Cinco de Mayo isn't celebrated in Ecuador. Why? Because it's a Mexican holiday and one that many in the US have adopted as a reason to party. In our case it became a reason to meet up with friends, both old and new.
Jack Abercrombie, a well known tour guide-driver from Quito (the capital of Ecuador) was visiting the area for a few days and called for a gathering of friends at Fabiano's (our favorite pizza spot). He anticipated maybe 20-25 people. We ended the afternoon at over 40!
We saw old friends and made several new ones. We caught up on folks were doing, talked motorcycles, listened to stories about health care here in Cuenca, chatted about the adventure of moving here and a lot more.
Here are some photos I took...great afternoon and delicious food (I had the lasagna and Stu had a meat lovers pizza).
[click any photo to enlarge]
It was the nicest day we have had in weeks, warm and sunny. We started out the day walking in El Centro, beginning at the Santa Ana Market (aka the Hippie Market) where I picked up another necklace, moving on to Rotary where I bought some string balls for a basket I am using in a corner (decoration - still need more balls) and browsing in a couple of stores for gifts to take home in June and September. Along the way we noticed another mural we hadn't seen before and as usual, I nabbed a couple of flower photos as well as the street vendors and an apartment owner taking advantage of the sun.
[click any photo to enlarge]
