Welcome to my trip to Ecuador to enhance my Spanish Proficiency! June 2006

Cuenca, Ecuador

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Quito . . .

I Flew into Quito--a view from the air

The main Plaza Grande

A view of the Virgin of Quito and the Astronomy Observatory

My favorite place in Quito was "The Basílica" You can go to the top of the "Condor" tower on the right and there is a great cafe near the top of the main tower.

Across a boardwalk over the ornate ceiling . . .

Out a stairway on one of the buttresses . . .

To the top of the tower. What a tourist! What is that in my hand anyway?

Condor tower, right?

Cuenca . . .

Downtown . . . The Planetarium!

Juan, the director of Estudios Sampere gave us a tour of the old city on our first day.  Parque Calderon

The New Cathedral

The Old Cathedral

Construction, it's going to be even nicer . . .

At the entrance of a sealed convent, the guy in the center is the director of Estudios Sampere.

A carnival at night.

The University of Cuenca, maybe next year we can work together?

The Mall del Rio

The stairway next to Estudios Sampere where I studied Spanish. In the distance is the mountain "Turi" That's where I'm heading next . . .

Towards Turi . . .

That's a lot of Stairs!

A Church and an amphitheatre at the top of Turi.

The view from the top on a rainy day.

The backside of Turi

What a tourist!

Riobamba and The Devil's Nose

On Saturday I traveled to Riobamba, here is Parque Sucre and a nice night view of Iglesia San Antonio de Padua.

In the morning we left for a 7 hour train ride across the Andean countryside, Fantastic!!

A beautiful view of Volcán Chimborazo

The train even derailed!

Who is that working the brake?

The Devil's Nose! (on the right side . . .)

The cliff along the side of the tracks were amazing!

Definitely the highlight of a great and productive visit to Ecuador!

All Pictures are "thumbnails" Click on a picture to see a bigger copy, afterwards, use your browser's back arrow to return to this page. If you see any pictures that you want a higher resolution copy, just email me. Most pictures have 3-4 Mbyte originals