Quiet Days and Sparkling Nights

It's Carnival Time in Cuenca.  Although there might be some celebrations and activities taking place in some parts of the city, we have not seen any.  In our neighborhood, which is located on the edge of El Centro, it has been extremely quiet.  We've seen very little traffic, and hardly anyone is spotted walking down the street.  We think most of the local people have left town for the coast or are spending time with their families for the holiday weekend.

On Sunday we walked to town in hopes of purchasing some pots for our plants, but almost everything was shut down.  The only thing we witnessed was a few young people spraying water or silly foam at each other.  This happens to be one of the traditions in Cuenca during Carnival.  People will attack you on the street, or spray you from a moving vehicle.  They seem to target the younger people, although anyone is fair game.  Luckily, we were spared from a soaking.  I wish I had a few pictures to share, but I was a little nervous to take any because I thought that might make me the next victim.  

Monday and Tuesday were equally as quiet, but I imagine on Wednesday things will be back to normal.  In the meantime Lance and I have spent time out in our garden.  Friday, our long awaited potting bench arrived.  It was custom made for us in Cuenca.

When it first arrived, it was so beautiful that Lance was afraid to use it.  He quickly got over it, and since then he has been happily potting plants.

The two orange plant containers below were made out of cement for Lance, then painted orange.

This picture is the front of the garden as you enter the gate.  It was planted by the developers of the property and is cared for by a gardener that comes once a month.

This photo was taken from our balcony looking down on the front garden.

These plants surround the bottom of the tree we have growing in our garden.  Most of the tree looks dead, but at the very top there are leaves sprouting which shows signs that it is coming back to life.  We believe it is an apple tree.

Above you can see the flowering tree that drapes over the wall of our property.  The blossoms have been on the tree since we moved in a month ago.  It often attracts hummingbirds.  

The flowers above are fun because they open up when the sun is out and close up at night time.  The flowers below are in pots and placed between the greens to add a splash of color.

At nighttime we light up the garden with our tree, lantern and assorted candles.  If it's mild outside we sit and play cards by the candlelight.  Or, we sit inside and look out our big, round window.  The outside looks like a sparkling fairyland.  

The picture below is taken from inside of our condo looking out into the garden.  Our window is big enough to show the entire tree.  (The window is round and stretches from the bottom floor all the way up to the top of the second floor.)  

Our tree has more than 600 Christmas lights strung on it.  We have electricity running throughout the garden which enables us to put lights on outside by simply flipping a switch inside the condo.

Here is a picture of our window taken from the outside looking in.  The window is located on the side of the building, which gives us privacy, but still allows us to enjoy the outdoors.  This photo shows the top and bottom floor of the condo.  

Here are two more night time pictures.

Above is a view of the domes of the new cathedral located in Parque Calderon.  This view can be seen from the balcony of the second floor of our condo.  We often sit on the balcony to enjoy the view of the domes and the surrounding mountains.  

In other news...a few weeks ago we attended an art gallery that displayed paintings of a local artist.  His work was beautiful (my pictures don't do them justice,) and the opening was well attended.  There was food, drinks, and music offered to all the people who came.     

On the way home from the art gallery we came across a group of people doing exercise to loud latin music in the plaza located near our condo.  We sat and watched for a while...before finishing our walk home.    

We still see an occasional protest taking place in Parque Calderon...I took this picture on the way home from Spanish Class.  If you look closely you will see that all the protestors have tape across their mouths.      

I hope you enjoy the pictures and that all my friends and family are surviving the cold winter months in Wisconsin.  Hopefully the worst is behind you.  Just think, spring is only a little more than a month away.