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Blogs from Cuenca, South, Ecuador, South America - page 2
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December 31st 2012
We spent the day at Piedra de Agua Fuente Termal & Spa. It is a hot springs spa in Baños, just south of Cuenca. The buildings, including the change rooms, massage rooms and the "cave," plus the walkways, are all constructed from rough-hewn quarried stone (the "piedra" part of the name). The spa included a mud pool, orpiscina de lodo volcánico and subterranean contrast pools, a more private steam room, and lounge areas outside and inside. There's also a very nice casual restaurant, called Libélula. We enjoyed a great lunch inside the main restaurant. As part of our package we received a wonderful fruit plate and fruit smoothies. Everything was delisouselious Roger and I enjoyed everything at the resort including a 30 minute massage in the massage cave! After leaving Banos we went to our friends ... read more
December 30th 2012
Today we went to Calvery Chapel Cuenca, they have an 8:00 prayer meeting, a 9 and 11:00 Spanish speaking service and a 10:00 English speaking service. We went to the Prayer meeting and stayed for the 9:00 & 10:00 service. Pastor Freddie, the senior pastor taught all the services because Pastor Matt the English speaking pastor has gone to Salina for R & R for a few days. Pastor Freddie was kind enough to speak in English for us at the 10:00 service. All the services were wonderful, all of the worship songs were the same as we sing in the state except in Spanish in the Spanish service and of course they were in English for the English service, we met a lot of wonderful people. After church a group of us went to San ... read more
December 29th 2012
Had beakfast in our hotel room, of pan and fruit we got yesterday. Walked over to the flower mart and got some more beautiful flowers again for $2.00. At noon Mike and Patty picked us up and took us out of El Centro, out to the country for lunch at "El Agave" for some authentic Mexican Food. Food and company were great. Went back to Mike and Patty's apartment, which is in a beautiful complex, great area and a beautiful apartment. Found out a lot more about rent, utilities, maid service, etc. Really enjoyed ourselves. Cuenca's colorful, crazy, and noisy New Year's Eve celebrations usher out the año viejo and usher in the año nuevo, with hopes for a prosperous 2013. The highlight of the celebrations is the burning of life-size dummies, which have been sold ... read more
December 28th 2012
Took the double decker Cuenca City 1 1/2 hour Bus Tour, saw a lot of the city streets and sites. Went up to "Turi Iglesias Church" which we were able to see beautiful views of the city. After our bus tour we went for a pedicure, Roger really spoiled himself and had a manicure also. 2 Pedicures and 1 manicures $17.00 total. We then to the open market, bought pan (bread) and fresh fruit, grapes, cherries and raspberries, then went back to hotel and had leftover Italian food, or pan and fruit. It was delious. Had a great day.... read more
December 27th 2012
Today we are meeting with several of the English speaking Calvary Chapel folks at Cafe San Sebas for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch and what a great group of people, many are ex-pats that have lived in Cuenca from 3 years to 30 days. Ex-pats from USA to Egypt, learned great information about life in Cuenca. Roger was not feeling good again and one of the couples, Mike nd Patty took us to Monte Sinai Hospital Emergency Room to have Roger checked out to find out what was making him feel so bad for so long. Mike and Patty were so helpful in translating for us and walking us through the system. Roger was taken in right away, he was diagnosed with an infection (which he had before we came to Eucador) and given an ... read more
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December 26th 2012
Still a bit rainy, rained really long and hard last night, which we were told was a bit unusually for Cuenca. Usually it rains for a short period of time and then goes away. Roger has been sick I think with the flu for most of the night. Praying he is better today. Meeting with Pastor Matt from Calvery Chapel Cuenca at 9 am to tour the city. Had a great tour of the city with Pastor Matt he took us to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (New Cathedral), the Sagrario Church (Old Cathedral), the Native Cultures Museum, Mall del Rio which is a Hugh shopping mall where in the food court was KFC, Subway, Burger King. Pastor Matt helped us get an Ecuadorian cell phone so we can communicate with our new friends we ... read more
December 25th 2012
Merry Christmas had breakfast at Tutto Freddo across the street from the hotel. Walked around Park Calderon and enjoyed all the beautiful sites and colorful people, lots of parades today. went to lunch at Joe's Secret Garden and met a lot of Ex-pats American and Canadians, some had been here for only 2 months and others as long as 7 years. Learned a lot about life here in Ecuador. Went to the flower mart and got the beautiful bouquet of Roses for $2.00!... read more
December 24th 2012
Spent the day in Quito Capitol of Ecuador, over 2 million people and I think they were all in old Town today, boy was it crowded. Really did not care for Quito, very dirty and too metro for us. Our flight to Cuenca was at 6:55 pm, but decided to get to airport at 3:00 pm and so glad we did. Our flight had been cancelled with no more flights going to Cuenca today with LAN Airlines. We finally had to buy 2 tickets with another airlines that left at 5:25 pm, which was the last of flights going from Quito to Cuenca. We will have to get with Delta and our travel agent as to why we were not informed of the cancellation later. We arrived at Masion Arce and met all of the guests ... read more
October 30th 2012
Another early start today to drive from Chugchilan to Cuenca, with Cuenca sitting at 2500m above sea level, it meant a long drive down through the clouds to reach it our destination. Whilst the valley roads look amazing covered in clouds when viewed from above, it’s pretty scary actually driving through them. The local trucks and cars scream along the mountain passes, foot hard on the accelerator even when the visibility is zero, over taking on blind corners when they can’t see the front of their car let alone the oncoming vehicles seems the norm, thankfully we travelled at a more sedate rate and made it to Cuenca in one piece. Cuenca is home to the Panama hat so first call this morning was the hat factory to have a look around, after trying on loads ... read more
September 13th 2012
Apres notre passage un peu court a Cuenca, nous mettons les voiles vers Saraguro. Apres avoir passe une soiree magnifique avec nos francais preferes, a avoir mange dans un resto colombien, a setre empifre de creme glacee et a avoir rit comme des fous en essayant de recreer les jeux olympiques dans la rue, nous sommes bien tristes de laisser nos toulousiens adores. Toutefois, on se dit a dans 1 semaine car on se retrouve au Perou. Par contre, cest le temps de faire nos adieux a Jo, notre quebecois tout aussi adore. Ce nest pas un adieu permanent puisquon se retrouvera au cegep dici quelques mois! Tout de meme, on continue notre route. Saraguro est un petit village se trouvant dans la province de Loja, entre Cuenca et la ville de Loja. Nous vivons en ... read more
