Before we get into today’s adventures, I thought I would give a quick rundown of the progress of my broken ankle.  I have been free of any crutches or cane for three weeks now, and can walk unassisted.  Progress the first couple weeks was so fast that I thought I would be walking fully normally again by Christmas.  Unfortunately, last week saw some setback as my ankle becomes very painful after walking only one or two kilometers.  My physical therapist told me Friday that the metal plate in my ankle will take a long time to gain flexibility, and that I should expect full recovery to take roughly three months — and that is if I keep up the exercises and pushing it daily.

So the bottom line is that I can walk normally for short distances now, but it will likely be February before I can walk 10 to 20 kilometers a day without extreme pain again.  At this point, I am glad to be rid of crutches and cane, and am walking each day until the pain forces me home.  Looking forward to February and complete freedom…

Park Madre had a mini music festival today

We woke up this morning to a steady stream of rockets blasting a few blocks away.  We couldn’t see where they were being fired, because it was on the blind side of our condo (no windows).  We decided to try a new Sunday brunch location we had heard about through Trip Advisor, and to start out by finding the source of the rockets. They are the usual way of drawing attention to various festivities in town.

Within a couple blocks, we could start to hear music.  A couple more blocks and we were at the Parque Madre — the newly renovated public park that opened earlier this summer.  Sure enough, this was the source of the rockets being fired every few minutes.  As we arrived, there was a young band playing, with the singer not more than maybe 12 years old.  The singing was such that only a parent could love…☺  The crowd was fairly small, and did seem to be mostly comprised of friends and family.

There were also about a dozen young people probably aged roughly 6 to maybe 18 dressed in what appeared to be African garb, with festive African inspired paint.  They were from Esmeraldas — a city in the far NorthWest corner of Ecuador, and were prancing around the square and posing for anyone with a camera.  After the boy band was done, they took center stage.

Esmeraldas dancers put on an enjoyable show

We watched a rather entertaining series of afro-ecuatoriana dances that lasted roughly 20 minutes, then started walking towards our chosen brunch location.  The top Trip Advisor Cuenca restaurant was Waffles de Belgica, listed as being next to the bird park of Parque Pumapungo.  We went to that park last year and didn’t remember any restaurant of that type there, so were curious to check it out.

Delicious Strawberry (or Banana or Ice Cream) waffle breakfast for $2.00

We walked all the way to the very end of 3 de Novembre and found an entrance to the park (last year we had entered from the other side of the park).  Just inside the park entrance was a tiny stand with 4 bar stools and outside bench seating for another 8 people.  A chalkboard gave the entire menu, which basically was waffles with your choice of topping, and a possible side of orange juice or coffee.  While our waffles were cooking, we talked a bit with Jan.  He informed us that he is from Belgium, came to Cuenca about a year ago, and just opened this restaurant (probably better to call it a “waffle stand”) about six months ago — that explains why we didn’t see it there last year.

The waffles were cooked to perfection, were light and delicious.  Two waffles for the two of us set us back a grand total of $4.00.  Gotta love Cuenca! ☺

The “bird park” consists mostly of one round building with half a dozen cages

After brunch, we walked the 40 feet or so to the bird enclosures. A circuit of the single building does not take long. The collection of South American birds is small, and probably doesn’t warrant a special trip, but is a nice stroll when already here for the waffles or the adjacent museum.