It’s Monday evening, the start of our second week of classes at the Simon Bolivar Spanish School in Cuenca, Ecuador.
We’ve settled into our apartment which is three blocks from the school and one block from the main square, Parque Abdón Calderón, in ‘old town’. Its very convenient to walk to the local mercardo’s or to take a taxi ($2) to the SuperMaxi which is just like an US super market. Ecuador uses US currency, mixing in their own coins, which makes comparative pricing easy.
As I write this, I’m listening to the last night of a week-long religious celebration, consisting of music (singing & Andean flutes) and sermons broadcast on loud speakers from the nearby cathedral square, accompanied by fireworks. Once this ends, usually around 10pm, the city is extremely quiet until the church bells start ringing around 6am, at sun-up. Tonight the festivities & fireworks lasted until 11:20p.
Our personal “life style” guides and tutors are Santiago for Jessie and Esteban for John. Our 4 days of classes include, generally, 2 hours of individual tutoring at the school and 1.5 hours of excursions. We’ve gone to the cathedral, museums, markets, or just visited the old town sights.
On martes (Tuesday), we went (individually) to a near-by market that included indigenous lady shamans offering personal cleansing. Jessie jumped at the chance to get straightened out. The process consists of light beating with a bundle of herbs (aromatherapy), followed by gusts of alcohol over the head & body (the shaman ingests some alcohol, then blows it out – sounds icky, but isn’t), then a massage with an egg to absorb bad spirits. Finally, the egg is broken into a plastic sack and “read”. Jessie was pronounced “limpio” (clean), not nervous.
On miércoles (Wednesday), Jessie went to Feria Libre, a large market just out of town, 20-minute bus ride for 25¢. Santiago showed her how to shop and bargain in the market.
On jueves (Thursday) the class visited the Homero Ortega Hat Factory which includes an interesting “Panama Hat” museum. They are careful to document that the Panama, or toquilla,
John in Cajas Nat’l Park standing on Inca Trail
hat originated in Cuenca and the best are still handmade here. The finished hats at the factory range in price from around $33 to $1000’s based on the quality of the reeds used and the handicraft in the making. John bought himself a hat for $84.
Viernes (Friday) there were no classes, and we joined an AHI bus tour to the near-by Cajas National Park. Starting at 8400′ altitude we climbed through the various climate zones to the 14,000′ pass and continental divide on the road to Guayaquil. We got to explore a little of the area near the top, which was green with low ground cover and groves of ‘paper trees’ (named for their layers of bark) which, they say, are the only trees in the world that grow at that altitude. On the way back down we stopped at a trout (trucha) farm and had a delicious meal. Rainbow trout were introduced by the Spaniards, quickly dominating the native fish specifies and changing the ecosystem, including the extinction of a ‘swimming mouse’ that lost its main food source.
Sábado (Saturday) we joined a school-sponsored bus trip to an archeological site about 2 hours from Cuenca in El Tambo, called Coyoctor. After arriving in El Tambo we boarded a trolley-like train which transported us about a mile to the 2 acre site nestled among active farms and residences. The Coyoctor site was used by the Pre-Inca, the Kichwa people, and Incas as a ceremonial bath and royal residence, with the baths carved out of the andecite rock, but also includes foundation rocks brought by the Incas from Cusco, Peru. In the 1920’s a house was built on top of the site, and apparently the surrounding area is full of Inca artifacts on the farmed land.
On domingo (Sunday) we rested. Jessie is contending with a nasty cough so we stayed close to our new home. Cuenca pretty much shuts down on Sunday, with hardly anyone on the streets or in the few shops still open. We found out that alcohol sales are not allowed on Sundays.
Intermixed with our schooling and trips, we’ve been eating very well. For example, we had a wonderful meal at Tiestos on Saturday, which featured Ecuadorian ‘fusion’ plates of chicken & beef served family-style and a dessert served on plates with beautifully hand-painted confection designs. This diner was hosted by AHI, but we’ve also had great 3-course lunches for as little as $2.25 each. A typical tip is 8% or so. We’ve not tried the Ecuadorian national dish, cuy, yet but will soon.
On the Go with John and Jessie 