NO GREAT NEWS HERE.. JUST DAY TO DAY

Neither Randy or I feel like we have accomplished alot these last few weeks. He has been trying to recover from his run in with the car.. Oh, I did not tell you about that did I ? Well Randy rode the scooter over to the Condo that we help manage.  http://www.cuencapenthouse.com/, and decided at a red light, that from the left lane he would cross over in front of the guy in the right lane, to go to the right.... Unfortunately.. that fellow decided to run the red light.. can you say INTERSECTED.

Randy is better, of course he would not go to the doctor and beside a few scrapes on his legs and some very very sore ribs he is managing quite well. The scooter? Nothing that a bit of black duct tape couldn't handle. He and scooter now have "war wounds", not to be repeated!

Since Randy has been house bound our new friends Kim & Christine have introduced us to a new card game.. we were assured we would catch on quickly and that is was alot of fun..well I beg to differ. Everyone but me caught on, and did well.. I just fussed and groused alot.. I was actually a bit childish.. felt good.. but I am over that now. I have discovered it on my computer, so I have been practicing and feel a bit better about my showing the next time we play.

The weather here has been very unpredictable. We had our version of Mardi Gras and the highlight is to throw water and spray foam.. Our town was dead quiet because most go to the beach where its real warm and you dont mind getting wet there. Here it was not conducive to getting wet.

Our flowers are going great guns, and the new chopped up piece of cactus is really happy. It put forth a flower! This was just a little stump we put into the ground a few months ago.. I think its happy, don't you?

We have been struggling with our hot water situation for a few weeks now. It will come and go. We thought it was the tanks, being old and beat up.. We called our handy man Hugo to come and see if he could tell what the problem was. It turned out that the Califone ( hot water gadget)  needed a through cleaning and some new spark thingys.. I don't know the technical term, but it works now. It was so funny, I was about to ask Hugo if he needed a ladder.. oh no, he just stood back and took a running leap up onto the wash sink out doors.. Of course I was handy with my camera.

Today we "got out of dodge" and headed to Paute for the 152 yr celebration of Paute becoming a Canton.. what that is exactly, I don't know, but there was a BIG party in Paute today. A beautiful warm day..I was actually sweating at one point, I was thrilled. The bus was crammed coming and going. I could do a whole blog on the parade alone but I will save that for later.. now I just want to show you the great shot of Kim trying to get a autograph of a well known celebrity, who just happened to be in Paute that day..

" I love you, You love me, We're a happy family, with a great big hug from me to you, Won't you say you Love me too?" 

FACEBOOK FRIENDS VISIT CUENCA

I have had a delightful time with my "friends" on Facebook. There are my regular folks who I have as friends on MY facebook page, and then there are those who are my Ecuador Expat friends. This is a closed group of which you have to be invited, or you ask to join. You are either a current resident in Ecuador or trying your "darndest" to get here. It is a very fun bunch of folks with lots of good questions, and even better yet, lots of great answers!  EcuadorExpats@groups.facebook.com  (you can ask to join here).

While chatting with folks I have become aquainted with quite a few folks who I have never met face to face. We all feel like we know each other, and to that end, when one of the group said they were coming to Cuenca, I invited them to spend the nite here.. well of course I did..(yes, once again, Randy was taken by surprise).

Graciella Wakefield and her friend Zenerida Gonzales came to visit. Gracie is from Guayaquill and Zenerida is from Piura, Peru. These two met on a tour that Gracie was hosting in her city, a few years ago, and have become fast friends. Since that time they have traveled to several cities together, Cuenca was one that both longed to visit.

  Zenerida understands English perfectly, and Gracie is totally bilingual so the three of us chatted away with perfect harmony, and they were so sweet to encourage me to stumble through my Spanish when I felt I had a few words I could put together!

Unfortunately they had a late start and were not able to arrive until late Sat. evening. We
 "wowed" them with our left overs and veggie tortilla rolls. Talked their ears off till about 9pm and then we released them to sleep. The next morning we were off to see the city..
We rode the bus in and walked up Calle Larga.. we stopped at the Panama Hat Museum..

Then we headed over to the Itur office so we could get the lowdown on the double decker bus times as well as trips to the Cajas. We ended up only going on the local tour as the bus to the Cajas was not going today.

While we waited to board the bus, we enjoyed the harpist playing out front of the Old Cathedral, now a museum.

The music definately spoke to Gracie.. as you will see in this video!

The view from Turi was beautiful.. Zenerida grabbed a few presents to take back home, and the bus drivers changed the flat that we had about an hour previously..guess there are two tires on each side, why stop.. whats the problem??

I told both of the ladies that I was happy to revisit these places with them, because when you live here you sometimes overlook the beauty that is around you.. today, on my 5th visit to Turi, I saw some of the cemetary, tucked away behind the Church.

After the tour, I left the two ladies to meander on their own, with written directions for the return taxi. They arrived back at the house, safe and sound, tired; but with big smiles and talking of when they would return to visit again!

Buen Viaje Graciella y Zenerida!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS... STILL?

This is February, right? I had to check, because we are still having Paseo de Nino parades here in Cuenca.. Paseo de Nino is a parade that happens right before Christmas. You might remember in my blog post about the parade,I said that all the photos I took were of the participants waiting to begin the parade.. well I am thinking that these last few days are more that never made it to the actual parade.

We had arrived at Kookaburras for a afternoon bite to eat and I noticed alot of rose petals on the road.. I thought, oh there was a parade this morning. Inside Chris and Jenni said yep. there was a huge one with loads of rose petals that the street sweepers clean up. Within 10 minutes I hollered, OH look Jenni, another parade! Sure enough, it was a big one. Here are some photos I got while out watching it pass.. no candy though.. I was a bit let down..

A little video as well..

Late in the day we were able to celebrate with Diana and Nicco.. tomorrow is his 18th birthday. Randy whipped up an eclectic mix of vegetarian dishes, and we ended the feast with a wonderful cake that Diana and Nicco brought.

So again, we had a wonderful lazy Sunday with lots of fun things happen, that we never expected when we woke up... ahhh life in South America, it's always a surprise!