Starting to Explore

Well it’s day three, Saturday, September 25^th.  The air is still as thin as it was yesterday and there are still 1,000 steps between our room and the street I don’t care what anybody says and if you don’t believe it just ask Di.

We got up early this morning.  We went to breakfast at Sakura next door.  Nope, we didn’t have sushi for breakfast either.  The hotel provided us with a continental breakfast certificate to eat there for free.  It wasn’t much and it was continental.  We got coffee, a juice that we didn’t get because we had no idea what the waiter was saying until we saw someone else get it and a lighter than air croissant with butter and jam.  That was our first and last continental breakfast at Sakura.

Now it was time to go out and explore Cuenca.  We decided to get a taxi and go to the center of the old colonial city and see what was there on a Saturday morning.  And a beautiful Saturday morning it turned out to be.  It started out a bit overcast and cool but within an hour it got beautiful and sunny and a very warm maybe 75F.  We took the taxi to Plaza de San Francisco.  The taxi cost us $2.  These photos say more than I ever could.

These are bottle rockets.

                                         Di bought something and made a new friend.

After touring the Plaza de San Francisco we decided to start walking through the city.  We walked to the Plazoleta del Carmen.  This is a small plaza and what we found was a beautiful flower market and beautiful buildings.  Again these photos tell more than I ever could.

We moved on next to Parque Calderon in the middle of the old colonial city of Cuenca.  On the way there we took these photos.

                                                        These flutes were real good.

And here we are in and around Parque Calderon.

We finally decided that that was enough.  It was time to go back to the hotel and we were about 6 blocks or so away and it was all downhill.  Easy huh?   Right!  Remember the air is still as thin as it was yesterday and the day before, etc.  We made it about half way and this is where we ended up.  It was rest time while we pondered whether it was worth flagging down a taxi.

Well we decided to tuff it out and walk the whole way.  As you can see from these photos it may or may not have been a great idea but we did it anyway and we are glad we did because we found the WunderBar.  These steps are called La Escalinata Staircase.  They go down from Calle Larga (Larga Street) to Av 3 de Noviembre where our hotel is located.  Pictures tell more than I can say.

Well we made it to the hotel.  We were exhausted.  Diane took a siesta and I took photos out the window of our room.  We had a beautiful view of the Rio Tomebamba.

About an hour later I looked out the window again and you will never believe what I saw.  Yep. They wash their clothes in the river.  This guy worked for 2 ½ hours down there in what has to be real cold water.  He would make someone a real good wife.

When siesta time ended we decided to go get dinner at WunderBar.  We climbed almost all the way to the top of La Escalinata Staircase to WunderBar and ate a huge meal that included a Pina Colada for Di and double rum and coke tall and a beer for me.  We got a salad next then I had spaghetti with meat sauce and Di had spaghetti with alfredo sauce.  We couldn’t eat it all and the total bill including tax and gratuity was $18.  After a slow walk down the staircase and a half block to the hotel we crashed for an hour or two and went to bed.  And so ends another day.