Camila's family

Camila is the 12 year old girl who I am tutoring English, on the side for an hour 2x/week.  Because I am busy,  I wasn't sure about taking on another commitment, but boy am I happy that I did!  Her parents invited me to have lunch out with them yesterday.  (I think this was sort of a way of saying thank you.)  We went to the same restaurant that I went to back in the fall with my students.  This restaurant is known for its cuy, guinea pig.  They thought that they would be introducing me to cuy, but the fact is, I have now had it more times that I can count.  Lunch was lovely & I met Camila's older sister & mother.  (I had already met her father as he is the 1 who brings her for tutoring.)  They are a lovely, interesting family from whom I learned a lot.  The about 23-year-old older daughter speaks English quite well.  She is very enterprising,  traveling to Miami 2x/year, buying as many items of clothing as she can, returning here & selling them again, making a profit, but still selling them at a cheaper price than what many of the clothes in the local stores charge.  I had no idea that this happens.  I also learned that many local people buy lots of things on Amazon (electronics, clothes, etc.) as it costs less than buying them locally even with the added cost of shipping.

Today I went with Camila's family to their weekly Sunday family gathering with ALL the relatives--grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles--everyone.  There were about 30 people at the home of one of the aunts & uncles.  It was so much fun being with all of them.  Their warmth and the fact that they clearly enjoy each other emanates from each & every one of them.  The family is vegetarian so we had vegetarian lasagna, with broccoli & spinach, a welcome change.  Mostly they wanted me to talk in English so that the children would have the opportunity to speak with a native English speaker.  Most of the various cousins speak English quite well.  In fact, 3 were born in the U.S.  One cousin, who is 13 years old, would like to show me around the city, practicing his English.  Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day, but I said that we could get together from time to time.  His family suggested that I go with them to Paute, a town about 40 minutes from here, where they have a home.  I have been invited back to have lunch with them again in a couple of weeks at Camila's family's home.  I feel so fortunate to have these wonderful experiences.

Passover Seder

I know that Passover is coming up & I thought it would be nice to have a Seder, if I could pull it off.  I met a woman from Israel a few months ago & saw her again last week, so asked her what she was doing for Passover.  At that point in time she had no plans & didn't seem to know any or many other Jewish people.  We talked about how to proceed & decided that I would post on Gringo Tree, a website/email communication that comes out several times a day with posts for the local Gringos regarding things that are going on in the Cuenca area & beyond.  The request for information re people's interest in having a Seder went out on Friday night & by midday Saturday I had received responses from about 10 people, totaling 13 people who want to participate in the Seder.  I am still in shock about the number of responses.  In addition, I heard from 2 people who are not yet living here, but are contemplating moving here.  It seems that they think that I am the resident expert on all things Jewish in Cuenca as they have flooded me with questions.  I do not know the answers, but in addition to them I heard from a former Peace Corps volunteer who was here in the late 60s who has a wealth of knowledge about the Jewish community in Ecuador in general & in Cuenca more specifically. As a result, I have learned a lot & have forwarded some of his information to those who have asked about the history of the Jews in Cuenca & Ecuador.

The end result of all of this is that we will be having a Seder at my Israeli friend's house on the 2nd night of Passover.  One person said that he thinks he can get matzoh & matzoh meal emailed to him before Passover.  Another person has 10 Haggadahs, a matzoh cover & a Seder plate.  My friend & I will decide who will bring what.  We're on!!  This will be a Passover to remember & I must say that I am very pleased with myself for making this happen!!

this past weekend & today

Friends of mine from WorldTeach (the program under which I am teaching here) who teach English in Riobamba were in Cuenca this past weekend.  My friend, Nancy, who lives here and is in the process of getting her residency here had told me that if I had friends from WorldTeach who visited Cuenca & needed a place to stay that they could stay with her.  That was a generous offer & I took her up on it, putting Nancy in touch with my friends who visited this past weekend.  I had no doubt that they would all get along as all 3 of them are former Peace Corps volunteers.  Needless to say all went smoothly & to top it off, we hired my friend and tour guide, Hugo, to give us a city tour of Cuenca.  It wasn't so much that we needed a city tour, but he does have insights that one just doesn't know about by walking on the streets.  It was interesting and a pleasant way to spend much of the on again off again rainy/sunny typical weather.  Here are some photos from our tour.

Got eggs?  (An egg store!)

More eggs, including quail eggs

The new cathedral in Cuenca.  This is what Cuenca looks like

interesting roof top (I think animals from Aesop's Fables.)

Hugo & me horsing around--he is pretending to lift me up a pole that is supposedly greased

Hats drying at Homero Ortega Panama Hat factory

Man working at Panama Hat factory

More hats!


After the tour, we went to some handicrafts shops.

sewing machines at hat factory

My friend, The Coconut Man, at his tagua (seed from the Amazon rainforest) artesenia shop

In the afternoon we went to a Beatles Tribute show, which I found to be very nostalgic.  Loved 

listening to the Beatles music juxtaposed to what was happening in the U.S. at the time--Viet Nam War,

civil rights issues, Martin Luther King's death, student protests.  Interesting to re-experience this in Cuenca, Ecuador.

On that note, I have experienced a number of things here that I never would have dreamed of even hearing about here:

Two weeks ago I went to a photo exhibit of non-Jews who rescued 1000s of Jews during the time of the Nazis in Europe.  And today I went to an absolutely amazing poster exhibit of Barack Obama.  It was called Campaña Presidencial: Barack Obama, Marcando Historia, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and El Centro Cultural.  I could have cried.  There were 70 posters, all beautifully done, mostly before he was elected.  Very poignant and to think that I saw this exhibit here!  Wow!

.

one more thing on Saraguro & more......

I forgot to say that one of my biggest highlights in Saraguro was that I met a local woman, who of course was dressed in traditional clothing, when I was out walking Sunday morning.  We exchanged buenas dias and then began talking.  She spoke a little English & was delighted to hear that I am teaching English here. Before I knew it, she asked if we could correspond via email & gave me her email address.  When I got home Sunday night there was an email waiting for me from her!

Today I again went out with my friend (& tour guide), Hugo.  We're kind of clicking.  I think I am really helping him with his English & I love getting all the insights & details about the culture, historical sights, geographical info., etc. from him.  We're a good match!  Today we went to the Museo at Banco Central.  We walked around the ruins and the beautifully landscaped grounds & I learned things that I didn't know even though I had been there 2 times before, but without a guide.  We also often get some kind of food treat.  This time we got a sanduche de mono, a monkey sandwich, a name that it got in Guayaquil.  It usually is made of either be from pork or turkey, not monkey!

And yesterday I tutored English to the 12 year old daughter of a friend of my host family.  This girl, Camelia, goes to a bi-lingual school and supposedly needs help with her English.  I say supposedly because I think her English is quite good, in fact better than a number of my students who are 2x her age.  I helped her with some homework & errors from a test, but they were minimal.  Her social studies class is entirely in English.  She is comfortable speaking English, catches on quickly, and is a delight.  We will be meeting again tomorrow.  I will have to set limits with the frequency that we meet & the length of each session because I think that she & her father would like us to meet more than will be realistic with my time demands.

Last, but not least, I continue to be SO impressed with my students.  Their insight, worldliness, general knowledge never ceases to amaze me.  I only hope that I am meeting their expectations.  I work VERY hard & spend HOURS preparing......

Saraguro--March 3-4

I went on a weekend tour to Saraguro, a small town about 2 hours south of Cuenca, with my friend, Nancy, and others.  Saraguro is a town, whose residents are a proud people, who value their culture and customs and are working hard at maintaining them.  Most of the people wear traditional clothing, many continue to speak Quichua, and many are trying to go back in history to practice their religion from the past.

The ride their was interesting and our guide, Wilson, spoke so well.  It was a great history lesson on route to Saraguro.  We were met by Juanita, our local guide, who only spoke Spanish.  Wilson translated, but I am happy to report that I understood most of what she said.  We stayed at Achik Wasi, a nice hostal.

Not long after arriving we went to a weaving factory where beautiful scarves, ponchos, tablecloths, etc. are woven.  There must have been close to 30 handmade looms in the factory.  The work is laborious, but beautiful.

a waver at the loom & our guide

spools that haven't yet been dyed

many, many looms

And outside the weaving factory were a group of men & boys playing beautiful traditional Andean music!
















Later on we took a chiva (bus without sides) ride we up to see the magnificent countryside.  I must admit that there were a few times that I wondered if the vehicle we were in was going to make the steep incline.

me in the chiva

The views were interesting & breathtaking.

Juanita, our guide

the chiva in front of the church

Lo & behold, when we came down from our excursion, there was a magnificent rainbow.  I couldn't stop taking photos of it!

We went to a workshop where a man makes the traditional hats worn by many of the local people.  It takes 2 days to make one hat, which costs $60.  It is a painstaking, complicated process, starting with carding the wool, getting it to the right texture and shape, using interesting hand-made machines.

Saturday night we were treated to musicians, who played local music and we danced!

On Sunday we walked to a special place where we witnessed a healing ceremony.  Along the walk we saw a pig,

lambs.

and beautiful views.

 The healing ceremony was interesting, replete with flower petals, various medicinal drinks, and many symbolic things.

From there we went to the town square,

 where we saw the church

 and people dressed in their
typical, traditional style.

 The day ended at a gas station where I took this beautiful photo

and then saw a man putting gas in his truck that had a pig and a lamb in the back of it!