Turistico

*written Sunday September 19

Right now I’m sitting in my pajamas (fleece pants, down booties, a scarf, a shirt, sweat shirt, and puffy vest) and thinking about all the new things I did and learned over the past few days. Brad and I had dinner, tamales and fried bananas, a couple of hours ago, followed by hot chocolate. I’ve nearly exhausted my yarn supply, and hope to buy more tomorrow so I can continue working on what I hope will be a giant afghan to keep us warm. It’s funny how the vocabulary we’re acquiring is so specific to our work and hobbies. Words like crochet hook and yarn, timing belt and clutch, tadpole and limb bud, anti parasitics and otolaryngology, goalie, soccer match and fan have required referencing our dictionary or asking our friends.

Thursday night, our friend Jose invited us to a rock concert. The venue was called “El Rock Garden” and two bands from Ecuador had shows scheduled. Brad and I have been living on the mountain, with no TV or internet and very limited electricity. We’re often in bed by 9 or 10 at night, and asleep by 11. The show didn’t even start until 10:30! The venue itself was in an old house, with the stage in the living room and viewing from both a balcony and the area directly in front of the stage. I wondered if, like Zoo Amaru, the owner’s mom lived upstairs. Can you just imagine middle aged parents trying to fall asleep with a rock concert going on downstairs?!? There were maybe 60 people there, all dressed in typical “rock” attire. I thought it was funny that they were barely bopping to the beat, but Brad was distracted by one particularly tall Ecuadorian. He decided to go stand near the guy so I could judge who was taller, but I just couldn’t stop laughing. Neither could some of the friends we were sitting with. All in all, we enjoyed the music and the people watching but our lungs and our ears had enough by the end of the evening.
When depending on other people here, we’ve learned that things don’t always quite work out. On Friday, Brad was supposed to volunteer at Fundacion Donum—no one was there all day. Instead, we took the time to ride the tourist bus around Cuenca, eat typical food of the region, and catch up on our emails. The tourist bus was a double decker bus and actually quite informative. The guide pointed out some of the unique points around town including the barranco (cliff), all the houses owned by Juan Eljuri who is the second richest man in the country and whose sister owns the bridge we cross every day on the way up to our house, the classical Spanish style architecture of Cuenca, some famous churches, the flower market, the hospital where Brad works, the house where Simon Bolivar stayed for a month on his way to Peru, and maybe most importantly, he pointed out where we needed to duck to avoid decapitation by the wires crossing over the street. The tour culminated in a 20 min stop at a place called “Mirador Turi,” a really amazing viewpoint which overlooks the entire city. After the tour, we got a recommendation from the bus driver on the Andean pipe music we had been listening to along with the artist’s upcoming concert 2 hrs after the tour ended. We also got a recommendation for lunch which was not as good. The restaurant has a nice view of Parque Calderon, the beautifully landscaped park in the center of the historical district, but food that wasn’t the greatest. We ordered both of the two lunch options, and Brad’s choice ended up being better than mine. He got steak chopped up and cooked with green peppers. I got gooey, sticky, hairy pig skin cooked with potatoes. I won’t order “papas con cuero” again, I prefer to throw the pig skin than to eat it.

Saturday we planned to do some reconnaissance work for my field sites. My friend and coordinator with the National Park, Jose, said he was free and would love to give us a tour. He meant a tour of the “hidden places” in the city, not of the park. So he and his girlfriend, Toja, showed us around. We ate hot dogs served with coconut juice, we passed by a good place to buy cheap clothes and another to buy cotton t-shirts with original designs. We went to the flower market and tried some special tea made by the nearby convent, and then to a cooperative where we could by organic tea, yogurt, honey, chocolate, granola, etc. Brad learned where to get the best chocolate cake, and we ate Andean food for lunch: pig skin (crispy this time instead of gooey), several different kinds of pork, llapingachos (fried potato patties), and chocla (a kind of large- kernel corn). In front of the restaurant, the whole pig was on a spit and there were big pots of food cooking. The woman preparing the food offered us a sample as we were walking along the street. Later, we went to a place where you can buy several different kinds of tamales. We got two of each, and saved them to heat up for dinner. We did get some work accomplished during our outing. I needed some supplies for my research: ethanol to preserve specimens, fine tipped tweezers, and a rain gauge. Jose took us to a pharmacy where we were able to buy the ethanol, and told us a story about how it is really old. One time, there were elephants in town for a parade and one made it’s way into the pharmacy and wrecked everything! Now, it is decorated with old medicine bottles and known for the lotions and potions that they mix in- house. Also, we looked in a couple of places for cheap shelves to put our clothes on (we’re STILL living out of suitcases). Jose, who just moved into a new apartment, is planning on making shelves himself. He offered to help us do the same, so hopefully that will be a project for this week.

Brad was supposed to play soccer today with a group of guys, but as usual plans fell through. Instead, we did what I’ve been wanting to do sonce we got here, we visited the natural hot springs. The place is 10 minutes outside of Cuenca and is called Banos; the specific place we went to is Hostal Duran. It’s one of the more expensive locations ($5/ person, which also means it is less crowded) but we’ve heard it’s also one of the cleaner locations. They make you shower before entering and you have to wear a shower cap while in the pools. Wow did that hot water (100 degrees F) feel good! The pool itself is big enough to swim in, and there were elderly people as well as young children, Cuencanos and visitors from other countries. While we were in the pool, it rained for a while and the steam floated off the water all day. We also got to experience the Turkish bath which was essentially a steam room scented with eucalyptus. And when the day was over, we took another hot shower before we left. I’d say it was a well- spent $5. We’re both refreshed and ready to start a new week!