We've made it. We are back in Cuenca and loving it!! The Jacaronda trees are in bloom. What's not to love?
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| Jacaronda lined street |
There's a beautiful pink tree in bloom now too. Sorry, don't know the name of it.
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| Gorgeous |
We've had a busy week finding an apartment, buying appliances, and a bed. We are currently staying in Rich & Nancy's studio at the Frigata. It's truly lovely and a very good location. Thanks to Rich & Nancy for this beautiful accommodation.
In addition to "working" to get ourselves set up for our life in Cuenca, we've also been enjoying the festivities taking place here this week. First, there was All Souls Day or as it's known in Latin America, The Day of the Dead - and the festivities leading up to it. Second, we have Independence Day. The result is a four day weekend (or maybe it's five days total) as a holiday for the Ecuadorians. Anyway, a lot of people have come into town for the festivities. There's music, dancing, beauty contests, art displays, food, fireworks, and just loads and loads of fun. The celebrations are taking place all over the city, and we've tried to catch as much of them as we can. We are having a blast and so happy to be back in Cuenca.
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| Dancers at the flower market square |
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| Kicking up the heels at the flower market |
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| Beauty Contest at Mercado 9 Noviembre |
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| Dancers at Plaza de San Francisco |
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| Capturing the wolf with ribbons |
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| Enjoying seeing the wolf get captured |
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| Blow-up toy salesman |
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| Even the food gets dressed up for the celebration -- those are Cuenca/Azuay flags its wearing |
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| Blow torching the pig |
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| Pigs and guinea pigs for feasting upon |
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| Candied apples |
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| People come from all over for the festivals |
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| Merchants from Otavalo |
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| Child in Parque Calderon enjoying the festivities |
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| Everyone gets into the celebratory mood |
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| Fireworks over Turi (seen from the studio apartment window) |
Tomorrow there is a military parade. President Correa will be here to watch. Fortunately, we will be able to see the parade from the terrace of Rich & Nancy's two bedroom rental that is right above the studio we are renting from them. Today, there was a practice parade. We had a lot of fun watching the troops practice through the routine several times. Tomorrow, we'll be able to see how all that practice paid off. The President will be sitting right across the street from where we will be watching, so the troops should be putting their best boot forward as they pass by us.
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| The practice parade |
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| Watching the practice parade from the gorgeous terrace |
What gorgeous photos, Gil and Deborah! I'm not sure who took them, but kudos to the photographer!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost like being there.
Sounds like you are having a fun and exciting week!
Thank you again for posting these gorgeous photos. I'm still laughing at the one of the little schnauzer in his outfit! (I like to dress up my dogs for the holidays, too, much to their dismay) LOL ;-)
~~Gayle
Gayle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. Gil took the photos. I think he's quite a good photographer. He gave me lots of photos to choose from. Of course, as he said, there are lots of good subjects to photograph here in Cuenca.
Yes, Deborah, I agree there are many good subjects, but he also has a good eye for what to photograph!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all the pics you've posted immensely!
Thank you.
~~Gayle