Friday, Aug 5, 2016

It has been a relaxing day for me in Cuenca. I slept in, and enjoyed the feel of heavy, warm blankets on me while I was in that half awake, half asleep stage. My coffee pot was set to auto-start my morning brew, and as the aroma wafted into my bedroom it woke my senses up and gave me insensitive to brave the chilly walk down the long hallway to my kitchen.

Heidi and I went out walking for a bit and we ended up at the Supermaxi to check, once again, if they had jalapenos…no luck. It wasn’t a total loss though because we stopped at the ice cream shop in the shopping plaza and had one of our favorite cones, fresh coconut. So good!

Later in the afternoon we decided to grab a taxi and go into El Centro. We went to Tostaos, our favorite hangout for a cappuccino, and enjoyed not one, but two cups. Enjoying our coffee, we were able to get caught up on emails and social media, all the while listening to the sounds of the busy city as noises passed by the opened doorway. I find we need to get out of our apartment throughout the day, because although it’s comfortable, it is just too quiet!

For dinner we met up with our friend, Aurobindo, at a place called Ali Baba Kabab. We met the owner, Reza, who started this restaurant not long ago. Recently it was broken into and robbed. According to Reza several businesses along Remigio Crespo had been robbed at the same time.

The police had told Reza that some of the recent robberies were committed by people from the coast who had lost everything. The mindset of the robbers is that even if they get caught, at least then they will have a place to sleep. A very sad reality of continued consequences from the earthquake.

Heidi and I enjoyed a good dinner of Shawarmas and Kebabs with Auro. Auro has been traveling lately and caught us up on his adventures at a yoga retreat where he taught meditation, and a cleansing sweat lodge ceremony he attended. The journey to the sweat lodge involved traveling a perilous mountain road where a large bull was trying to attack the truck…only in Ecuador.

Chau.