We went into El Centro a little later this morning as we had booked to go on a real estate tour this afternoon with Cuenca real estate. We walked along the river so that Mike could stop of at a dentist that had been recommended to us so that he could make an appointment to have his two teeth fixed. The first appointment available was for tomorrow at 11 but he remembered that we had our Spanish lesson at that time so he made an appointment for Wednesday afternoon. How can he remember a spanish lesson but not my birthday!
We tried a new restaurant today. I had wanted to eat there on previous occasions but Mike always made a face for whatever reason, but today he was fine with it. It's called Raymipampa and it's right on Parque Calderon, and since it has an open balcony upstairs we sat and watched the people coming and going while we ate. We tried a new dish called Locro de Papas which is basically potato soup but it was lush; it's a traditional dish of this area. It has big chunks of spuds in it plus a hunk of soft cheese and a half an avocado. I never ate avocados in the US but since we've been here I can't get enough of them, I'm going to have lovely shiny hair by the time I get to the UK.
Anyway we ate a lovely hearty lunch (we ordered other food too which was a big mistake as the soup is super filling), and then had a wander around for a while as the tour wasn't until three o'clock. As luck would have it about and hour before we had to be at the real estate office the heavens opened so we had to go sit in a cafe and drink hot chocolate - my life is so hard! I'm not sure whether mike was feeling the chill from the rain but he ordered a coffee with brandy in it - I know his life is worse than mine.
When we arrived for the tour it turned out that there were three couples in total going, and all three men were called Mike - freaky. We started off looking at a condo in a gated community on the outskirts off the old part of the city. It was downstairs but it had a garden and a beautiful view of the city; apparently it's a little unusual to find a place with a garden in the old part of Cuenca. It wasn't a bad place, three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a huge living area and kitchen with a maids quarters, all for $105,000; it was nice, and all newly renovated.
The next stop on the tour was a total contrast to the first as it was a penthouse in a 17 story building. It was a fairly new building with every amenity you can imagine, gym, sauna, movie theatre, the works. The penthouse obviously was on the top floor and the views of the Cajas mountians were absolutely fantastic, but that was the only feature that we really liked. The biggest problem was that it was in a multi floor building and the building was full of gringos - if I wanted to live with a bunch of Americans I would stay in the US! The penthouse was okay although it was unfinished; if you buy it you get to decide how it is decorated. It was a nice size, on two floors for a little over double the price of the first condo, but not anything we would be interested in buying.
Whilst driving from place to place we got to see a good portion of the outskirts of Cuenca; we seem to spot something different and new every time we drive around the city. We viewed a few places from the street as they were in the process of being built or renovated, and then we visited a cute one bedroom house. It was way too small but nicely put together and ideal for just one person. The last place we looked at was lovely, again unfinished and way the other side of the city from where we are now, but a lovely medium size house right on the river (so no chance of anything being built in front).
It was interesting seeing some of whats available, although we saw only a minute portion of what's available as there seem to be for sale signs everywhere. It's way too early for us to decide whether we want to buy something here, especially since we haven't really even decided if we are going to move here permanently, nor has Tal-y had a chance to give us her opinion on the city.

Mike: It's hard to believe these prices! Tal-y already voted-she likes the UK and her new home! Oh, sooo many sausages and sooo little time!