More bus exploration

Today I went on a bus exploration trip riding Bus #27, which took me to Baños. I had been wanting to visit Baños for some time, expecting there to be hot springs there, but other than a hand-lettered sign pointing to a "piscina", I saw nothing. However, it is a beautiful area above Cuenca, as can be seen from a couple of pictures below.

Here is a more panoramic shot showing what the area looks like.Here is a scene from the community of Baños, with a variety of housing visible, along with lots of gardens or farmland. Given that a lot of farming is done by hand here [if you look closely, you can see several people out working the land], it is not always clear to me which is which.And here is a street in Cuenca as we came back, partly showing the houses, partly showing the profusion of wire and cables, and partly showing the approaching thundercloud. I made it back to the apartment only a moment before the storm hit, and I was very glad to be here.
It rained very hard for about half an hour, with a lot of lightning and thunder. One lightning strike was a good mile away, yet the thunder was so loud that I thought it might break windows, and it did set off a lot of car alarms.

After almost three hours, the cloud finally moved on, just in time for us to walk to church where Susan had an appointment to teach a piano lesson. Her student is Fernanda, who is probably 11 years old, and just adorable. And just about as extroverted and friendly as a person can be. The lesson went well, although Susan was frustrated by the language challenges. Fernanda didn't seem bothered by the mixture of English and Spanish at all, though.