RIVER WALK WITH THE EL NOMAD CREW

A funny thing happened on the way to Ecuador..in 2010. I met a lady (on line), who lived only 90 miles away from us in Washington. She was young, pregnant, and going to drive all the way from Washington to Ecuador (with a small portage of the car). Her husband is Cuencano and they wanted to live a life that included alot of hands on with their daughter as well as their International Immersion business, El Nomad.http://elnomad.com/
Cuenca was it.

Since that time, I like to think we have become good friends, and occasionally we get to join in events they sponsor, like this river walk to a grand opening of a new coffe shop.

Randy likened it to a death march... Becca sets a brisk pace!

The new place is called La Jaleria, it is located on Ricardo Darquea Granda 3-65 y Jose Austudillo (esquina). So if you walk all the way along down river towards the broken bridge and keep going, it is right there by that next bridge (the unbroken one) Very nice place, very modern, and "hip". Here is the pictures I took.

Outdoor sitting area. Notice the chalk people "holding" up the plants.

Free snak'ems on the counter...

Everyone getting settled.

Not sure what these are... but added a neat look to the bathroom mirror

Loved the "Ear" handles..

Becca and Kesha.. Kesha scooping up her espresso

Close up view from across the river.

We had a nice time. The gallery in the back is full of great art, clothing, jewelry and purses. To top it off the food was good, and the ambience was fun. Oh and I hear that there are 3 apts above it.. the penthouse is currently available to rent! If you like walking up 4 flights of stairs that is.

VARIOUS PHOTOS IN CUENCA

I am getting so many pictures on my camera that I need to clean out the ones that are just.. stuff. Some I have put on my FB page already, and some are in these blog posts. But some are just so random that I never put them in anywhere.. so before they are no more I thought some should just have the chance to be viewed.

My favorite tree in Parque Calderon, they trimmed it all back but it will come back all green.



Cool pots and statue



My plants in the green room are doing well..

An old patrimonial home we got to look at

And just in case you missed it in the photo above.. Randy with his new "do"

VACATION TIME ~ OFF TO VILCABAMBA

The weather here in Cuenca has just been dreary and cold; so when some friends asked us if we wanted to go and "Warm up in Vilcabamba" we jumped at the offer.

The trip to Vilcabamba is a long 4.5 hr ride over the Andes, over and down curvy roads filled with animals, cars, trucks and on this ride there were people... yes, young people all over both sides of the road. Walking and biking. They were all decked out with backpacks, rolled up pads for beds etc. We decided this must be some type of religious pilgramage. If it wasn't when they started, I am sure they found religion somewhere along those steep trecherous roads.

We arrived in Vilcabamba by  2pm. We stayed in town at the Le Rendez-Vous Hostal.. a great place  http://www.rendezvousecuador.com/
Here are some of the pictures I took while we relaxed and enjoyed the warmth!

This was a full rainbow, but I could not get back far enough to get the whole thing.. it was amazing

Of course we went out and ate, ate & ate. In town there is this juice bar that has all kinds of wonderful, good for you drinks, as well as healthy type food (We didn't eat there), we did go to a chinese restaurant that was great and another restaurant http://jardinescondito.minihostels.com/ where they had mexican food that was nice and spicy (we were very happy), then on another day we went to eat lunch at a local bar. We had been told by some locals they had the best burgers in town. I had soup... it was marvelous..but here is the Burger Brennie got.. yes that is guacamole..Randy and Brennie agreed, it was a wonderful burger! Randys burger had a huge hunk of bacon and BBQ sauce.. for some reason I did not get his burger on "film".

It kind of squished out when she cut it in half.. oh well it was definately worth the effort. And those fries were very tasty indeed.

Brennie was very hungry because she had gotten up that morning and went on a 2 hour horseback ride (Why do they say "horseBACK ride".. would you ride anywhere else on a horse?) Anyway, as Randy and I meandered up a side street we heard the clopping of hooves on the asphalt. Here they came barreling down the road. I managed to snap this one of Brennie.. I think she was having fun!

We had a great time, exploring Vilcabamba and Loja, as well as playing cards and just enjoying the scenery and warmth.



Randy enjoying the sun and scenery while he smokes is cigar.

I prentended to sleep on the way back so i did not squeal and gasp as Clarke passed on blind curves; Brennie worked on her rag rug.. just as we entered Cuenca she completed it! Laura Ingles has nothing on Brennie!