February Walking, Part 2 -- More Parades and New Sidewalks

We love parades!  Christmas parades continue right up (in)to the Carnaval season. 

  Parade along Av Solano.

 

 

Parade along Calle Larga.

 

 

Sidewalks are still being renovated and improved.  It makes it a little dicey to walk the áreas with the construction, but we manage.  When both sides of the streets are torn up, the best way to walk is right down the middle of the street!  Of course, the cars are whizzing by, not the safest way...

We're looking forward to all the improved streets for us walkers!

 

 

More pictures:

A patio garden.

A unique art display at a Mexican restaurant.

 

Soccer, yeah!

 

 

Upcoming event.

 

A nest on our porch!  The birds must feel safe enough here to build a nest in one of our citrus trees. 

 

Costume shop for Carnaval.

River shots this month.

Weather earlier this month has been absolutely cold to the bone at night.  Lovely sunrises and sunsets after the day warms up and the morning fog burns off.  Some rain and lots of strong winds in the afternoons.  But, it's hard to predict the weather here in the Andes, no matter the month.

Every daybreak we are hopeful and so happy to be here.

Walking in February 2015 --- Carnaval and Parades

February is a month of several birthdays.  We had fun celebrating with friends....walking, visiting, eating, FUN!

Valentine's Day vendors near the New Cathedral.  Booths lined up with stuffed toys, balloons, cards, gifts.

We also celebrated Valentine's  at a newly renovated restaurant in town.  Pictures of our dinner; sea bass and a pear/blue cheese salad.  Nice place, good food,  good music, fun evening.

February also means Carnaval! 

We didn't go out of town like almost everyone else.  As in previous years,  Cuenca was almost deserted.  More quiet than Sundays.  Our very first visit to Cuenca several years ago was during Carnaval and we wondered where all the people were!  Well, all the folks were on holiday, out of town, to the Coast and elsewhere.  This year, the same. Almost everything was closed down tight.  We did see some tourists...the tour buses were full...

Practically a ghost town, but perfect for walking! 

Very quiet streets.

Vendors selling foam to spray on folks (much better than wáter!)

 

 

Vendors selling wading pools so kids could splash and get each other wet.  The weekend was warm, so the kids probably loved it.

We came across a parade at the Square one day leading up the big weekend.  It was a hybrid, both for Christmas and Carnaval!

 

 

You can see in some pics that folks have flour on their faces.  It's an old Carnaval tradition (actually, older than Carnaval!)  The younger children were having a great time spraying their friends with foam.  We got hit, too!

Part 2 of February will be our next post.

Beautiful Birds

(Continuation of previous blog on Inca Country)

We got back to the Central Bank Museum and checked out the bird display outside.

Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a wonderful place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Wonderful Walk Through Inca Country

We finally visited the outside área around the Central Bank Museum.  We've walked the streets around it and we've been inside the museum a few times.  Somehow, it never worked out to also walk the gardens, until now.

What a wonderful place!  Peaceful, beautiful.  The weather that day also cooperated for not-too-hot, not-too-cold or too windy weather.  All that extreme weather came earlier and later in the day, so we lucked out.  It was perfect walking weather for us.

We are so happy the City saved this little piece of history!  Old Inca walls, terraced gardens, nice and flat walkways...and LLAMAS! 









The lay-out includes signs explaining the history, most in both Spanish and English. 
Admission is free (check in at the desk inside the museum).

 

 

The gardens include good examples of plants and trees that would have been planted here in Inca-time.  We saw blooming quinoa, several kinds of potatoes, squash, corn, herbs and more.

Stone work is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll be back again.  This trip we didn't see the birds and inside plant displays, but next time.
















-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those interested in Inca stories, a very good book is called "Ínca'', by Geoff Micks (historic fiction).  Fascinating.  Well-written.
You can find it on Amazon for your kindle.