Posts Tagged With: travel

Spanish School Studies Start Simply

Posted on January 8, 2013 by twowhotrek

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 →

Categories: blog, classes, Cuenca, ecuador, flowers, food, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cajas National Park

Posted on January 6, 2013 by twowhotrek

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: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cuenca Edible Art

Posted on January 5, 2013 by twowhotrek

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: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

An awesome place to spend New Year’s Eve

Posted on January 5, 2013 by twowhotrek

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.

Continue reading →

Categories: blog, celebrations, Cuenca, ecuador, Journals, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Markets in Gualaceo and Chordeleg

Posted on January 2, 2013 by twowhotrek

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 →

Categories: blog, chordeleg, Cuenca, ecuador, gualaceo, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quito Quickly

Posted on December 31, 2012 by twowhotrek

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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On the Road Again!

Posted on December 28, 2012 by twowhotrek

The latest adventure has started for Two Who Trek!  Yesterday was filled with packing and bill paying; doing all those things that need to get done before leaving for a month.

The 3:30 AM alarm made for a short night following a midnight bedtime.  In the blowing snow, we made a pre-dawn drive to the Detroit Metro Airport (DTW).  Sherri had rousted one of her relatives to drop us off at the airport.  Lucky guy, he managed to sleep most of the way to Detroit.  This left Sherri to very competently handle the big rear-wheel-drive wildebeest through beginning rush hour traffic and slippery roads. Continue reading →

Categories: blog, Michigan, travel | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Twelve Days Before Cuenca

Posted on December 17, 2012 by twowhotrek

In the twelve days before leaving for Cuenca, my true friend gave to me – Continue reading →

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A side journey to Olivet and Marshall

Posted on December 12, 2012 by twowhotrek

Two Who Trek does a lot of international travel, but we also journey in the states, too.  Together we’ve been in about 30 states; separately, one of us has been in 46 states.  But today’s story is about a short voyage last Sunday.

We trekked on I-69 to the small town of Olivet, Michigan, to hear the Olivet Community Schools “Holiday Musical Celebration”.  The concert is different than most school performances that we’ve heard before.  For starters, all the different grade bands, except for the fifth grade, are arranged on the floor of the huge high school gymnasium.  Continue reading →

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Learning Spanish the Slacker Way

Posted on December 10, 2012 by twowhotrek

If you are reading this post in December, you’ll notice a countdown clock in the right column, showing that we have just 17 days remaining before our month-long trip to Ecuador.  We are busily preparing for the trip as well as getting our Christmas gifts, cards, and traditional activities completed.

The trip organizers have been very helpful, sending weekly email messages to prepare us for the adventure.  Topics covered include what to expect, what will we need (i.e., Cuenca has the same electric power and plugs as we do so no need for converters or adapters), and lists of Spanish words and phrases to study.

Their goal is for us to learn about 2,000 words before we board that first airplane.  So far, Joe has mastered two—“cerveza” and “baῆos”, figuring that would cover both incoming and outgoing.  He was shocked to learn that “baῆos” was really a place to bathe and that he needed to ask for a “servicio”. Continue reading →

Categories: blog, Cuenca, ecuador, preparation, travel | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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