Rambling around Cuenca

I thought I'd share some photos that we've recently taken as we go about our daily lives here in Ecuador. Hope you enjoy!

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New Zahir 360 hotel in Cuenca, we watched this being built. Gorgeous building!


Mama and baby, seen walking home from my mani-pedi appointment



Local pup doing watchdog duty. We see him as we walk to our usual bus stop.


Donna and friends at a birthday lunch at Popacuchu.


The boys enjoying a poker night at our new apartment.

Ciao for now!

Moving on....

Well, sort of. As much as we love our current apartment (and our neverending views), we ran across another very nice but smaller (and cheaper) brand new (never lived in) apartment in our old neighborhood.

Since our lease is up the end of this month, we figured we had nothing to lose by looking at it. Well, we rented it and the next three weeks are going to be hectic. Packing, moving, showing our current apartment, selling furniture that won't fit in the new place.

Eeek!! Glad we only have two more weeks of Spanish classes!

Here are some photos from the original ad:

We still get a kitchen peninsula. The laundry room is the paneled door on the right. 

Dining room to the left and the 2nd bath. Long living room.

Brand new and BOTH showers are big! Stu is happy. 

Master bedroom - going back to queen bed (already sold our king size)

YES! We have our own balcony. So excited!!

We are heading to the apartment today for floor planning measurements. Some of our furniture will need to be sold, just need to figure out what!

We are two blocks from the Yanuncay river and still a little over a mile from Popacuchu, one of our favorite places to eat. I'll be close enough to walk to Romy's, my mani-pedi spot and Stu can ride his bicycle on the river trail.

Ahhh, life is good...just don't be surprised if we're not posting much until July!

Ciao for now!

Surround Sound - Cuenca EC Style

Living in Cuenca has given us a new appreciation for sounds. I've lived in a variety of cities, big and small, and while some of the sounds are shared, many are quite different.

Here are some examples of the sounds surrounding us in our Cuenca neighborhood, along with a little explanation of why they might be different than those in the US or why they are special to us.

• Spanish - This had to be first. While we hear Spanish in places in the US, we tend to ignore it. Here, not so much. We enjoy hearing it and seeing how many words we can understand. You do have to "tune" your ear.
• Weed eaters - Not so strange you say? Well here in Ecuador, weed eaters are used to mow the grass. Not just for yards, but we've passed half a dozen city workers mowing the grass along the river that way. (The other Ecuadorian lawn movers are cows & goats, staked and moved as needed.)
• Kids laughing - We are so privileged to have a day care center next to our apartment. They are usually outside, weather permitting, for 1-1.5 hrs sometime between ten and noon. We love hearing them laugh and play, rarely a cry heard.
• Running water - The two main rivers here (and we've lived close to both of them) are swift and loud. We love listening to the water as it comes out of the mountains and down through our neighborhoods.
• Barking dogs - This is a chronic issue in Ecuador. Dogs here are usually not pets, they are alarms. Some love to bark, some only alert. We have several dogs in our building but we only hear one bark when someone comes to the door, the others are usually quiet. But outside, in our neighborhood we have two German Shepherds. One only alerts when someone nefarious (or smells funny or talks wrong) passes his house. The other is younger and will bark because he's lonely, because it's raining, because...well, who knows. Fortunately this has only impacted one night of sleep - he was new, they weren't home, they hadn't built shelter for him it was raining. But barking dogs are the norm here....
• Car and building alarms - While we are on nuisances, this is another one that we've had to adjust to here in Cuenca. It seems as though ALL cars come with alarms and NO car alarms are ever adjusted for sensitivity. Thus the alarms go off frequently for no reason. Stu says the best place for a car thief or burglar is in the car with the alarm going off since no one pays any attention to them. The building alarms are less frequent and fortunately in our area, they are turned off pretty quickly.
• Traffic - When we have windows open (which is usually every night), we hear the buses as they grind gears, squeak their brakes, nail the accelerator, etc. The funniest are the buses with an air brake that sounds similar to a seal barking. I always break (no pun) out in laughter when I hear them. We also have one motorcyclist that LOVES to rev it up as he passes through between 11:30-12:30 each night. Less traffic = more speed.
• Hummingbirds - Yes, we can hear the hummingbirds. They are quite large here and you can hear their wings flapping as well as their chirping at each other. We love watching them visit our feeder twice a day.
• Propane delivery trucks - In El Centro, propane is often delivered by someone pushing a cart or riding a bicycle/cart combo. But here the propane tanks are delivered in the back of a truck. Some residents use a regular service and call them when they need a delivery. Others listen for the "honk, honk, honk" of the propane delivery truck in their neighborhood, then run out to flag him down. (Our building has a big tank on top, no propane worries for us.)
• Honking - Yes, there is honking. The typical stuff in traffic, taxis and busses in particular honk to get traffic moving. But you also hear a quick honk if you are about to step out in front of a car/truck. But the best honk is the quick one by the taxi about to pass you, letting you know he's available if you need him!
• Fireworks - We love this, fireworks of some sort almost every night. Why? Well, it's someone's birthday or anniversary or new job or engagement or maybe just because it's Tuesday. We have a great view from our apartment and although we often only hear the fireworks, other times we get to enjoy the light show.
• Police - We have two banks that we can see from our apartment. Both are located on very busy Av. de las Américas. People often can't find parking so the just barely pull off the street onto the sidewalk and run inside. The Transito Police come by in their cars, blip their sirens and announce over their loudspeakers that the cars need to move. Always gives us a giggle - happens several times a day.
• Serenades - Birthdays, Mother's Day and even Valentine's Day, it's not unusual to see a van pull out and singers or a band spill out to serenade someone. The van often has speakers to make sure EVERYONE in the neighborhood knows someone is being serenaded. Yes, we did have a Mariachi band once...
• Birds - No, not unusual. Well, except for the fact that there is one bird species that starts chattering around 4am and stops before sunrise, never to be heard again until the next early morning.

Ahhh, the sounds of Cuenca. What are the sounds in your area?

Ciao for now!

Two Year Anniversary

Two years ago today we arrived in Cuenca for our month long exploratory visit. What an adventure that was...you can read some of our early posts listed below.

• We're in Cuenca, Ecuador!!!
• Sleep is good!
• Has it been four days?
• Meeting new friends....
• In honor of Earth Day - the gardens at Otorongo Ap...
• One week gone, three left to enjoy!
• Meeting & Greeting plus initial discoveries
• Adventures of the day....
• Four days of sunshine - the river is running low
• What day is it?
• Interim Lists
• A few links of interest and where our plans are he...
• Oh no! It can't be time to leave already....
• Feliz día de la madre
• Cuenca, Ecuador: Preconceptions, Misconceptions an...

Ciao for now!

Busy Holiday Season!

It's been a busy couple of days since Christmas. Nothing spectacular but several walks into El Centro, both for the exercise and seeing the sights. Today was no exception. I had fun snagging a couple of photos from the bus...coming and going.

Angels waiting....

Funny costume, guy pretending to be an effigy (viejo)

Doing the Santa walk?

We had a leisurely walk to Don Colon's, passing many places selling effigies and masks. The flower market was gorgeous and quite busy, too.

After a delightful lunch (Stu had grilled chicken breast with rice and beans, I had a hamburger and fries - we both got soup, juice and a pudding/yogurt type desert for $4 each), we continued meandering around the city. It seems as though animals were center front today.

Only one of several we saw today. Most were along the Tomebamba river, probably headed for a small parade.

Who is walking WHO?

No, not the same dog! There were several in the park today.

We kept seeing kids in angel costumes and got a kick out of these colorful plastic trees in the park. There were lots of street vendors selling bright yellow 2015 glasses for celebrants. No, we didn't indulge.

Effigies were mounted on taxis, cars, buses, trucks and we even saw one in the entrance to a parking garage.

And a few general photos, just for fun!

Adorable little animals that danced

Sweet face!

Neighbor already setting his effigy on fire

So how will we celebrate New Year's Eve? We plan to take our little froggy effigy out to the street and burn it, bringing in good vibes for 2015. We bought him last year but never set him on fire.

After we clean up our mess, as best we can, we will bundle up (yes, it gets cool in the evenings) and head up to our rooftop terrace with a few beers and our cameras where we hope to get some photos of the fireworks across the city.

How about you?

Getting ready to move!

Yesterday we went to see our actual apartment after the previous tenant moved out this past weekend. These first photos are from the landlord's father's apartment with the exact same layout.

This apartment is two floors directly above ours, same layout/size. And no, there is NO diswasher in our unit...we supply all appliances. LOL! Oh, as always, click any photo to see a larger image.

These photos are from the recently vacated apartment that will be ours, currently being painted, cleaned and any needed repairs done. Can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the master bedroom and bath. Cheated and used the master bath photo from the above apt. The master has a nice room darkening roman style window cover that we bought from the previous tenant. The other windows will eventually get sheers.

We will have a huge open living - dining - kitchen great room area. The three bedrooms are a bit smaller but we are pretty sure we can fit our king bed in the master, queen in one guest room and queen iffy in the third. Plan B will be queen in our room, main guest room and our single+ in the smaller guest room. It will all work out. We also have permission to put bigger, nicer mirrors in all three bathrooms (all FULL - yup, three showers).

The views from all the rooms are wonderful...a ton of windows in the main living area lets us see the city and the mountains around us. I have a window that opens over the kitchen sink (my only UGH is the size of the round sinks) so I can see the city. Then there is the full rooftop terrace! Oh my!! We can't wait to see the city lit up at night and watch the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

Many of the apartments have a bench or truck outside their doors, a place to sit things down when you unlock the door maybe. Since we have FOUR benches, one will be painted for just that purpose! As it stands now we will be busy PACKING most days. We get our keys the morning of July 2nd and will be meeting with our mover this afternoon to confirm a price and hopefully set up to move that afternoon.

When we left the apartment yesterday, we walked to the end of our street, around the corner to our bank. Just up the street is the Supermaxi we prefer as well. We will be going more often and buying less since we will be walking there and back. A bit longer is the walk to our primary care doctor and our pharmacy (although our landlords also own a pharmacy and we can have next day delivery) as well as the BIG mercado, Feria Libre. From our apartment we can head the opposite direction and quickly find us in El Centro. At the end of our street is the Rio Tomebamba which is the river that ran behind our temporary apartment where we stayed on our exploratory visit. Stu is looking forward to riding his bicycle as well as walking along the river.

So what are we doing now?