It's done, We're done!

Finally, everything has been sold (although some things will be picked up during our last three days here in Cuenca). It's been quite a process but surprisingly fairly painless. Once all the big things (and many, Many, MANY small things) were sold, we divided the final items into bags for friends in need.

Today we had a going away party at Magnolia Caffe . I think we ended up with at least 40 people in attendance - it was amazing! Magnolia is a special place to us. The owner, Simon Cordero, hand-crafted our wedding rings back in May 2013. The wait staff of husband and wife, Huber and Karen, have become like son and daughter to us and their son, Juan Pablo, a grandson.

We took over the restaurant today - these photos were taken before another dozen or so folks arrived. We had over forty people take time out of their busy schedule to see us off. Oh, and we also had three tables outside!

Other friends couldn't make it today but we have been able to see them around town. Life is good!

For anyone who needs a reason to stop in and try out Magnolia Caffe , besides the delicious meals, here is a snapshot of one of their delicious desserts. (We had the American style apple pie but I forgot to take a photo).

Everything is baked in house, including their rolls and breads. We highly recommend Magnolia Caffe for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or just drinks!

This will be our final post in this blog. I hope you will all move over to our US based blog and follow us there: backendofnowhere.com or ourprimeyears.blogspot.com, where we will continue to chronical our travels and adventures! 2016 is going to be a busy year for us!!

Ciao for now!

What have we been up to?

Wondering what we've been up to? Check out these posts on our US travel blog:

• Rolling right along....
• Where the heck are we?
• NEVER a dull moment!

We will be back in Cuenca on 11/17 and working hard to sell everything before our departure on 12/30. Busy, busy, busy!!

Ciao for now!

Day Tour to Gualaceo

Back in May we did a four city tour and Gualaceo was one of those cities. But we ran out of time and didn't get to see the orchid farm or shoe stores. That meant we needed to go back!

We organized another bus tour and ended up with almost 40 folks attending. I didn't take as many photos this time around...why? Because I forgot to charge my camera battery. Argh....

We started the day at the weavers where they make their own dye, weave their own cloth and produce the most amazing products! Here are a few pics....oh, we had a couple of special guests on our trip, as you can see in the last photo. Wanda & Brenda brought Avery who thoroughly enjoyed little Rocky who was accompanying his people parents.

From there we traveled to the orchid farm. WOW!!! I could have taken a couple dozen more photos but here are some favorites....you can see all the photos from our day here.

We also walked over a bridge over the river (Rocky didn't like the noise or the swaying), perused the gardens and saw the local tortoises and macaws. All this was after we learned how the orchids are propagated. Did you know it takes three years for one to bloom? Our final stop was the store where several purchased beautiful orchids to take home.

We then traveled to Chordeleg for lunch, the same spot we went in May and it was just as good. A stroll around town and a few more photos taken....

Our final stop was back to Gualaceo and the shoe shops. Unfortunately, unless you have small feet, it's hard to find shoes to fit. We did some walking and found this interesting church across the street from a nice park.

The highlight of the day was this little female pup - I think she would have jumped on the bus with us if anyone had been willing to adopt her.

Then we came home to these adorable pups next door to our apartment building...

Another successful outing for Cuenca Happy Bus Tours (thank you, Emilio Morocho)!

Ciao for now!