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Published: July 15th 2010
Cuenca
My home for 2 weeks.When I decided to take the summer to travel to Ecuador solita, I had mixed respones from "Right on, go for it!" to "Don't get kidnapped!" So with 90% exictement and 10% hesitation, I moved everything into storage, packed a backpack and started underlining my Lonely Planet. I arrived in Ecuador 5 days ago and I'm finding that traveling alone has many advantages, but I am missing being able to share interesting/perplexing/amaxing experiences with loved ones. So here I am- doing something I swore I'd never do: Blogging. Here I go...
Kicking things off with a top 5 list of my favorite observations thus far:
5. Popcorn appears to count as a side dish at dinner. No complaints here.
4. Car seats don't seem to exist. Then again, neither does McDonalds. Even trade?
3. Fireworks are used for every occassion (or non-occassion). Apparently you can even build a suit out of them.
2. Cuy (guinea pig) is a special meal. Old-school abuelitas let them run around the kitchen floor before dinner.
1. Traveling as a brunette is much easier than traveling as a blonde.
I am so glad that I chose Cuenca as my starting point. It is a
Chola Cuencana
Traditionally dressed women in Cuenca. I have a minor obsession with them. city that is situated in the southern Andes with a mild climate, friendly people, and loads of history. People seem to have a lot of pride in their city and are nice to travelers. Since I arrived, I have been living with a great family and taking spanish classes at Fundacion Amauta. Turns out that four hours daily of one-on-one spanish classes can cause a bit of a headache as the old brain stretches. But its helping my fledgling spanish a lot.
My Ecuadorian family lives in a giant old home with chickens in the backyard. They have welcomed me like una hija and treat me like family. Mi mama is one of eleven children and works as a math teacher in the all girls high school (go ASC!) There are new family members around each day- everyone is a cousin or a nephew. There is lots of coming-and-going of people, endless plates of warm food, interesting new beverages every day, and five blankets on my bed at night. I am learning many interesting things living with a family and I will try to tackle that topic another day....
So far, I have been leisurely getting to know the
Chola Cuencana?
Such a wanna-be... city as I try to absorb the culture and understand the way that folks do things here. I've covered the tourist bases with trips to cathedrals, museums and monuments. But by far, my favorite thing is watching (and trying to talk to) the people. The markets are filled with colors and smells. The streets are filled with Chola Cuencanas (the word Chola has a different meaning here than in southern Cali where it sort of means gangsta). They are women that dress traditionally with straw hats, big skirts, two braids and prized shawls. One of my favorite pastimes is watching them and trying to figure out how to unobtrusively capture their beauty on film. I am excited to explore the surrounding villages and mountains this weekend. More later. Thanks for reading!
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Beth Jacob-Files
non-member comment
yea sister!
I am so glad you are doing this (the blog and the tip)! Your 'siblings' (i will NOT be replaced by the way) look very sweet. Get a hold of Sarah Hay on FB-she is my new girl buddy in SEattle who spent 1 yr in Cuenca and she will be happy to link u up to people there. xoxoxo, Beth