Sunday November 4, 2012

Sunday November 4/12  update #275

Today I was up at 4:20 to finish off my photo duties because we were all rising early to go to 9am mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in El Centro.  It turned out the mass was at 9:30 so we took a quick trip to the Cathedral crypt for Mavis’ benefit.  When we came out we discovered we had been locked in and a hapless priest was frantic until he found the right nun to free us.

We went to the Diez De Agosto Mercado for a hornado lunch of pork.   That is a nice treat.  Then we headed to show Mavis the view from Laura’s Antique Shop’s roof, then descended to go to that wonderful maypole sculpture.  We heard the story behind the sculpture as follows:  When a large family gathering occurs, there are always multiple children to keep occupied, so they will hoist up “presents” to the top of this “maypole”, grease it well, then sit back and laugh as the kids try to shimmy up the pole to reach their prize.  Naturally they can’t do it without a lot of help, so the kids are kept busy for a long time while they provide the adults with much amusement.

Bella was headed to play bridge at Joe’s so Mavis and I were left to go shopping at the artisan fair lining the banks of the Rio Tomebamba.  Mavis has 16 grandchildren to get Christmas gifts for so we found many beautiful items this day.  We kept making our way east and stopped at the Broken Bridge for a while to view the many artworks.   I noted they still had not sold my favorite 3D painting of Jesus.

While taking a few shots I noted another photographer with many lenses shooting from above before descending to the riverbank.  I went over to chat with him and we got along well.  Dan from Wisconsin and his lovely Philipino wife, Chona, joined Mavis and me as we headed east to El Vergel, the Pumapungo Inca ruins, then the Metals fair.  

I was trying to time everything so we could meet Bella at Big Kabuda’s for supper around 5:30.   It started to rain while we were in the metals fair so we had to dig out the jackets and umbrellas for the few blocks to have our supper.  Dan and Chona joined us and really enjoyed the burgers that Jesus and family serves up.   Jesus served us a Venezuelan dessert with some fruit that tasted somewhat like apples with nutmeg.   Not bad….

We caught a taxi home with all five of us cramming in and had some lovely conversation.   Meeting new people is always fun and I got to compare notes with Dan and hear about his exploits and the different companies he operates.  They are seriously thinking of moving here but have many companies and properties to divest themselves of, as well as trying to arrange for the immigration of about a dozen family members.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/