Last Sunday we went with Pete and Pattie (met Pete at Yanapuma, they are from Bloomington, MN) to Alausi. We wanted to take a bus, and did. We got up at 6:00, and made the 7:00 bus. What we failed to ask was, as it turns out, the seminal question: “when does it arrive in […]
Ecuador
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Christmas Wishes! It’s now been 3 1/2 months since leaving St. Paul, and 4 months since homelessness. What a long strange trip it’s been! There are two main constants that have we have seen along the way: People tend to be pretty great – whether American, Ecuadorian, friends, acquaintances, or total strangers, […]
Pase del Niño parade
Christmas Eve in Cuenca features the largest Pase del Niño parade in latin america. The Miami Herald has a nice writeup: Pase del Niño parade The event starts at 10:00 in the morning, lasting about 8 hours. We went with our host family to their school that overlooks the parade route. We were able to get a […]
Loja
Last Friday we left Cuenca for a weekend in Loja, about 3 1/2 hours south by van. From Wikipedia: The city of Loja was founded by Field Marshal Alonso de Mercadillo in 1548, and it is named for his hometown of Loja in Spain. Originally located near La Toma in the Catamayo canyon since 1546, […]
Mangers
As part of the Ecuadorian Christmas festivities, mangers play a major part. Most families have a manger scene in their homes. Most parks have mangers, often life size. Any town of reasonable size will have a market that is set up solely for the Christmas holiday that features Christmas decorations, with creche figurines taking the […]
Yanapuma Spanish School
Several people have asked about how the Spanish is coming. Here are a few thoughts: Yanapuma is a very good school that we would recommend to others Spanish is not English – it has its own set of rules and irregularities, usually very different than those in English It seems far less important to learn […]
A Visit to the Doctor
About a week ago you heard about Ellen’s big toe. Last Monday we went to the doctor. We followed his advice. Now, even though we frequently experience shortness of breath, the “crazy” part of “mal de altura,” or altitude sickness, seems to have passed. Last Monday we came in to class and decided we needed […]
Ingapirca
On Sunday we drove to Ingapirca, the best example of Inca ruins in Ecuador. Our Yanapuma (Spanish school) friends Peter (from Bloomington, MN) and Richard (from San Francisco, CA) went with. Peter has been to Ecuador before, and rented and drove the car. The drive took about 2 hours. As we left Cuenca we drove […]
Christmas Parades
It seems that December is the season of Christmas festivities in Ecuador. I have now seen at least three parades all ready. This all culminates on Christmas Eve Day when Cuenca celebrates the “viaje nino” or travelling child. That particular parade starts at 10:00 am and goes until 5:00 in the afternoon. On Friday, our […]
Pumapunga
Presumably you’ve already read Ellen’s latest postcard, so you know that we’re both suffering from fairly extreme altitude sickness. It’s Saturday so there is no school. Even though we didn’t know when businesses open, we left at about 7:15. Naturally, nothing was open, so we waited until 8:15 to get a bit of breakfast. We […]