I am now in Cuenca and really like it here.

I arrived in Cuenca on Wednesday January 27 via a 30 minute flight from Quito. Within an hour of leaving Quito I was in a taxi on my way to Hostel Mocondo where I had booked accommodation until I could find an apartment. Cuenca will be my home base until I return to Canada end of March.

Hostel Mocondo was a nice place to spend my first days in Cuenco,colonial style my room overlooked the interior garden. Price included breakfast, wifi, and a well equipped kitchen for use of the guests. Cuenca is a city but it has a small town feel within the historical center. The streets are clean and unlike many South American cities there is no graffiti marring the beautiful buildings. A brigade of street cleaners do a great job keeping the street free of litter.

Panama hats are actually made in Cuenca area, not Panama. The hats woven from the fonds of a palm tree that grows in the central region of Ecuador are purchased here and exported to Panama. They are woven by hand, the finer the weave the more expensive the hat.

I spent most of my time the first days exploring the city, looking for an apartment and trying to make up my mind about buying a new camera to replace the one I lost in Quito. I still do spend most of my time exploring the city there is much to see, I get lost regularly.

I did find an apartment the second day here, I am moved in and really like it. It is located in the newer area of the city a ten minute walk from the city center. Everything I need is with easy walking distance and my landlady, Susana, is terrific.

Susana speaks a little English just enough along with my few Spanish words and a lot of pantomimes for us to communicate. She has given me her time to show me around and introduce me to her friends and family. Her parents, sister and brother are wonderful people I am so happy to have met them. I have been to her parents home for lunch and we have gone on an excursion to nearby town together, more about that in the next post. Susana wants to learn more English and I want to learn Spanish, we have plans to spend a couple hours a week focusing on teaching each other. I am not too sure how that will work out as Susana lived in Germany for 12 years and mixes German with English and Spanish, pretty funny sometimes. I am learning more Spanish just by hanging out with the family, everyday a few more words are added to my vocabulary.

This past Saturday we visited a family friend, Dona Yolanda, 81 year old owner of an upscale local hotel. Her hobby is growing orchids and bonsai, she has many beautiful species and it was a joy looking through her greenhouses. We had tea with her and though most of what was spoken went right over my head I did manage to pick up a little of what was said which gives me hope that I am learning if not to speak Spanish at least to understand a little.

What am I eating: The first days here I ate mostly in restaurants, eating my main meal at lunch, almuerzo, then having a snack at night at the hostel. Almuerzos here are a full course mid day meal usually consisting of typical Ecuadorian food, really good value, filling, good tasting and consist of soup, a main which is usually rice, sometimes pasta, meat, a vegetable or salad, desert, juice and is served in a lot of the restaurants. I have had sushi almuerzo, really good, included soup, fish, rice and a glass of wine. Now that I have the apartment I am eating at home more. There is a deli right next door to the apartment building, a good bakery just around the corner and a farmers market one block away. There is also a Super Maxi, large grocery store, 2 blocks away.

What do things cost: Almmerzos run between $2.00 and $3.00, the sushi one was $3.50. A bouquet of fresh flowers $1.00 from the market, avocado $.25. Today I bought a pineapple, 3 huge mangos, and a bunch of cilantro $2.25. A whole bone in breast of chicken .88 kilo $3.38. Half a kilo block of gouda cheese $3.33. 6 pints of good Ecuadorian pilsener beer $3.11. A liter of Argentinian white wine $3.74. A huge slice of triple layer cake made with real whip cream $.80. Anything imported is subjected to a hefty tax I paid $12.00 for a 60 gram tube of 45 SPF sunscreen, the 30 SPF I brought with me was not strong enough, my face got burned. Hostel Mocondo was $18. per night. My furnished one bedroom apartment, bath and a half, galley kitchen, living/dining room, small terrazzo, including cable, internet, phone for local calls, weekly laundry and cleaning $460. per month.

What's cool: Executives with their cell phones, brief cases, ladies in high heel shoes, all in suits walk along side indigenous people in their traditional cloths on the cobbled streets of the city center. The apartment I rented is in a 7 story brand new building, very modern,a two story glass and steel deli right next door, and a 4 lane main thoroughfare at the corner. The back of the building over my terrazzo wall are humble homes where the dishes are washed and cooking is done in an outdoor kitchen, where roosters and chickens are roaming free and laundry hangs on cloths lines strung between homes. Parades, in the week and a half I have been here I have seen 5, I love watching them, the bands, the costumes, wonderful. Movistar, the name of a big cellular phone and internet provider.