We decided to become tourists in San Diego, and unwind without worrying if we looked like tourists… since that is what we were!
First stop was the San Diego zoo in Balboa park. We arrived about 20 minutes before the gates opened, and there were already roughly 100 people in line before us (upper-left). It was pretty clear that San Diego was ready to get Out Of The House and do “normal things” again. Families were plentiful in the crowd (lower-left). Entering the zoo is a huge bronze lion (center), and sometimes I thought the metal animals were the most photogenic of all (right column).
But, of course, we came to the zoo for the live animals, and there are plenty of them. The tiger (top-left) was being fed and looked quite stunning in his surroundings. A crocodile swam past our underwater window (upper-right), giving us the best view of him. A male peacock strutted the grounds, showing off his plumage for all to see, as he slowly rotated for all to admire him. One of our favorites was seeing the orangutans with their unique personalities showing off to the crowds. One male did sideways rolling somersaults while embracing his lettuce leaf before stopping to eat his lunch.
Next stop was the Air and Space Museum, also in Balboa Park (upper-left). Evelyn said that we never have proof that we are actually at the locations, so… dum, dum… our first combined selfie placed us on Mars, next to a future astronaut (upper-right)!
There were many fascinating displays at the museum, including a reproduction of the Spirit of St Louis, complete with an animatronic version of Charles Lindbergh telling of his flight (middle-left). Amelia Earhart, also an animatronic, described her adventures, and we hadn’t realized how connected she was to Oakland, CA, where there is also an aviation museum.
Other exhibits included reproductions of famous aircraft. Unfortunately, a fire in 1978 destroyed many of the original aircraft, which is why many are now reproductions. Some of the exhibits were interactive, such as the helicopter (top-left) and the Mercury (lower-left). One of the more interesting to me was the command module from the Apollo 9 moon mission, since I worked on that project for NASA as a college freshman in 1969.
While in San Diego, we had the chance to hook up with our nephew, Mark (top-left), and his girlfriend, Jenna (top-center). After a wonderful salmon dinner prepared by Jenna, Mark took us into his man cave, filled with music equipment, monitors, and gaming devices. During the pandemic, Mark had gotten quite good with his guitars, practicing long hours until his fingers bled. He played some impressive riffs for us and showed us some of the software used to create backing tracks. He bought a set of 3D goggles and software for himself for Christmas, and suggested I give it a try (top-right) on an advanced level game. Wow, was that disorienting! At first, my attempt to swat away the zombies seemed a bit dangerous, so Mark cleared the room so I wouldn’t injure Evelyn and Jenna. I kept generating extra guns and dropping my weapons, instead of killing the zombies. After only 15 minutes inside that environment, I was wobbling down the hallway to get readjusted to the “real world”! I had forgotten the difference between virtual and reality for a moment.
Mark and Jenna also introduced us to their favorite Mexican restaurant in Chula Vista. Tacos El Gordo (bottom-left and bottom-center) had an astounding variety of meats from pork, chicken, beef tongue, tripe, and cabeza, which we had never had before and were delicious. Our new favorite was the mula style, which was layered with 3 tortillas. We were absolutely stuffed.
Evelyn has picked up disc golf in Cuenca, so we made a stop at an official disc golf course at Balboa Park in San Diego, where she had her first chance of shooting at a real basket (bottom-right). In Cuenca, the targets are garbage cans, telephone poles, boulders and trees instead of baskets, so this was enlightening.
Later, we had a chance to meet with our niece, Kerry, at her Berkeley home and lab. The view of the San Francisco Bay and the Campanile from her lab is one that is mesmerizing (upper-left). She is a PhD candidate in organic chemistry at UC Berkeley, where she gave us a tour of her research lab (right). A poster in the hallways showed a project she was co-author on (left-middle two images). A nostalgic moment for us — Kerry teaches at the same chemistry lecture hall (Pimentel) where Evelyn and I first met in 1969. Kerry wanted to get a photo of us in that original hall (lower-left). The only change in the classroom since we were there is that the overhead projector of 1969 has been replaced with a computer. We laughed about the original “black boards” and colored chalks that had not changed since we attended school. And, of course, when we were in class, we never sat in the front row! ☺
We are really proud to see how our nephew and niece have grown up and just starting their careers.
For the short time we were in the SF Bay Area, we enjoyed dim sum with Evelyn’s family and oysters with Tim and Roselle.
While we were in California, we also got to listen to Evelyn’s brother play masterful pieces on piano. While working full time, Ed spends a lot of time learning new sheet music plus saving time for lawn bowling and pickle ball. The pandemic has really changed how people balance work and play, and it seems no one is enthusiastic about going back into the office full time.
18 months since our last travel outside Ecuador (Oaxaca, Mexico in December 2019). 14 months since our last post, in which I wrote that we would be locked down for “a short time” for this COVID stuff. Well, we were only starting to get a glimpse of how serious the situation was way back then.
We can now see a glimmer of light coming through! COVID vaccines became available faster than anyone seriously expected, and they appear to be amazingly effective. Time to “get a shot” and start traveling again!
Vaccines are still very hard to get in Ecuador, and when available, most people are being offered the vaccine with only 50% efficacy. Since our official home in the US is still California, we decided to kick off our travels again by getting vaccinated there. At the point I am writing this (June), we have now had both our shots and the magic two week period post-shot has passed, so we are designated as fully vaccinated. We were among the lucky ones. We took isolation seriously during the worst of the pandemic, got both our Pfizer shots and are now as safe as we are going to be. Time to explore the world again!
After getting our first shot in the San Francisco Bay Area, we decided to travel to San Diego while waiting for the second shot 3 weeks later. We stayed first in Coronado Island, and had our first celebratory dinner at the Bluewater Boathouse to celebrate Evelyn’s birthday. The food was fabulous… though the dinner bill came with quite a sticker shock after paying Ecuador prices for so long. ☺
The next day, we wandered over to the beach to walk along the sand. We came across this wonderful sand castle, and stopped to talk to the sculptor. He was a retired plaster subcontractor who now creates a new sand castle each day for tips.
We then moved to explore the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego (you guessed it–Italian plus fusion). Though masks were technically required, their use was sporadic and based on an honor system for those who declared they had been vaccinated. The restaurants were exploding with life, as people came out in droves after being caged for so long. There were long waiting lines, and every restaurant was packed.
The meals we had in San Diego were both eclectic and mouth-watering great. The only difficulty was in finding an open table, with the crowds of locals out enjoying the recent freedom to congregate. Many of the streets had been partially closed and turned into outdoor seating areas, which hopefully will remain post pandemic. A walk along the marina in the evening made for a very pleasant warm ending to the day.
Along with much of the world, we have been put under “Shelter In Place” restrictions since March 17th, 2020. Today is Day 20 of the lockdown for us in Cuenca, and the current projection is for this to continue through April 30th.
Ecuador has taken this very seriously, and has put the entire country under lockdown, well before the other countries in Latin America. The borders were closed to international flights as of March 16th, and all buses in the city and between provinces were then also shut down. We are not allowed outside our apartment for any reason whatsoever except for food shopping, banking and medical visits. There is also an absolute curfew between 2PM and 5AM every day, and those with cars are only allowed to drive on one specified day per week, based on license number. Seniors and children are not even allowed to shop in the open air mercados, and nobody is allowed to walk to public places nor along the river. When we enter grocery stores, we’re sprayed down with a disinfectant, and cannot enter without mask and gloves.
From news reports, it appears that people in Guayaquil (the largest city in Ecuador, on the coast, 125 miles from Cuenca, where we live) have been the least cooperative, with continuing reports of parties and people generally ignoring the restrictions. As you might expect, that city also accounts for more than 70% of all reported COVID-19 infections in Ecuador. That city even has problems with corpses remaining uncollected for days, because 80% of all funeral homes have closed down, for fear of contracting the disease. The army has been brought in to remove the bodies onto refrigerated containers, until death certificates can be issued.
Things are much more positive here in Cuenca, where we live though. The more strict adherence to the lockdown has resulted in fewer people being diagnosed with COVID-19. However the testing is quite limited due to lack of test kits, and at this time, masks and other protective gear are simply not available. Our hospitals still have sufficient capability to handle the expected new cases at this point.
For us, we are doing remarkably well through all this. We now “shop for the freezer” more than in the past, and only have to go food shopping every couple weeks. Plenty of chicken, pork chops, and fish to keep us happy! Internet is good, so we can binge, and there is so much cultural content available to us gratis, from symphonies to virtual museum tours.
Our original plans were to have us in California this week, before traveling to Asia for 3-1/2 months in Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Panang, Java, Borneo, and ending with a month in Bali. That trip is now on indefinite hold, waiting for things to normalize sufficiently to make international travel possible again.
As we have noted a couple times in the past, we can see Parque Calderon from our living room window. That is the park in the heart of historic Cuenca, with the New Cathedral on the west edge. Almost anytime you see a travel poster of Cuenca, Ecuador, you will see those landmark domes. For the past few nights, they have lit the domes in the colors of the Ecuadorian flag, in support of those of Ecuadorians fighting the pandemic. The photo at the top of this post was taken last night, from our window.
Here is a short time-lapse, also shot last night, of sundown, as the lights came on.
I am now well inside the age called “Tercera Edad” or the “Third Phase” in Spanish. When we hit 65, we started to receive the benefits of being older in Ecuador, such as paying half price for transportation, special short lines at the bank, people on the bus offering me their seat. ?
I can easily remember thinking in my 30s that I would never survive to reach age 50. Today I realized that I had somehow raced past that mark and reached 70 — and still going at (almost) full speed and having the best time of my life… so far!
We decided to have a simple, low key celebration at one of our favorite local Cuenca restaurants, with a few of our friends in town whom we’ve known the longest.
When we got home, I discovered that Evelyn had gotten me a new sculpture (a fish for my sign – pisces) made out of recycled metal. I love the whimsical nature of this “scrap discovery” art, and this angler fish is now sitting proudly in our living room.
Some of our friends shared their “Burt stories,” making me wince at times. Lin Berke went one step further and wrote a limerick poem, which she read out at the dinner table. This is one I will treasure in my memories for a very long time!
Burt is a wanderer who feels Best on boats, air and wheels Though now he is seventy There still will be plenty Of time to walk from Bangkok to Lisle
The roads may be windey at times And you may get covered with grime And while paths may get muddy Evelyn is your best buddy And she can read you the signs
When your boots clog with grass, tar or gravel And your trip plans seem to unravel When the roads may get rough You’ll be pretty buff When you get to the end of your travels
When we first arrived in Cuenca in February 2012, we had high expectations for Carnaval. Instead, we found a sleepy town that was mostly shut down, as residents went to the coast or the mountains for the week. Festivities in Cuenca were limited to roaming kids with squirt guns or water balloons.
The city has been gradually adding new Carnaval events in the years since then. This year they declared they would have the first Carnaval parade, and that it would larger than any Cuenca parade other than the Christmas Eve Paseo de Nino parade. This parade was indeed large, lasting five hours from start to finish. Our favorite Carnaval parades are still in Ambato, where the quality of the floats and costumes are the quality of a mini Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena.
There were more floats in this parade than in most Cuenca parades. Some had dancers (lower-left), while others had people sitting or standing (upper-right), while waving at the crowd. Some people on the floats carried cans of foam, but all of them were on the receiving end of foam attacks (middle).
No parade in Cuenca is complete without marching bands, and there were plenty of those here, to provide background music for the dancers. Lots of organizations marched together as a group, always led by someone carrying a banner, announcing where they were from (top row plus lower-left).
There were a few in the parade who were decked out in elaborate costumes. One man had a costume made from hundreds of peacock feathers (left plus top-right).
The audience is an essential part of any parade, and many of them got into the full experience with their own costumes. They often had their own cans of “espuma,” the foam spray that is so popular during Carnaval in Ecuador.
If you decide to join the Carnaval festivities in Cuenca, be prepared to get foam or water on you… then grab your own can of espuma for $1 and join in the fray! ?
6 Cuenca Artists celebrate reopening of Casa Azul Galería Cafe, San Sebastian Plaza
More than 120 people packed the inside and outside the Casa Azul cafe to welcome the new owners, Jose and Vivi, as they reopened a favorite artist’s haunt originally created by Gregory Kluyskens, a charismatic Belgium entrepreneur. Everyone was asking how we could display 6 artists in such a small gallery. When the furniture was moved out, it turned out to be a wonderful space. Each artist had at least 2 paintings displayed with unique styles all painted in different mediums, with Sandra and Evelyn each selling a painting.
Artists included (from left to right): Alberto Soriano, Lorena Duca, Janda Grove, Evelyn Johnson, Maité Eusebio and Sandra Doren.
Toward the end of the evening, other friends dropped in to listen to the live music performed by three groups: Duo Laffiore, Coppola and Kike Pacherres.
We also wanted to welcome our friends Judy from California (2nd from left in top image) and JJ and David (far left and right in top image) who were visiting from Chicago, and came to the opening reception.
How can it be 2020 already? This was a date in the mist of the far off future. The one with flying cars, life expectancy extended to age 150, robots doing laundry, self-driving cars and permanent moon colonies. Yet here it is, and even more amazing, we’re alive to see it! It’s hard to imagine that this is the start of a new decade.
2019 was a busy year for us, and our travels took us to 11 countries, not counting our home here in Ecuador. We will slowing down a bit in 2020, and have so far only planned to visit 6 countries. In addition, we had three couch surfers visit us in Cuenca, including our favorite niece and nephew.
As has been a New Year’s Eve tradition in Cuenca for decades, neighborhoods compete for prize money in a competition organized by the Amistad Club Cuenca (Friendship Club). This year, 27 participants created elaborate displays of paper mache and foam mannequins. We started New Year’s Eve this year by hiking over to the El Vergel display. They have won first place with their displays for the last two years, and created a repeat performance this year, winning $3,000 for first place once again.
Their theme was “883,” which is the number of the Executive Order that was intended to eliminate subsidies on gasoline, bringing the price to world market levels. This executive order was met with strong, armed resistance that essentially shut down the country for 10 days, until the president agreed to rescind the order.
Monigotes, or paper mache mannequins, representing the President at an evil gas pump (bottom-third from left), the head of the military in a tank (center), the head of the indigenous group that led the revolt (upper-right), and many other political figures involved with that failed attempt to fix the growing and unsustainable national debt.
After dark, we started making the rounds of some of the displays in El Centro, the part of the UNESCO town where we live. One of our regular stops every year is the El Vado neighborhood. Their theme was mineral mining rights, for which they won 4th place for $1,000 cash prize.
Mining is a controversy that has existed for several years, but which came to a head in 2019. There are many illegal mines in the Ecuadoran Andes mountain region. Gold, copper, silver and other minerals are often mined in operations that are dangerous (there were several mine cave-ins that killed miners this year), and which pollute nearby rivers with toxic runoff. The government got serious this year, and closed many of these down.
At the same time, the national government was negotiating with major mining companies to come in and mine these minerals in a manner that would be safer, and perhaps more important to the government, would result in large tax payments. Several indigenous groups protested and took the government to court to prevent the mining, saying that the constitution guarantees that they have independent control over those lands. Towards the end of 2019, the Ecuadorian Supreme Court sided with the indigenous people, and have ordered all such mining to stop.
There were also several other smaller displays that we walked pass, including those on Padre Aguirre, Presidente Cordova and Juan Jaramillo. Many of these monigotes are huge, reaching 15 feet tall, as can be seen in the center image above.
Besides the major competing neighborhood displays, many people have their own monigotes. When walking around town, you can see them in front of stores, or tied to cars cruising through streets. At midnight, the effigies are tossed into bonfires and burned.
There were fewer people with masks and costumes wandering the street this year than in past New Year’s Eves we have seen in Cuenca, though a few could be seen. There also seemed to be less street food for sale this year, though some sticky sweets still existed (upper-right and lower-right).
Two major activities occur simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve in Cuenca. The hundreds of monigotes around town are thrown onto bonfires and burned, symbolically leaving the woes of the old year behind. That is the event that we have focussed on in past years, and if you check the January 1 posts from 2013 through 2019, you will find lots of photos and discussion of that practice. (In the right column of this page, choose the desired month under the ‘Archives’ popup menu on a laptop.) Here’s the direct link to last year’s NYE blog, when we focused on the jumpers and bonfires at midnight.
The other major activity is fireworks. They are fired from several dozen places around the city. We see fireworks almost weekly from our apartment window. As such, we have never focused on the NYE fireworks. This year, we were invited to a friend’s home, and spent a couple enjoyable hours with friends that had gathered there.
A little before midnight, we all climbed up on the roof, which presented a 360 degree of the city, with very little obstruction. I placed my camera on a tripod, expecting to capture a few photos for the blog. By 11:20 pm, multiple fireworks were being fired every minute, as if people were warming up by firing test shots. By 11:45, the entire city was exploding with fireworks all around us. We kept thinking “this must be the finale,” only to check our watch and realize that it wasn’t even midnight yet.
When midnight finally came, the entire city was engulfed in fireworks. The above images are straight-out-of-camera, meaning there is no composite combining of images. That center image really did capture all those fireworks from all those locations in a single 1 second exposure. There are many more like this, but to avoid an entire blog consisting of just fireworks, we chose the few here to give a sense of the scene. I had my camera set for single frames, so I did not catch any useful video. Next year, I am thinking of setting up two cameras, and let one just capture video of this chaos.
At El Vergel park, there was a children’s playground. The kids were having a blast, not caring about manigotes nor fireworks. We stopped for a while just to watch them have fun.
Christmas Eve is always the biggest event of the year for Cuenca. The parade is called “Pase del Nińo Viajero” or “Passage of the Traveling Child.”
This parade has been held every year since the late 19th century. The main guest of honor is a small sculpture of Jesus, that was made in 1823, then taken to Rome to be blessed by Pope John XXIII.
Estimates of the crowd this year, including both paraders and spectators runs as high as 135,000. Given that the population of Cuenca is only 415,000, that is huge turnout, and the city essentially shuts down for the parade every year. Surprisingly this year, we saw many restaurants and small tiendas open for business during the parade. It was tough finding taxis though, as traffic is blocked around the entire el centro.
The day starts with official mass at the New Cathedral at Parque Calderón, in the center of town (center for front door). Mass is also held at other churches during the day, such as the Sanctuary Mariano at the flower market a block away (center-left).
The top military officials attend mass in the reserved front rows (upper-right), ready to have the Jesus doll ceremoniously given them to guard as it is taken to its resting place for the day, at the reviewing stand at San Sebastian Plaza. The parade started late this year, as mass finished late, which is fairly common in Ecuador. It was nine hours later before the parade ended.
Center above, you can see the official Traveling Jesus doll on the reviewing stand. Every neighborhood participating in the parade, also has a Baby Jesus doll of their own, some of which are shown here.
Many neighborhood groups have their own bands performing along the parade route. The military also have their band, some on horseback (right column).
When watching a parade, don’t forget to look up and around at others also watching the parade. They are often a show unto themselves. There are also many support teams, such as the paramedics in upper-left, all along the parade route.
The parade is about the children, so they figure prominently in every portion of the parade. While some of the boys were having fun (center-left), most of the young boys were bored, or sleeping.
The girls seemed to be more interested, and having fun all day long. Some were on horseback, others on the back of floats, while others were walking or dancing along the parade route. Even at 1:00 pm, many floats were still lined up at the coliseum on 12th de Abril ready to enter the parade.
Though the parade centers around the estimated 10,000 children participants, people of all ages join in the parade too. Often they were supporting their children, or carrying Jesus dolls (lower-right). The majority were dancing and singing and appearing to have a grand time. Spectators are still allowed weave in and out of the parade route, so participants merge with the crowds, creating a bonus for photo ops.
This is our 7th Pase del Nińo parade, and there is one gentleman (a retired professor) who has been in every one of those parades, and who generates a lively and fun atmosphere for his entire entourage. He was there again this year, shown above in center image.
The priest at the official mass asked his congregation to pray for “warm, cloudy weather with no rain,” and was quoted in the newspaper as saying that God had answered his prayers. This is considered ideal weather for parades here in the Andes, since it can get rather hot in the sun if the sky is clear.
At the beginning of the parade, as the official Baby Jesus doll was being placed on the reviewing stand at San Sebastian Plaza, a helicopter flew overhead and dropped rose petals over the crowd, as seen above.
We first read about this in Facebook, and couldn’t believe it, since we had never seen that in past parades. Evelyn asked a city official, and he stated that he had never heard of such an event. This is pretty common in Ecuador though, where details are not well communicated. As Evelyn was taking photos of the reviewing stand, a helicopter flew overhead for two passes, dropping rose petals on the crowd.
After the parade ended, within a half hour, the streets had been thoroughly cleaned by what we have dubbed “The Blue Army” — a group of people dressed head-to-toe in blue coveralls, hired by the city to pick up all litter and keep the city clean. They are amazing in how quickly they can remove all evidence that 135,000 people were celebrating in that location, less than an hour earlier.
We have come to the end of our three week visit to Oaxaca, so let’s wrap up with some overall impressions. There are a few things that stand out and can’t help but be appreciated.
First is the weather. We were here during late November and early December. The temperature was between the mid- 70’s and mid-80’s every day, while the nights would drop into the low 60’s. We never needed to wear a long sleeve shirt, let alone jacket while walking around the town, from 8:00 in the morning until shortly after dusk. No rain, and the only clouds were fluffy on the horizon. We could not have asked for better weather. Of course, it does give us pause to wonder about how the weather would be in the Summer. We may come back and check that out at some point.
Traffic was another pleasant surprise. Cars routinely stopped for us as soon as we stepped off the curb. There were a few times when I stepped off the curb, looking for an opening in traffic a few cars back… only to have the front car stop and wave me across. Drivers really do give right-of-way to pedestrians here. Car-to-car is more on par with Cuenca though, with drivers frequently squeezing to assure nobody could cut in. Mostly being pedestrians, we received the more pleasant side of these exchanges though. And, we heard almost no car alarms. There is definitely a lot more traffic in town. Also, public transportation is quite affordable.
There were numerous mercados around town (as seen above) with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and mezcal. In most ways, they were the same as those we find in Cuenca. The people were universally pleasant, and most of the foods were similar. Oaxaca does not have any hornado, the roasted pig we enjoy in Cuenca. However, they had dried grasshoppers, and Tejate. With mezcal being such a trademark export from Oaxaca, you can also count on seeing a few small vendors selling their homemade brews, no FDA approval needed.
Some memories which will be forever etched in our minds. One is the daily street vendors shouting at the top of their voices what sounded like …”GUA” “GUA”, but which was actually “AGUA”, as they sell 5-gal bottles of water door-to-door. Another was the sounds of cows. “MOO-OO-OO”, which was the propane tank dispensing trucks announcing their arrival at least twice per day. Then, there was the cascade of water trickling down our roof, letting us know that the water tank on the roof was full, and we can again take a shower and flush our toilets. Of course, gravity-fed water also meant wimpy shower pressure. Oaxaca, like Cuenca, is not a sidewalk friendly town and you really have to watch where you’re walking. However, there are very few stray dogs, and most pets are behind fences. Finally, they do have mosquitos here, though we were at the end of the season and never got bit by them on this trip.
Oaxaca is a city rich in culture, visual arts and textiles. Though not as many Catholic churches exist as in Oaxaca, most are open to enter, and many have museums attached. One such example is the Templo Santo Domingo (upper left), which has a large cultural museum that requires hours to cover (remainder of images above).
Every week, there always seems to be something happening, so there is no shortage of things to do. You can listen to live music performances, watch pop-up parades celebrating weddings, birthdays, protests, hikes, tours, etc. Like Cuenca, Oaxaca likes their rockets and noise. Mariachi bands play at the mercados, and the concerts from the auditorium at the top of the hill can be heard over the entire city.
Murals are common throughout town. Whereas most murals in Cuenca are painted directly on the wall freehand, the mural artwork in Oaxaca tends to be more in the style of graphic designers. Many of the murals are spray painted through a stencil (lower-left, commemorating a local famous artist who died earlier this year), or are simple stencils pasted onto the wall (lower-right). These are clearly art and improve the appearance of the neighborhood, but do not exhibit the artist sophistication of many of the murals in Cuenca.
If you look close enough though, you can also find more conventional freehand art murals painted on walls also. Sometimes they have clear protest orientation (middle-left), and other times are used to add beauty to a local store (middle).
This was not intended to be a photography-intensive vacation. Rather, we were relaxing, and exploring a city we had not visited since 1985, 34 years ago. Evelyn therefore had time to take out her sketchbook and do some quick paintings of urban scenes around town. She joined Urban Sketchers Oaxaca while here, a network of artists who draw on location and “see the world, one drawing at a time”.
Here are a few of the sketches she produced during our stay in Oaxaca. Upper-left is the auditorium that oversees the town, and can be heard throughout el centro whenever there is a concert in progress. This was painted from the landing of our Airbnb on the last day. Blue skies, vivid facades, pleasant temperatures, slow pace and drink the beer.
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