Cuenca And The Last 5 Days

It's been a few days since I posted so here is the latest.

The place I am staying at in Cuenca is called Casa de Cuenca (as I referred to in my last post). It is a very nice, clean, comfortable and friendly place. It is a guest house so that means you need to clean your own room and supply all the sundries (e.g., hand soap). Towels are provided as well as toilet paper. But you have to do your own laundry which includes your bedding (which is provided). But then, the cost of a month's stay is quite reasonable ($694.40/mth US - $24/day which includes breakfast).

The Window To The Left Is The Kitchen

Comfortable Living Room And Social Area

My Bedroom

This photo was from the third evening I was here when we all had dinner together. Malcolm is a great cook and charges us a very reasonable amount when he prepares dinner (typically $4 or $5 dollars).

From Left to Right:  Malcolm, Hank, Elise, Brisa, Mariel, Deborah & Andy

Malcolm and Mariel are a couple and are the proprietor's of Casa de Cuenca. Hank and Elise are a couple and were guests whom are thinking of moving to Ecuador. Deborah, Andy and their daughter Brisa are just like me: They are moving here "cold turkey".

It's been very nice to stay in a small place like this as it is just like a family. Everyone is wonderfully friendly and we have had many interesting conversations. It also makes for a great initiation to a country with a foreign language and foreign customs. We all help each other as best we can.

Earlier this day (May 16th) Hank, Elise and myself went walking around El Centro (the Center of the City ("Cuidad" in Spanish). We found a very small place that advertised "Almuerzo" (Lunch). The price was listed as $1.50. We didn't think we would get much for that, but were we wrong. It turned out to be a glass of freshly squeezed juice, a soup that could have stood on it's own, and a main course (consisting of chicken stew, rice, a potato-like vegetable and some avocado). Very nice and very tasty!! I don't know how they make any money charging so little.

To give you a similar situation where I have a photo, I had "Almuerzo" on May 18th at this little place.

And this is what I had.

This is very similar to what we had for $1.50. This meal cost $3.70 without soup, but was very tasty except the meat was tough (which is typical for beef in Ecuador).

Here is the menu.

Just yesterday, Hank and I had almuerzo for $2.00 that was very much similar to the one we had for $1.50. 

In contrast, we had dinner last evening at a place called "Raymipampa" (just off the main square - Parque Calderon in El Centro) and it cost $8.50 (for my meal) which wasn't near as good as the almuerzo we had for $1.50 and wasn't any more filling. 

I was told that many Cuencanos (the local Cuenca Ecuadorians) eat their main meal around lunchtime. Although there were mostly Cuencanos (or at least Ecuadorians) eating at Raymipampa the evening we were there.

There are so many places to eat in this city and we have not experienced very many as of yet. I haven't had a really bad meal yet.

One last photo for this post. I took this inside the absolutely beautiful cathedral just off Parque Calderon.