City tour, trip to Piedra De Agua hotsprings and shopping for jewelry in Chordeleg
Sue and I were both happy to arrive back to Cuenca for a couple of days of rest and some good home cooking.
I took Sue on the double decker city bus tour and a tour of the Central Bank Museum.
All aboard for my third city tour! Which is always enjoyable.
Of course Sue made friends with our English speaking guide who answered all our questions about Cuenca during our two hour tour.
View of El Centro from Turi
Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción
The Old Cathedral of Cuenca or Iglesia del Sagrario (Church of the Shrine) built in 1557 is now a museum.
The Central Bank museum
And on to Piedra De Agua natural hot springs
Then hot mud treatments, first brown mud then on to the green mud tub. We rubbed the mud in and let it dry before rinsing off.
Down the stairs to the cave for the hot and freezing cold water treatments. After this treatment Juan served us mineral water with lemon before going on to the steam boxes.
This was really the hot boxes.
The large hot pool
It was a cool rainy day so we finished it off all relaxed and refreshed with hot chicken soup.
Piedra De Agua is really a beautiful relaxing spa and I will be back!
On to Chordeleg with Ana and Roxy for jewlry shopping
Sue brought two large suitcases with her, one of them was full of gifts for me like clothes, bed sheets, towels aspirin, and fiber pills! Plus stuff I mail order and sent to her house like vitamins, new tennis shoes and computer equipment. Things that are expensive in Ecuador. Thanks again Sue! She also filled up both those suitcases with gifts for her girls and friends in Iowa.
After lunch we headed back to Cuenca to turn in the car at the airport.
Sue was happy we got the car back in one piece after our long drive around Ecuador and tearing off the back bumper at the airport in Guayaquil before we even got on the highway. Thanks to plastic bumpers we got it put back together and I made sure it was all tucked together when we dropped it off.
The Old Cathedral of Cuenca or Iglesia del Sagrario (Church of the Shrine) built in 1557 is now a museum.
The Central Bank museum
And on to Piedra De Agua natural hot springs
Piedra De Agua natural hot and spa is in the small hillside Village of Baño just a short drive from Cuenca. This spa has a large hot spring water pool, two hot mud baths, a steam room and underground hot and cold water pools.
The regular entrance fee is $30 for the whole day except on Mondays it is half price. Or if you go any day before 9 am it is just $15. They also offer messages and facials. And to top off your visit they have a great restaurant.
Our visit started with our guide Juan who showed us to the steam room first. Juan returned when he felt we had enough steam to take us to the next treatment.
The first step of our treatment, the natural hot steam room.Our visit started with our guide Juan who showed us to the steam room first. Juan returned when he felt we had enough steam to take us to the next treatment.
Then hot mud treatments, first brown mud then on to the green mud tub. We rubbed the mud in and let it dry before rinsing off.
Down the stairs to the cave for the hot and freezing cold water treatments. After this treatment Juan served us mineral water with lemon before going on to the steam boxes.
This was really the hot boxes.
The large hot pool
It was a cool rainy day so we finished it off all relaxed and refreshed with hot chicken soup.
Piedra De Agua is really a beautiful relaxing spa and I will be back!
On to Chordeleg with Ana and Roxy for jewlry shopping
While we still had the rent-a-car Ana and Roxy drove us to Chordeleg know for great deals on silver jewelry. It was nice to sit in the back seat and watch the scenery after driving so many miles.
Ana, Sue and Roxy looking through the Jewelry stores. I sat in the town square while they looked through several shops. Ana's bargaining skills saves Sue around 25% on her purchases.
After lunch we headed back to Cuenca to turn in the car at the airport.
Sue was happy we got the car back in one piece after our long drive around Ecuador and tearing off the back bumper at the airport in Guayaquil before we even got on the highway. Thanks to plastic bumpers we got it put back together and I made sure it was all tucked together when we dropped it off.
Ana, Sue, Jimmy and Bryan on Sues last night in Cuenca.
And off Sue goes back to Iowa! Everyone who met her here in Cuenca loved her and we are all looking forward to seeing her again.
I mentioned in other blogs that Sue found me on face book after 33 years! We always had fun in those days too. She is very fortunate to have two great daughters and many friend in Marshalltown, Iowa as well as all over the world.
Sue is planning on doing lots of traveling in the future starting with a cruise of Dubai in March.
Thanks again Sue for your visit and we all will be looking forward to seeing you again in the near future.
For those of you that might be interested in information about moving to Ecuador and what it requires, my book "Why Ecuador For Me" is out on kindle. You don't need a kindle to read it, just upload the kindle app to your computer.
Hope everyone has a great day!
What a great blog. Sue sounds like a fun gal..hope I can meet her next time she is here. "ain't" it great to be retired!?! We're having more fun here than we ever did in CA or FL. And it looks like you two made the most of her visit.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it all with us. Getting things like this from you makes us glad we met you..even if it IS only online.
Stay happy and remember it isn't the miles...it's the SMILES!
Carole W
Thanks and really you to are an inspiration! Relocating to Ecuador in your 80's! You have my respect and it goes to show that we can get up and go if we want to!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing you soon!
Gary