Mall Del Rio, Cuenca Ecuador

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Everyone here says, "Buenos Dias, Buenos Tardes, and Buenos Noches" as they pass, depending on the time of day. Jose told me to say it when you are right next to the person and only say it once. I tend to say it twice because I forget who I have already said it to.
After a sneeze, you can say, "Salud", which means "health", and it's like "bless you" in English. In the U.S. I say bless you to any sneezing person. While Jose and I were in the store, a man sneezed and I said, "salud" to him. Jose told me I can't go around saying "salud" to anyone if you don't know him. So, I started to cry and Jose said, "fine, you can say "salud" to anyone you want to." lol.

We are in Carlos' car now returning from Cuenca. Cuenca is a big, beautiful, and clean city. It is the capital of the province Azuay. We went to the Mall del Rio. The outside design is very unique. The inside is very beautiful, modern, and clean. In the stores some things are cheap: Harley Davidson motorcycles, $700-$1200. And others expensive: In Payless Shoes the avg pair of shoes is $30, too exp I thought for that kind of store. Or maybe its just that we are becoming very cheap here. I want to find a bookstore, but it is not as easy as I thought it would be. I need a Spanish/English dictionary. I am getting by very well, however people talk so fast, even if I know the words I don't know what they're saying anyway. I am not too discouraged yet. Carlos said when he came to the U.S. he did not speak any English, but little by little he learned, and he thought everyone spoke too fast, but now he speaks English very well. Same with Jose.
We stopped at the side of the road to buy popsicles. They bring them to your window, you choose your color and they cut it open for you. I took lime, Carlos mango, and jose red(?).
We are heading back to Gualaceo. I am interested to watch the people working. They work hard with shovels on the side of the road. I feel sad that they may make only $20 per week. Maybe less.
I love the colorful houses here and the palm trees. If it were not for my family, I think I could live here forever. I would like to move my family here, but language is a problem. If my mom sold her house in the U.S. she could move here, build a mansion and live well for the rest of her life with employees if she wanted to. But she never would. I don't think she would pick up the spanish.
In Gualaceo, Jose and I walked and shopped. We bought 3 DVD's for $1 each. I got "Volver" with Penelope Cruz. And we got "Lion King" and "Oliver" for Miggy. The DVD's here are really just burned disks from a computer. So, are the music CD's. I think that is illegal, but oh well it is Ecuador.

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Photos

view of cuenca
from the highway

the mall del rio
cuenca

jose and i
in front of the fountain