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Published: March 24th 2008
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A packed cathedral
I stood in the back of the cathedral the whole time. This is not the best picture as I forgot I had it on manual focus and was worried about trying to take the picture without being too conspicuous. In any case, you can see the nave is full. It is now in the evening of Easter Sunday and it’s time to start wrapping up Cuenca. I’ve decided I will head out tomorrow, assuming buses are running relatively well. It is an estimated 12 hour bus ride to Quito from Cuenca and if I’m going to take the bus I need to break up the trip. I can basically divide the trip in half if I leave tomorrow and get as far as Riobamba. That seems a whole lot more palatable than sitting on a bus for 12 hours straight...especially when the buses tend not to have bathrooms. There will be stops, of course, but 12 hours is a long time. Oh, well...my hope is for good scenery and some adventure...
Cuenca has been a good city and I can see some tourist potential here. There are museums and sights to tour, some of which I’ve done. For those who want the full time life here, there is that option too. I will say Cuenca is a bit of a “mellow” town...there is nightlife, and it frankly starts a little later than I would likely be around, but overall I think this is more the city for cultural events
With the zoom lens
Here is a closer shot of the altar. I wasn't any closer than the other picture of inside, but just used the better zoom lens. and such. I suspect Quito or Guayaquil is where I would look for a more “lively scene”. Nonetheless, there is plenty to see here for a number of days, especially if you look to the tours and just a little bit outside of Cuenca itself: Cajas National Park in the mountains, the shopping opportunities in the small towns, the architectural ruins and sights, and more. There is also just seeing life in this Latin American town. Today, of course, offered a little more of that site with Easter Sunday. It’s been too long since I’ve been to church (as Pastor Johnson would agree) so I attended Mass at the New Cathedral. Now, I’m not Catholic but Lutheran so I couldn’t much participate, and there’s always the language problem - especially in a large area that echos a lot. I can understand only about 10% of the words being spoken right now without an echo, much less with the echo! Anyway, it was interesting to see Mass in this grand cathedral. The Mass I attended started at 11AM and generally started on time. However, one item that was interesting was that people came to the cathedral throughout the service - very
After Mass
Here is the stream of people pouring out after Mass. I was part of the crowd and left earlier than these people. As you can tell, it is Mass that brings many people, especially on Easter Sunday. unlike back home. At home, of course, if Mass starts at 11AM everyone is basically there at that time and there’s few interruptions. There was also a lot less music than I may have expected in the service, plus the laypeople seemed much more passive in the service - the priests pretty much did it all. Don’t get me wrong, there was some interaction...just not as much as you might expect or that traditionally I’ve seen back home. I was still amazed by the ornate decoration of the inside of the cathedral and know that in that respect, Catholicism seems to blow away Protestants. In any case, the service was concluded soon enough and people started departing from the nave. I spent much of the rest of today “taking it easy”. Being Sunday, just about everything was closed - though not everything. There were some restaurants open and some street vendors. It was also a beautiful day weather-wise. Overall, it was a good day for a final full day here in Cuenca.
Tomorrow, I will have breakfast with a local contact who lives and works here. David may be able to offer some further “last insight” on Cuenca and
There's no place like home...
The picture isn't terribly important other than look at the cities on the sign where they ship to... it will be good to have some breakfast. David also talks about coffee at a local restaurant. I hope it’s “real” coffee...one interesting item about Ecuador is the lack of “real” coffee for this coffee snob. Ironically, there is little brewed coffee in this country that produces coffee. I’m sure it is in part due to needing equipment and space in restaurants; it’s easier to just do along the lines of instant coffee. That said, I haven’t actually drank much coffee in Ecuador, and then wondered why I’ve been tired more than normal! Anyway, I will have some breakfast and perhaps take a taxi ride to a town called Cañar near Cuenca. I’m not sure there’s a lot that’s very interesting about Cañar, but it is the town where some of my co-workers back in the States are originally from. I think it would be a hoot to have a picture of me in Cañar to send back to them! It will then be off to my bus (assuming it is running all day like the buses from Otavalo to Quito) to Riobamba for the overnight stop. From Riobamba, it will be back to Quito to catch another bus to
Close up of part of the New Cathedral
I was playing with zoom lenses, but it does give a nice closeup of part of the outside the Amazon...
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