October 22-31, 2023: Our Fall Trip to Florida - Part 2
	September 21-28, 2023: Our Fall Trip to Florida - Part 1
	Return to the Index for 2023

This page is a continuation of the pictures from our trip this time to Ecuador. If you wish to return to the previous page for this trip, please click the link below.

On the Chaquinan Ecological Trail

You have seen pictures of us on the Chaquinan Ecological Trail before; we walked the trail when we were first here househunting, and earlier this year when we first moved into the new house.

The trail begins at the trailhead just northwest of Parque Cumbaya, and then winds its way through the valley, mostly following ravines and natural areas where development is impossible, and sometimes following an old railroad. Most times, on the trail, you feel quite isolated from the urban part of Cumbaya, although there are houses and condos on your right as you walk east and south, and you can see across the ravine to some of the nice and not-so-nice areas of the Tumbaco Valley.

Anyway, the walk is always a pleasant one, and on this trip we were here numerous times, walking all the way down to Scala Mall a couple of times. We didn't take a great many pictures on the trail, but here are the ones we did take:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Walking from the House to Parque Cumbaya

One of the most common walks we take, and one I particularly enjoy, is from the house down to the area around Parque Cumbaya. There is always something new to see, or some new bakery to visit along the way.

We do this walk a lot; not just to visit the park, but to go to the businesses and restaurants that we frequent in the old part of Cumbaya- including our furniture store (Colineal), the Paccari Chocolate Shop, a pizza restaurant Fred and I favor, and numerous little restaurants and cafes. We also have to traverse about half of this route if we want to get to the entrance to the Chaquinan Ecological Trail.

We've walked this route many times, and on many of these occasions I find something interesting to photograph.

Just below the park, on Francisco de Orellana, there is a donut shop, and they have an iconic figure sitting out front. I decided to try and get two iconic figures in the same picture (see image at left).

You might wonder what this shop sells or does, and I did too. Going in, I found they serve something akin to a meat pie (see image below):

One day when we walked down to the square, there was some sort of little market set up on the street between the park and the church just east of it. The stalls were selling all kinds of crafts and trinkets:

Walking Around Our Neighborhood

We spend most of our time here in our own neighborhood, as has just about everything we need.

We consider our "neighborhood" to be the section of our main street, Oswaldo Guayasamin that begins just north of us with the pedestrian overpasses, down just past Paseo San Francisco, and bounded on the north by Av. Pampite. This area includes Plaza Cumbaya (shopping center) on the north side of Oswaldo Guayasamin, and Villa Cumbaya (shopping mall) on the south side of that same street.

At left is an aerial view of the general area I'm referring to.

Really, everything we need is within this small area, which is one of the many reasons why we've never considered getting a vehicle here. In Plaza Cumbaya, we frequent a lunch and bakery, a large hardware store, an ice cream parlor, and a couple of restaurants- including one that is vegetarian. A large branch of our bank, Produbanco, is also here. Around the corner, across the traffic circle, is a row of four restaurants, including a very good "Mexican" restaurant and an excellent burger joint. If we ever have a pet here, a large veternary hospital is also up that street.

Across the street from Paseo San Francisco, there is a very good shwarma (kabob) place, and even a printing shop where I can email documents that I need printed- obviating the need to have a printer at home.

Of course, we frequent Paseo San Francisco quite a bit. This is where the huge food court is, including one of our favorite sandwich places- El Corral. There are also two good bakeries here in the mall. The mall has a multi-screen Cinemark including an IMAX theatre. There's also a coffee shop and a TGI Fridays. Here in the mall are also two very large homegoods stores- Pycca and Boyaca. Each carries a wide range of items for the home- from furniture to electronics to dishes to pots and pans. A lot of the stuff we got for the house we got here. Oh, and there is a Baskin-Robbins store here, too.

In the smaller mall across the street to the west of Paseo San Francisco- Villa Cumbaya- we find another good coffee and dessert place, a pharmacy (actually, two of them), the place where I get my hair cut, and a large grocery store. Up the street are KFC, McDonalds, and an even larger pharmacy. Heck, even our lawyers are only a block outside this area.

Here are some of the pictures we took in our neighborhood this trip:

Here is Fred at the overpasses at the top of Oswaldo Guayasamin, pointing the way to Quito.

I am down at Paseo San Francisco, on the pedestrian bridge from the mall to the University. There is a weekend event going on in the open area east of the mall.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the event going on:

At the event, I zoomed in on Cecilia where they were selling sandwiches.

If you come to the large traffic circle from the University, this is the sign that greets you. (Also, more of the complicated wiring in town.)

Lastly, we found a little lunch restaurant near the university. It has a set menu each day; all you do is order how many meals you want and what you want to drink. It was populated mostly by students from across the street:

The only other place we go shopping is Scala Mall, where there is a Walmart Supercenter equivalent, the Claro telephone store (but I pay my bill online, so I only had to go there to set it up), a sporting goods store, and another Baskin-Robbins. So, you see, we really can walk to just about everything.

In Our Little Compound

Our little gated area has three large houses and one small one that the developer built for his mother. It was built on the site of a tennis court that no one apparently used. Here are some views of our little compound:

This view looks from our large guest room out towards the gate to our compound. Nicholas' house is at right; Dario's house is across the yard.

This view looks from our bedroom to the northwest. Dario's house is at right, the mother' house is at the left, and a multi-story Spanish restaurant is outside our compound.

Some Miscellany

To bring this trip to an end, here are some miscellaneous pictures that are hard to characterize. They were taken all over, at various times during our trip. We took more than these, but the ones I've included here are interesting for one reason or another.

Our lawyers moved up to an office complex near the overpasses, and outside their building was this interesting fountain.

In the mall there were a couple of displays for the "Day of the Dead", and this was one of them.

We took our Architect and his team to dinner at the Royal India restaurant. L-R are Felipe, Joy, Matias, Me, Fred, and Johan.

We've eaten a couple of times at a pizza place down near the square, and it is always good. And you can watch them cook the pizzas.

Felipe brought us some pastries one day. There were two bread rolls (at right) and two traditional decorated cake logs. These are usually only available at certain times of the year.

Instead of buying bottled water, we use this Keli purifier. There is a ceramic filter at the top, and then a seven-stage filter below that. Finally, there is a container of mineral stones to restore some of the good things filtered out.

Over in Villa Cumbaya there is an art supply store (where Guy would be able to find anything he needed for his pastels).

This is the staff of our favorite pizza place down by Parque Cumbaya.

We happened upon this large artwork while walking through Paseo San Francisco one afternoon.

Here I am at the Baskin-Robbins store in Paseo San Francisco.

We are out all the time on various errands, but we always come home the same way, and the view looking down to our little compound is always a pretty one.

Finally, I have a couple of movies to include here on this page of non-house pictures:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The day of the event south of Paseo San Francisco, I made a movie of what was going on.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) We always enjoy sitting in the old square, and one day I made a movie of what the square was like.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	October 22-31, 2023: Our Fall Trip to Florida - Part 2
	September 21-28, 2023: Our Fall Trip to Florida - Part 1
	Return to the Index for 2023