Another weekend, another adventure

You may not have heard, but Jo insisted we haul bicycles down here. So, imagine how excited she was when our landlord, JP, said we were all going to take our bikes up into the foothills of the Eastern Andes near his hometown, Paute.
It turned out he didn't bring his mountain bike because it was broken, but he did bring his wife and one year old baby boy. So, after a lovely mid-day meal in one of his favorite restaurants; we hit the incredible dirt roads along the slopes of steep mountains...
not on our bikes, but in his truck pictured in the background.


We went up and down ravines, on one side of the valley and then the other. Everywhere you looked, there were cascading waterfalls flowing east to the Amazon jungle and bridges to cross.

One thing that's very difficult to describe is how every small piece of ground, flat or near vertical, was being used. There was no raw, untended acerage on any of the mountainsides. If there weren't crops of some kind, there was a single cow tethered to her own little bit of grazing space, so that everything was being used.

JP is a pretty happy guy who always has something good to say (in Spanish) and a smile on his face. He was quite proud of this part of the country where he grew up because it is beautiful and not as crowded or dirty as the city where he now lives. He's an electrical engineer who's been out of school about five years; but he started his own business, electrodoctor, before he even went to college.

His uncle lives in this area and owns quite a bit of land, like a whole mountain side; so we had to stop and visit him....of course.

He's got cultivated land, grazing pastures, cleared camping areas down along side the mountain streams with pools and a trout farm with an adjoining soccer field, plus stadium seating, that he carved out of the hillside, so the locals would have a flat place to play the national past time. Here I am enjoying a cold beer and watching a pick-up game from atop the roof of the uncle's small, circular bar.

Meanwhile, back in Cuenca...
A common misconception which needs to be straightened out at this time is that the famous Panama hats are in fact made in and are from Ecuador. They are called Montecristi here or sombrero de paja toquilla because they are made from the fiborous fronds of the toquilla palm (Carludovica palmata). Even though Asia has tried to knock them off, these palms can not be grown with the same quality anywhere in the world but here on Ecuador's arid inland regions. They can range in price anywhere from $25 to $3000, depending on the tightness of the weave and, obviously,

I had to have one.

While it seems as if practically every street corner has a shop making and selling them, I had one particular mad hatter in mind named, Alberto Pulla (on the left). Little Al, I call him, has been at his trade since he was six learning on his father's knee. This charming 82 YO has been making hats for presidents, famous American basketball stars, who want to look like pimps on their off time, and now me. In the early days Al worked with dangerous chemicals and, consequently, lost his voice. Alberto truely is a precious, wonderful soul though and he

welcomed Jo and I early one morning with little jumping hops, clapping hands and squeaking sounds from his throat as if we were long lost relatives finally returning home.
Of course, I bought one darling and I look marvelous in it.

Chau (Ecuadorian spelling),

Tono y Josephina

Well, we had our first experience with dentistry in South America.

Tony fractured a tooth last night while grading homework.

So, after a quick exam on my part, I called a dentist off the his school's recommendation list and made an appointment for the following morning.

As we approached the address, we noticed an older gentleman standing outside, smoking. Turns out, he was the dentist. I explained which tooth was fractured and what the problem was, but after a few minutes of him tapping around on Tony's teeth I had to show him the loose piece of enamel. This did not instill much confidence! He had latex gloves on for the exam, but finding them uncomfortable, they were quickly removed to do the actual work. He wanted to put a crown on the tooth, but I requested he just re-cement the onlay (it came off while he was removing the broken piece of tooth) and add a plastic filling.

The office and equipment were very retro and his instruments and materials were pretty minimal. There appeared to be a microwave on the counter...could it be the sterilizer?! And, did I mention, the toilet started flooding the floor, so his housekeeper had to mop up around all of us as he worked?

After he finished, he took us next door and showed us his home and the adjoining apartments he rents out. They were very lovely, with beautiful art work from his many travels. We chatted for 30 minutes in English and Spanish, paid him $40 and went on our way.

So far, Tony's tooth is holding up. Just part of the adventure!

Nos vemos,

Jo and Tony

Daydreaming above the clouds @ 8000'

This afternoon ends my first full week of teaching. Time to go lay down on a park bench heated by the sun and reflect. Cuenca is a city of stairs. Build high on a ravine overlooking the Tomebamba river, the city is divided into the new and the old. There are even two cathedrals in the main square, the new one with its three sky blue domes you can see from anywhere and the old white church built out of Inca Temple stones.

The set of stairs we usually take to and from school has 88 steps straight up or down depending on your direction. There are stairs though that are more of a switchback, but at this altitude they are all mountains. If the clouds look close, it's because they are.

Enjoy,

Tony n Jo

Street Scenes

Below is the city's Museum of Modern Art which is in our neighborhood, San Sebastian.

Patterns and textures are everywhere around us. Even in the old, mold roof tile rows.

Scenic hairpin turns are nice when there are no "Autobuses" and you're not on a bike.

The city kids don't have logs to jump on their BMX's, so they go down these steps.

Up every set of stairs and around every corner awaits an undiscovered mystery.

Even the local "Tagging"" artists have a certain high graphic standard to which to aspire.

Note the city, this city, the trumpet player seranades far below his perch.

Even the very walls you walk along side going down the streeet will surprise you.

Panama Hats were first created here and still are being hand-made in little shops next door.

friends with a better blog

www.KookaburraCafe.typepad.com

We met a couple from Australia, Chris and Jenny, who mover here permanently and open a coffee/breakfast shop. There is also a suite to rent for $45 a night that's attached where we will probably put friends up who visit.
Obviously they are much better at making a blog, so I'm sending the link for your enjoyment.
The Lonely Planent guide books say Cuenca is one of the top 10 places youreally should visit in 2010.
We agree!
Tony and JO

A few facts

Here are some generalities about our new home.

Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca is located on an interandean valley on Southern Ecuador (441 km south of Quito), at an elevation of 2.535 m.a.s.l. It enjoys a typically warm weather, with an average temperature of 17°C. Its population is of approximately 400.000 inhabitants and its surface area is of 15.730 hectares.It was founded in 1557 under the command of the Viceroy of Peru, Mr. Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza. The peculiar features of its soil and the circumstances of later gradual miscegenation printed a unique idiosyncrasy on its inhabitants, who were carving and forging the actual Cuenca over the years: it is the economical and cultural center of a rich area of Ecuador, an Andean and tropical country at the same time, characterized by contrasts and wonders. Many years before, Cuenca was the Inca city of Tomebamba, considered homeland of Inca Huayna-Cápac, it was built over the place believed to be Guapondelig once, which was a city of the Cañari nation who inhabited the central area of present Ecuador.Cuenca is also considered as the third city of the country, after Quito and Guayaquil, which are the cities where the political and economical powers of the country are settled. Its condition of average size city, almost Franciscan and still conventual in comparison with the former cities, is another factor that contributes to have each visitor promising to return or, even better, they decide to stay and live here, since the city has the latest technology concerning information and electronics, a good financial and banking system, cybercafés, bars, discotheques, modern hotel infrastructure, restaurants of all kinds, etc.However, Cuenca is not limited to its historical center only, which is a collection of tangible as well as intangible heritage. The administrative subdivision of Ecuador causes each one of its 22 provinces to be composed by cantons, and these are subdivided into counties. From this perspective, Cuenca is the capital of the province of Azuay. As a canton it is subdivided into 14 urban counties and 21 rural counties, each one of them contributes to increase the splendor of the area providing elements of cultural, archaeological, historical and natural wealth and, therefore, elements of undeniable and inevitable tourist attraction for the most diverse interests.

La Fiesta de los Santos Inocentes

To learn more about Cuenca go to

www.cuencaecuador.com.ec

It's at around 8000 ft. in altitude and, after 6 days, even climbing a set of stairs still gives me (Tony) a hard time.

The accompanying pictures are some of the images Jo has captured with her new camera.

Cuenca is hundreds of years old with layers of past civilizations:Canari, Inca & Spanish.

It doesn't take much of an excuse to have a party here and we only had to wait 6 days before experiencing our first major festival.

Masks are a necessity if you're going to revel wildly on the streets in public and because they are for sale on every corner you don't have any excuse for not participating in the frequent celebrations.

This particular one was in memory of King Herod killing thousands of baby boys.

The Ecuadorians are a handsome and extremely friendly people, so their spin on this tragic event from the past is dancing, fireworks, music and colorful floats parading down the streets on a Wednesday evening.

Vendors line the route selling sizzling meat and potatoes on a stick,, cotton candy, noise-makers that sound like jungle birds and juices from every kind of fruit imaginable.

The float's themes are on everything from current topics like not cutting down the Amazonian trees in search of oil to historical representations of past civilazations from all over the globe.

There no adults to speak of in the parade...just kids!

There are pleanty of scary characters roaming around and if you stop paying attention to them and their show, they will charge at you screaming for a reaction.

The sacred and profane are both present.

What you (the person behind the mask) decides to make of all this tonight is often dictated by the character you have chosen from the pile of faces on the blanket with indigenous weavings thousands of years old.

One thing these people of the Andes are not is tall, so many of the innocents are marching around on stilts and some are even performing tricks on one leg at an even higher altitude than the rest of us on the street.

There are oohhs and aahhs as the one-legged centipede made up of young men costumed as court jesters snakes down the avenue and a reckless speed.

And of course, another advantage to their elevated perches is that they do not have to take deep breathes of the diesel fumes spilling out of float vehicles waiting for the parade to resume. Stop and go. Stop and go.

( Our major accomplishment these past 6 days was securing an apartment and finally unpacking.)

The street was filled with belly dancers, men dressed as animals and women dressed like men, but the grass islands between the avenues had even stranger creatures. Children with blinking lighted devil horns, poodles wearing colorful visors and raincoats leashed to hawkers selling more of the same, youngsters masked as the elderly and mutton dressed as lamb were all barking, whistling, singing, cursing and laughing so loudly they gave the brass and drum section of parade performers a run for their money late into the night.

(We went to the markets finally for food and drink, so we could stop eating all our meals in restaurants. Here, like many other places in Latin America, coffee is hot milk and instant Nescafe; but now we can grind our own. No big deal in the states, but here it is.)

Not all the innocent ones were murdered. The baby Jesus and many others survived to live on until today.

You can see in their faces the appreciation of the world's wonders, the absence of malice and the eagerness to love the family they're with instead of
looking for somebody better to call their own.

(It was very special for us to have so many express their concern for our safety as we embarked on this

journey. Obviously, one can get hit by a car at any intersction back in the states, but friend don't tell you to look both ways before crossing. Our everyday lives don't often offer evidence of the concern felt by friends and family. So, when we were leaving it was unusual and very special to have so many people express their true feelings for us. We Thank You with our hearts.)

Early on we took up to a good vantage point (in an old oak tree) and waited and waited and waited; then we gave up heading back to the apartment. But, as we were rising the steep hill back towards the City's colonial center, we heard the music begin from down below and saw the parade start off down the street towards where we had waited so long. Should we bag it? Or, should we go back with no guarantee of a good viewing spot? We went back and it was better that expected. Our lives are made by our choices.

There are many different races of people making up Ecuador and often their hats and clothing distinguish them from one another.

I don't know that we will ever be able to know them all, but it seems like a more worthwhile undertaking than some of the "Time Suck" activities we had been spending our lives on recently.

It's not really possible to convey just how different things are when their is no set end date. Why worry or think about the future or the past, when it's all you can do to absorb everything around you in a strange present.

(We are getting set to attend both a graduation ceremony combined with a Modern Art Opening.)

This is the first blog either of us have tried to put out and we know it will take some work.

There are too many near and dear peeps of ours out there to try and write to each and everyone, so this will be our way of staying in touch.

Love,

Tony & Jo

January Sixth 2010