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.
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| 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.
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scraping off the burned part of the roasted pig
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| "helping" to take the skin off the roasted pig! |
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| plate of roasted pig skin & mote |
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| 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! |
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| Rodrigo & me standing between 2 roasted pigs! |
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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.
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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!
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