Cuenca Days

This past weekend Cuenca celebrated its Independence Day, fittingly named “Cuenca Days”. Basically, it was the best weekend to be in Cuenca. The week started off well by our lighter load and lack of an intensive class. Wednesday evening Kels and I went to Eucalyptus again in hopes of dessert and Ladies Night. Well, it wasn’t Ladies Night, but we still had wine, chocolate cake and French fries, an excellent food combination. Everyone we were with, though, questioned our food combination choices, and chalked it up to being a weird Oregon girl thing. Thursday night, instead of going out, we chose to have a relaxing movie night. We watched both “Taken 2” and “Ruby Sparks”. Friday morning we got up, ready to enjoy Cuenca Days. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there were artesian booths set up all over the city with blankets, jewelry, handicrafts, and artwork. We wandered along the Ferria booths for a good couple of hours, taking in the crowds and beautiful goods. There were also street musicians scattered along the way, playing mostly salsa music with excellent dancers out front. Again, Ecuadorians know how to move. After wandering for a while we stopped at Inca for lunch, waiting an unfortunate two hours, but still enjoying our tacos when we finally got them. After lunch, Kels and I decided to join our friend Mike on a trip to the cemetery; Friday was “El Día de los Defuntos”, the Ecuadorian version of Day of the Dead. The cemetery was a good 40-minute trek away, but it was well worth the walk. We got a colada morada along the way to warm ourselves, which is a hot punch-like drink made with fruits, flour, and an unnatural purple coloring I don’t want to know the origin of. The colada morada was served with a bread called “guaguas”, oddly shaped in the form of a wrapped up baby. The cemetery was full of people, and beautifully decorated. It was interesting taking in all of the beautiful flowers and decorations, and also noticing those that were there mourning a recent lose. Although it seemed many families visited out of obligation, it was beautiful to see the ones that were there to say hello to their missed loved one. After coming home from the cemetery, Kels and I put on our dancing shoes and headed out for the night. The streets were filled with people, and it was fun seeing so much energy and comradery.

Saturday morning Kels and I got up late, and got ourselves ready to head out to see Mark’s rugby game. Our roommate, Mark, had joined the local rugby team, and we were not going to miss his debut. We almost did though… After asking what bus to take and eventually waiting for and jumping on said bus, we realized we were heading in the wrong direction. Back to square one. We tried desperately to flag down a taxi to take us, but all the taxis were full because of the festivities in town. Eventually, we found an empty taxi, and were thankful to be on our way to the rugby game, only a little late. I personally had never seen rugby before, and it was interesting to see the combination of futbol and football in the sport; definitely a tough sport. After the game, Kels and I came home and lounged around until our beloved Ducks were on. I had not managed to watch a single Duck game in Guatemala, and it has been wonderful seeing so many games here, especially since our Ducks are kicking butt. After the game ended at 10pm we didn’t feel like going out again, but stopped by San Sebastian park for a quick second to listen to the band playing in the square. Sunday morning I got up for church, and had a pretty laid back and productive Sunday of grocery shopping, finishing my book, and doing some last minute Ferria shopping. All in all, great weekend to be in Cuenca. This week intensive classes start again, meaning my wonderful free evenings and coming home before dark are over. But I like being busy, so bring it on! I’m excited to meet my new batch of 101 English students.