more observations

I have now been in Ecuador exactly 9 months.  It really doesn't feel like I just arrived here.  Mostly it seems like it has been a while.  Three month remaining.  Approximately 1 1/2 months more of teaching, which means some time off & I have to figure out what I'm going to do during the free time ahead--I have some ideas, but nothing definite.

I continue to be drawn to the animal market every Thursday.  While there yesterday, I detoured away & just walked along the river.  When I heard "pardon" coming from behind, I didn't expect to see a man with a number of cows walking along the path, but that's who was there.  Obviously I got out of their way.

It's hard not to take hundreds of photos there.  Here are a few new ones from yesterday and last week.

the pigs are everywhere!

Yucca is sold at the market and if you need a fresh piece, there's a knife for cutting it.  

pineapples for sale from back of truck 

lambs eating grass near the animal market

One observation about the market is the fact that you have to be vigilant re where you put your feet.  The excrement from all of the animals is ubiquitous.  Also, even though most of the animals are on some sort of tether or leash, most are stronger than the people who are at the other end of the leash.  This means that in walking around, you have to be careful to avoid having an animal step on your foot and you also have to be careful, like always, in the traffic.  Last week a pig got sort of under a pick-up truck, while the truck was moving.  Fortunately, the driver heeded the yells of the people nearby and the pig was pulled from underneath the truck.

On another & completely different topic that amuses me is the pronunciation of some (sort of English?) words that are kind of, but not necessarily, adapted to Spanish pronunciation.  The words that crack me up the most are the Beatles, pronounced los Beat-lace, Google, pronounced Goog-lay, and the most recent one, Nike, pronounced as if it rhymes with Mike!  I understand los Beat-lace and Goog-lay because phonetically that makes sense for Spanish, but Nike (like Mike) should really be pronounced like Knee-kay to adapt the spelling to Spanish pronunciation.  Another one that took me a while to figure out is key, that's the spelling not the pronunciation.  It's pronounced kay.  I saw this word at a bakery, written on a shelf under a cake.  I didn't understand why a cake would be called a key until it was explained to me.  They're trying to pronounce it the way we say cake, but for some reason they've left off the k, so it comes out as kay!  Funny!

Tonight I went to another Cuenca Symphony Orchestra concert.  They're all very good.  Fun.  Free. Well attended and a lovely way to spend a Friday night.