Diane: From the smallest town to the largest city, Ecuadorian towns, generally have a well maintained and landscaped central plaza. The prinicipal church is generally adjacent to it. Cuenca is no exception with its Parque Calderón. In addition, Spanish colonial architecture dominates the historic center surrounding this lovely park.
In an effort to capture the serene, flowery, community-oriented nature of this park, Calliope and I went down for a photo shoot. As it turns out, our camera could either focus on Calliope or the park, but not both. So, here are some fun pictures of Calliope.
Let's start with Calliope standing by a lovely wall of bougainvilla by the edge of the park. In Sarasota, bougainvilla is our arch-enemy. It grows about 10,000 feet every month and it's thorns are as long as a 2-litre bottle of soda and as dense as the hair on my head. But here in Cuenca, bougainvilla is a slow grower with few thorns that flowers almost continuously throughout the year.
When we arrived in Cuenca, there were no flowers blooming. Our first few months were rainy and cool. At the end of December the sun came out. Everybody complained about the heat. Even I started to take my sweatshirt off for a couple of hours each day. And then, miraculously, on the first day of the New Year, all the flowers bloomed at once. Here are a few sharing their wealth of colors behind Calliope. You can also make out the municipal building off in the background
There is a lot of nice iron-work in and around the park. You can see bits and pieces in the background.
As an aside, we live in the iron-workers neighborhood. Once it crosses the river, the main road coming out this way is called Las Herrerías - The Blacksmith Shops. Next door lives a family that probably makes all the cuy (guinea pig) grills in Cuenca. Every week or two, there are a spate of newly painted grills drying out in the sun behind our apartment. Most every morning at around 7 am, the soft clanging starts as this family gets to work. Tom claims this noise keeps him awake, but I find it to be a very delicate sound.
Although Calliope is feigning sleep in this next picture, you are actually prohibited from sleeping in this park. Guards will come around and wake you up!
Cuenca's two cathedrals flank either side of the park. Behind Calliope is the Old Cathedral.
The trees are very manicured. Trees with benches surrounding them are pruned so that no one hits their head. Here Calliope demonstrates.
There are many cozy benches to relax on. People can get to know each other better here.
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