Day Trip

Friday (Viernes) 30 de July (Julio) 2010

So…what I thought was going to be a maybe a two 

(2) hour drive out of Cuenca to see my friend Girard’s 

property…turned into a “TRIP”.

To better understand all this…I guess I need to back 

up a bit…

A couple/few weeks ago Girard asked if I’d like to get 

out of town to see his property and also see some 

scenery on the way. He also told me he had asked a 

mutual acquaintance Graham to join us. Well…after a 

couple of “false starts” during the past couple weeks…

we were about to and finally get on with our road trip.

Now originally Gerard had mentioned that we’d get 

out of town for a couple of hours. Keeping in mind 

our past get togethers and the fact that he’s married 

to a Cuencano whom I'm sure he would want to get 

home to…I had no doubt that a couple of hours...

literally meant a couple of hours.

To make a long story short the couple of hours turned 

into about six (6). 

Now “I am not complaining one bit” however…

I’m the kind of person that should never be told that 

something will last “X” hours and then…surprise…

it’s far and above the original “guesstimate”.

All in all (and I think I speak for all concerned) I had a 

very enjoyable afternoon/evening. I did indeed get to 

see some beautiful countryside with incredible 

mountain ranges. On this note…I feel compelled to 

state that the extremely green and very high 

(approximately 12,000 ft.) mountains were well…

AWESOME!!!

In addition…the sight of the surrounding unspoiled 

natural land was indeed inspiring…and that’s not 

even mentioning the “clean mountain air”! J

The only thing that made me “just a teeny bit” 

(Ok…high anxiety) apprehensive was the constant 

upwards (and what seemed as “never-ending”) 

driving onwards towards the yet unseen summit of

 the “MOUNTAIN”(or into the clouds for all I knew)! J

Hey…12,000 feet is by no means a pimply hill J J

Anyway once at the top…the view was indeed 

awesome.

I cannot believe people actually live up there.

Now I need to back-up a bit.

Gerard’s property is nowhere near the top. In fact 

his place...when built…will be situated someplace 

near the lower(est) range of the mountain. However 

this property (with a stunning view) is probably a 

good half-hour drive to Cuenca proper.

I will say this…as awesome as this adventure was 

to me…I was very happy to be heading down to a 

much lower and more civilized area (I am after all... 

a "city-boy").

Oh incidentally. Along our way down "El Mountain"

we made a “tourista” pit-stop at Mirador (viewpoint) 

de Turi…which is a well known over-look of Cuenca 

Cuidad and very glad I had a chance to experience 

this sight.

After our stop overlooking Cuenca it was about 

this time that the three of us…decided it was time 

to “fill the bellies”. This incidentally suited me just 

fine as the El Estomago (Stomach) was starting to 

send me “alert” messages ! J

Well…finally entering Cuenca Centro and being that 

Graham had never had the pleasure of dining there…

we invaded Raymipampa Café y Restaurante. Good 

choice…as we all ended up having the same thing…

Fried Shrimp with French Fries…a side salad of 

various items (the only thing I remember was the 

Guacamole) and a drink (my choice was limonada). 

Of course this being Raymipampa they once again... 

did not miss providing a “huge“ portion.

By the way..under six (6) bucks a piece !

So folks…that was my day and until the next rant…

Hasta Luego y tenga un bien dia  J  J

(So long and have a good day) J  J