It's my birthday, happy birthday to me, I'm officially old today, well not as old as some people but older than I was yesterday. Mike got me a card that says Feliz Cumpleanos on the front, and con mucho carino inside. It doesn't say much else, I think he bought the one that had the least words in it so that there was less of a chance of him buying one that wasn't a birthday card. (By the way Jo, please have a boy as I can't find a card that says congratulations on your baby girl!)

I had a nice relaxing morning before we took a stroll to another new restaurant called Good Affinity. We've being hearing good things about this Chinese vegetarian place since we got here but hadn't visited it as it looked like a super long way outside El Centro. As it turns out it is quite a walk from the old part of Cuenca but only about 15 minutes from our apartment along the side of the Tomebamba. The food was excellent, I'm not sure what i had other than that it was the dish of the day, but it was all really good. For $2.50 I had soup, I think lentil, and everything else you see on the plate, along with a cup of homemade lemonade. mike had soup lemonade and 'chow mien' for the same price; we'll definitely be going back.


Afterwards we wandered around a new shopping center that we found and looked at some furniture and appliances that we would probably have to buy at some point if we moved here. The cookers and fridges we not badly priced and most other things are comparable to the prices in the US; I guess we'd have to figure out whether the cost of shipping our stuff here would be cheaper than buying everything new - not something we have to worry about for a while I guess but it's nice to have an idea of things.

Since Mike had made his dental appointment for this afternoon (hopeless husband), we headed back to the apartment before heading to the dentist. Just as we were getting ready to leave the dentist called to cancel his appointment as she had no hot water. As penance for making an appointment on my birthday Mike cooked me a lovely pasta dinner.

Mike: What do you mean penance! I did it for love!!!!!!! Feliz Cumpleanos!!!!