.mi.Cuenca.

.hey. .all,.

so I thought I would put up some pictures of my lovely Cuenca that I have had a chance to take over the last week or so, Its been nice to be somewhere that i feel like I know...all of these pictures have some sort of meaning to me...

the river. - I crossed this river every day to get to my niños

wow...okay, I just thought this lady looked like she couldnt carry anything...but check out what she has on her back! it was really almost the same size as her. and she was packing it up these huge stairs! (see next photo)

these are the stairs to the old Tadeo Torres baby orphanage... I bought some pretty cool jewlery on these stairs too!

so, this morning I woke up to drums...and I instantly remembered, its DECEMBER! December in Cuenca is a time of .PARADES. its almost Christmas! there were traditional dancers...

the flower market was buzzing underneath the huge peaks of the catherderal nueva in el centro

this is a view of the parade from a window in my hostal. I guess all these soccer teams and basketball teams from different cities and villages in Ecuador came for this parade...it made ME a little crazy because we had 3 of these noisy teams in my hostal...I wanted to kill them all then they were up around at 2am screaming and yelling... ha ha

so, this is the hostal I have been in the last while...its...nice... this picture makes it look a little nicer than it should I think...lol it is VERY dark...no window, and the first few night I could have SWORN it was haunted because I would wake up every time I moved...I came to realize that everything in this hostal squeeks...ha ha the bed the floor the doors...you get it. its been nice tho, its right in the center of town, simon bolivar y General Torres... close to tu tu freddos!

next piucture down...gah... this is the hostal I stayed in my first night in Cuenca...big mistake...ha ha I read about it in my travel book...and by the time I got there it was raining and dark, so staying somewhere else wasnt really an option...it was called el caffecito...I walked in...and it was, a bar? people sitting around drinking coffee and beer and there was the LOUDEST music on...I walked up to the counter and asked one of the girls if there was a hostal nearby...she said, yeah, we have a bed, and then walked me over to a door in one of the WALLS. there were 2 sets of bunk beds and a single bed...I was up on the top bunk you see in this photo...

the music bumped till about 2am...then I slept for a few hours...woke up, had a cold shower (sigh) and big adieu to el cafecito and its noisy room...ha ha

these next 2 pictures are outside of the OSSO house. I love the variety of house topsthat sign says ALTO...ha ha it means high...duh...its a rusty old sign outside the OSSO house that just makes me laugh.

so this is SOME of my Cuenca...I have realy enjoyed my stay here...I have had the chance to hold people I love and see things I never thought I would have seen again. its been really amazing. the fact that I got food poisoning aside, its been really great...I might leave tomorrow...I might stay just one more day, and make sure im not going to be hating life on a bus for 8 hours to Peru...

feeling a little better tho!

.x.x.

.R.