.
120507 Aztec motif glass |
120507 Art is the classroom - gorgeous! |
120507 Immaculate Conception+ west El Centro |
120507 Broader view of El Centro |
120507 Jefferson Perez statue |
120507 Lovely Rita, Meter Maid *the Beatles tune |
120507 Old buildings above the river 1 |
120507 Old buildings above the river 2 |
120507 Two gals from Quito |
120507 I ain't getting on that thing! |
120507 View from Michael's building 1 |
120507 View from Michael's building 2 |
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