A sink with a view

After just one week having moved from el campo and becoming ciudad mice, here's what we're doing cheerleader jumps about:

GuiltGrass (bluegrass in a cathedral)

Friday we walked 20 minutes to El Centro (the historic and cultural center of Cuenca) for a free folk/country/bluegrass show in the "old cathedral" put on by some visiting American musicians (who teach English with music). What we didn't go see was a free show of the Cuenca symphony across the street, or next door to that a performance by world famous classical Spanish guitarist Pepe Romero (not worth the $25 a head with kids along.) We took a cab back home for $1.50 (instead of $5).

Sunday we took a 10 minute bus ride to the museum that had a special children's learning exhibit with books, art, games...you know, kid stuff.

We have already taken the ten-minute walk for four grocery sorties, because we no longer have to consolidate little errands into full scale assaults on the city. I've walked numerous times downstairs to three different stores to buy bread, milk, and beer. We scheduled an appointment for Piper at one of the three dentists within 100 yards of our apartment. We've walked to two different parks so far, each five minutes away. It now takes our friends 10 minutes to reach our place by bus instead of 50 (plus a 10-minute walk from the bus stop).

A better view of Cuenca´s iconic cathedral domes from the kitchen sink

And the apartment? All Diana needs in this world, if pressed into voluntary simplicity, is a view from the kitchen sink. You know that place you go to or that thing you do where you can set your body on autopilot and let your mind escape to another place? Mine's mowing the lawn. The kitchen sink is that place for Di. She can get that 1,000-mile stare when washing, racking, and drying dishes, as long as she can simultaneously stare out a window to another place...and time...with another set of people who aren't writing on walls or screaming over whose lint ball it is or leaving toilet seats up or criticizing the food she just spent two hours preparing.

But the bonus here is that when she's done at the sink, she has windows all along the apartment with views, and (most) things work as they are supposed to, and no part of the apartment is left undone, and there's a real bath, and it's actually warm inside the apartment.

Tonight we're going to a presentation about an indigenous tribe that has fought to survive and stop the destruction of the rainforest (c´mon, that´s interesting). The next two days is the international adventure and sport film festival. All within walking distance! Man, I'm already exhausted. Bring on the spa!

View from the living room

More LR view

The corner office

Lousy security, though

A better view from the Master, sin pidgeon