post script

I'm back in the U. S., but not home.  Flew today from Quito to Bogota & am now in Miami.  Tomorrow I am to fly home.  I don't want to say that I'm floundering, but things are different here.  First of all, my cell phone from here does work, but I was clueless about what my password is to listen to a voicemail.  Fortunately I eventually remembered it, but it took several hours to recall!  I went to a restaurant for dinner & was SHOCKED by the prices on the menu--a real wake-up call that I'm not in Ecuador.  I also forgot that when going to the bathroom I can put the toilet paper in the toilet instead of the wastebasket.  There's lots of adjusting to do........

The end of the journey

It's 5:00 AM.  I've been at the Quito airport since 3:15 AM.  My plane leaves at 6:10 AM.  I can't believe I'm leaving.  Impossible to describe my feelings, but I guess I can say that I am sad, a bit numb, lost, but also ready to leave.  I did what I came here to do--met some wonderful people, especially Ecuadorians, learned about the culture, improved my Spanish (but not as much as I had wished), taught English to some wonderful students, and definitely grew in ways that I still don't know, and more.....

When I arrived in Quito 2 days ago, Veronica, a friend, who is related to friends of mine in Pittsfield, picked me up at the airport.  I stayed with her and had 1 1/2 wonderful days in Quito.  Yesterday she & I had lunch with Nancy, whom I had lived the month of September 2011 in Quito.  It was great to see Nancy again.  What a sweetheart!  And then last night I had dinner with Javier, my wonderful, dear Spanish teacher in Pittsfield years ago.  Seeing Nancy & Javier was a fitting ending to my journey here as it kind of felt like I went full circle, ending with people whom I was with at the beginning of this journey.  

I don't know what's in store next........  To be determined...........

Saying Goodbye to Cuenca & my friends there

Monday, Monday, August 27, was my last full day in Cuenca.  After taking my usual hour long walk, I decided since everything is so much cheaper here in Ecuador than the U. S., that I should get a pedicure as a gift to myself.  It's too cold in Cuenca to wear sandals, but I expect that it will still be warm enough in the Berkshires & I won't want to deal with unpolished toenails when I return, so why not do it here?   Once that was done, I met a friend, Emanuela, with whom I did the Passover seder, for lunch to say goodbye.  She is one of my Gringo friends with whom I anticipate keeping in touch.  It was a nice farewell.

After that, Hugo & I got together.  What a send off he gave me!  We went to Turi, where I had been before, but it was great to go back.  It is a spot way up high where you can look down on the city.  I said goodbye to the city from there.

We also drove around some parts of the city that I hadn't seen before, including a street where they cook and sell traditional food outside.

 We then went to a lovely cafe, where we had coffee & humitas.  It was great.  Being with Hugo, sort of off the beaten path, I found myself where there were no other Gringos, always my preference.  We visited a display of hummingbirds that I had seen before, but again it was another goodbye for me.

From there Hugo surprised me & drove to the house of my friend, Meredith, to say goodbye again.  We had already said goodbye via email, but now had the chance to do it in person.

It was hard to say goodbye to Hugo, but I do hope that we will keep in touch via email/Skype.

The next day, August 28, was my very last day in Cuenca.  I took my usual walk, but there were a number of stray, barking, snarling dogs along the route, which I do not like.  Having already been bitten by a dog in April (which I never put in this blog because I did not want to alarm my family) I let the dogs win & took several detours.  From my walk I went to the restaurant where Esperanza's friends, Lia & family, work, to say goodbye to everyone there.  Lia cried.  Then I had to say goodbye to Esperanza.  She was a wonderful person for me to live with.  Too bad I only started living with her in February, but 6 months was better than none.  Rocio and her daughter, Camila, drove me to the airport. I had already said to goodbye to Rodrigo, Rocio's husband, on Sunday.  Both Rocio & I teared up at the airport.  I will miss all of my friends.........

another visit to the home of the mother of one of my former ESOL students from Pittsfield

Back in February, I visited the mother of Jorge, one of my former Pittsfield ESOL students.  Jorge & I have sporadically kept in touch via email & since I'm leaving in a matter of days, he wanted me to try to see his mother again.  We arranged for me to visit her today.  I arrived at Feria Libre, the biggest market in Cuenca, where I had agreed to meet Jorge's sister, Gloria, at 10 AM.  The market is teeming with hundreds of vendors selling every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable.  The place is electrical.  I was glad to wait for her there as it provided a last opportunity to take it in.  She was a few minutes late and came running, clutching a handful of scallions.  I couldn't help but be struck by how different we looked from each other as we walked to catch a bus to go to her town.  There I was in my jeans & t-shirt, wearing my big white hat that protects me from the sun, while she was hatless with her long black braid going down her back and wearing a beautiful velvet skirt and white beaded blouse.  In that part of town, I was most definitely in the minority.

From Feria Libre, we took a 40 minute bus ride to Giron, where she lives.  I was very pleased with the gift that I brought for Jorge and Gloria's mother--2 photos that included Jorge, that I was able to print that had been in my computer from the end of the school year party last June 2011.  Jorge's mother hasn't seen him for 10 years & hasn't seen a picture of him.  She teared up looking at the photo and kept stroking his picture with her fingers as if she was touching him.  It was so moving.

They gave me lunch, which was enough for about 3 people.  First, there was soup that had a chicken leg in it and yuca, one of the few vegetables that I don't care for.  There was also a large plate of steaming mote, of which I can only eat a little.  Then another dish arrived loaded with potatoes and the biggest chicken leg and thigh I've ever seen.  I felt badly that I couldn't finish the food, but there was just too much.

When we had run out of things to talk about it seemed like it was time for me to return to Cuenca.  Jorge's mother insisted on accompanying me on the bus back to the market, where I had met her daughter in the morning.  It was hard to say goodbye, but we did.  From there I would have had to take a city bus to get home, but thought I'd start by walking.  It was a nostalgic walk.  For a while now I have been trying to take everything in to try to keep things filed in my memories.

Since I was in no rush to go home and Hugo had told my yesterday that he might be free this afternoon,  I called him.  Sure enough, he loved the idea of getting together, especially because he could practice English.  He picked me up and we went to an organic market, walked around a bit and ended up buying 2 beers and going to a park to talk & drink the beer, which was a nice way to end the day.

brief trip to Vilcabamba and Loja

As sort of a last hurrah, I went with Esperanza to Vilcabamba & Loja for 3 days & 2 nights.  It could best be described as anti-climactic or maybe even disappointing.  This was probably in part due to the fact that although Esperanza has been a WONDERFUL person for me to live with, we were not really great traveling companions, which I suspected before we left.  Our interests, energy level, spirit of adventure are close to being on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Another contributing factor was that for me, Vilcabamba is overrated.  The weather is very pleasant--warmer than Cuenca, but it's a quiet sleepy town & surprisingly, it made me appreciate Cuenca.

We took a 3 hour van drive from Cuenca on Tuesday morning to Loja, where we then boarded a public  bus to Vilcabamba, arriving in Vilcabamba about an hour later.  Our accommodations were fine, but not as good as I had expected.  We had a great late lunch & then did a little exploring, walking along a river and on some interesting paths in a wooded area.

We had eaten so much for lunch that neither of us were interested in having dinner.  We slept well & the next day decided to hike a route that was recommended by both the information center & our hotel. We followed the map, with the plan of making a loop, which should have been 2-3 hours.  Even though we asked a number of people, we never were able to go fully around the loop because the road sort of ended into a narrow path, which neither of us thought was the right way to go, so we had to turn around and walk back the way we came.  Some of the views were quite spectacular, but we ended up by walking nearly 4 hours.  Unfortunately, Esperanza did not have good shoes for walking, which contributed to her becoming very tired.  I will say that my body, especially my back & legs, had no trouble, but it was more than I had bargained for as well as Esperanza.

I had lunch by myself, which was quite fine by me, as Esperanza needed to rest.  The cold beer & burrito were great!

a sight I like to see outside a little market, especially  because I know I will not see this when I return home in a week! 

I sensed that Esperanza would not want to do much walking the following day, so we decided to go to Loja, earlier than originally planned.  Few people have had much to say about Loja other than it is a small city with little to do.  I was surprised to find the city gates to be interesting and central park to be pretty.

city gate to Loja

mural in Loja of Simon Bolivar, great liberator of many countries in South America

Central Park in Loja

We went to an interesting museum in Loja as well, which I enjoyed.  After walking around for a while, we took the van back to Cuenca.  The ride back was scarier than the ride there, which was scary as well.  The 3 hour ride is mostly up and down through beautiful, but very mountainous countryside. One never knows what is coming around the bend, but this did not intimidate our van driver, like most drivers in this country, made it his business to pass absolutely every vehicle in front of us, regardless of the fact that generally he had no idea if there was another car coming or a cow, a herd of cows, horses, or who knows what.  Luck was with us.  It reminded me of the harrowing drive through Cajas National Park, which I've done a number of times, including in an ambulance, which is just as scary, but generally foggy, making for poor visibility.   

Since I have only 3 1/2 days left here, I think it is doubtful that I will have any more experiences with drivers who think they are invincible.

another weekend away with Camila's family!

This past weekend I went away again with Camila and her parents, this time to Gualaceo, which is about 45 minutes from Cuenca.  We stayed again with friends of her father, in another lovely home, nested in a magnificent setting.  How lucky I am to have had these little excursions at the end of my stay in Ecuador!

The couple who own this house take great pleasure in the beauty that they have created.  The wife is an avid gardener and has so tastefully and elegantly planted so many beautiful flowers and plants that surround the house.  It's like walking around paradise.

flowers outside along the back of the house

pool and view of the back of the house

fish pond in front of house

We left Cuenca around noon on Saturday.  Not long after arriving, everyone sat down to eat.  At that point there will probably about 10 people, but eventually there were 15.  Then some went into the pool, but I chose the jacuzzi as the pool water seemed a bit cool.

This family had some interesting gadgets that I had never seen before:  a cotton candy-making machine and a chocolate fondue fountain machine.  I only had a little cotton candy, but it was hard to resist dipping the mountains of cut up fresh fruit (melons, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, bananas, etc.) into the flowing warm chocolate.  We did this, of course, before we had dinner!  Like the previous weekend, a lot of time was spent in food preparation and eating.  I participated as much as I could in the food prep, learning more about foods of Ecuador and how to prepare some dishes.  We had dinner outside near the pool, but it was not cold because various grills where the meat was cooked were going full blast, keeping us warm.    

The sleeping accommodations that I saw included 2 rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds.  There were clearly more beds on the 2nd floor, but I never went up there.

After breakfast on Sunday, I went for a walk with Rodrigo and Rocio along the Rio (River) Santa Barbara.

When we returned, a number of people, including me, went into the pool & jacuzzi.  Then there was a marathon food preparation.  There was soup, with homemade pasta (and no pasta machine, just hands!), some kind of beef stew, a casserole of sorts with mashed green bananas, which might not sound good, but was excellent, and of course rice--there's always rice.  After cleaning up from the meal, a group of us went into town to buy shoes for some of the young people of the group.  Gualceo is known for its beautiful, inexpensive leather shoes.  There were many, many people on the streets shopping for shoes.  Not longer after we got back it was time to leave.

I feared that I would have to say goodbye to Rodrigo, Rocio, and Camila when they got me home.  The tears were already welling up in my eyes, but Rodrigo said that they would come by for a goodbye next weekend, only delaying the inevitable, but I must say that I am glad that it hasn't yet happened.  It will be very difficult.

weekend away with Camila's family

My teaching was to have ended on August 3 and final grades were due on August 6.  Pre medical ordeal, I had planned to do some traveling with Esperanza and some friends of hers, south of Cuenca once the teaching ended.  The fact is, I never taught the last cycle due to my injury, but hoped that I would still be able to travel with Esperanza and friends.  Perhaps I could have, but it was to have been a rather rustic adventure, including a 6 hour drive, with few amenities and I feared little opportunity for me to rest.  Not wanting to take any risks with my health, I decided not to go.

Fortunately, Rodrigo, the father of Camila, whom I had tutored, had told me a week prior to Esperanza's trip that he & family would be going to Santa Isabel, about 1 1/2 hours from Cuenca and that they wanted me to go with them.  Although the trip was much shorter than the one with Esperanza, it was fantastic and perfect for me in my ongoing recuperation.

We (Rodrigo, his wife, Rocio, their daughters Camila, age 12, and Valeria, age 26, and I) left around 6 PM on Friday, August 10, which, by the way, is Ecuador's Independence Day.  I had been on the main highway several times before, but never on the narrow, rutted, almost unnavigable road off the main highway to Rodrigo's brother's 2nd home in the country, where we were headed.  We got there without difficulty.  The home of Hernan, the brother of Rodrigo, is about as private as they come.  It is surrounded by gardens and has a lovely in-ground pool, sauna, and jacuzzi.  There is also a family of caretakers.  I have to say that I was pretty impressed.    

Rocio and me in front of the pool.  The building behind us has equipment to take care of the pool, etc.

Not long after we arrived, we sat down to eat tacos, Mexican food in Ecuador, of course!  Why not?

I will say that eating was a very big part of the weekend, reminding me of when I am with my family.  No sooner would a meal be eaten and the food put away, then preparation would begin for the next meal.  

Some people (there were 10 of us--Rodrigo's family, his brother's family, & me) went to the jacuzzi after dinner, but I thought that I should take it easy, so decided to get ready for bed.  I was fortunate to have a bedroom to myself.  The house is big, but it doesn't accommodate private sleeping quarters for 5 additional people.  This is a second home, with a large sleeping area on the 2nd floor with many mattresses on the floor.  On the 1st floor, I saw 3 separate bedrooms & I got 1 of them.  The mattress was not good, especially for my back, but I managed.  

The next day, Saturday, after breakfast, Rodrigo & I walked with his brother and his wife up the long, windy road that we took to get to the house to a place where they roast pigs.  Not that I was hungry, but we went in and shared 2 plates of roasted pig skin and mote (which is eaten by almost everyone in  Cuenca at most meals).  Mote looks like very large white corn kernels & doesn't have much taste.  I had it a lot at the home of the 1st family with whom I lived in Cuenca & didn't particularly like it there because usually it had a skin on it that I couldn't chew.  When it's chewable, it's ok & it was chewable when I shared it with Rodrigo and family.

scraping off the burned part of the roasted pig

"helping" to take the skin off the roasted pig!

plate of roasted pig skin & mote

From right to left, Rodrigo's brother, his brother's wife, and me, all trying to chew the roasted pig skin, which, needless to say, is not easy to chew.  You have to bite it with your front teeth!

Rodrigo & me standing between 2 roasted pigs!

a sign advertising roasted pig and other Ecuadorian delicacies

As soon as we got back to Rodrigo's brother's house, we got in the car to drive 2 hours to Machala, a large seaport city, south of Guayaquil, that is surrounded by banana plantations.  It's actually not far from the Peruvian border.  I didn't know that we were doing this, nor did I realize that the main reason for going there was to go to a wonderful seafood restaurant.  To get there, we drove through many different regions--desert-like climate, jungle like-climate, and eventually the coast.  I constantly marvel at the many different regions in this small country--there's the sierra (highlands), which are mountainous and relatively cold & include Quito & Cuenca, the coast, which is hot & includes Guayaquil, the rainforest, my favorite, and the Galapagos.  

There were about 20 of us for lunch.  This time many of Rodrigo's friends (most, if not all, of the men are engineers, like Rodrigo) and their families were there.  The food was great & I really enjoyed walking around Machala.  We saw a large cargo ship, that I was told was probably filled with bananas for export to some place far away, like maybe the U. S. or China.

ship in Machala, reportedly loaded with bananas for export

from right to left, Camila, her mother, Rocio, & me on the boardwalk at the harbor in Machala

We weren't in Machala that long as we had to drive back to Santa Isabel, another 2 hours!  A lot of sitting for me!  Before we got back, we went to a mall as fancy as many malls I've been to in the 

U. S., unlike the Berkshire Mall.  Although I wasn't hungry, we stopped there for ice cream.  Eventually we arrived back at Rodrigo's brother's house, picked up our bags and drove to the home of one of the families with whom we had had lunch.  By this time it was dark and the road off the main highway to get to this home was longer, more windy, and filled with more ruts than the road to Rodrigo's brother's house.  We even got lost, but eventually found the house.  I had been impressed with Rodrigo's brother's house, but his brother's house pales compared to this one.  This one should be in some sort of architectural magazine.  I wouldn't be surprised if it has won awards.  And it's in the middle of nowhere.  So private!  So amazing!  And decorated so magnificently.  I would guess that most of the furniture, the tasteful knick-knacks, even the plates, which were an odd shape, but beautiful, came from all over the world.  But beyond all the stuff, it was spotless.  I don't think that I have been anywhere else in the country that was this clean.  And nothing seemed to be broken--no wires hanging out, no cracks in walls or ceilings.  I don't want to be disparaging about other places that I've been in Ecuador.  I know that I am in a developing country, but the contrast with this house took my breath away.  So I was in the lap of luxury and cleanliness!  The house is not that big, but it accommodated 20 people for meals and sleeping.  

I wasn't hungry when we got there, but of course there was dinner.  After dinner, I decided to go to the jacuzzi for a bit before going to bed.  Like Rodrigo's brother's house, there was a 2nd floor with mattresses, which I think were on beds, but I'm not sure.  The various children, mostly teenagers, slept upstairs.  I don't know how many bedrooms were downstairs, but I saw at least 4.  I slept on the bottom of a bunk bed and a couple, around my age, slept in the other bed in the room where I was.  It sort of felt like a college dorm.  And of course this time the mattress was firm.

On Sunday morning, after breakfast, I took a brief walk around the magnificent property with Camila & took lots of photos:

the setting of the house is every bit as magnificent, if not more, than the house itself!

 
entryway to the house 

 lovely entrance to the house; see the house in the near distance

gazebo on the righthand side of the house 

one of the beautifully manicured gardens 

 the pool in the back of the house

 view from the house

 part of the backyard

                                                  another view from the yard

After walking with Camila, I walked for an hour with Rocio.  She pointed out the property of well-known businessman, Juan Eljuri, of Cuenca, who has a 'castle' in the valley, near where we were staying.  On this immense property he has many wild animals, such as lions & monkeys!

                                                                 Juan Eljuri's 'castle'

After walking with Rocio, I helped get lunch ready, with all the other women, while the men, typically sat outside talking & waiting for the food, which was another sumptuous meal.  Then I swam in the pool & rested in the jacuzzi, before we drove back to Cuenca.  What a lovely weekend it was & Rodrigo told me that they may be going away again this coming weekend to another friend's home & I'm invited to join them if they go!  

I forgot to add that the custom here is that whenever you arrive somewhere, EVERYONE is kissed on the cheek as a greeting of hello and everyone is also kissed on the cheek when you leave.  Therefore, with there being 20 people where we stayed, there was a lot kissing greetings & it takes a long time to kiss 20 people!  

hairdresser

One would think that after being here for 11 months now, that I might not need some of the modern conveniences that I was used to at home in the U.S.  To some degree that's true, but I have my limits.  I've been going to the same hairdresser here in Cuenca since I arrived in October.  I know that compared to some, where I go is a little more expensive & definitely more modern, but I've been satisfied & hair is important!  Due to my lengthy hospitalization, it had been a very long time since I've gotten my hair cut.  It could be described as lifeless, long, generally yucky.  Way overdue.  Esperanza has wanted me to go w/ her to her hair dresser, but up until now I've wanted to stick w/ the person I've been using.  On Monday I decided to go with her.  We took a taxi of course, because I cannot yet take a bus as they lurch & swerve & my back does not need to be tested to see how much it can tolerate.  Her hair stylist is a single woman (as opposed to where I've been going where there are several stylists & it's a bigger, more modern operation).  There were 4 people ahead of us, which meant a significant wait.  At 1st I didn't mind, especially because Esperanza wanted to go to a phone store to buy a new phone, which meant some walking, which I hadn't done enough of yet, & I'm supposed to walk 2-3x/day.  When we got back to the hairdresser, there were still 2 people ahead of us & the 1 that she was working on involved the lengthy process of having her hair colored.  At that point it was 5 PM & I was getting tired.  I figured we would be there probably 2 more hours, which was too long for me, but more importantly, the 1 sink didn't look like it worked.  When I saw the hairdresser put water from a bowl into a large uncovered coffee pot & plug the coffee pot into the wall, I realized that that was how she heated the water.  This was enough for me to decide that I wasn't going to get my hair done there.  I told Esperanza that I would wait for her while she got her hair cut, but I couldn't wait another 2 hours for mine.  Fortunately she  decided that she didn't want to wait any longer either.  So I spent $5.50 on the round trip taxi ride & never got my hair cut.  I did, however, see how someone could creatively heat water!  Yesterday I went to my regular hairdresser, spent more money than I would have if I had stuck it out at Esperanza's, but I guess I need the modern convenience of hot water coming form a sink to wash my hair.  By the way, I am used to no hot water in the sink at home, but that's for hands, not heads.