We got awakened, awoked, woked-up early this morning to the vibrations of a 5.3 earthquake. It did no damage in Cuenca that we know of, but it was an eye opener. It is such a helpless feeling because no matter how strong you are or how well you have prepared or how much you have read, you are still powerless against the forces of nature. It is humbling to experience such an vent.
Not something to wake to daily, but fairly awesome.

After two weeks of warm, sunny weather, we are now concluding our third straight day with at least one extended (one hour plus) rainfall. The weather remains warm, low to mid seventies. And yes Western Washington dwellers even on days with rain, we still have sunny spots.
We went to a pop-up restaurant affair and had a Viet Nahmese meal. It was on top of a building in el centro (pic included). Each table sat eight. We ended up sitting with a very interesting Italian lady who lives in our building, and two of her friends who were also quite interesting. That made five of us and left three empty seats.
As we conversed and drank wine, we were soon joined by a somewhat quiet gentleman. Through conversation we learned that he was waiting for his wife who was coming separately from her work. The meal was five courses and she arrived before the first course. As is custom, introductions were completed about the time that dinner began. As the evening and the meal progressed, this gentleman and I conversed. It turns out he is the co-author of one of the books that we read and that helped us decide to come to Cuenca. He is also co-founder of gringo tree and gringo post. He has also written for international living, and he currently writes for Cuenca highlife. He has been in Cuenca about twelve years and is married to a lovely Ecuadorian lady who operates Rentals Cuenca. They deal a lot in turnkey rentals.
Interesting evening. We keep meeting fascinating folks. What fun.

Here are a couple of links for your edification and pursuing pleasure.
La Feria Libra is a very large market in Cuenca. It is filled with hundreds of vendors (most indigenous women) displaying and selling fruit and vegetables. There is also (tambien) mea, seafood, live animals for pets and some for slaughter, and sundries (copper work, kitchen ware, pottery). In addition to the vendor booths inside, most available space (sidewalks, allies, vacant corners) also have vendors without booths and display space. To top it all off, even more vendors roam through the shoppers selling mostly single items (bag of beans, candy).
Here is a link to a YouTube vide. on Feria Libra.

https://youtu.be/ZZkMBJqNyrc

This link leads to another YouTube vide. This one is also very interesting and is about La Casa De Guitarra in San Bartholomew, Ecuador. It is a very small and uniquely quaint little town. The vide. shows the making of a guitar. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/Ny2agZFslr4

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Today is (hot es) Guayaquil independence da. National holiday. Few businesses are open. Cash machines are empty.
Ecuadorians love fireworks. Big loud ones. So it has been a bit noisy today with scattered noise increasing on into the wee hours.
November 3 is the Cuenca independence day fiesta. Understand that it lasts four or five days. Looking forward to it.

We got history on our free Spanish classes. Turns out the program was started by the mayor of Cuenca to teach Espaniol to gringos and get at least some of them proficient enough in the language that they could then communicate well enough with Cuencanos to teach them English. Very cool plan as teaching English to Ecuadorians is real emphasis in schools. Personally, I 'have miles to go before I sleep (or teach in this case).'
Our free class teachers (maestras) are volunteers, and as will happen with volunteers, they come and they go. Our teacher went....and was replaced with a new one.
The reason I bring this up is that this woman is very interesting. She is from Venezuela and has been in Ecuador one month (un mesa). She was in Peru and her visa was expiring. She told friends that she was going to try for an extension. They said 'you should go to Cuenca instead.' She had never heard of Cuenca before and knew nothing about it, but went anyway. And now she is teaching our class as a volunteer.
She has done a good deal of traveling including two stints in the States with her family (Texas and Oklahoma respectively). She has studied classic languages in Venezuela and at Texas A&M. Her goal is to travel the world as a volunteer. She is a happy and seemingly very centered person.
I know nothing about Facebook as it is a road I have not traveled. Those of you who do though may recognize her handle. She is 'the traveling freckle'. I understand she has quite a following. The best part for us though is that she has a job selling chocolate and is bringing some to class jueves (Thursday). I will say it again, Ecuador understands chocolate.
We just keep meeting really interesting people.

Today we got an early start (9:15) and cruised up to Tarqui, a town north (norte) of Cuenca. On the football (soccer down here folks) field, were 100+ booths of multi-national vendors. Their wares included; jewelry, woven goods, pottery, ceramics, food products (mostly organic), chocolate (not a regular food product), plants, fresh fruit and vegetables, and clothing. We spent three hours going through the booths, talking with venders, buying goods, and being entertained with live music, trained birds, and equestrian shows.
Price of admission? you ask. Nada, cero, nil, zilch. They do this three or four times a year according to the cabbie who took us back to Cuenca once we were broke. The band we heard was from Argentina. We bought a beautiful piece of hand done cloth work from Peru, and lots of food products from Tarqui and Azay province. Oh yeah, Jackie got a cool bracelet also.

a couple pics of our Peruvian purchase. It looks much better in person but you'll have to come visit to know that.

Here are some pics of and related to the new guitar. This instrument is unbelievable. I have owned many guitars and played many more over the years, and this is the finest instrument that I have ever owned.

the Luther, me and my new guitar

The Luther with one of his armadillo shell instruments

San Bortolome el Centro church

Jackie, me, George, Rene