Wednesday July 11/12 update
What a MAGNIFICENT DAY!!!!
The sun is blazing and it feels great to be alive in Ecuador.
Bella was off to play bridge again while I was off to
Spanish class. Bella said Joe recounted
hearing Joseph in another room exclaiming “wow” and “fantastic”, so he went to
check, and Joseph showed him that he was looking at my pictures from
Wednesday’s July 4 party. I was proud of
those….
One of the fellows in our Spanish class actually got his
travel documents yesterday, the Censo, so that put to rest any silliness about
them being scrapped. Bella heard that
possibly they are scrapped for people here on visas, and not applying for
residency. That, at least, makes some
sense.
I had one bite early this morning for the photography tour so
I sent him the information hoping that he could meet me at the cathedral to pay
at 1pm. Luckily he did show up so we are
up to 9 people.
I wandered into the San
Francisco market for two things. My backpack was slowly shredding itself after
7 months of hard use so I found a more sturdy canvas one with 4 pockets for
$10. Then I located a wool toque for $4,
and boy, is that sucker warm. That will
be my “block heater” when we are on the mountaintops.
I then wandered back to Calle Larga to have almuerzo at the
Sabor Latino. The meal was delicious as
usual, with fabulous soup, juice and dessert, plus I ordered double meat so she
charged me a whole $2.25. I saw some
Spanish guys looking at the menu so I told them it was the best lunch in town
and they came in too. It turns out they
were the Boys From Brazil and they let me take their picture. Then this nicely dressed young lady came in
and she agreed as well. While we were
eating our main course the cook slipped out for a few minutes and I saw her
come back with a couple of 25c ice cream bars (Revellos to us) so I knew I was
going to get ½ of one for dessert. I am
so psychic!
Outside I saw this armored car that looks like an armored
personnel carrier. It was funny to watch
the guys inside pose and wave. Regular
Ecuadorians seem to like the camera’s attention.
I continued down Calle Larga, and stopped at the doorway to
this magnificent courtyard. Courtyards
are very common in El Centro
but they generally are behind closed doors.
It is such a treat to see all the greenery. I went past Todos Santos, to the Banco
Central Inca ruins. I slipped down to
the aviary to see if the big peacock was still loose with his great plumage as
I was hoping to make this a stop on our photography tour. Unfortunately they have new pens and the poor
fellow was in a cage, so there went that idea.
I then walked up Huayna Capac and spotted a bored pharmacist
standing in his doorway so I stopped in to get some 30 Acetaminophen and 50
Ibuprophen. They rarely will sell a whole
package, they just sell you what you require, so he charged me a dime apiece.
I crossed the street just in time to catch the #15 but got
off two stops earlier at the seamstress’ place.
I asked her to sew the straps near the buckle so that they can’t slide
off or ever come loose. I never adjust
them anyway.
Then I walked up to Coral to get some hair gel. They had a bottle of 200ml for as low as
53c! I got some better looking stuff,
250 ml for $1.39. Our little Jorge the
interpreter was at the customer counter so he enquired how I liked the Internet
that I got through the booth in Coral.
I told him I didn’t find it 70% faster but I did find it was completely
reliable so far. He was interested
because he is looking to get a new Internet provider himself.
I arrived home to a phone message from some idiot female at
Canadian Direct about our car insurance.
Those people must be brainwashed to idiocy as they cannot follow the
simplest instructions and they don’t have a clue about a car insurance policy. I just see red and have trouble keeping my
cool when they try to tell me complete falsehoods about how they can deny
coverage if someone drives my car and they are not listed on my policy. After a ½ hour on the phone we finally got
them to understand who is who and when we needed the driving coverage back on
the Buick. Having it spelled out clearly
and succinctly in black and white in an email wasn’t transparent enough for the
mental midgets they hire. Ugh.
I had 3 more bites on the photo tour so I emailed all the
details to these folks so we may be up to 12 participants, plus us 3 guides, so
we’ll probably be using 2 vehicles.
Everything is within ½ hour distance so it is no big deal.
Before I knew it it was 5:30 and I had to catch the #15 back
to Huayna Capac to meet Bella at Big Kabuda’s.
The bus was so jammed I almost got off before it made it up our hill,
but I persevered and made it, so great is the pull of the Porky’s burger!
Bella had made a pumpkin pie (without pumpkins) and it was
the best I have ever tasted, and I don’t normally care much for pumpkin
pie. That will be a late dessert when
we watch our nightly movie.
Enjoy the pics.
That was today’s excitement.
Hugs to all.
|
Armoured car guy in the back is waving |
|
The Boys from Brazil |
|
Inca Ruins Cacti |
|
Sunset on the Cajas |
|
Incredibly beautiful courtyard |
|
1/2 a Revel for dessert |
|
That's about 1000 Hail Mary's |
|
Flowers at Banco Central |
|
And then he said... |
|
Upper Inca ruins |
|
Uncommon indigenous male costume |
|
Nice lady at lunch |
|
Bench at Parque Calderon |
|
Ahhhhhhhhhh Paradise! |
|
Proud Falcon |
|
Seamstress shop |
|
What a gorgeous day, Todos Santos |
|
Tony the Toucan |
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