After a full morning of Spanish lesson classes, Two Who Trek either enjoy an almuerzo with friends or lunch on their own. Almuerzos are a restaurant’s lunch special of the day. They include fresh juice, soup, meat, potato, rice and dessert. Portions often look small when compared to typical US servings but are perfect to fill a hungry student! Continue reading
Posts Tagged With: photos
Spanish School Studies Start Simply
Two Who Trek Visit Markets as Part of the Lessons
For three mornings, Two Who Trek were in Spanish class at the Simon Bolivar Spanish School. No big deal, right? It was for Joe! Never having studied any language other than French in high school, the first day was a bit disconcerting. No worries. Angel is a good instructor and Joe advances at his own pace. Joe now knows about a hundred Spanish words and is enjoying the challenge.
Sherri’s instructor, Viviana, encourages her to remember previous college classes and build on those lessons. Even with prior Spanish classes, Sherri really finds it challenging to put thoughts into words in another language. Continue reading
Cajas National Park
To celebrate New Year’s Day (and because everything was closed in Cuenca for the holiday), Two Who Trek hopped on a bus with fellow travelers and headed for Cajas National Park, located about 30 km to the west of Cuenca. The road to the park was very good, primarily because the park is located on the main route between Cuenca and Guayakill. Continue reading
Categories: blog, Cuenca, dining, ecuador, food, mountain, photos, restaurants, travel
Tags: cajas, cajas national park, cuenca, ecuador, park, photos, restaurant, travel
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Cuenca Edible Art
UPDATE 1/8/2013 — At first Two Who Trek didn’t know what image was being created in the series of photographs below. However, our travel agent pointed out today that the pictures were upside down! The image being created is that of a chola cuencana, a local woman in the native dress.
Thanks, Maria, for the correction! We’ve updated the story below.
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Tonight Two Who Trek joined the rest of the AHI travel group for a fine meal at Tiesto’s Restaurant, currently ranked #2 of 111 restaurants in Cuenca on TripAdvisor.com. After a fine Ecuadorian style meal, the restaurant served desserts on platters hand-painted (yes, painted) by Chef Juan Carlos himself. OK, it’s not real paint he uses but food products — hence the name, edible art. Continue reading
Categories: Cuenca, dining, ecuador, food preparation, photos, restaurants, travel
Tags: cuenca, dessert, ecuador, edible art, fine dining, photos, restaurant, travel
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An awesome place to spend New Year’s Eve
Cuenca, Ecuador is a fantastic place to spend New Year’s Eve! No, wait – that’s not quite correct. Cuencanos celebrate “Años Viejos”, the Old Year. The festivities are more focused on saying farewell to the old year than in welcoming the new one. However, all the celebrations are much more elaborate than any in the United States.
Categories: blog, celebrations, Cuenca, ecuador, Journals, photos, travel
Tags: celebration, cuenca, customs, ecuador, festivals, monigote, new year's eve, photos, south america, travel
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The Markets in Gualaceo and Chordeleg
Check cuy off the gastronomic list! Cuy, pronounced like coo-ee, is an Andean delicacy that we missed trying in Peru on our 2006 trip. Cuy can be charcoal roasted (as we had) or baked. What is cuy? Most people know it as guinea pig. Forget that Sherri once had a pet guinea pig named Ginger. The Andean guinea pigs are born to become part of special celebrations, like holiday dinners. Cuy is delicious! Joe thinks it tastes like really sweet chicken and Sherri thinks it tastes a lot like dove. Continue reading
Quito Quickly
After a five hour layover in Atlanta, Two Who Trek boarded the Boeing jet to Quito, Ecuador at 5:45 PM. You probably expect horror stories about the flight. Not in this case. Joe had shelled out extra money to purchase seats in the emergency exit row, giving ample legroom. There was an added bonus. We were seated next to a Quito native, now a citizen of the United States. He enlightened us with tales of the delights of his country and the trip time just flew by. (Yes, a bad pun). Continue reading
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