Something New Everyday!

Monday was a warm, sunny day with temperatures into the low 80's--my kind of winter! I took a taxi to Parque Central Calderon. It's a beautiful square with the magnificent and imposing new cathedral located across from the square. The new cathedral was built in the 1800's, as opposed to the old cathedral which was constructed in the 1500's. I shot a few photos of the fountain, the church, and the palm trees that also grow in this part of the Andes due to Cuenca's mild climate.

I arrived early, so I could catch the 11:00 a.m. double-decker bus that would take me for a two hour tour of Cuneca, which included a stop at a pinnacle of the city that provided a panoramic view of Cuenca in its entirety. At 10:50 a.m., I am in the middle of the square as I spot the bus moving around the square. I assume the passengers were from the previous excursion, and would be dropped off, and then I and anyone else would board the bus. The driver drove around the square twice. I moved in whatever direction the bus was moving. The bus stopped at each corner of the square, granted I was always positioned on the driver's side of the bus. However, I never noticed anyone embarking or departing from the bus as it made its stops around the square. If anything, it appeared the tour was in process. The driver then proceeded down a side street. That was the last I saw of the bus, and it was only 10:55. I waited another ten minutes, in case another bus came. I sat on a bench near the location where a police officer told me I would catch the bus. While waiting to see if another bus came, I conversed with a professor from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, who would be leaving Tuesday for the states.

Since no bus appeared, the professor and I departed are own ways. I spent the morning being a tourist, and began taking photos of the endless squares, churches, and utterly beautiful colonial facades. I made my way down to the open market, did a little haggling, and made some purchases. I entered the huge mercado filled with vendors--half the building devoted to freshly cut meat--entails, heads, claws; and the other half devoted to fresh fruits and vegetables. One vendor cracked open with her fingers a fruit the size of a tennis ball, yellow in its exterior color, and inside was a texture of slime filled with lots of little black seeds. I imitated the vendor by eating the pulp and smooth seeds. I believe the fruit is called granadilla. It is my understanding that grandilla is called passion fruit in some parts of the world. It was deliciously sweet, and quickly made me forget its slimy appearance. I believe I may have seen these fruits in the supermarkets back home, but the expensive price and not knowing how to eat them prevented me from purchasing the granadilla.

When I was at the SuperMaxi on Saturday, I had purchased half of a papaya. A sweet tasting papaya is good, but for my taste is not a favorite compared with mellow mangoes and succulent peaches. Papayas have more the texture of a melon, although not as grainy as water melon. The cashier told me the best way to eat papaya was to squeeze fresh lime over it. I will have to attempt that the next time I purchase a papaya, and see how lime enhances the taste. One thing to date I have not seen in Cuenca is seedless grapes. Otherwise, while back home, we appreciate that we can buy most fruits the year round, we also know that buying fruits out of season does not provide us with the fruits at the peak of their succulence. Because of the year-round growing season in Ecuador, most fruits are at their peak throughout the year. Fruits, therefore, remain very inexpensive throughout the year as well.

After exploring here and there and taking my allotment of photos for the day, I began to walk home. I stopped and had my personal pan pizza at my currently favorite pizza spot. I then stopped at my currently favorite bakery for fresh baked loaves of bread. The first time I shopped at the bakery, I bought a loaf of cuesa bread, which is made with cuesa cheese layered throughout the bread. This time I tried a different loaf with sesame seeds sprinkled on it. The first time I entered the bakery, what little Spanish I had in my command completely abandoned me. I could not get the lady to understand that I wanted to know what the price was. I finally pulled out a dollar, so she would know I wanted to negotiate price. I thought the dollar would be the starting point. Instead, she broadened into a large smile took my dollar and presented me with twenty cents change. Fresh-baked bread for eighty cents, such a deal! The next time I returned to SuperMaxi, I checked out their baked whole loaf bread prices--$3.50 to $4.50--Panera prices back home. It took me four days to finish off a loaf of bread. Most amazingly, the bread remained fresh right up onto the last piece late in the evening of the fourth day before it began to harden. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking--just what you need more carbs.

Marc, will be glad to know I am becoming more diligent in my study of the Spanish language. I am using the "Spanish for Dummies" course, and I study from the book and listen to the tapes. When I return to Cuenca, I will hire a Spanish tutor, so I can receive immediate feedback and interaction. I do try to practice a line or two and build on it everyday with Jose, one of the security workers here at the La Cuandro II were I reside. Jose is very patient, and forever correcting my Spanish and sentence structure.

Last evening I took a taxi out to the the Mal Del Rio, which is a beautiful, two story mall. It is fully enclosed, which surprised me. With the mild Cuenca climate, I thought the mall might be fully or partially open-air, like malls I have visited in San Diego and Honolulu. I'm not big on malls, but its food court adds a nice variety of Ecuadorian choices as well as Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King. No, I have no intentions of eating at either of them. Video arcades are still very popular at least at the mall. There is a very large one aimed at children, and a smaller version aimed at teens.

My purpose for going to the mall was to experience the cinema complex. I particularly had hoped to study my Spanish. I had read in a book that American movies in Ecuador were generally in English with Spanish subtitles. The movie "Eclipse" seemed like a good way of beginning. First surprise, the movie was only $4.50 in the evening yet. Refreshments looked about as expensive as back home. Don't expect to find stadium seating, or long back rocking chairs. Otherwise, they were nice, attractive, comfortable theaters. My next surprise--the movie was in Spanish with no English subtitles, although I was expecting a movie in English with Spanish subtitles. Either way I could have boned up on my Spanish. Under the circumstances, I could do neither. If I only had the dialog to listen to, I would not have had any idea what was being said except for an occasional word. Seeing the film at least helped me figure out the plot. My third surprise, it has been decades since I saw a dubbed film. I always hated how the lips did not synchronize with the words. I assume the sophistication of computer-generated software has allowed the lips and Spanish to move in perfect sync. I would have believed the movie had been originally filmed in Spanish with Spanish-Speaking actors. I was very impressed.

Poverty in Cuenca

I had been told by friends that there was an open market close by about a mile from where I am staying at La Caudra Dos, about five blocks south of SuperMaxi. Therefore, I decided to explore that part of town yesterday and see if I could find the market. I had a choice of two directions to follow at one juncture. I decided not to follow the "straight line is the shortest distance between two points" philosophy, and instead took an around-a-bout path that looked like it would allow me to explore more of what seemed like a business district. This was probably the least affluent area of Cuenca I had encountered thus far. The population appeared to be primarily indigenous. My round-a-bout walking pattern surprisingly led me directly to the market. The market was more impressive than the one I had visited in El Centro, because it more reminded me of the open-markets I visited in India, Bangkok,and Hong Kong back in the 70's. However, even this market was not like the open-street bazaars where vendors were stationed under canopies of canvas like years ago.

This market was semi-housed in a building with the meats and all of the other manufactured items on the inside of the building that had only partial walls, while all the vendors of fruits and vegetables ringed around about half of the exterior of the market, sheltered in the open air only by a roof . The market vendors also appeared to be a totally indigenous people. The sounds of language, the haggling over prices, the smells and odors of every fruit and vegetable imaginable, the olfactory onslaught of freshly slaughtered meats of every kind, the aromas of newly picked flowers mixing with that of variously cooked meats, combined further with the smell of live-stock and pets, and finally the garbage and sewer odors--all effusively swirling in a mixture of sights, sounds, and smells rarely experienced in the states.

There were live chickens, roosters, geese, rabbits, and guinea pigs. All of which would be purchased, fattened up, and eventually eaten. Yes, guinea pigs are considered a national delicacy in Ecuador, and they are served under the name of cuy. No, not yet, and yes, maybe. As long as its not served to me with its feet and head still intact.

Of further interest were the large variety of dogs that could be purchased. I assume for pets. There was a multiplicity of breeds, all placed together (numbering six to twelve) in make-shift cages of wood frames and chicken wire, while resting on areas of straw waiting to be adopted. Obviously, there is nothing I have described to you that remotely would ever meet the standards of any Board of Health back home. The closest I can recall to an open market experience anything like this in the United States beckons back from my experience as a child and a very young man during the last of the hey-days of the old Maxwell Street market in Chicago, which was also known as "Jew Town" back in the 50's and 60's. I have memories of that time period that remind me of a familiarity of what I described to you above, except that on Maxwell Street every ethnic group imaginable was represented among the vendors and customers of a by-gone era.

I was amazed at how healthy the dogs in the market looked, and how well they seem to get along with one another. Dogs are numerous in Cuenca. They appear to me to have homes, and pretty much a free "come-and-go as you like" attitude by their owners. What I love about Cuencano dogs is that thus far not one has barked at me, and I have walked past many dogs. In fact, there was an enormous dog yesterday. He was just lying on the walk on his side. I, of course, am looking up and I don't spot the dog until the very last second. I almost fell full-body over him. Damn, the dog didn't even react. I must say, however, that there are times when I will hear what sounds like a large number of dogs barking. Sometimes it sounds as if two dogs or two packs of dogs are snarling and barking at one another, which is always quick and short-lived. Other times it's just dogs barking for a period of time. This serenade generally happens at night, and last night was the first evening were the dogs were howling and barking in unison for a period of time. I saw an almost full moon rising early today, so we must be in a full moon period. Hopefully, there are no vampires in Cuenca.

Cuenca, by world standards has what one may call "genteel poverty." The city has proportionately the largest middle-class of any large city in Ecuador. From what I have read, and from what I have heard from visitors, and from what I have observed to date; unlike Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador's two largest cities, there is no begging on the streets in Cuenca. Unlike from my own experiences in India, Cuenca does not have a homeless population. I have not to date found people sleeping on the sidewalks, nor sleeping on the stairs and in the hallways of tenements and high rises, nor sleeping in public buildings like the railway stations as was and is the case in India. Nor have I seen make-shift homes of refrigerator crates or tin roofs simply providing the semblance of a shelter as is still so common in India. If any of these activities are happening in Cuenca, they are very rare and not prevalent as these activities are in numerous cities in the world like a Mumbai.

Additionally in response to another one of your questions from back home. The Ecuadorian people for the most part are quite warm and friendly, as were the Indian people. I did have the advantage in India of being able to communicate more easily with more Indians, because more of them spoke at least some English, and the Indian middle-class spoke English quite well. However, I find people have been quite patient in trying to understand me in order to provide me with information or a service. Ecuadorians who approach me to possibly practice their English or just to help me out when they speak a little English, are quick to say not so fast, speak slower please. So yes, if someone has some understanding of English it does make sense to speak the language slowly enough for the other person to comprehend it. People who only have some familiarity with another language are still frequently translating in their heads. They have not reached the point yet, where they think automatically in the second language.