FURNITURE, SUNSHINE & TRAVEL AROUND CUENCA

I am very pleased to announce that I actually got a bit sunburned the other day! I know to most with all the worries about skin cancer and other ailments, this should not be something to celebrate, but let me tell you, I have REALLY missed the warm sun. So now I have it, and my friends say its only going to get "better". So hooray!

As I have mentioned, Randy brought his stereo system with him from the U.S. He is quite adamant about his music, and he could have nothing less than a custom made stereo table and speaker stands made. Randy loves wood, and the bigger the better, so a very stoutly made table was ordered, and delivered just the other day. Because it was so big and heavy it had to be assembled in the living room.

He had speaker stands made for maximum listening pleasure.

Randy loves the grain of wood so he made sure that the stain was very light. In this country most woods have dark stains with lots of gloss. After the set up we placed the table and stood back to admire the monstronsity... uh I mean the beautiful marvelous stereo stand.

Our friends came over to ooh and aaah appropriately, and they noticed that we had some cute tag alongs on the table...Can you see the shark?

Also here was some very cool Mesas.......

We have been all over town and sometimes buying items that are difficult to carry. We were on one such trip with our friends Clarke and Brennie, and this is what Brennie and Randy came up with for a carrying method for the fragile paper lamp shades.

We were invited to go for a day trip in our friends car, following the route the OF motorcycle gang took a few days previously. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I couldnt resist a photo of this church in a tiny little town, high up on the hills..

We have found in Ecuador that there are not alot of rest stops like in the US and you have to make do when and where you can. Here is Nancy getting ready to use a handy pull off with all the extras!

Not really... she is taking a photo...(disclaimer required by Nancy) 

When we were done with our trip, Chuck remembered a great restaurant someone had told him about in San Joaquin. This restaurant is centered around one theme... Che.. as in Ernesto "Che" Guevarra, who died in 1967. Yes, he is very big here in Ecuador. There are lots of patches, grafitti and posters in memory of him and his work for Latin American people. As students of US history, our books paint him in a much  darker color than here. 

We expected just the outside of the restaurant to be named after him. We didnt understand until we walked inside that the whole place was a memorial to Che. All the walls were covered with photos, posters and artwork commemorating him.

All the employees and even the owner were dressed in clothing replicating Che's mode of dress.

Luckily we were good traveling companions because we were invited on another trip to Paute. We took some nice curvy roads and popped over into a lower valley where they grow lots of plants and sell all over the country.  It was like plant nursery heaven for those of us who love to play in the dirt. We started with a great lunch at a restaurant called Corvels. I only took a photo of my food cause I was too hungry!

There were more but Randy nabbed one!

I did not take any photos while we were shopping but did get some after we got them home and set up!

$5, potted...

$10 Pine,$5 pot, and they used their soil to pot it at no extra cost...

No Comment...

This next little guy was just so cute with its flowers and its "mutated" look, I could not resist..oh, it was $2

So as you can see we are settling in, and getting a bit of nesting done. We are not sad that we came only with suitcases. We get to practice our Spanish and see all kinds of wonderful artisans as work. This is the most delightful part of being here. Every day is filled with new experiences, as well as a feeling of satisfaction that we are able to negotiate throughout the day easier than yesterday!