More Fun Pictures Around Cuenca

A little this and that...

Here are a couple shots from our porch.  (We're 10 stories up.) 

We're looking down on a house below.  If you were at street level, all you'd notice are the unassuming gates.

You can see the Nursery School and all the toys in the front yard.  We often hear the children's sweet little voices as they sing, once again, the Barney Song!

EdificioTerrazza and the river in the background.

Pretty flowers growing wild!  These are in a lot next to the Edificio Amazonas across the street from us.

In bloom!

More gorgeous flowers at the flower market.

Yellow roses for our friends in Texas!

These are fun trash bins! 
Many shops have them outside.

As an aside: a reader asked off-blog if the streets of Cuenca were *really* clean...We're happy to report that street cleaners are working everywhere.

The only areas that aren't all that clean are those where folks forget the garbage pick-up schedule and they put out their garbage early or late on the streets. Roving dogs and rats from the river will make a mess with the garbage until it's cleaned up by the workers.

A recent early Sunday, another race on blocked off streets.  Reminded us of the Hayes Street Hill climb during the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco!  Runners were doing just fine with the steep road up to Calle Larga.

No one seemed to mind the steep run at all (except us, as we were breathing deeply for them!)

Love all the street art!

So much more artistic and creative than run-of-the-mill graffiti and 'tagging'.

At a construction site downtown.

On a roll-down door.

Another kitty for Art and Ruth...

  Betty Boop is also here in Cuenca!
(This is a shop window at the Fragata building.)

Another old church we pass by frequently.  One of 52 churches in Cuenca.

Street vendor outside the new Cathedral.

Old, restored pharmacy off the Square.
This is where we sometimes stop for a 'soda'.

The 'sodas' are very fizzy and full of good stuff, like vitamins and minerals and herbs.

A display at CIDAP museum...note the dolls spinning at the bottom of the picture.

Pretty garden in bloom outside CIDAP.

Here is a 'white' crowd at the Square.  It was the end of a march against crime, and all who marched were asked to wear white shirts in solidarity.  Lots of school kids taking part.

More school children in uniforms.  The kids were just getting out of school.

One more shot, for those asking about 'communications' in Cuenca...More pics later.


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Besides walking, we've been having some maintenance jobs done on our apt at Los Pinos this week.  We've been inspired by some of our friends who have some projects in the works, too. 
Painters have been here sprucing up the upstairs office, guest room and the baths.  A plumber came in to fix a toilet; it was broken for awhile, but we just turned off the water and got on the plumber's busy schedule...we have 5 toilets here in the apt, so not a problem to wait.    An electrician came to fix a couple light fixtures, also.  A gentleman picked up our area rugs from the living room to have them cleaned.  They will be returned in about 8 days or so.
We got a bid on new carpet for the upstairs.  Wow, the bid is spendy!  We're also going to look at getting a bid next week for maybe wood floors instead.  We hear wood is cheaper than carpet, but we'll see...

Almost all done. 
Nice to check all the Los Pinos jobs off on the list.