Sensory Overload!!!!

It is Sunday, September 26^th and we just went through an unbelievable day four.  Let me try to describe it.  Sensory overload!  Unbelievable!  Beyond what we can describe even with photos!  We went from third world to the best you can find anywhere in the world.  We took a taxi to breakfast at Kookaburra Café. We had a great breakfast.  We highly recommend them. Then the adventure began.

After breakfast we walked a few blocks to the Mercado 10 de Agosto.  This is a food market in the center of the old city of Cuenca.  It doesn’t get more third world than this but the prices for the vegetables, fruits and meat can’t be beat.  It was an incredible explosion of all your senses.  We don’t know if we could eat the meats though.  We will probably stick with the modern grocery when it comes to the meat.  These pics will describe what we saw at the mercado and on the way to the mercado.

               Man would this make a great pot of ham and beans!!!

                   Selling toilet paper at the public toilet at the mercado

                                         News paper stand?

                                         The local Walgreens.

Then we took a taxi to the Mall del Rio.  By the way, the taxis are an E ticket ride that Disney would be scared to put you on.  The Mall del Rio is as 1^st world as you can get.  You can buy everything from a Whopper to a Hyundai automobile under the same roof.  You can even buy a brand new motorcycle there for $1,175.

Then we went into the Supermercado.  The Supermercado is the anchor store for the mall.  There is no way to describe this store.  Take the biggest Walmart you have ever been in and multiply by two. Then add two of the biggest Sams Club you have ever been in.  Then add a second floor!!!!  If you need it or you want it and you can’t get it here, you can’t get it anywhere in the world.  We didn't get any photos inside the Supermercado because they frown on it but we will try in the future to sneak some in.  We took another one of those taxi rides back to our hotel. 

Oh, by the way, the Cuenca Lions won their Futbol game today (that’s Soccer for you Gringo Yankees) right across the river from our hotel at the big Futbol stadium.  When we got back to our hotel the area was packed with fans in red (Cuenca) jerseys and yellow ( don’t know who and don’t care) jerseys.  Score?   One to nil.  All in all it was an exciting day.

These are the photos of the hotel we are leaving.  So we end another day in our adventure.