I left for town a little later than normal on Thursday, as I fixed my own breakfast instead of eating out. I walked to the main park in 'El Centro'...Parque Calderon, and as I approached it, I heard a band playing, and sure enough, there was another parade going by. This time it was all school kids all decked out in their school uniforms. Had no idea what this parade was all about.
I sat on my favorite park bench and people watched for a little while, but decided to walk around the rest of the park. Sure enough, I ran into 2 of my friends and was introduced to a new expat also. After about 15 minutes of shooting the breeze, I excused myself as I wanted to go to the German bakery and get some goodies for the weekend. As I left the park heading towards the bakery, I ran into yet another friend of mine. He was in a hurry, so we only chatted for a short time, and we parted company.
I continued on my trek to the bakery....I thought. My mind was not on the task ahead and somehow I turned down the wrong street, way before the bakery and wound up all the way on the other side of town...on the main drag, Calle Larga. Do you remember in my last blog, I wrote about God always seemed to put someone in my path whenever I ran into a problem ? I like to call them 'challenges' instead. What happened following here today was no exception.
As I continued walking, I spotted yet another good friend I had not seen in some time, across the street. I crossed over and we exchanged pleasantries, and it was only after several minutes I noticed we were standing in front of a Barber Shop. I had my last haircut in September in the States, and desperately needed one. I was thinking of getting a violin and a tin cup, what with the back of my hair almost 'pony tail' size. My lack of speaking the Spanish language well enough, kept me from getting a haircut all these months. Well, my friend spoke passable Spanish, so I asked him to come in with me and explain to the Barber how I wanted my hair cut and trimmed. He did so and left. Some people would say that meeting this particular friend who could converse in Spanish, in front of a barber shop, was just a coincidence....I don't think so. I don't believe in coincidences.
Never have I had a haircut where I didn't talk to the guy/gal cutting my hair. Today was it though. No one else was in the shop, so I was waited on immediately.
To my amazement, the barber took out a manual hair cutter and proceeded to cut away. I thought I was back at 6 years old, in the basement of my grandfathers house, sitting in his barber chair and him pulling my hair more than cutting it, with his manual hair cutter. However, this barber did not pull my hair once. He did a fine job. Total price $3.50....
I thought I may as well head home instead of backtracking to the German Bakery. I can always go tomorrow. I decided to cut through Mothers Park (Parque Madres) and stop at Pappa Johns for a small pizza and Coke, but ran into yet another friend...my 5th.one today. As we chatted, I mentioned I was vacating my apartment on March 26th. His eyes lit up and asked if he could come home with me to see it, as he wanted to move from his current apartment, for his girlfriend was coming to visit him for 3 months. So off we went. He took some pictures, relayed them to his girlfriend in the States, and off he went on his interrupted journey. He was really impressed with the place, and especially with the good signal on the WiFi.
It was now time for me to make a delayed lunch. I then started on writing this blog, and answering comments and messages on NOTH. I never did get my bakery or pizza. It's after 5 PM and it looks like it may rain very soon.
And to think a NOTH friend from VA (You know who you are Pat..LOL) once asked me what I did with all my time in Cuenca. Today was a typical day in the life of an adventurer from Kentucky. I savor each day I'm here more and more, knowing I'll be leaving it very soon. I just made my reservation at the Travellers Inn in Quito for the night of the 26th. Cost $28.00...Was $25.00 in September. They will pick me up at the airport and drive me back the next morning for my American Airlines flight to Miami. It's been a blast.
The adventure contines....Stay tuned.
The Oldredneck - Joseph
Tags: Adventure Travel
