Interlude 5:Misconceptions and Revelations

   Sorry that its been a while since my last post, we were traveling for about 2 weeks straight. I'm home again now, not in Cuenca, but in Cleveland. It feels good and surreal to be back. And although I'm back, the story isn't over, I have probably another 3-5 tales to tell if not a few more than that. So if you'll allow me a bit of time to collect my thoughts I will try to tell the rest of our experiences and a few more cultural oddities/intricacies. In the meantime here are some little things that I noticed over my time in Ecuador.

• I had always thought that roosters only crow at sunrise. It turns out that roosters crow out whenever they  please. And that means often and throughout the night. A memorable quote from me while we were staying in a small community in the rain forest: that's no rooster, its a boy pretending to be a rooster! In my defense it was 6:45am and I was mostly still asleep.

• The Rain forest has frequent, unpredictable rain showers, who woulda thunk it?

• Surfing is much more challenging than they make it look in most Hollywood movies. Also I found out from surfing that my balance sucks. 

• The world without music while walking around is nowhere near as much fun. 

• Fresh fruits, vegetables and bakery items are about as cheap in Ecuador as Fast food is in America. This really shows how affordable and accessible healthy food is in Ecuador and how much of a premium is put on being healthy in the United States. This has reinforced for me that we clearly have our priorities misplaced in the United States.

• You can pack a whole lot of activities into a day especially if you wake up super early. Also exhaustion can know no limits if you pack enough activities into enough consecutive days. I think more than anything this made me value sleep all the more on the rare days when I did not have to wake up. 

• This entire trip has let me realize how much of a pop culture encyclopedia I can be, for better or worse. No I most certainly don't know everything, but I know at least a little bit about a great many things in the realms of books, music, movies and what-have-you.

• Big misconception-that Ecuador is only ever hot. Trust me when I tell you that there were a multitude of nights I was very glad to have a host of heavy blankets on my bed in Cuenca. And when the days started to get colder I needed to break out my flannel shirts to stay warm in the mornings and evenings, sadly it can't be warm all the time. 

• Sometimes you just gotta go for it and break through your comfort zone. For me it was peeing on the sides of highways and on buildings. For Steve it was dancing. We all had something. 

• Ecuador has taught me a new love for pocket change. Before I would always put lesser importance on anything that was smaller than a quarter. Now on the other hand I have seen how every nickle, dime, and penny count; especially when bread is 16 cents. Oh! Half-dollar coins are awesome and I think we should still have them in the states. 

• While on the subject of money, I will never cease to be amazed by how hard it is to make change in almost any establishment in Ecuador. I'll explain: if your bill is $12.80 it will be an ordeal if you pay with a $20 bill. They will have a very had time finding you $7.20 in change. That sounds like a simple amount to find, but yet it is so scarce to come by. The cashier might even have to go to a nearby store to accommodate your extravagant needs. Best bet: pay with exact change whenever possible. 

• Anywhere you find yourself you might encounter a flock of sheep or a herd of cows. Whether you are in the middle of the city, or the a steep hill in the countryside, or maybe you're exploring some ancient ruins; whatever the case, chances are you'll find some animals. 

• Other countries don't frown upon public urination quite as much as we do, same goes for public displays of affection. Awkward at first, but definitely something you get used to. 

• Living in Ecuador has made me very grateful for American drivers who follow some sort of discernible rules of the road. Turning signals! I have an undeniable love for any driver who uses his or her turn signal, please people use them.  

Chapter 11: The View from Turi

  I ventured out on a Saturday afternoon after sleeping in and having felt a bit under the weather the past two days. My plan was to just explore the path that ran alongside the river by our house and see what happened from there. The sun was beating down on me with only scant clouds in sight and my nose full of sniffles. The sun and the sniffles brought me back to a similar day, a day with a twin sun to this one: Lobsterfest '09. When I was part of the radio station, Lobsterfest was the outdoor concert we had every year at the end of spring quarter. The day of Lobsterfest I couldn't breathe very well due to a stuffy nose and also couldn't talk very well due to losing my voice a few days before. My brother had come down for the weekend to hang out and listen to music, all of my favorite people from the radio station were there. The sun was mercilessly beating down, but the bands were great. Russenorsk, Kaslo, She Bears, they were all there as well as a ton more. Jay Reatard headlined; he was kind of a jerk to the set up crew and sound technicians, but he put up on a good show nevertheless.

Lobsterfest '09, the band is either Kaslo or She Bears

  Back in the present tense I was walking alone, only accompanied by the music in my headphones and the supplies I had brought along. In a short while I ran into my host mom and my sobrinos who were also out for a stroll. We all laughed at meeting there on the path. Lupe asked me where I was going, I admitted I did not know. Her eyes lit up and she told me that if I was feeling energetic then I could walk to Turi, the hillside vantage point on the outskirts of town. I thought that sounded like a fine adventure. Lupe told me to follow the river to the third bridge, there I was to cross. Then I was to wind my way through the new part of town until I found a staircase that would take me up to Turi. It was a quest!

Incan ruins, kind of like Starbucks, but more historically important

  I walked until I found the third bridge, on my side of the river there was a small site of Incan Ruins, yes perhaps they are everywhere here, like Starbucks in the US, except more historically important. I crossed the bridge then crossed the following roundabout. Just as prescribed I wound my way through the city streets, keeping Turi in sight as I went. Each step closer meant the sun beating down more and more, though I put sunscreen on before I left, I neglected to bring a water bottle. As I climbed one of the ascending streets I lucked into finding a store that had   large water bottles for only 50 cents. Proud of my find and now less in danger of becoming dehydrated, I continued on.

One of the cows, less dangerous than at Ingapirca

Sheep on a hill

   I ended up crossing yet another river that I did not know existed in Cuenca, finding a flock of cows and sheep as I went. A little further down the way I had to cross a four lane high way, it really wasn't too bad. I still wasn't sure exactly where the staircase was located, so I ended up asking a few different people. It was a good way to practice my Spanish and they were all fairly friendly. The grandma with her grand-daughter I asked, said that Turi was very close and in fact they were going the way way as well. Wow those stairs were steep, and they seemed to just go on forever. Once I made it to the top, it made the whole trek worth it. Wow, just wow, the view was magnificent. You could see all of Cuenca, the mountains in the distance and Cajas the national park nestled between the mountains. I was still extremely hot from the sun and the hike so I walked around a bit in Turi in search of ice cream. Luck beyond luck I found a vendor selling cones, two flavors per cone for 50 cents. I got a Guayaba and Chocolate cone, it hit the spot.

the endless staircase

The view from Turi # 1

The View from Turi # 2

The View from Turi #3, I magically got myself in this one, imagine that!

   The way back was a bit quicker since I didn't have to wind my way quite as much. When I was almost home I found some guys playing volleyball in the park so I stopped to watch for a bit. I think it was then that I decided I want to play volley ball some Saturday or Sunday afternoon before I leave. When I got home I wolfed my lunch down, Lupe asked me if I enjoyed the food. I replied it wasn't bad. She laughed and told me that there is an Ecuadorian saying that goes " Cuando hay mucho hambre, no hay mal pan" or roughly translated, "When you're really hungry, nothing tastes bad". I laughed and agreed that was a good saying.

PS I snagged an awesome pic of the clouds on the way home

Chapter 6: South American Pottery Class

Today after class we visited a potter. To get to the potter's workshop we took cabs, which was slightly exciting since that was our first time taking taxis while in Cuenca. When we arrived the potter gave us a quick tour which consisted of the shop in front, the kiln, the pit where they mix earth into workable clay and also a small room filled with dozens of fired, but unpainted works.

Potter demonstrating, me in the foreground

  Throughout this tour it was quite evident that the potter was very skilled at his job.  This was even more clear when he demonstrated how to make a vase from a lump of clay on the wheel. The wheel was manual, one foot rested on a bar while the other kicked the wheel into motion. As the foot created the motion, the potter then used his hands to deftly mold and shape the clay into beautiful figures.  As he worked he explained the process to us in Spanish. He made it look so easy.

Ross and Mary trying their hand at ceramics

Look! Here it seems as if I know what I"m doing! what an illusion!

   But he wasn't just explaining the method to us for explanation's sake. Once he finished with his lump it was our turn to take to the wheel. One by one we sat down at one of the two manual clay-working wheels. We made semi-beautiful things and made fools of ourselves, and had an awesome time. Did I mention that while all of this was happening there was a motley crue of animals running around? Well, there was. As I counted there were two to three dogs, one cat and one friendly parrot. There might have also been some chickens in the back, because someone was shouting about the dogs attacking them at one point, but I didn't see them. The parrot was definitely my favourite. He didn't fly much, I think because one of his wings was broken, but he hopped and sucttered about nudging our shoes exploratorily and bending his head asking to have it scratched. He was great.

Ross acting like a pirate with the parrot, Isaac caught off guard

  Once we had all at least attempted to create something (mine came out looking like a toothpick holder) we returned to the university where we acquired our cell phones for Ecuador. Now we would finally have the ability to contact each other when needed. The phones were mostly of the old durable Nokia model, so we wouldn't really have to worry about breaking them, only losing them. Before going home for the day a group of us went to a comfortable cafe around the corner from our university called La Cigale. We had a snack of chips and guacamole and a beverage of our choice. I had mint tea, others had coffee, and two had beer. It was a good way to wind down after a fun day.