CUENCA!

With our flight to Cuenca leaving at 6:00 am, we got up at dark-thirty to start our day (4:00😱). Our taxi driver friend Manuel was there at 4:20 to pick us up to take us to the airport. We aren’t sure he ever sleeps. But I definitely wanted to share this pic of what I saw from the plane. One of the pics below is the Cotopaxi Volcano, an active volcano located 50km south of Quito.  At 19,347 feet, it is one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world.  We could see it from Quito and I was glad to get a pic from the air.

We arrived in Cuenca about 7:00 am and took a taxi to our home for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I couldn’t believe that we were able to check into our room that early in the morning, and with a smile on the lady’s face. This is another enclosed compound that has apartments and a running river behind it. We did a bit of walking around to get our bearings, and these are a few pics of what we saw.

This next pic made me laugh.

Why would someone associate Sesame Street with a lounge and liquor?

When it came to find a place to eat, we chose Moliendo Cafe, a Columbian restaurant. Anthony was pretty excited to find a whole meal just costs $2.50!! They started out by bringing a banana 🍌 in with the basket of silverware (did they know him already?). And then he got a bowl of potato soup, then a plate of chicken, rice, and a salad, with some sort of a fruity drink. That was a big plate of food, even for him. I had roast beef over something that I wasn’t sure of, but it was good also. Mine was $4.00.

We did a little bit of grocery shopping and met our first retired American Expat. He had been living in Cuenca for six weeks but had visited three times before. He was from Minnesota, but had lived in New Mexico before that and spoke Spanish well, so I know he is having an easier time than I am. When I paid for our groceries with a credit card, the cashier asked for my ID and phone number, and here I am trying to count in Spanish in my head telling her the numbers, but ended up letting her count my fingers as that was much faster.

We ended our day at a restaurant next door to us and ordered a milkshake and vanilla ice cream. Little did we know that their whole menu was vegan. Our “ice cream”was made out of yucca, and it was pretty good.

Tomorrow we plan on visiting Incan/Cañari ruins. Looking forward to this adventure, and taking public transportation is always an adventure, especially when we don’t speak the language. Ya know, I have missed out on so much not being able to communicate with people we meet, like Manuel, our waiter today, and the receptionist at our hotel. Anthony is so much better than I am and is encouraging me to try.

Hasta mañana:)

Estamos Aquí!!! (We are here)

After about a 6-hour layover at the Atlanta airport, we finally left Atlanta at about 6:25 pm enroute to Quito. The flight was fairly uneventful, and we arrived at the Quito airport at about 11:00 pm Central time. As promised, the hotel we were staying at had a person waiting for us at the airport exit to take us to the hotel. We were expecting the typical hotel shuttle type bus, and were a little surprised when a taxi pulled up to pick us up. We were driven about 15 minutes and ended up on a fairly isolated, dimly lit street with very few visible buildings. The driver stopped on the street in front of a tall  brick fence with a large, solid wooden gate on it. He got out of the taxi, rang a bell on the gate, and someone came and opened a door on the gate so that we could enter the “compound.”  This was actually our hotel for the next 2 nights.

The next morning we were provided a good breakfast, which consisted of fruit, eggs and toast, and some pretty amazing pineapple juice. Marlena, who fixed our breakfast was also running the front office and cleaning the rooms!! She also was the one who helped us figure out how to get around, and she did all that with limited English. Let me tell you, that Google translate is pretty amazing. We would take turns speaking what we wanted said to the other, and then the other person would read what was translated on the phone.

 At breakfast we met a couple, Kevin and Sarah from Ottawa Canada, who were going hiking in the Amazon Rain Forest the next day. We were talking about what we were planning on doing and we were all going to the “Middle of the World,” so we decided to take a taxi together. The same taxi driver that picked both of us up at the airport the night before was the same one that showed up today. So he said he would take us there for $30. And when we got to the Middle of the World he called someone to translate something to us and he said that he would take us three places and back to our hotel for $80. So that was a deal and we took him up on it. The first place we went was Pululahua. It is a collapsed volcano and is a Geobotanical Reserve. It is the first National Park in Ecuador and in South America to protect this unique place.

The second place we went was Museo de Sitio Intiñan where we learned about Ecuador and its history, saw a real shrunken head and learned about the Equator. We saw where water went straight down the drain directly on the equator, went counter clockwise just a few feet north of the equator, and then clockwise just a few feet south of the line. That was interesting. We also got the token standing on the equator picture.

So what is really interesting is that there are two places that say they are “Mitad del Mundo.” The place that claimed where the equator was first was in 1736, and they used the equipment that was available at that time. But later, with the use of gps, it was discovered that the equator was not actually in that place. But actually was about 787 feet away. But nonetheless, there is still a museum, restaurants and a line where you can stand that shows where the original equator was thought to be.

We were getting a bit hungry and through google translate again, we asked Manuel, our driver, where his favorite restaurant is, and could we all go eat there. So he took us to La Joya Restaurante and ate a good dinner.

When we arrived back to our hotel, we changed to another room that reminded me of a tiny house, just without the kitchen.

Anthony did a little exploring around the compound and looked closer at the brick fence that surrounds the property and noticed this, — there are shards of glass embedded in the cement on the top of the wall so that the glass is poking up. I guess if you tried to scale th wall, there would be a surprise when you got to the top. We don’t know if they are wanting to keep us in, or if there is something they are trying to keep out.

Also, there is an interesting dish that they serve here. We didn’t try it today, but people were cooking it on the side of the road and selling it. I will have pics later.

ECUADOR!!!

In 2014, before Anthony retired, we did a little research on places where Americans can retire on a limited budget. The place that kept popping up was Cuenca, Ecuador. So while I don’t think we would ever really move to another country, when I saw there was a deal with Delta airlines to go to South America, I looked up how many points it would take to get to Ecuador, and I just happened to have enough points to get us both there. That was back in the middle of March, so it has seemed like it has taken forever, but today is the day.

I was in charge of getting us places to stay and the airline tickets, and told Anthony it was his job to find out what we are going to do when we get there. It will be fun experiencing the culture and will be the only country that we have gone to in South America.

What we are learning is that you have to have a little bit of faith, and some luck too, to be able to make your way to the area surrounding Cuenca. We are planning on going hiking at the National Park near the city, and there is no problem just hopping on a bus heading beyond the park and jumping off at the park. Now the concern comes in when you want to return.  It is our understanding that you have to stand by the road and flag down a bus heading in the direction of Cuenca.  It is important that you stand in an area that the bus can easily stop at, like a level area, because it may pass you by if it is heading uphill and the driver doesn’t want to lose the momentum. So I am a bit concerned with this method of obtaining transportation, but am hoping that this information is correct.  It is all just part of the adventure of this type of trip.

Another challenge we will be facing is the elevation change. For the 3 weeks we will be in Ecuador, we will be over 8000 feet in elevation due to our location in the Andes Mountains.  Chattanooga, where we live, is only about 600 feet elevation. To avoid possibly experiencing altitude sickness while we are there, our motto each day may be, “Start off slow, and taper.”  We will also have to be very conscious about remaining hydrated during our stay, without drinking tap water, which from what I understand is probably okay in the bigger cities, but who wants to take a chance?

Some really nice things are that the currency they use is US Dollars, so that’s easy. The time zone we will be in is the same as Central Time zone, so hopefully there will be no jet lag.  Also, their electrical outlets are the same as ours, so no need to bring an adapter. We will be traveling on their Airline, Tame, and the carry on weight limit will be 17 lbs., which is exactly the weight our backpacks, so every ounce counts.

The way we found our accommodations was through the Citi credit card travel portal. They were offering a deal for $50 off for reservations made for two nights, so I found our accommodations, made reservations in two night increments, and was able to get some nights for $5 per night!! This is one of my best deals I have ever seen.  Our lodging for these three weeks was less than $200, which is a pretty smoking deal. And the reviews have been really good so I am not concerned about the quality. The place in Cuenca, Hotel Apartmentos Otorongos, which is where we will be staying for 2 1/2 weeks, is very accommodating of Americans. We are looking forward to meeting the owners, who, according to the reviews, are wonderful.

The blogger app is now not being supported by google anymore, so I am trying to do this blog in a little different way, so I hope this will continue to work.

I would like to give a shout out to my Uncle Raymond (dad’s brother) and Aunt Dian (mom’s sister). Just want to say hey and that I love you:)

COMENZAR LENTO Y DISMINUIR