My First Birthday Celebration in Ecuador

Well, last Saturday was my 50....something birthday in Cuenca, Ecuador.  It was a very nice day with phone calls from both of our daughters, Caitlin (called first) and Elizabeth (a little bit later).  I also heard from my sister, Sally and my friend, Lorie, left a voice mail message.  Our friends here in Cuenca, Mick and Kathy, called and sang "Happy Birthday".  Pat brought me breakfast in bed.  It was a really nice start to a wonderful day.

Then, at dinner, I chose to have my birthday dinner at La Esquina on Calle Larga.  They have EXCELLENT food and are very reasonably priced.  Kathy brought the birthday hat that has been getting passed around among the gringos over the past 10 months.  And took a picture:

Isn't that an attractive hat?  And I loved the scarf that Kathy knitted for me.  I can't wait to start using it and with all of the cool, rainy weather that we have been having lately, I'm sure I will use it soon.

We had a really wonderful dinner which included an excellent piece of birthday cake that Fabian prepared especially for me.  After dinner, we went outside and we had an additional surprise in store for us.  As part of the city's celebration of Corpus Christi, there were fireworks and a band playing.  It included a castillo which is like a tower of fireworks.  This was our first experience with a castillo and being so close to all of the fireworks.  I took some pictures with my I Phone (they did not turn out as well as I had hoped), but here goes:

We were at the top of the steps on Calle Larga.  Alot of people were much closer to the fireworks and the castillos themselves.

It was all VERY exciting!!  Kathy told Pat, "you did a great job getting the fireworks and the band here to celebrate for Sue's birthday!!"  And of course, Pat took credit for all of the excitement.  I guess he has raised the bar pretty high for me when his birthday rolls around next year.