Roses

 Approximately every 4 to 6 weeks the Cuenca Chamber of Commerce (of which we are members) provides opportunities for those who want to visit various business.  This past August we went with a group (mostly reitred gringos living in Cuenca) to Trebol Roses, about a 30 minute drive by bus and up about another 1,000 feet in altitude (a bit over 9,000 feet above sea level).

A view of the greenhouses as we approach.  The operation was started in 1997 with 2 acres of production.  It has grown to a much larger operation.

Above, the owner Juan Carlos is giving about 25 gringos a lecture about the company operations, the varieties of roses grown (more than 20 varieties), and facts about the process.  Juan Carlos has an MBA and truly loves his work.  His wife, Rosana is the Director of Sales.  Both are bilingual and are a bundle of energy and charm.  They ship roses to over 25 countries around the world.

Lauren and I in one of the greenhouses, trying to keep warm at this high altitude and enjoy looking at all the varieties of roses in various stages of growth.  Apparently this climate is perfect for year round production.

One of the hybrid versions.  Many of these grow to over 8 feet tall.

This is in the packing building.  Here the roses are separated by variety, trimmed, and measured for size.  Note sign in the back left.  The sign shows the Russian (RUSO) measurements for small, medium, and large.  The company was about to send a large order to Russia to be there for the first day of school.  Juan Carlos told me that on the first day of school Russian children bring a rose to their teacher.

The above roses have been sized, trimmed and bunched together.  The next step will be to pack the roses in protective containers to protect them during distribution.

One of the workers trimming the roses selected for shipping.

A dozen pink and a dozen red roses.

 Some beautiful creme colored roses.

Karen with Rosana (owner) in the area of the packing building where the roses are boxed.  This room is kept at temperatures in the mid 30's. 

Juan Carlos (owner) answering more 'gringo questions' in the packing room.

The above motivational sign in the cutting room which loosely translates to: "We plant the best efforts now to reap the best results tomorrow".

Two dozen roses that look fire engine red to me.

The hacienda of the owners.  Three generations of family have lived here.  The pictures don't do it justice.

After the tour, our hosts let us into their home and gave us snacks and some warm delicious drinks.  Each of us were given two dozen roses as a gift.  It was a wonderful 1/2 day adventure.  I highly recommend the trip.

El Chorro and more

We took a trip to Giron and the El Chorro waterfall a few weeks ago.  We took a few photos, but I have been too lazy to post them in a blog.

View on the way to Giron, Ecuador

Ben and Lauren clowing around in the Andes

Ben found a buddy at the base of El Chorro.

The climb up to the waterfall.

On the way to the falls

Some plant life near the falls

El Chorro Waterfall

Base of the waterfall

Ben and Lauren behind the falls

Behind hotel near Giron, Ben playing Tarzan

Not be be out done, Lauren taking the challenge

Lauren and Ben sizing up the next event.

Ben zip lining near Giron

Lauren zip linning

The Old Man showing them how its done

Karen after the El Chorro climb

Indiana Jones I am not!

Blaine & Shelly - our ride and 'tour guides'

Local with a load going up the mountain.

Eating at a road side restaurant

A great day trip from Cuenca to Giron and El Chorro Cascada.  We all enjoyed the day.

Rambling Around Cuenca

Karen and I decided to do a little more exploring.  Below are some of the various pictures taken during the day. 

We began our journey at El Arenal Centro Comercial (a very big flea market/farmers' market).

Below: live rabbits for sale

Hand made baskets

Live crabs for sale

All sorts of juices, many from fruits I have never seen or hear of.

Shrimp - about $2.50 per pound

Picture of one of the meat vendors (yes, it just hangs out there raw)

Another picture of the meat market. I love the chicken feet sticking up in the air.  I have heard that if you get a chicken foot in your bowl of soup (yes, I have) that it is either good luck or an expression of honor.  I need to clarify which.

Vendors shelling peas.  All the 'native Americans' or 'indiginous' (I have heard the term 'indian' is not 'politically correct' now) usually are wearing Panama hats as the elderly lady is in the middle of the picture.  They also have colorful skirts that are indicative of which part of the country they are from.  Most are shorter than 5 feet tall.  The native americans come in from the countryside and sell fruits and vegatables at these markets or they put their produce in wheel barrows and sell along the streets of downtown Cuenca.

Large sacks of grains for sale.

After the market, Karen and I went to downtown Cuenca (El Centro) to walk around.  This weekend they were celebrating Corpus Chrisit.  The video below has one of the street performers playing a 'flute'.  He is quite talented.  The sound of this instrument is quite distinctive and has a very beautiful  almost a 'haunting' sound. 

During the celebration of Corpus Chrisit, the streets are lined with vendors selling sweets of all descriptions.

 

Next, we walked a few blocks to the Flower Market.  A dozen roses $2. Notice the native American woman with the Panama hat and colorful dress.  A very common site.

Beautiful fresh flowers are very inexpensive here.  Karen usually buys some each week to brighten up our apartment.  The vendors now recognize Karen when we come and are very animated and helpful.  Between our broken Spanish and their broken English, we have developed  a nice relationship with these entrepreneurs.

Karen with one of her favorite flower vendors.  In the background on the left is one of the 52 Catholic cathedrals in Cuenca.  The population is 95% Catholic.

I couldn't resist a picture of these two cute girls at the flower market.  The one of the left was adorable, but she 'buttoned' her mouth up when I was taking the picture.  Her older friend was very shy and covered her face.  The children have the most beautiful brown eyes.  They are a joy to see.  As the average age of the population in Ecuador is approximately 25 years, there are many young people and children.  One can feel the energy exuded from this young population.

Karen and I had heard about the Coopera being a good place to purchase organic produce.  So, we decided to find out what our friends were talking about.  Because I am not a writer (I am a 'numbers guy') I am going to provide you a link to Access Ecuador where myfriend and Spanish teacher, Deke Castleman, has written an article about his experience there.  Deke is a professional writer who moved here from Las Vegas.  The link is: http://www.accessecuador.com/articles/coop

Below is what we actually purchased on our trip.  This filled up a shopping basket.  As you can see, we also could purchase meats (steak, pork chops, fish), milk, juice.  We decided to be brave and purchase a few things we had never tried before.  The large green 'bumpy' fruit in the center/back is called guanabana.  The juice is delicious and we have it often. The yellow 'bumpy' fruit just behind the cucumbers is Pitahaya.  Ben loves to cut one open and eat the sweet fruit.  I think Ben is ready to export this back to the US (lol).

As I said, this filled up a basket.  Total cost $48.69. A very inexpensive and healthy stock of groceries.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Hasta luego!