As you'll see, I have tried to capture the beauty of the Colonial buildings, the varied landscape, the clean and maintained city streets and in some cases, it's people. But the one thing you won't see is the peaceful nature you feel in the air here. There are families sitting in the parks together, mothers and fathers holding hands while watching their little ones joyfully playing. There are young lovers cooing into each others eyes. There are teenagers walking home from school talking and enjoying life. In general, the streets are filled with happy people. It's such a far cry from the fast paced, rat race we come from. Where the hamster wheel keeps turning, we keep panting, but really in the end what do we have to show for it? More stuff? It's just a very tranquil atmosphere here to me. If the next ten days are anything like the first, I can assure you Cuenca and I will become well acquainted again sometime in the future!
We have a few things planned to do while we are here, but for the most part the plan is that there is no plan. We are just going to go with the flow of what comes our way. In order to get a "lay of the land" we hopped on the touristy double decker bus again today, just as we did in Quito a couple of days ago. We boarded the tour bus in the heart of "El Centro" across from Parque Calderon. The two hour tour costs a whopping $5 each. Here are a few of the photos from the bus tour.
After the tour ended we had another excellent "almuerza", prepared from mostly fresh ingredients. We started with Quinoa Soup, then chicken, rice and vegetables, followed by a little gelatin palate cleanser, all washed down with Maracuya Jugo (passion fruit juice). It was outstanding! All for a bank breaking total of $10 for the two of us, including tax and tip.
From there we headed over to the "New Cathedral" where construction began in 1885 to replace the "Old Cathedral", which was built in 1557 and had become too small for the faithful. Just as with the churches in Quito, the scale is overwhelming and the pictures again don't do it justice. But even more so, you simply can't walk through these masterpieces without feeling an immense spiritual awakening.
Then it was a little stroll down Calle Larga where we ended up at a restaurant named Chipotle (sp.) They may get the spelling wrong, but they definitely get the Pina Colada's right! Probably the best I've ever had! Jana had a couple of incredible Mimosa's and since they were on happy hour the drinks were two for one. We chatted with a nice lady we met by the name of Shelia while sipping our four drinks that cost a scandalous total of $10.50.
We headed back to our apartment for a little siesta then decided it was time for dinner. We strolled back to Chipotle and were treated to another excellent meal! Jana had the Taco Supremos, which was two large soft tacos and the house blanco vino, while I opted for the Buffalo Chicken wrap, which actually was a grilled chicken fajita with grilled onions, green peppers, mushrooms and red chili peppers. I am here to tell you it was outstanding! I washed mine down with an Ecuadorian staple, Club Premium cerveza.
After our day of becoming acquainted with this beautiful city and it's people, we stopped at Parque Calderon to sit on a park bench and join the young lovers cooing into each others eyes before we called it a night.
The "Old Cathedral" at night. (1557)
The Provincial Courthouse.
Statue in the middle of Parque Calderon.
Beautiful building on the corner of the block where we are staying.
And finally, the receipts from our lunch and dinner today.
As always, there are MANY more pictures from the day. I encourage you to click here to check out the many pics I didn't upload to this blog.
So for now, I bid you aidios and buenos noches.
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