October 1, 2011 Life is full each week

Man's Best Friend - at the mercado

We are now winding down our time in Cuenca with just this last week of school at Fundacion Amauta before heading to the beach for a bit of warmer weather. I usually like to highlight all the great things about our travels but I will have to be honest and admit that the weather here in Cuenca has not been great. They say it is summer and that it has been an unseasonably colder time but it does not seem like any summer I have seen. It is cool every day and most often rains for some part of the day. We need to be sure to carry our umbrellas and jackets (along with gloves and a scarf) every day.

One of our new pastimes (started in San Miguel) is drawing in pen and painting with small watercolor kits - to journal and capture memories of our travels. I am trying to do a couple each week during our travels and am enjoying it immensly - both the meditative aspect and the intention to notice details and memories that I might not have noticed in the past. Here are two examples of mine - one at the airport in Mexico City waiting to leave and one at Joan and Bill's house in SMA - in the bedroom. I hope to continue for the rest of our travels (hesitate to commit to the rest of my life!!)

Roof tiles for Yolanda's house in the campo
typical of the tiles on all the roofs in Cuenca

Living with a family allows us to adventure out almost every weekend. We have traveled to most of the small towns around Cuenca as well as longer weekends away. One weekend included a trip north to Riobamba and Alausi. Each city or town in Ecuador has its unique look as well as indigenous dress and often its own specialties for food. Needless to say, we don't try everything, but those that fit our wishes.

We have seen several Llamas in the
 countryside.
This one in the town of Giron

Yolanda - the "tree hugger"

Ping Pong in the Yungilla Valley
- much lower altitude
than Cuenca and
therefore much warmer

Volcan Chimborazo -
Ecuador's highest mountain
 (6310 meters - about 19,000 ft)
with a glacier on top.
 This is a view from trip between
Riobamba and Alausi

St. Pedro - overlooks Alausi

La Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose) train -
one of the most difficult train systems in the
world as it desends a 765 meter sheer cliff.

Typical students walking to school just like us.
Maybe we need uniforms too!

Here are a few thoughts about Ecuador. During my spanish classes I have a good chance to talk with my teacher about the life and culture of Ecuador, especially Cuenca which is an old colonial city with very conservative roots. It appears to me that this part of the world is in many ways like the USA in the 1950's-60's before "The Women's Rights" movement. It is a very "macho" culture and men treat women like servants and for the most part, do not partake of any family responsibilities other than earning money. (Often this is happening in the US and sending to the women and children back in Ecuador.) The Catholic church is very strong here in Ecuador and unlike Mexico - very separate from the indigenous people. In fact there is quite a class structure and there seems to be very little mixing of the Spanish or European families and the indigenous. Because of the strong church influence, divorce, birth control, gay rights, etc. is shunned. This conservative environment is uncomfortable but does provide much discussion among our friends here in Cuenca. I do hear from others that the younger generation is beginning to change some of these things but it is going to be a long time. I find myself explaining to my teacher Kathy about the many changes that happened over the years in the USA.

The inside of the train was so beautiful and
the trip felt like we were getting ready for an
old time train ride - many families.
The trip was about 2 hours each way.

A scary walk across this bridge - Puento Negro which was part of the
rail system in days gone by. So still RR ties with big spaces inbetween
and nothing to hold on to.

The train station and restaurant at the bottom of the mountain in Sibambe

El Nariz de Diablo - see along the two lines where the tracks zig zag
up or down the mountain.

Here we are at one of the most interesting, and challenging moments of our trip. We were invited by one of the administrators of our school, Narcissa, who is a professor of Tourism at one of the local Universities - University of Azuay, to speak to the students about our travels, our lifestyles and why we travel the way we do. I thought we would be able to do this in English and therefore we thought a bit about what we might say but did not prepare at all for Spanish. On the way to the school Narcissa said we could do a bit in English but she would prefer that we stay in Spanish.  When we arrived only one or two of the 40 students spoke English so we spoke in Spanish. I have no idea what I said nor how correct it was, but the students loved us both. In fact, at the end they came up to us one by one to have their pictures taken with us. It was a grand "reto" (challenge) but fun and we were both proud of ourselves.

University of Azuay - we both gave a talk to students of Tourism.

Here we went again this past Saturday to one of our favorite spots. This National Park, at 12,000 feet (above the treeline) is only about 30 minutes from Cuenca by bus and so an easy day trip. We enjoyed time with new friends and hope to go again this weekend before heading to the coast. There are over 500 glacial lakes so much to see and do.

Nacional Parque Cajas - Lake Toreadora...we walked with friends around it

Brian and Fernanda - our new friends.
Brian is from Texas and goes to our
school and we met Fernanda on the bus -
 she is from Brazil.

I am so grateful to all our family and friends who keep up with our blog and write to me that they enjoy seeing our pictures and following our travels. Please note that if you want to click on any of the pictures you can and they will enlarge.

We look forward to an exciting October and will report from the coast of Ecuador in the next few weeks.

Love to all,
Susanita y Ricardo