Saturday March 16, 2013

Saturday March 16/13  update #394

I had a commission to go take a large scale photo of the upper Yanuncay by our friends Ray & Carole Walter.  They used to live on the hill across the river from us but now they live west of Tres Puentes (three bridges) and there is a scene they particularly love.   I got there and we had to rush things a little because rain clouds were forming and were spitting by the time we took the required shots.  We attempted to view the shots on their computer, then their TV, but neither one would read the RAW images.  Unfortunately they had to choose their shot from the small camera screen.  It isn’t necessarily the one I would have chosen but they are the customers.  Those photos I am posting under Sunday’s blog.

As I left there I was really watching for a taxi because the clouds now were dark purple to black and lightning and thunder (a rarity here) were beginning.   I walked west to the next big intersection and finally found a vacant taxi.  Mark and Karen had invited us for pina coladas on their terrace prior to going to Joe’s so I headed there first.  As we got near Las Americas the heavens opened and the windshield wipers could barely handle the deluge.  He parked within 40 feet of the entrance but I had to deploy my umbrella or I would have been drenched during that short sprint to the door.  There were 3 other folks there as well and we swapped stories, especially for the newbies from North Carolina.

The rain quit long enough for us to walk to Joe’s Secret Garden but began again just as we got to the doorway.  This is the first major rain that we can recall ever at Joe’s in the 16 months we have been going there.  The rain was heavy enough that it caused a few more roof leaks in that old home, 2 right above our table in the wine room.  The table had to be shifted awkwardly to other side of the room

It was also a pleasure to be joined by Cathy and Oswaldo for the evening.  They are always so happy and pleasant.  This was Cathy’s first major outing since her hip replacement surgery just a couple of weeks prior.  There were many, many new faces again at Joe’s so we are continuously surprised at the constant influx of new people to our adopted city. 

As usual the fried chicken was superb although nobody ate as much as usual, which was indeed strange.  Maybe we ate a little earlier than usual because the rain kept everyone inside.  I really do not like taking indoor pictures but Thank God the new Canon does a great job in this regard.

There was a French lady named Manonne who was purportedly taking photos for an International Living magazine article using a Sony Cybershot much like mine.  She was very nice but got Joseph upset when she wouldn’t listen to him and took a photo of him when he was perspiring profusely.  He felt that his image represents their business so he didn’t want any bad images of himself to accompany any article.  We can certainly agree with that point.

Oswaldo offered to drive us home but we preferred that he concentrate on getting Cathy home safely.  We caught a cab and he took the straight line to our area right through downtown down Gran Colombia, but that actually took longer because of all the construction and street lights.

I was too pooped to complete the Blogs last night, so this one is a little late….

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