High in the Andes for some delicious Trout

Dear Family and Friends,

We have been home from the U.S. for about a month now.  We decided it was time to take a short day trip into the mountains.  Chuck took Puff Puff to get bathed and we invited our neighbor and friend, Joyce, to come along on the adventure.  

We only have to drive about 30 to 40 minutes to reach 13,500 ft.  We live at 8,000 ft, so climbing that high is pretty much a steady uphill drive.  We have a nice highway and since we live on the west side of the city, we are into the countryside pretty quickly.

Our destination was Dos Chorreras, a restaurant and hosteria about halfway to the summit, to have their specialty, mountain trout.

In the years we have lived here this place has grown in size and popularity.  It is quite awesome.

Here are some pictures to share of our trip.  

Our nice clean Puff Puff.  

Beautiful scenery we never get tired of.

We were lucky to find a large number of llamas having fun and holding up traffic.  They own the road you know.

When we got to the pass, we were at 13,500 ft.  We parked and got out of Puff Puff and walked a ways to see the mountains from above.  This land is protected, along with the Llamas, in Cajas National Park.  

Look ma, I'm standing on the edge with "no hands."

This is the sign at the top of the look out.  It is called the Lookout of the Three Crosses.  All those stickers that are on it, have been placed by previous visitors, sort of like a calling card.

After messing around on the top, we got back into Puff Puff and headed back down to the restaurant.  Dos Chorreras is located just outside the Cajas National Park.  The setting is awesome.

Here is Chuck and Joyce heading inside.

This is our friend, Joyce.  

We all ordered our favorite presentation of trout.  Now this is the embarrassing part, when the food came, the photographer, just gobbled it up and did not even think of taking photos.  

I came back alive after we finished eating and were on our way out of the restaurant.  You enter and leave through their huge gift shop.

Here are a few pictures from the gift shop.  This is a great place to take visitors for souvenir shopping.  They have high quality goods.

We were only gone about three hours, but when we got home we felt great, like we had really been out of town.

We have been passing time walking and staying healthy.  We are so happy to be back in paradise.

Until next time..

Love,

Nancy

Moving On Up

Dear Family and Friends,

We have lived in the same condo building since we arrived here 15 years ago.  Within a year or so after we arrived in Cuenca, our neighborhood became known as Gringolandia. I think it got this nickname when the Palermo Condo building was completed.  It was about this time that many people moved to Cuenca and a lot of them were renting condos in this new, high rise. When we first moved here it was either a long walk, bus ride or taxi ride to get to good restaurants, shopping and other amenities. 

In the years we have lived here, our neighborhood has grown and grown.  The best part about this growth is that now we have many restaurants within close walking distance.

One of our favorite restaurants has moved even closer to us.  Calvo & Co is a great place to eat.  Owned by expat Jose, a native Spaniard.  He is so friendly and welcoming and we just love him.

His menu includes delicious tapas along with wonderful unique hamburgers, sandwiches and salads.  His french fries are the best I've had.  Not sure if I'm telling a fib here, but I heard he is hoping to open for breakfast soon.  

It is with pleasure that I share some pictures of our visit to his new location.

As you can see, there are many new high rise (7 - 12 story) condos being built on this street, Los Cipreses, alone.

We are happy to say that with all these condos being added to the neighborhood, Calvo & Co. will be doing very good business, along with all the other neighborhood restaurants.  

Calvo & Co. is located in a renovated house at 1-133 Los Cipreses, between Ordonez Lasso and 3 de Noviembre. Notice the high rise condo being built on the street behind his new restaurant. 

Here is Jose.  Gotta love this guy.  Calvo is Spanish for bald.  His logo is his bald head.  

A very welcoming entrance.

A nice conversation area with the bar located behind.

Nice indoor dining.  It has an outdoor feel, but is located inside.

Even the outdoor dining is covered.  Great for eating outside in all weather.

Chuck, with iphone in hand, waiting for our order to arrive. 

As usual we were so excited to get out food that I forget to take a picture until we are half finished eating.  Chuck ordered a tempura fried seafood tapa.

I ordered a shrimp salad, it had asparagus, cherry tomatoes, chia seeds, pineapple cubes as well as lettuce and the seasoned shrimp.

There are several private dining rooms.  A couple of the ones upstairs can seat up to 10 - 12 people.

This restaurant is just one of the new additions to our neighborhood.  I will share others later.   

Having so many amenities close by encourages us to walk and at our ages, that is a good thing.  

After all this time, we are loving living in Cuenca just as much as when we first arrived.  There is always something new.

Love,

Nancy

Pigeons in Cuenca

Dear Family and Friends,

Cuenca has a large pigeon population, especially in our city center. 

When we stop to look at them as individuals, instead of a flock, it is very special.  Just like when we look at people as individuals.

Love,

Nancy

I Think I See A Light at the End of this Dark Covid Tunnel

Dear Family and Friends,

For two years all of us have been experiencing this pandemic. For me, the first year of the pandemic was not too difficult.  We stayed pretty much isolated at first, and then after about six months, we started touring Educador.  I posted during the first year of the pandemic in this blog.  

The second year of this pandemic has been more difficult on me than I have wanted to admit.  One year ago, the vaccine was rolling out in the United States.  With me being in my mid seventies and Chuck in his early eighties, we were anxious to get vaccinated. The roll out was by age and although Chuck was eligible in the U.S. before me, we waited until my age group was eligible and then went online and requested an appointment to be vaccinated in Tucson, AZ.   

We received an appointment for Tuesday, February 16th.  We booked airline tickets,  got our PCR test and flew to Tucson.  We arrived in Tucson on Saturday evening and were vaccinated within three days.  

We stayed in Tucson for about four months.  We got our second vaccine, and after a few weeks, felt secure enough to visit with our family.  We even took Matt for his annual vacation and visited grandkids in Minnesota. 

Now one would think that things would be a lot better for me emotionally having been vaccinated.  Since being vaccinated one year ago, we have spent only four months here in Ecuador.  The rest of the time has been in Arizona.  

We came back to Cuenca about three weeks ago and slowly I am starting to feel much better.  The tranquility here is soothing.  

These have been dark times for me.  I had stopped posting to Facebook, Instagram and to this blog.  Now that I am feeling more hopeful and the sunshine is coming back into my life, I hope to be posting again on this blog.   

Since I have not posted in over a year, I wanted to let you know why.  I am sharing all this because others may be having the same issues.  I believe we are coming to the end of the pandemic within a few months. It is my wish that we can all start healing emotionally and get back to our creative, loving selves that we are born to be.  

Love,

Nancy