Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Friday November 4, 2016 Parrots

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Friday November 4, 2016

The routine is pretty consistent here in the mornings now. I am up before dawn to walk the dogs, then work on emails, upload my photos for sale, and it is time to walk the dogs again. Lately that is followed by a quick lunch and a nap.

Today we did our first run to get Mariposa her injection at the vet's and it was quick and easy, slam, bam, thank you ma'am. 3 more to go.

As I was walking the dogs once more I heard these noisy birds that have been criss-crossing our neighbourhood for about 2 weeks. I caught a half-glimpse of them one day and could tell that they were colorful, but that's about all. Today they were actually making a racket from tree on our street so I quickly grabbed the Lumix. Surprise, surprise! These are a bunch of wild parrots! This is the first time in 5 years that I have seen such thing!

The birds stayed high in the tree so the shots aren't the greatest, taken hand-held at almost full zoom. I hope they come back again so I can try with the Canon.

We had made notes of different festivities to try to see today, along with my craving to try the Fish'n'Chips at the Vegetable Bar.

We got a call from our friend Jessie to come over for a coffee so we jumped on Toxic and went over there for a delightful hour.

We passed Otorongo Plaza where some music and exhibits were in full swing, on the way to the Vegetable Bar. These events play absolute havoc with the traffic when the Transito guys block off streets. Sure glad to weave through traffic quickly on Toxic.

Now, the Vegetable Bar is owned by the same guy that charged me $9 for a Screwdriver at the Eucalyptus 2 years ago, promised to do something about it, and didn't, so I never went back. So I don't know where to begin with today's experience except to say I am again very disappointed, overall. This is a very nice, American-owned restaurant that supposedly has a "special" of Fish'n'Chips on Fridays that people say is the best in town. And, I have to agree, the two skinny filets of fish were the best I have had in Cuenca and the tartar sauce was superb. To go with those small items they served one tiny lemon wedge, tasteless cole slaw, and a few unsalted fries. Nowhere to be found were the staples we gringos would expect with fish'n'chips in a North American restaurant, namely, salt, pepper, ketchup, and vinegar. I asked for the vinegar, and they didn't even have any!! Imagine that! A Vegetable Bar that doesn't have any vinegar...??? WTF... I wasn't even really that hungry, but this meal was not nearly enough to satisfy my hunger. Then, to top it off, the "special" turned out to be $9 each! Suffice it to say that I won't be going back there anytime soon either.

Next we headed over for a salsa and meringue concert that Cristina was hep on,to the advertised location of Florencia Astudillo and Solano. Again, they had closed off the street so we could not enter. The only entrance was over by the Stadium so we had to ride and walk for blocks to get there. It kept spitting rain so people were all over trying to sell flimsy rain ponchos and umbrellas. Guys were selling plastic stools to sit on for $2 and I though that they were a good deal, but most people didn't want to have to worry about their chairs if they started to dance. And dance,.. they didn't... We were there for an hour and, with this crowd of hundreds of people, nobody started dancing! The band music all sounded the same and even Cristina was so bored with it all that we decided to go home. Of course, the dogs need their walk...

I hope you enjoy the photos, all taken with the Lumix, hand-held. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al