VISITING CUENCA --Feria Libre

The past four weeks have presented me with an extraordinarily busy social life, and peaked with my brother, Leo, and his wife Carla, spending two weeks with me in Cuenca that flashed by quickly.  While we saw all the usual sites in Cuenca, and it gave Leo and Carla the opportunity to get a feel for the city, I sometimes think we did way too much which gave us little time to relax and get a leisurely feel for the city.  At least from my perspective, I felt more like we were tourists that had to get as much as we could squeeze into two weeks, but Carla and Leo seem to have an enjoyable time.  In fact, enjoyable enough that my brother already wants to visit more of South America with a visit to Santiago, Chili next year.  Our two weeks together also included three days in Guayaquil, which I will have more to share in later posts.

The next few posts will provide coverage of our two week marathon.  Today's post sports photos of our day at Feria Libre the largest outdoor market in Cuenca.  I chose Wednesday to visit the market, because Wednesday along with Saturday are the two busiest days at the market, when the vendors are endless.  My sister-in-law began with her wifely duty of shopping, while my brother did his husbandly duty of pulling out his wallet.  Carla bought a cape that goes well even with blue jeans, and it took her no time to find a hat she liked.  Leo just was not going to go for any Panama style hats, and stuck with his cap.  Except for our first evening at eating at Ramipampa Restuarant which is nestled to the right of the Immaculate Conception or what is better known as the New Cathedral, and to the left of Tutto Freddo's Ice Cream Parlor; lunch at Feria Libre was one of the few really everyday type of Ecuadorian amuerzos my brother and his wife would get to experience.

The people who sat around the table with us were helpful and friendly even though none of them spoke English and went out of their way to make room for us at the table.  Leo and Carla gave the meal two thumbs up.

Enclosed is a slide presentation of our time at Feria Libre:  (Just click on slideshow in the upper left hand corner, so you can see enlarged photos, then click the time from 3 to 7 seconds, so you have a chance to briefly savor the slide.)

https://picasaweb.google.com/111741036841400152108/FeriaLibre?authkey=Gv1sRgCLW2kPyrjrWxhwE