Aunt Opal's visit was fantastic. I flew back to Georgia with her, arriving in the early morning hours of Sunday, October 28th.
On Monday, October 29th, my sister and brother in law headed back to the airport to come to Ecuador.
Like Aunt Opal, this was Mary Anne's and Larry's first trip to South America.
Here are Mary Anne and Larry waiting for the adventure to begin in the Atlanta airport.
Chuck drove to Quito to meet us.
After a good nights sleep, we went to the equator. This is always a fun trip...it is fascinating to know that you are exactly at the middle of the earth.
Here is Chuck trying to walk the equator.
The next day we left Quito and headed to Banos.
This picture was taken in one of the major plazas in Banos. The sign says "Bridge of Love."
We drove down to Puyo. Puyo is the gateway to the jungle. On the way we stopped and took a ride across the river gorge on a gondola. Here is Larry photographing the scenery and the waterfall.
While in Puyo we had lunch. This is one of the best fried talapia dishes I have had in Ecuador. I think the price was something like $3.
We drove to Cuenca and stopped in Alausi for lunch and to visit the tall St. Peter statue that overlooks this city.
Here are Mary Anne and Larry with Alausi in the background.
We got into Cuenca in the evening on November 2nd, just in time to celebrate Cuenca's independence day on November 3rd.
We saw as many celebrations as possible and shopped the vendors who were here from all over South America for the festivities.
On Sunday we took the obligatory trip to Parque Calderon for the "horsey picture" to go on our refrigerator. Mary Anne and Larry are now part of our refrigerator visitor hall of fame.
We did the flower market and San Francisco plaza.
One day we drove up to Chordeleg to shop for jewelry. I always love to go there, always something new and interesting to see.
We drove on to SigSig to do some hat shopping at the source.
We took the back road home so that we could go through San Bartolomé, where they hand craft guitars.
This town is in a beautiful mountain setting.
Larry, trying out a guitar.
On their final day in Cuenca, we took the tourist double deck bus tour. The day was beautiful and we really enjoyed seeing Cuenca from above.
Mary Anne and Larry have said goodbye to Cuenca and headed back home to Georgia.
We are sure they will return...9 days is just not enough time to see everything. We enjoyed having you and sharing Ecuador with you.
Love,
Nancy and Chuck
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post, as we will be following nearly the same path in our visit to Ecuador - Quito, Banos and Cuenca. This will be my third trip to Cuenca. Our connection began with a foreign exchange student that we hosted from the city. Now, all these years later, my husband and I are thinking of retiring in Cuenca. My husband is from India, and so had to relocate ... but he worries about me who was born, raised and lived in Minnesota my whole life. I follow your blog, and I am wondering if we could have coffee while we are in Cuenca anytime Nov. 24-27? We leave for Banos on the 28th. Thank you for your blog and your consideration of my request.
Lee Ann Schutz Wahi
Lee Ann,
ReplyDeleteChuck and I would love to meet for coffee while you and your husband are in Cuenca. If you will post another comment with you email (I promise I will not publish it!) then I can email you direct with our cell phone number here in Cuenca.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Nancy