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Thursday August 27,
2015
My other Blog cuencaresidency.blogspot.com seems to be getting almost 1,000 visits a day lately. Lots of folks interested in Ecuador since it has been voted the best country to live in once again.
Yesterday I made a tough decision and stepped down from being the Event Coordinator for the Hearts Of Gold Christmas Gala. I realized after one meeting that I was feeling way out of my depth and that I was going to have major problems with some of the volunteers if I continued. So it was better to step away early and let some of the go-getters try some new ideas. I will continue to help, but more in the background.
Do you remember a few weeks back that I bought a storage box for the back of Toxic from a young man named Pablo. He had told me that a group of riders of all sorts of bikes go on a ride every Thursday night. Today I finally got the gumption to give him a call, and confirmed the time to meet was 7:30 at the Broken Bridge (Puente Roto).
There was a diverse group of people that showed up, and some had to leave before we finally got moving past 8:30.
Underneath the bridge there is a class, I don't know what it is called, where the ladies climb up lengths of cloth. An interesting backdrop for our meet.
I was welcomed warmly and introduced to everyone who showed up and I immediately forgot just about everyone's name, except the coordinator Francisco (who gave me a sticker for the group to slap on Toxic) and Mary-Inez who spoke some English.
The group swelled in numbers then people dropped off as the night wore on.
The gang's name is Herederos Del Pasado (Heirs Of The Past).
We went to the gas station on Solano then went up to Turi for the first stop. Then we went a very short distance down a hill to a restaurant owned by the family of an Argentinian rider who invited everyone for a coffee. Delicious Colombian coffee..
Then we started to thread our way towards downtown. At one point we realized that someone was left behind, Mary-Inez, so a couple of guys rode back. Apparently she dropped her cel phone on the street, and it is toast. I have no idea why it took them 20 minutes to rejoin the group. We continued to downtown, and circled around to come back near the Coffee Tree (called something else now). I thought that that this was where they were stopping to eat so I spotted a friend from Saskatchewan and went over and ordered a tea. Just as the tea arrived, and I never got the change for my $5, the group was saddling up to move on so I had to leave...
We made our way back to the Puente Roto and the new restaurant that is right beside it. The owner speaks a little English and they have a good menu but their service is slow as molasses. So I just packed it in early and came home to eat.
The group was very surprising to me. At one point I counted 9 men and 6 women (that was a shock). Besides Ecuadorians, we had a Canadian (me), an Italian, an Argentinian, and a gal from Armenia, Colombia (where I visited just a month ago).
The people were great fun, very friendly, so I will definitely be doing that ride again.
I apologize for the lousy quality of the photos. I had decided only to bring the small point+shooter with me and the battery was running out. With no tripod, night shots are pretty bad most of the time.
I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al
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| Meeting at the picturesque Broken Bridge |
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| These ladies were practicing moves on strips of cloth |
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| Obviously this one was just learning the ropes, er, cloth |
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| Some of the early group, Mary-Inez on the right beside Francisco |
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| A large assortment of bikes |
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| The bikes in the foreground were interesting |
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| The lineup kept growing |
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| And the ladies kept practicing |
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| These are on the back of the Argentinian's Honda |
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| One last shot |
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| A shot of Cuenca from Turi |
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| Another lineup in front of the church at Turi |
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| These are the new stickers to go on Toxic |
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| This guy always had everyone laughing. Colombiana on the right. |
