As May comes to a close, it's time for us to say "good-bye for now" to Cuenca. We've really enjoyed our stay here.
This month we participated in the Azuay Theatre Company's first ever performance. All three of our shows were sold out, including standing room only. It was great fun to be on the stage again. And of course the friends you make while doing a show are friends forever. Here are a few photos of friends at our little after party:
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| This is Christine, the director of Ambivalent, co-producer and co-founder of ACT. |
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| Kris & Hugh Loomims |
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| Kris, Laura and Hugh |
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| This is Regina, our first Cuenca contact thanks to friends we met in Thailand. |
We went on an doubledecker bus tour of the city and discovered some new places.
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| Our tour bus followed these giggling girls for a little while. |
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| This is our condo building, Casa San Sabastian, and our friend Rich in the doorway. |
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| This is one of the most expensive houses in El Centro. It overlooks the river. |
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| The museum ... fantastic and FREE! |
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| The view from Turi overlooking our beautiful little city in the mountains. |
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| Our tour bus. |
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| Lunch is ready! |
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| Another beautiful building on our street. |
We found a band that plays some good ol Rock & Roll and listened to them twice. The lead singer/keyboard player, Brian Gary, also plays solo and we managed to listen to him twice as well. Brian toured and played for Eddie Money for 8 years. How cool is that?!
Click here to see his website.
We also found a duo called The Musical Nomads and really enjoyed their music.
Click here to see their facebook page.
We've been to yoga class - and when I say we, I mean it. Mike went to yoga ... more than once. More than me actually! Our friend, Kris Loomis, is a wonderful instructor with classes 4 days a week in two different locations.
We discovered Almuerzo! (lunch) You can get it anywhere in the city but there is a little place just around the corner from us called Soup's On Restaurant that we go to all the time. For $2.50 each you get a glass of freshly squeezed juice, popcorn, a bowl of homemade soup of the day, a plate of rice, meat and salad AND dessert. Now that's a deal!
We've both completely warn out our running shoes with all the exercise we've gotten by walking/jogging along the river and working out in the park. We walk to 95% of the places we want to go here. Our rented condo is so central to everything there isn't much need to take the bus or a taxi. (although we have taken both with no problems at all. The bus only costs a quarter!)
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| This is the park that we work out in 3 days a week, Parque de la Madre. |
We took the spiral staircase to the roof of the Cathedral for another panoramic view of Cuenca.
And then we went inside for on more look around this enormous structure in the center of town.
I was honoured to be asked to take engagement photos for a couple we met while doing the play, Mike & Tamara, and on Saturday we had a successful 90 minute photo session in the park. You can find a few more samples of the engagement session on the
Imagine Photography facebook page.
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| Tamara and Mike |
Yesterday, we went to the ZOO with our friends Pat and Tim. It starts high up in the mountain side and continues up and up and up. It was more like a day hike with 39 animal exhibits to look at along the way. I really enjoyed it and of course took my camera along.
If I haven't already bored you with so many photos in this post, there are about 60 more of the zoo.
Here's the link! (I've lowered the size of the photos so they will load faster, adjust the little 100 in the bottom right hand corner to 75 for optimum viewing)
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| Mike, Sarah, Pat & Tim in front of the Macaw's at the Zoo. |
Tuesday is our last official day in Cuenca. It's time to pack up and go home. We've been away for 9 months and we miss our girls. We have a new nephew who is now 5 months old and I can't wait to meet him!
Adios Cuenca ... (por ahora)
