Monday, May 30, 2016

The search for a new place for us to live continues, but before we got too wrapped up in that we met Dave and Victoria for coffee at Tostao’s. I love the cappuccino here.

It is a beautiful day in Cuenca, and after coffee we meandered through some of the stores around El Centro. Dave is on the hunt for some polo shirts. We passed this church as we went in and out of stores.

Santa Domingo church in El Centro

Santa Domingo church in El Centro

I haven’t gone looking for clothes since I have been in Ecuador. I am still not looking to buy anything, but this is the first time I was actually looking at clothes in a retail store. It felt a little strange. Strange in the sense of normal. I am in a store that could pass for any smaller, specialty clothes store in the States. Well almost.

As I am looking around this store with women’s and men’s clothing, I notice the mannequins. The female mannequins all are large busted and big bootied. This is the story with every mannequin I have seen in stores in Ecuador. It is an interesting cultural difference. Breasts and butts are much more accentuated here in the marketing of women’s clothing.

It was time to eat lunch and since Dave and Victoria ate a late breakfast, they kept shopping. Heidi, Easton, and I went to find food. In El Centro across from the Cathedral is a Mexican restaurant called Don Colon. I was expecting to get a taco salad, but at lunch they only serve almuerzos.

I love a good almuerzo and this was certainly one of them. We had a really good tasting squash soup to start, followed by teriyaki chicken for Easton, fish for Heidi, and shrimp for me. We shared so we all got to taste all of it. It also came with rice, beans, mixed vegetables, and juice. Can’t beat this for $4.00 a plate.

After lunch we met up with Victoria and Dave and decided to walk along the Tomebamba river to Paradise Park where the Tomebamba and Yanuncay rivers meet. It was a long walk, and along the way we spied an apartment for rent. We called and the owner was able to show it to us right then.  Dave and Victoria continued on the walk.

The apartment was a nice 3 bedroom, but it didn’t have a good view even though it was facing the river. This one isn’t going to work for us. We continued on our walk to catch up with Dave and Victoria. By this time however it was beginning to rain. Dave and Victoria had abandoned the walk and caught a bus to the mall. We caught a taxi back to El Centro to see the place our realtor Daniel lined up to show us today.

Wow, what a phenomenal view. This three bedroom overlooked El Centro. The domes of the Cathedral were at dead center of the dining room window. The red tiled roofs of the old city spread out before us. I loved the view.

The problem is that the place was really small and tight. The bedrooms were smaller, so were the bathrooms, and the kitchen had some issues too. But man the view was incredible; still, this isn’t going to work for us. Daniel gave us a lift back to our place and our search will resume tomorrow.

Chau.