It makes me sad to have to write this post, even after a frustrating and hectic day in which Ecuadorian annoyances were in abundant supply. The short list: internet was totally down all day which did not help in organizing things for our trip, jumping through bureaucratic hoops just to get a certificate for Thandi which only lasts 48 hours and is only used to get yet another certificate in Quito so she can leave the country, trying to pick up our passports (time of day 12:30pm) which I’m sure were ready for pickup only to be informed that I was supposed to pick them up in the “afternoon” (i.e. after the 3 hour lunch) just because our receipt said so.

It has been a long day. But at the end of it all I find myself here looking back at our trip and feeling nostalgic already, even though technically we haven’t even finished yet! I’m sure you know the feeling. We have had a really good time here in Ecuador and in South America in general. Even now I know that we will probably look back on this as one of the most enjoyable times of our lives. We have seen and experienced so much. The best thing about our stay in Cuenca has probably been the community that we have had, both with fellow English teachers and with our host family. AND my brother came down to visit a month ago (I meant to make a post about it because we had an awesome time). He and I had a lot of time just to bro down. It has been a long time since we have been able to spend some quality time like that.

Even in little ways there is so much we are going to take back with us. Just a couple weeks ago, Em and I went up to visit a few of the surrounding towns. One of them is a pueblito called Principal. That day it was the “changing of the guard” for the Peace Corps volunteer Matthew, who was leaving his work of two years to move on to something else. One of his principal projects was to build a community center. One of the primary features of this community center was its loudspeaker. Throughout the day we heard various announcements go booming through the valleys, most of them about the “dia de la madre” celebration that night. At one point we busted out laughing because they used it to summon Matt (Mateo) to his farewell dinner and final meeting with the Grupo Turismo that he helped establish. Little did we know we were to be featured in blaring tones ourselves. Em unwittingly locked us out of our hostel room that night, so we searched around for the hostel owner. Usually she wasn’t hard to find in the tiny town. We asked one of the people we recognized from earlier in the day and were standing on the corner amongst a small throng of people gathered for the celebration…when suddenly, echoing amongst the hills and valleys “Anabela, Anabela los extranjeros perdieron las llaves.….Necesitan las llaves…las llaves…llaves” It was that time of night when sound travels forever too. So everybody within a couple mile radius now knew there were a couple idiot gringos staying at the hostel in Principal who had lost the keys.

And now its time for the gringos to head back home. We don’t know what the future holds for us back in the states, I still have a lot of school to do. Emily doesn’t know what to do about a job….who knows what will happen. What I do hope though is that we will be able to do this again sometime down the road. There is so much to see and do in this life that it feels criminal to just let it pass on by. So, our dear readers, if I can say one thing it is this: do not let your dreams slip away. Find a way to chase after them. I am blessed to have a wife who took something that I had always wanted to do and helped turn it into reality. Things didn’t turn out like we had planned, our Spanish is still only barely passable and I hardly got anywhere with school due to various hang-ups (including my own). But if we had not done this, we would have missed out on so, so, so much.

Sadly, Cuenca, Ecuador, South America, we have to say goodbye for now. Gracias por todo. Ojala podamos volver pronto!

As one of the gems of the natural world it is unfortunate that, even as protected as it is, the Galapagos Islands are suffering from the same issues that threaten the diversity of much of the world. It is something that has been weighing on me more and more as time goes on. Not just the problems in the Galapagos, but the problems everywhere. Whether you believe in the faulty step in the garden of Eden or in the need of species to dominate and thrive whatever the costs, there is no denying that at the core of the human race are two things that are currently spelling disaster for our domain: ingenuity and selfish oblivion. Ingenuity is great, but we’re careening along inventing, innovating like a bull through a china shop. And the tough thing is that there are many aspects of human dominance of the planet that are not innately evil. In the little world of the Galapagos, sure, there are some things that are downright illegal and cause significant damage—such as the black market trade of sea cucumbers and shark fins—but there are others that are causing far more damage that are completely innocent byproducts of people living on the islands. For the longest time, introduced animals plagued the islands. Goats, rats and dogs decimated the landscape and certain populations of animals. Now there are programs that have mostly eradicated the animal invaders. But, the saga continues, and is much more difficult to control. Two introduced plants are currently running rampant on the islands: Mora (raspberry) and Guava. Basically, they both are widely popular with both humans and animals and both are extremely hardy and fast growing. We drove by patches of San Cristobal that were completely covered by the thorny mora vines. On Isabela there were fields and fields of wild guava. These plants are destroying the habitat of endemic species, which will trickle down, leading to disruptions in the ecosystem and probable extinctions down the road.

I don’t know, starting this little blog I had a lot to say. But basically what it boils down to is this one sad fact. We are a plague to our own earth. The problem is, like the innocent plants above, like global warming or the countless other expansions, damages, extinctions, whatever else…it’s not like we’re trying to destroy our world. While you have the poachers, criminals and evil corporations of the world, most of us are just trying to get by. In exponential terms. We are the weeds that spring up everywhere. Having children, trying to make money, pursuing our dreams, our passions and our needs. Human life is beautiful, rich and sacred. The tragedy is that we are hurtling on so absorbed in all of it. We can’t slow down. We increase in number exponentially, our technology is advancing exponentially and we are destroying everything except for the things we need to keep on going. Our intelligence is a double-edged sword. Whether we are still trapped in the evolutionary drive to reproduce and prosper, or whether we are trapped in an age-old curse, there is no avoiding the fact that we are nowhere near a point of balance. We have the capacity intellectually, spiritually and technologically to start protecting and benefiting our planet, our livelihood, our home. Yet we are failing ourselves. I do it on a daily basis as do every one of you. I honestly don’t know where to start in our own lives. I want a comfortable and enjoyable life just as much as the next person. I want to make money, buy a house, build a little koi pond and garden in the back. Yet, it is my hope that for myself and all of us, that on the global scale we can learn how to slow down, stop the mad spin, and begin changes, large and small, that we need to avoid a lot of pain in the future.

So.

We told you about getting to the Galapagos and how wonderful it was and yadda yadda, great experiences of life, etc. Well, actually getting on to the islands themselves was one of the biggest headaches and string of complications that we have yet experienced in our whole trip in South America.

It was a dark and stormy night…dun dun dun….and we left Cuenca on the bus towards Guayaquil so we could catch our flight the next morning. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was playing (hence our inspired post titles), beautifully rendered in dubbed Spanish. I was half-watching the movie, and really, even if it were in English and I paid attention, I don’t know if it would have made any more sense….but I digress. Right. It was a dark and stormy night, the bus winding through the treacherous Andean passes, when, suddenly, or rather, gradually, we came to a stop. “No hay paso” murmurs ominously through the bus as we speculate the reason for the delay. The bus starts up again, the bus ayudante assures us that there is a way and we will be heading to Guayaquil. We continue on, uneasiness pressed around us like the vapor clinging to the chilled windows. The bus stops again. “No hay paso” murmurs from one passenger to the next, we are sure this time that we will have to turn back. Storms and mud slides had blocked the route. Inevitably, the bus does turn around and we again head off into the darkness, destination unknown. Emily, at this point, asks the driver if we are still going to Guayaquil. Yes, yes, don’t worry we are going another way. BACK THROUGH CUENCA, is what he didn’t tell us. A couple hours later, things started looking familiar as I gazed out the window and it dawned on me that they shouldn’t be looking familiar. Sure enough, Mall del Rio loomed out of the mist in all its neon glory. We had returned. Only to go another route which takes even longer than the first. Clint Eastwood had long faded from the TV in a blaze of bullet-ricochets and bad gun posturing, and here we were on our way, once again, to Guayaquil.

We finally got there at around three in the morning which is a bad time to be out and about in ye ole Guayas. Stepping into a cab, I managed to sink my foot into one of the most vile gutters that my foot yet has to experience. The cab driver then proceeds to get lost. Now being ‘lost’ with a Guayaquil cab driver at three in the morning is exactly what we were afraid of. Lucky for us (the only thing that did go “right!”) he genuinely was lost. He made some calls, and we eventually made it to the hostel, were ushered in by a topless, long haired guy with man boobs, and finally, after I got the stinking muck off of my shoe, we were able to sleep.

Only to discover the next day that we would not be flying to the Galapagos after all.

Yeah, we had ordered an organized tour through a travel agency in Quito and a few weeks prior they sent us scans of the tickets and told us that they were e-tickets. Well, Emily and I didn’t like the look of these e-tickets so we asked several times if they were sure that this would work. They assured us they would. They did not.

Despite my dramatic rendition (attempt) of the bus ride, this was actually the most painful part of the trip. The agency refused to take fault for messing things up, and while they said they were trying to work things out with the airlines, we (Emily mostly, poor thing) had to baby-sit the travel agent through practically every step of the way to get things fixed. Flights to the Galapagos are always full or at near capacity so it was very difficult working things out. Finally at one point, after about 6 hours of back and forth, talking with the airline guy in Spanish with a very thick Guayas accent and with the agent in Quito, we were fed up and got one of the airline managers who spoke English. The agent had told us that we, for sure, had a flight going out, we tried to confirm this with the manager and he said no, we are on a WAITING LIST….not what we wanted to hear. I told him that the agent kept blaming the airline, he got pretty angry and talked with the agent, put the agent in her place and we finally got a confirmed flight. Eleven hours in the airport and two days later we were FINALLY in the air and on our way to one of the coolest places on earth.

Yay, and good riddance to Guayaquil!

More pictures? Click here.

So, things got off to a rough start (the whole drama to be revealed in chapter II of this riveting mini series!)…but with our feet finally on the ground 600 miles away from the Ecuadorian coast, that all faded to the background. We had made it it to one of most unique natural sanctuaries in the world.

We chose to go the road somewhat less traveled by, and stay on the main three islands (Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal) rather than doing a boat based tour. Emily, as usual, had done quite a bit of research and it seemed the more economic route and also allowed us to do a lot of snorkeling, which is what we were mostly interested in.

Our first stop was Santa Cruz, probably the most touristy of the islands. I’m not sure what I thought the Galapagos would be like, but seeing a small town, agriculture and wide spread human habitation surprised me. It shouldn’t have, because I knew we were staying in hotels on these islands so of course there had to be towns but it was surprising to me nonetheless. Basically there are four large islands that are inhabited, the rest are protected national park which can only be visited by the Galapagos tour/cruise boats and some can be reached by smaller boats from the main islands. I guess I had thought that all the islands were strongly protected, but that is not necessarily the case. The big islands do have large sections of national park, but they also have developed areas as well. While I’m sure we missed a lot by not taking one of the cruise boats, I’m glad we got to see the more human side (both the good and the bad) of the islands as well.

Really, Em and I could go on and on about the Galapagos. Just as an example – Out of curiosity and to provide some background history going into our trip, I decided to read Darwin’s Origin of the Species since the islands were so influential in his work. Interestingly enough, in “Origin” he does not actually spend much time on his Galapagos findings, but it was obvious as we went through the islands how their unique character could have deeply impacted and given credence to his theory. Which is all to say, I could go on for some time about just that and how interesting it was to be able read his theory and see the parallels and inspiration for his theory right before my eyes. But I won’t. Instead I’ll just try to highlight some the things that we most enjoyed about the islands.

1. The wildlife – of course! This is probably the main reason why people come to the islands and even in the areas with human habitation it was amazing to see the difference in how the animals acted as opposed to those on the mainland. You could get disturbingly close to most of the larger animals on the islands. One experience particularly struck me with how unique it was. I was photographing a heron and I just kept getting closer and closer and closer, but the heron hardly even batted an eye. It reminded me a lot of the blue herons I would see sometimes while growing up in Grass Valley. The blue herons back home would have been off flying about fifteen to twenty feet earlier. So, on land and sea, the wildlife was amazing and abundant. Even just walking along the fisher’s pier in Santa Cruz we saw rays, seals and of course all the birds waiting around for fish heads (fish heads, yummy yummy fish heads).

The snorkeling was cold(!), but awesome. Emily’s favorite part of the whole trip was when we were able to swim with a bunch of juvenile sea lions ( video of said romp, click here). They were very curious and playful. One even grabbed her flipper and tried its best to hold on to it. My favorite snorkeling experience was swimming with the Galapagos sharks (“fish are our friends, not food” vegetarian sharks, go figure) and sea turtles.

2. The islands were created by volcanoes, so they are formed from hardened lava. The unusual earth made for some breathtaking and surreal scenery (see the pictures of the lava tunnels). We rode horses up to a volcanic crater on Isabela. The ride there was beautiful and fascinating. The ride back, however, was just painful (sore for days). We also hiked around on lava from a volcano that erupted less than 30 years ago. The vegetation was completely destroyed in some places, so at times it felt like we were on the moon. There are even little pockets where we could feel the steam rising up from underground fissures. The next day we went on a boat/snorkeling trip to one of the most interesting places we have ever been. There were tons of still crystal clear pools of ocean water separated by bridges and walls of lava. The lava rocks were covered in giant ancient cactus . So, you looked into the salt water and could see sea turtles, fish, rays etc. perfectly swimming around in the water and you could look up and walk around on bridges made out of lava and try not to get poked by a cactus needle.

3. The beaches and water – the water is the most beautiful blue and when there is sand it tended to be white. There’s not much more to say about that. Since we were on islands and traveling by boat a lot, we saw a lot of water, but it never got old. Emily’s favorite beach was on San Cristobal where the sea lions made the public beach right in the middle of town their sleeping den. Hundreds of sea lions would climb on to the beach and make quite a scene as they roamed around fighting, playing, looking for their families, snuggling, climbing over each other and generally making a lot of noise. We sat there for at least an hour watching their antics and amazing at how similar to dogs and even people they are.

4. Sushi! So yeah, the only fish I eat is raw. There is a really good sushi restaurant that overlooks the bay in Santa Cruz. We spent a pleasant evening there for my birthday dinner.

5. CEDEI invaders – there were probably about 12 CEDEI teachers on the islands all at once, so we kept bumping into people that we knew. We all had our vacation at the same time, so it makes sense, but it was weird to be in a completely different place and still find a friend to eat dinner with.

A few more pictures - here!

So, first things first. You do not “celebrate” Carnaval in Ecuador, you play Carnaval. Up until the Sunday that we went to Gualaceo I don’t think Em or I had really caught the spirit of the holiday. In the days preceding the actual holiday weekend Ecuadorians we know asked us if we had played Carnaval yet and ask us what we were doing to do for the weekend. Em had plans but they kinda fell through because everything was booked in the places that we wanted to go to. So we would give a blah-I-don’t-really-know response and they would look at us like, what’s the deal, it’s Carnaval! Up until that point we (well, Em really) had only participated in Carnaval as targets for water bombs (foreigners and females are the preferred targets. So if you’re a foreigner and a girl, you’re quite popular). Needless to say Em wasn’t too thrilled with the whole thing. Though, she should have felt honored. One of her students was sad because she had not been the target of a water bombing at all.

So the plans to go to the coast, or possibly to Banos had failed. Em heard that there was a big celebration, parade, etc on Sunday in Gualaceo, a town about an hour away. We decided to go there with a few other CEDEI teachers. There is a CEDEI campus in Gualaceo, a perfect place to stash our stuff to keep it from getting wet and as we were to discover it also had a balcony overlooking the street where the parade would be. Oh what fun that would prove to be…. but I digress. Saturday we hiked up to Turi, a little pueblito overlooking the city taking the many, many, many steps that wind up the mountain from Cuenca to Turi. We had been up there before with Ludi and family, but there is a bit of a sense of accomplishment when we were looking down and could see far below, the point where we had started. Also, we know the city a lot better so the view was more interesting this time, with many land marks that we easily recognized. When we got back home, we went in search of some dinner but everything around us was totally deserted, it was like being in a ghost town. Apparently, people leave Cuenca for the holiday either to the coast or to farms in the countryside. While we were passing by one house we suddenly were surrounded by a barrage of water balloons, none of which actually hit us. We must have made the kids’ day though, because we were probably the only people that walked by all day. It was that dead.

Sunday rolled around and we hoped on the bus with three other people (Gretel, Lee, and Tom) to Gualaceo. Our welcome to the town was water being squirted into an open window in the bus. Most people were wise enough to keep theirs shut but there was one chink in the armor and a few people got wet because of it. There were also some boys on the bus with water bombs themselves, and they were throwing them out of the bus at other people. With their last one, they accidentally hit their own window frame and got themselves totally wet. Nice shot. That was just the beginning. Basically we were entering a water-war zone where anyone is a possible target. Amazingly we made it to CEDEI without major incident and were able to stash our stuff high and dry. The city had wisely turned off the water before the parade to keep things kosher. But, when without water, the people arm themselves with these cans of spray foam (called “spuma”). So really, you’re never safe.

The parade was….interesting. There were a couple clever floats, but as far as the whole production was concerned, it wasn’t anything amazing. But it was unlike any parade I have ever seen before. Your standard parade, you basically sit and watch while the people run, walk, dance, ride their way along. If you’re really lucky, some candy is tossed your way (well not anymore, someone might lose an eye, lawsuits might get filed, environments might be damaged, people might get cavities, or worse, enjoy themselves….yeah). This parade however, audience and performers alike all had the cans of spuma and it was the strange war between the parade participants and the parade watchers. The participants got the worst of it because they had to dance, sing, parade, whatever while spraying the onlookers. The onlookers had the easy job, they just sat on the sidelines and did their best to make soapy snowmen of the performers. Nobody was immune, even police officers would get covered. It was truly awesome.

After the parade, the water came back on and all hell broke loose. CEDEI has pretty much the highest balcony in the area and a nice strong water supply up on the balcony. We had picked up some water balloons earlier and so we commenced to bomb pedestrians below and other balconies. I think us boys went a little crazy but it was a lot of fun. It was like being a kid again. The best targets were open back trucks of marauders that would be hitting other people. We would get them in turn and there was nothing they could do about it. A little later we got what was coming to us. The whole group of us went down to river where the main bash was going on. On the way we got soaked by people in balconies and people by the river with buckets of water. Poor Thandi hated every second of it. She doesn’t mind getting a little wet, but being attacked by water was just too much for her. The rest of us had fun though, it really was just like being a kid again, a whole city full of grown up kids.

]]> http://theprudhommes.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=92 http://theprudhommes.net/blog/?p=88 http://theprudhommes.net/blog/?p=88#comments Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:38:55 +0000 sablog http://theprudhommes.net/blog/?p=88

To see more pictures of Cuenca click here

So, it’s been a while since our last post and even in our previous one we didn’t mention much about our day to day life here in Cuenca. So….what exactly are we doing in here? Of course the main purpose is to learn Spanish and experience a different culture. But while we’re here we are up to other things as well. Emily is teaching English at CEDEI and I, well I am basically sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing. That’s not entirely true, it was a stroke of luck that my ex-boss emailed me while we were in Argentina and asked if I could work remotely. The travel funds were running a little low so, I took the job. Shout out to all you people at ISI that are reading this instead of working! And for those of you who were wondering why you were seeing my emails but never my face, mystery solved. I’m just a ghost in the shell. It is a part time position but it pays the Ecuadorian bills and leaves me free to take up my studies on line……

Yeah….about those studies. Unfortunately that isn’t happening as planned. I ordered a book that I need for the course over a month ago and……I’m still waiting. So that part of our expected plans isn’t going so well. But in general, life is good here. I have some free time to work on a programming project of mine, I have been cooking a lot, which is a lot of fun, and in general I just have time to just waste. A luxury that I rarely had in the states. It always felt like I was enjoying myself on borrowed time. Here, sometimes it feels like I actually have some free time on my hands. So, for me things have been pretty relaxing. I am starting to get a bit itchy for the book to arrive because this is kinda of throwing a wrench into how we planned out our year.

Emily
CEDEI is one of the largest language institutes in Cuenca. They have a variety of programs there. It is nice because local teachers teach Spanish to foreigners and foreign teachers teach English to locals, so there are all kinds of people both teaching and learning at the school. I teach 3 different classes a day. Each group is different. One is a mixture of people from the ages of 14-28. The next is the silliest class filled with a couple of very goofy early teenagers (3 of them are VERY involved in their high school drama team, so they like everything to be lively and interactive.) The last class is the highest level the school offers. It is similar to an introductory college course on culture. There is a strange mixture of students in that class. There are 4 women in their early 20’s – early 30’s and one 16 year old boy. He keeps us constantly amused and on our toes. Each group of classes lasts for 10 weeks then we get a little break. So, not a bad way to make a living – except that I don’t think many Americans could afford to live on what they pay for very long without a savings or a second income, so it is a good thing that Chris is able to still work for Intuitive.

One disadvantage to teaching in English and working with so many other great English teachers is that I am probably not learning Spanish as quickly as I would if I had to function totally in Spanish. I am taking classes twice a week. That really helps me because I don’t just absorb other languages like some people are able to do.

Chris
So that’s basically it. We’re working. I’m waiting to be able to do school. In the meantime, the teachers at CEDEI always are doing something on the weekends and evenings so there are constantly things going on. A couple weekends ago we went up to Chunchi for a birthday party of one of the Ecuadorians we know. It was well, interesting, cold, wet and in the middle of a cow farm. Good Spanish practice though. For the return trip to Cuenca, Em and I had the option of riding in the back of a truck the whole way, but we decided for the bus which was a little slower, a little safer, reasonably comfortable and a LOT drier. It poured down ran on those who opted for the back of the truck. Pobrecitos.

Carnival is approaching, so water balloons, water guns, water bottles are showing up around town Apparently Cuencanans thing the best way to celebrate before lent is by getting everyone wet. Several of the CEDEI teachers have been water bombed, including Emily, though they have yet to score a direct hit on her. I have yet to be targeted though so who knows what the deal is. I have a feeling they might target extranjeros more often, but that’s just a theory. We’re not sure exactly what we’re going to do for Carnival yet. Some of our friends are going to Peru, others to various places on the Ecuadorian coast. We’ll see what looks the most appealing.

Well, we hope everything is going well back home. Until our next update, que pasen bien!

We decided to go to the coast for new years with Gretel, Karen and her friend Paul who came to visit from England. We stayed in a little surf town called Montanita. It is a fun and funky place with all kinds of interesting people. The little down town strip looks like a tropical island with buildings made or decorated with bamboo and the roofs covered with palm fronds. There are hammocks everywhere and at night a lot of hippies come out with their jembe drums and drum circles and dancing start up in the middle of the street. It wasn’t too hot even though we were just south of the equator and the waves were perfect for swimming and surfing in.

Our last attempt at surfing in Mexico was such a dismal failure it never even crossed my mind to try again, but it looked like it would be a lot easier here because the waves break so much closer to shore that the learner wouldn’t exhaust themselves by just trying to paddle out and they could actually attempt to catch a few waves. I still didn’t think I could do it, but Chris seemed to want to try again. The lessons were pretty cheap, so I convinced him to give it a go. And I was right. He was actually able to catch a few waves when he tried close to shore. He didn’t stay up for long because the waves didn’t last long, but it was a great second try. If we ever go back, I might even give it another try.

New Years Eve itself was a little crazy. I think ¼ of Ecuador was sitting on the beach with us. One of the Ecuadorian traditions is to burn effigies that represent the old year and all the bad things that happened. People apparently get really creative and spend a lot of time working on them. I knew all this, but I was really surprised to see a group of people light a giant yellow Sponge Bob on fire. I’m not sure what they had against him, but as he went up in flames all the fire crackers they put inside started going off and causing a whole lot of noise and a little danger for the ones that went off in random directions. Poor Thandi was terrified by all the commotion.

Other than the actual NY eve event, she had a blast. Thandi got to play Frisbee on the beach for hours every day. She was quite the highlight. Whenever she caught a disc the other sunbathers would cheer and clap. If the Frisbee landed by someone they would often pick it up and throw it for her. She was in dog heaven.

Well, I hope you all had a great New Years Eve and were able to burn your own personal “Sponge Bobs” and move on to have a wonderful 2007.

More parade and Christmas pictures: click me!

This Christmas season has been an interesting one. We missed seeing many of you over the holidays, but we enjoyed being here.

We both love real Christmas trees. They make your whole house smell christmasy and wonderful. I thought we might have to break down and get a fake tree this year because they don’t sell pine trees here. I had seen some little fake ones before Thanksgiving, but when we went back to the store, they only had really big trees or small sparkley blue and silver ones. Both of our families have had some pretty “Charley Brown” style trees in the past, but a tree made of neon blue tinsel was a little too much for me. So, I asked around and was told they sold little Christmas trees at the flower market down town. We arrived to an abundance of roses and all kinds of tropical plants and shrubs, but nothing looked particularly like a Christmas tree except one little tree.

Could this have been what he meant? And yes, once I asked, that was the tree the lady pointed to. While it didn’t exactly have the pine aroma, it was certainly better than a fake one or even a tropical palm frond which was my second choice.

We brought it home and invited Karen (from England) and Gretel (from Australia)over to help decorate the tree and make sugar cookies. They are both teachers at the language school I work at. We all showed up the same week and have become pretty good friends. We had a great time making the cookies and giving them away. It was a perfect excuse to go over and spend time visiting some people we have met here in Cuenca. Sugar cookies are not a common treat here though, so most everyone was a little confused how to eat them. They were especially concerned with what to drink with them, coffee, tea…?

The ninth day of December celebrates the end of nine days of prayer. Our little neighborhood had a block party to commemorate the event. We live in a nice neighborhood. They had a priest come over and hold a mass in our neighbors driveway. After the mass the police marching band showed up. I think it was probably organized by the mayor who lives in the same cul de sac as us. But, all of us marched all around the neighborhood after the tubas and trumpets. People from the other houses came out to see what was going on.

After we got back we had a delicious Ecuadorian meal of chancho (a whole pig roasted over coals), rice and mote (hominy), salads and a flan type dessert. Then Papa Noel (Santa Clause) came and gave all the little kids (and some big ones - me) bags of candy and cookies. It was quite a do. We enjoyed meeting some of the neighbors we hadn’t met yet, practicing our Spanish, and teaching the neighbor kids to play Frisbee with Thandi.

In the States everywhere you go it looks, sounds and smells like Christmas. Here, they do a little bit, but not nearly so much. They don’t deck every single store out with Christmas decorations, and the most obvious difference is the lack of Christmas songs playing over and over every where we go. So, I was pretty excited when we got invited to sing Christmas carols. Linda knew me when I was a baby. She was friends with my parents. Then we moved to South Africa and she moved to Ecuador and we haven’t seen her very much since then, but she has been really great about helping us get settled here. They had many of their friends come over and practice singing Christmas carols a couple Fridays in a row and then on the 23^rd we all went to a couple of hospitals and recovery centers to sing carols to the patients there.

The whole thing was quite the cultural experience for many reasons. One problem is that no one shows up on time. So we started practicing, but then someone new would show up and we would start over again. I guess it was good for me because all the carols were in Spanish, so even if they had the same tune, the words were completely new to us. I think Chris missed his family a lot because only he and the leader of this project, Li, were able to really sing in parts. Li is Linda’s house mate. She is a therapist and runs a hot line from their home. In the middle of our practice the phone rang, so she went to answer it. She talked for a while and then came back and told us that she was just speaking with a woman named Sophia who lives alone and is suffering from severe depression and is considering suicide. Li asked where the woman lived and discovered they were in the same neighborhood. So, Li, and another man who works with her, went to Sophia’s house, picked her up and brought her back over to their house to sing Christmas carols with us. I thought, well, that would never happen in the States! I’m sure it was a struggle for her to be there and a little awkward, but at the same time the house was filled with very nice people, and singing, and dogs chasing cats and skidding down the stairs, and children beating off tempo on the drum, and brownies. Afterwards, I think her and Li had more of a chance to talk and I hope Sophia is able to start the long process of healing.

The day we actually sang was again very typical. People showing up late, going to one place and then being sent somewhere else. There were eventually about 20 of us standing in the hallway at the hospital. I felt like we were probably in the way there, but the nurses were really nice and just tried to walk around us. It was fun, but Chris and I had to leave before they were finished to go to our host families house for dinner.

In Ecuador, Christmas Eve (Buena Noche) is more important than the 25^th. They have a really big Christmas dinner that starts late in the night (around 10-11) and continues to about 2 or 3 am. The family we lived with back in September had a modified version of that on the 23^rd in Cuenca before they left to go to other places to visit other family members the next day. We were invited over to share the early Buena Noche with them. Our mama de Cuenca is an excellent cook and everything was delicious. Nothing was too unusual. The food was very similar to our Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. They tend have a more international perspective, so I’m not sure what interesting foods might find their way to the table in a more traditionally Ecuadorian setting.

People from all over Ecuador and even the world come to Cuenca for the Pase del Nino. It is a 6 hour long Christmas parade. The highlight is a statue of baby Jesus that has been blessed by the pope and has traveled to the Holy Land. But, there are all kinds of floats and processions of local organizations and children dressed up in a variety of costumes and cultural attire.

Click here to see pictures of the parade

The culmination of our Christmas season was hosting our first Christmas dinner. We invited over all of the teachers from the school I work at who weren’t off traveling else where and a few of their Ecuadorian significant others. About 15 people came. Chris is loving that he has more time to cook here and has been experimenting and making a lot of delicious things from scratch. Everyone pitched in and brought over or helped cook their favorite side dish, so we had quite a spread. We also made stained glass cookies as per Chris’ family tradition. No one had ever made them before, but a couple people were pretty creative.

So, now we are left with some great memories and a pile of dishes in the sink.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and that you will have a great New Years!

This has been our first post in a while, so we haven’t really told you about life in Cuenca, so after New Years I will back track a little and explain what we are doing here and how things are going other than Christmas

The Falls: Iguazu means “Great Waters” in Guarani, an indian tribe in Misiones, Argentina

Pictures of various aspects of the falls can be found here.

The last stop on our trip was Iguazu Falls in Argentina. We had been thinking of not even going there, but it turned out we had a little extra time in our trip. At this point we had decided that we were going back to Cuenca, Ecuador after all and so instead of running around trying to find work and whatnot we had a few days leisure time to spend in Buenos Aires and were also able to fit in a trip up to the falls.

It was pretty hot and muggy when we arrived. Iguazu is subtropical and it was a big change from the temperate Uruguay and Buenos Aires. There’s not much to speak of about our first day there, we just arranged tours for the next day, wandered around a bit in the town, gambled away $2 at the casino because there’s not a whole lot else to do, and then hit the sack for an early start in the morning.

The sun rose and then we were off to see the falls. Like I said before, we were considering not going to these falls since we had already seen Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Seen one huge waterfall, you’ve seen them all right? Hah. No way. It wasn’t like Victoria Falls at all. Victoria Falls is the biggest single curtain of water in the world so there are basically one or two trails (one scenic trail and another trail that took you ‘close’ to the falls—close is a couple hundred meters and even there you get absolutely soaked, lots of fun). Iguazu Falls is very different, there are many, many, many waterfalls that all make up “the falls”. Since there are many different cascades within the park, you have to walk around quite a bit and at one point you even have to take a train to get to the top of the biggest falls. Another difference between the falls was that in Iguazu the trails themselves did not take you super-feel-the-thunder-get-soaked close to the falls. We were definitely close and it was very beautiful but we didn’t get the FEEL of the falls like we had in Zimbabwe.

Well, that’s where the boat tour comes in. We jumped into our raft, donned our life vests, and then they took us zooming up the river into the Devil’s Throat Canyon. In the canyon the falls were pounding all around us. We had found what we were unconsciously looking for, the impressive weight and majesty of the falls. We could have stayed and stared up into the roar of water for hours. The boat crew, however, had other plans. They had warned us about a shower, and so we thought oh (tee hee) we are going to get a little wet. Well. After we had seen the falls from a safe distance, took our pictures and then stored our stuff in the waterproof bags provided, they then nudged up close to one of the smaller falls. Water came pouring down on us and we all got properly wet. Thinking, well that was kind of fun and now the shower was over, we sat back, ready for the return trip. Not so fast. The boat revved up and headed into one of the coves with some of the bigger waterfalls. The pilot hit the gas and we roared straight into the biggest waterfall! The water came down so hard you could hardly breath or open your eyes. The boat was no match for the current, which quickly pushed us out back into the cove. When we had caught our breath, our pilot spun back around and headed right back in with everyone cheering the whole way. Now that’s a shower you don’t get every day.

Also, we saw a creature that I have always wanted to see ever since I read Bill Peet’s “The Wump World” (one of his books I like the best). Who would have thought that here, some twenty years later I would finally see a capybara ? (yay!) Em had read that they lived in the national park, so we had been keeping our eyes open the whole day to try and see one. But, no luck. At the end of the day we were on the train to take us back to the entrance, my capybara hopes now dashed. Suddenly, Emily grabbed my arm and I turned around to see one just sitting there, munching on some grass by the side of the tracks, calm as you please. It was also a bit of a Wump World moment, here we were steaming along in our Pollutian train that is breaking up their now greatly reduced natural world, while it is trying to just get on with its life despite the noise and bother. Sorry, little capybara L In addition to our rodent friend, we saw our first toucan. This was a great relief because we felt like such frauds with our Costa Rica toucan ornament. In every country we go, we try to get a ‘Christmas ornament’ that is representative of our experience in that country. Somehow this toucan was the only thing we came up with in Costa Rica even though we had yet to lay eyes on one. But never fear, now everything is okay, and I’m sure the toucan that we saw has family in Costa Rica….so…..close enough.

Iguazu turned out to be quite a fulfilling trip! It was a great way to end our tour in South America. We felt both sad and somewhat relieved to be completing that part of our journey and returning ‘home’ to Cuenca. Going for such a long period of time with no real place to call home can be pretty taxing. But it was oh so worth it. It is a real satisfaction to be able to look at a map of the world and have memories, images and experiences that fill and enrich an otherwise static set of lines and colors. South America isn’t just another continent to us anymore. Even though we often skimmed the surface, there are people, places, cultures and history that we can now carry with us even if we never have the chance to see visit some of the places again.

So, that’s it for now and this is the last post about the traveling/tourist portion of our trip (so sad). Crazy that’s it over! A big thanks to all of you for your encouragement and comments. We will be sure to include an update soon about our life in Cuenca: how things are going here, what our vague plans are for the next eight months and so forth. Until then, ciao!

Actually, we had a good amount of time in the city. We stayed a week in Buenos Aires which was about perfect. But it did feel like we could have spent a lot more time there. It was probably our favorite city just to visit. Due to its size and the hot and muggy summers, it was not a prospect for us living there, and as such we were able to enjoy it simply as turistas – and as such it was our solemn duty to enjoy ourselves.

So we did. We looooved Buenos Aires. Transportation was simple, just hop on a subway and go. Taxis weren’t too expensive if something lay off the subway routes. But we didn’t need them much, there were usually subway lines within a few blocks of the main places that we wanted to be. Buenos Aires often reminded us of San Francisco. One of my major beefs with San Francisco, however, is its sucky transport system. Maybe I’m just not familiar with SF’s system, but Buenos Aires definitely has it beat hands down in this area. Which is sad. I really wish I could spend more time in one of the greatest cities in the world, but the traffic and parking are horrendous at best (well, that’s not true, driving through San Francisco at 4 in the morning is great!). Buenos Aires reminded me that subways make me very happy….you avoid all street traffic and usually they are very easy to understand and get you were you want to go quickly. If only SF had a good one! Mmm yes, so where was I? Buenos Aires. Right.

Perhaps the most memorable afternoon was when we walked down to the San Telmo neighborhood, where they shut off one of main streets once a week and people flood the area. In other places with these types of events, the usual thing is to have a bunch of booths filling the streets. It was different in San Telmo, there are musicians, artisans and performers all along the streets. There are booths and vendors down the side streets but the main attractions are the music and dance. There is nothing like tango. The music and the dance are mesmerizing. And I have a new found appreciation for accordions and their players. Growing up, the only association I had with any accordion music was this somewhat pathetic blind man that played melancholic Christmas tunes at the events in Grass Valley and Nevada City. Well, that image got turned on its head…let it be known that accordion players can in fact be cool and amazing! I have never seen anything like it. I was familiar with tango music via the “Waking Life” sound track, but hearing it come alive in the streets was something else entirely. The music has an enchantingly eerie quality that is inescapable. Throughout our stay in Buenos Aires, the songs kept going through my head, even long after we had seen the performances.

(Emily) It seems like a lot happens in the streets of Buenos Aires. One evening, we were trying to find the art museum when we walked by a street that had fun music playing loudly and people milling about everywhere. We were curious, but the museum was about to close, so we stayed on track. It was definitely not my favorite museum, but it had some interesting pieces. After we were kicked out with all the other late comers we wandered back over in the direction of the music. It seemed like some kind of fancy shindig. It wasn’t just music, but DJ’s and spotlights spelling out the names of things and red carpets, champagne being handed out like candy, and all kinds of expensively dressed people mobbing the store fronts. The first store we came across did have something special going on. A famous Argentinian artist had designed some pieces for their store and she was there signing autographs. I tried to go in the store, but I got stopped by a very polite but firm man who wanted to know if I was “on the list”. It wasn’t just that store though. The red carpet continued down the street to all kinds of designer stores some that we could actually go in. Although it is a little scary to touch a tank top that costs almost $500.

Then at the other end of the street we noticed a row of policemen and TV cameras everywhere. There were picket signs poking out amongst the gathering crowds. I couldn’t figure out what it all meant. I asked a couple of people in Spanish and got varying bits of information that basically amounted to there was some political figure there, but I didn’t know who or what he was doing there. Finally, I stopped an elegant looking lady who was scowling at the group. She spoke English and explained that he was a man who frequently spoke out for the poor people of Argentina. He often shows up in places where the rich folks are and tries to use the contrast to further his cause. She didn’t seem too impressed with him and proceeded to tell me about how the Shanty towns being built up around the city are basically a blemish and are causing embarrassment. I found her next comment amusing though. She said that many people were concerned that the informal housing would deter tourists from visiting their city, but now there are tours set up specifically to take tourists there to see that part of Argentinian life. She concluded, “Apparently tourists will go look at just about anything!” We also found out from this lady, that this was not some special event. They do this every week.

I loved the fact that there is this crazy world of people and companies that have so much money that they can do whatever they please with it. I also loved how there were people protesting it and reminding everyone that there are many people who have a lot of needs and in light of that, these extravaganzas are absurd. I love that the politicians are allowed to say things like that and that the elegant lady scowled but listened.

(Chris) Well, we saw a lot more in Buenos Aires, but rather than drag this on forever, here is a very very brief summary of the things we liked about Buenos Aires: cool clothes (funky, fashionable and cheap!), steak and grilled meat in general – very tasty and comparably cheap, tango (we saw a formal show and street performances – sexy!), varied food – Chinese, Indian (very good) and Italian (actually, we weren’t so impressed with pasta in Argentina, also, don’t bother getting pizza it seemed to be universally disastrous), did I mention the subway?, dog walkers with 7+ dogs, artists abound, cemetery (imagine a city of the dead…woooo.), art museum, the waterfront. All of those things could use a whole little section to describe our experiences…..But that’s all for now, you’ll just have to trust that we enjoyed ourselves. Except that our hostel room was too hot and did not have air conditioning as advertised. Hrrmf. Life is so tough sometimes :p. It was good actually, because it forced us to spend more time in the city rather than holing up like a hermit like I might be inclined to do.