My cousin came to Cuenca

I have a cousin that was living in Mexico and got the travel bug, he came to South America to tour around and started here in Ecuador. He spent a few days in Quito, went to Banos, and then came here to Cuenca to spend some time. On his first full day here we took him to some of the local markets, at the one called Mercado 9 de Octubre, a local produce, meat and fish market, we met someone that is VERY well known in the US!! Too funny. Barney - alive and well in Cuenca!                                       Pottery in the Rotary Market   Hand made guitars in the Rotary Market                                               After we went through a few markets we passed by the church called La Catedral del la Inmaculada Concepcion, a beautiful church next to the main square in Cuenca, Parque Calderon. Beautiful. The following day we went to the Pumapungo Archeological site, Inca ruins right here in Cuenca, they are small but interesting ruins located in the heart of the city next to Rio Tomebamba, one of the four rivers that run through the city.  There is a beautiful garden with local plants and an Aviary.  It is truly remarkable that these structures have lasted over 2000 years,gotta give it to those Incas!! and a modern city was built around them, it was an overcast day so the pics are a little dark. When we were with Efrian the week before, he told us about the "talking birds" in the Aviary here at the ruins, there were colorful birds, it was hard to take a good picture through the cage, so the three of us stood there like little kids, saying "Hello Birdie", then my cousin finally said "Hola", and lo and behold the "talking birds" said "Hola" back.  We were quite please with ourselves, then a group of school kids showed up and they converesed with the birds with no problem.  Oh well, baby steps with the Spanish classes.