Baños and Quezada

So I didn't make it to Baños yesterday. L and I have tried making plans with a bunch of people, and needless to say... they didn't work out. Maybe today will be different. L made friends with a Cuencana the other night, but I have yet to met her. We have to go to Baños today!!! Hopefully third times the charm.

Instead we explored some more of downtown Cuenca. Every block I pass it seems I smell the aroma of baking bread. Here you can buy bread for 10 cents or less a bun, so I, like several of my friends would be, am in bakery heaven. After all, bread is the staff of life, right?

Last night we accompanied our host family to an awards ceremony for the Federación Deportiva del Azuay. It awarded the region's top athletes, including our own host sister Carolina for her performance in ping pong. The apex of the evening was an athlete of the year award to Jefferson Perez Quezada. He is a champion runner from Cuenca who performed in the '96 Atlanta Olympics. Additionally, he was the first Ecuadorian to win the gold medal in the 20 km race walk. It was an interesting experience to be standing in the presence of athletes competing in Beijing this year.

Hopefully I'll make it to Baños today... let you know!

Salsa class, mornings and food poisoning

This morning I woke up the same way I do every morning. L walks up to my room and rips of my blanket: "YOU'VE GOT TO GET UP NOW!!!" What can I saw I like my sleep!

Our host mom usually has breakfast ready for us at 7; usually a roll, jam, yogurt (really thick juice) and coffee. We've got to be out the door by 7:30 because there is a 10 minute walk between us and Sampere. Dodging morning traffic is my usual source of morning exercise. (There's a whole different king of driver in Ecuador... dangerous).

My morning group includes L, our good friend Fleur (Flor while shes in SA), and Jack, a new student from Britain. These small groups are far superior to high school classes of 35. There is a serious difference in the quality of learning. Breaks between classes include me searching out the nearest bakery and filling up on coffee. We usually have class until 11, when there is normally a culture class 3 days out of the week.

That is my typical morning schedule.

The last two Wednesdays have seen my (shaky at best) attempts to learn salsa dancing. An instructor is usually at the school from 6:30 to 8:00. Squeezing close to 20 people in to a small classroom makes dancing an exercise in precision maneuvering at best. At worst...

After class, 15 of us trekked into downtown Cuenca looking for a restaurant that could accommodate our party on short notice. A dozen cafes and 50 minutes later we settled on a pizza and hamburger joint (not my choice, mind you). Long story short, I got my first case of food poisoning since arriving in SA. Needless to say, be careful of questionable pizza joints.

Going to el Baños this afternoon, I'll let you know how it goes.

Bolivar baby!

I just got done with a tour of El Museo Etnográfico del Banco Central. They are featuring an exhibit on the native cultures of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Quite simply, it was amazing! From ceremonial masks to scale models of homes to conventional tools that were used by the many nations, we were given a definitive look at the lifestyle of these peoples.

To culminate the exhibit, the museum displays several shrunken heads from the Shuar people! These heads were used as status symbols of their warriors. Close your fist. Add twelve inches of hair tied back at the neck. Yes folks, literally that small! Skin blackened from age, mouths sewn shut (to stop the soul from escaping); they are ancient relics of a time long past in South America.

Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in the exhibit. It didn't stop one chav in my group from taking a flash photo of a shrunken head. C'mon folks, let's use a little discretion here! It's not as if they're getting a shipment of SHRUNKEN HUMAN HEADS every Tuesday and Friday!

After the tour Flor and I walked upstairs to explore the museum's library. We were taken upstairs to its archives, and were literally floored. The second largest library in Cuenca, it has over 52,000 editions. Not only that, but the curator showed us the first editions of laws in Gran Colombia, published in 1826! We were also shown the first issue of Cuenca's first newspaper, as well as the personal correspondence of Simón Bolivar! I held a large piece of history in my hands not an hour ago. Incredible!!!

This is Cuenca

Cuenca is becoming a real experience for me. Communicating with locals becomes easier day by day. Cuencanos have stopped trying to speak to me in English. I even find myself talking politics with my host father nightly. It provides the kind of feeling when you know you're going to make it. This is why I came to Cuenca.

Estudio Sampere has greatly helped me with my grammar in the last week. They're unbelievable gains as far as I'm concerned. If anybody knows how frustrating subjunctive sentences can be in Spanish, you know what I'm talking about.

I haven't made it to Baños yet, unfortunately. But I've made it a goal to get there this week. Paul tells me that they are hot springs where people can come to relax in the early hours of the morning. Furthermore, Cajas National Park and The Cuencan Museum of Religious Artifacts are on that list as well. This coming Sunday I am going with Sampere to several rural pueblos to get a taste of life outside of the city. The usual tourist fare, you know...

As for my family, I can hardly leave the house without having to look over my shoulder. Caro and her cadre of ping pong extraordinaries are waiting for those moments so they can rain down buckets of water on my way out the door. This is Cuenca.

The picture I have posted is of the Azuay ruins, adjacent to El Río Tomebamba.

Carnaval... It's on!!!

Our host family took us to their quinta yesterday afternoon. A quinta is basically a villa, a parcel of land that was originally part of the family hacienda. Walking back from the Rio Cuenca (union of the four rivers of Cuenca), I was showered with water from five kids, and L literally soaked people. February 3,4 and 5 are the culmination of the water soaking season. I'm terrified!!!

This weekend I went out to several bars and discotecas in Cuenca. One called LIT was packed because of a birthday party for a local Cuencano. In five minute I'm going to reunite with several people I met this weekend. It seems everywhere I go people are interested in making friends.

I haven't gone to Baños this week yet, though it's on the agenda.

This week at Sampere, we're saying goodbye to several Swiss students that have befriended me. It's sort of a changing of the guard at school because new students, including those from Minnesota have arrived...