In January, my friend Penny Barrett and I flew down to Guayaquil, Ecuador....just a 2 hour flight from Panama City.  We then boarded a van and drove 4 hours across the Andes Mountains (next time I'll fly...that takes 30 minutes, but it was a drive I wanted to take at least once), to the charming, colonial city of Cuenca in the Azury Province.   The town we visited, Cuenca, is in the Southern Highlands (8,000 ft above sea level....twice the height of Boquete where I live at 4,000 ft in Panama), at the opposite end of the country from Quito and the Colombian border.   Here's a map....look at the big gulf on the Pacific in Southern Ecuador.  You see Guayaquil?....okay, follow the map straight south and east of that city on the gulf, just below Acugues, and you'll see Cuenca.

Our friend, Leslie Aldredge, moved there several months ago, and invited us down for a visit.   Here are some photos....

When we first arrived, Leslie wasn't at home....so we waited outside her gate for her return.  Since we left Boquete at 5 am to drive down to David to catch the flight to Panama City, then changed airports and left the PC International Airport to fly to Guayaquil, then the 4 hour bus ride over the Andes, it was a 12 hour travel day and we were ready to relax.

Our first breakfast was at Cafe Austria....a charming, European style bistro with delicious food at a VERY cheap price ($2.50 each for a full breakfast.  That's Leslie in the center, and my friend Penny on the left.   Not too bad for 2 old broads that scaled the Andes the day before, huh???

The Central Plaza (and every other plaza, street and sidewalk we saw) is kept VERY clean.....the street sweepers, gardeners and trash haulers are working 7 days a week.

 

And, of course, the plaza has a cathedral that is seen below.

Here's a tile wall piece of the entire colonial city....these are located all over town.

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