night photography tour - part two

After El Vergel we stopped by the iron sculpture of the man coming out of the ground, but since I'd just been on Saturday, I stayed on the bus while a few people snapped photos of it. Next we headed back into El Centro - first San Blas, where these little girls wanted everyone to take their photo! Then off to San Francisco and Parque Calderon. We also made a stop at San Sebastian, but it wasn't lit up enough. Last stop was Catolica, the Catholic university. The lights were in so many colors, I couldn't resist a light painting shot!

night photography tour - part one

Last night I went on a night photography tour through Cuenca. It's the first "gringo" tour I've taken since I've been here, but it was a nice adventure, and I got to see a couple of places I hadn't been to, yet. I brought both my digital camera and my 35mm Canon Rebel SLR (we'll have to wait for me to develop the roll for those shots), and between the two I snapped around 100 photos!  I met up with Nancy G.at the restaurant La Vina for dinner downtown (yummy pizza!) and to check in with the group. Our first stop on the tour was Turi, up on the hill, where the views of the city below are pretty amazing! From there we headed back into town and stopped at Broken Bridge on the river, then onto El Vergel and the Incan ruins at Pumapungo Park (which I did get on film, all lit up).

afternoon at the river

This weekend was chock full of family time. Saturday we all headed to Kookaburra for breakfast (where I had some really yummy banana pancakes), then walked to the Museo Banco Central to check out  a bit of archaeology and history and also walk around Pumapungo Park, since Frank hadn't been, yet. Sunday we went to Windhorse Cafe for breakfast, and met up with some friends while there. Jennifer and Cristian invited us to the river, and despite the gloomy weather and a bit of rain, Susan and I accompanied Dorothy and Nancy to watch Jennifer do some tela. It was actually a pretty good weekend!

the past month in instagrams

A year ago, I would have said posting Instagram photos was cheating. Well, only a few years back, I thought using a digital camera instead of strictly using film was just wrong. I have since learned my ways, and found a love for both film and digital, and obviously jumped on the iPhoneography bandwagon, as well. It doesn't matter what type of film, what style of camera, or what brand you use, it only matters how you feel about the end result.

Tela with Jennifer

A few weeks ago, our friends Jennifer and Cristian invited Susan and I to hang out with them by the river and try out tela (aerial silk/acrobatics). It was more watching than trying, though Susan and I did attempt to do a little flip (which i remember being so easy on the playground as a kid), which turned out to be too difficult for us! But Jennifer  was fun to watch, and it was interesting to learn about something I'd only vaguely heard about before.

Hummingbirds

There is a traveling art show of hummingbird statues, which was here in Cuenca for the month of August. It's a show to raise awareness of the various species of hummingbirds in our region. There is one hummingbird mold, and each different statue was painted by a different artist. Susan and I went to check them out the afternoon after we visited Pumapunga park. I snapped a bunch of shots of these, but only saved my favorites.

Pumapungo Park part two

More photos of flora and fauna at the Inca ruins.

Pumapungo Park part one

In August, Dad, Susan, Nick, and myself joined a new friend, Sage, along with her mom and little sister, on a walking trip to Pumapungo Park here in Cuenca. The in-town Inca ruins are alongside a museum (which we saved for another time) and are full of crops, flowers, and plants that the Incas grew here in Ecuador. There's also a small area where you can see some local birds, and a few alpacas, as well. It was fun to walk around for a couple of hours, and as you will see, there is plenty of interesting things to photograph!