Sunday Quiet

Last Sunday we walked with our friends, Barbara and Howard.  Here are pictures from that fun day.

We began at this square on Calle Larga.
We've called it the 'cannonball plaza', because of the big cement balls along the street (to block traffic from entering).  The real name is Plaza La Merced, after the Church located there.  It's also where the CoffeeTree is located with popular outside tables.

Here is a close-up of the statue.

Details of the Church, now a high school, we think.  We are hoping to see the inside someday, but it's always closed when we've tried.

Streets on early Sundays are so quiet!  Almost no traffic.

Here's a neat sign...Cuenca is planning for a light rail system!

Another little tidbit...sometimes you will see crosses on the outside of some old buildings, almost at ground level.  We hear that the crosses were added to help deter public urination (not sure if that's true, but we like the idea).  This one is located on an old Church/Convent.

Vendors outside the San Alfonso Church.  Services were still in progress when we stopped by.  The snack vendors did a brisk business when the people emerged from the Church.  One woman and her daughter were cooking fried sweets that looked delicious.

Taking a snooze...She's selling a little of everything, including lottery tickets.

We walked through a public park area.  The open plaza goes from block to block with resting benches, shops and a school.











Here's a close-up of one of the buildings.

Always fun window shopping along the way.  We'll have to return to this jewelry shop later when it's open.  Looks like some fun stuff!

Sparkly pink tennis shoes in a pink window.

High end beauty salon in the neighborhood.

We ended up at the 10 of August market.  A few shrines at the market and wonderful produce.  This one has neon lights.

We bought some delicious strawberries!  Here they are, soaking at home...

We are careful with produce from the street vendors and the markets. Always wise to wash ALL produce before eating.  It's easy to make a soaking solution with Kilol, a non-toxic solution added to water.  It's made in Ecuador.


We saw a gringo kid eating his strawberries right out of the bag on the street...we worry about him!  If you've ever suffered from parasites, as we and several of our friends have, or an upset tummy, you'll know it's worth the time and trouble to carefully WASH first before eating! 

Soaking the produce in this solution takes only 5 minutes to kill the bad stuff. 

You can buy Kilol in the produce section of SuperMaxi for a couple bucks.  Worth every penny, in our opinion.