Settling In...and...Traveling to Devil's Nose

Hola!  It's been awhile since my last post.  Most of that time has been spent packing, moving, and unpacking.  We are finally settled in at our new, more permanent location.  Lance and I moved on January 17th during a heavy rainfall, which seemed appropriate because we had the same kind of weather when we arrived in Cuenca on October 12th.

We hired our facilitator, Victor, to help us with the move.  It took 4 trips back and forth to complete the job.  Below is a small sampling of the things we had to transport.  

  

   

Once we were unpacked and settled, Lance immediately jumped into working on the garden.  He had been waiting a long time, and was excited to finally be back with his hands in the dirt.

Above, are pictures of the front of our condo, and the side terrace.  These plants were already in place when we arrived.  The round window that you see stretches from the first floor all the way up to the second floor.  It does a great job of bringing the outdoors inside.

Currently, Lance is working on our outdoor picnic table, but soon a custom made potting bench will be delivered to our condo.  It will be used to store his tools, pot his plants, and serve as a buffet for outdoor dining.  It should be delivered in a few weeks.

The brick wall that you see above has many different ledges where additional pots and decorations can be placed.  We've had a lot of fun deciding what to display on them.   Currently we are working to make some minor changes on the inside.  When we are done, I will create a post showing you what the inside of our condo looks like.

Life in Cuenca has settled down too.  We still see the occasional parade celebrating Christmas...

a ceremony at Parque Calderon (this one was to honor the soldiers who fought against Peru)...

or, a laser light show on one of the government buildings in the parque...

but overall, things are quieter and life has become more routine.  Now, we do pretty much what any retired person does...shop for groceries, cook, work outside in the garden, read, meet with friends for lunch or dinner, and go to Spanish class...(well, at least I go to Spanish class.)  

This past weekend, we broke with the routine to go on the Devil's Nose train trip.  We went with our good friends, Ken and Roz.  It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be considering it. 

Ken, Roz, Lance and I hired Victor to drive us to Alausi, where you catch the train for the trip up to Devil's Nose.  It is about a 3 hour drive through the Andes to get there, so we needed to leave early.  We purchased tickets ahead of time for the 11:00 train, and were told to arrive no later than 10:30 A.M.  The ride up was very scenic and we enjoyed seeing the views and visiting with each other.

From left to right is Victor, Ken and Lance...and below are the four amigos...

Roz, Ken, Lance, and myself.

  

Here are a few pictures of the town where you catch the train.

  The rest of the photos are shots of the train trip.  I hope you enjoy them.

Above is Devil's Nose.  The train stops below the mountain so you can stop and take some photos.  

Standing on the front of the engine to get your picture taken was a very popular thing to do for many of the riders.  Lance and I are always surprised at the things you can do in Ecuador that you would never get away with back in the states.  The tour guide was happy to take a photo of you posing there.

After departing, we took a short ride to a very small town in the mountains where there were ethnic dancers to entertain you, a small museum, and a dining room where you were provided a snack/lunch if you presented your train ticket.

The horse above was provided for anyone who didn't want to climb the long set of stairs to the top of the hill where the museum was located.  

We choose to walk.  Below are a few pictures of the inside of the museum and the guide who told about the exhibits.  Although his talk was in Spanish, the display boards were written in both English and Spanish. 

Here is another view of the stairs from the top of the hill where the museum was located.

We also had a chance to watch the ethnic dancers preform.  As always, they love to encourage audience participation.  It was a lot of fun! 

 We spent about an hour at this location.  Then, it was time to board the train and head back to town.

When we arrived...we took a few souvenir shots...

then headed back home to Cuenca.