Walking is one of my favorite activities in Cuenca. A bonus to walking is taking pictures and anticipating finding my favorite herd of Cows. The herd consists of 7 cows and I've named one Violetta.
She has a half moon on the top of her back so she is easy to identify.
Yesterday, I walked to ETAPA, the city owned utility company to change my Internet service. The Internet Service that we use in the building is like the "Little Girl With The Curl". We shared 1 meg with 10 people. When one or two were on the service was passable. When 3 or more were on Skype was unusable. So it was off to ETAPA to change service providers. I did the whole transaction in Spanish. I was a little nervous signing the contract but I'm pretty sure I signed up for 2mg for $51.00 a month.
This past Thursday I was invited to give a presentation to the Cuenca Chamber Of Commerce . The topic was "10 Must Have Online Marketing Tools". The group was small and I did get to meet some new Cuencano business people as well as a new American. I was told if I presented in Spanish the group size would have been quadrupled. My goal now is to be able to give the same presentation in six months totally in Spanish.
In previous posts I have talked about riding the bus in Cuenca. It's a great transportation system and for twenty five cents you get to ride just about anywhere in the city. It's rare that I have to wait for a bus more than 10 minutes. The down size is that most of the drivers are frustrated race car drivers. You should always have one hand free just in case there is an abrupt stop. I was carrying 4 packages from Super Maxi and when the bus driver jammed on his brakes I was airborne. A Cuencano saw this and caught me before me and the packages were splattered on the floor.
As some of you who read this blog know I am fond of a herd of Holsteins that graze in the park near my apartment. I had to hold my breath when Violetta was crossing Primero de Mayo alone. No problema - she and her buds made it safely.
My condominium rental on Primero de Mayo is 20 meters from the Yanuncay River. 3 or 4 times a week mostly during the afternoon a herd of 6 Holstein cows graze across the river. Each cow is chained to a spike allowing them about 5- 7 meters of grazing area. The smallest calf I've nicknamed "Violetta".
You can see them graze in this short Youtube video below. The cows seem to be unaware of the river or the traffic noise.
