Monday, July 4, 2011

Animal Preserve And Tarqui Church Festival

Yesterday, Silene, Jim, Sharon and I took a taxi ride out to an Animal Reserve about 6 miles outside Cuenca.  Silene who is fluent in Spanish and English read an article about the Animal Preserve in the local paper. We were fortunate to have a taxi driver who knew the exact location. He agreed to stay while we toured the preserve.  You can see some of the interesting animals in the You Tube Videos below this post.  Admission was $2 and food for the animals was a $1. We were followed by two tame roosters who thought they had a good thing trailing the food. This was the first time I encountered native Ecuadorian birds and monkeys.  My favorite area was the monkeys but I also enjoyed the parrots and the ostriches.

Our cab driver suggested stopping off at the Tarqui Church Festival and he again stayed while we took pictures and observed the festivities. I felt that we were dropped off in the middle of a GlobeTrekker TV series. I really enjoyed snapping pictures of the native costumes and the entrepreneurship of some of the local vendors.  One vendor brought in a ice cream truck with a portable generator to supply electricity for making soft ice cream. The cab driver then brought us back to our respective apartments. Total cost.  $10 per couple for the cab and $5 admission to the animal preserve.  Viva Ecuador.

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