Hi guys!
Sorry I'm posting this late. Our wi-fi was down for a few hours last night and this morning.
Every week, the volunteers get 3 shifts (a day and a half) off of volunteering to just go be Ecuadorean tourists. Today was that day, so the volunteer directors led us on a tour of the city of Cuenca! It was awesome. I felt like little Erika all day--every other word that came out of my mouth was "wow!"
We started out going to the main museum of the city. Disclaimer: I am insufferable to go to any museum with, because I want to read every single label and look at every single item, a habit that drives most people crazy. The first exhibit was about Ecuadorean money, which I didn't get a whole lot out of, because all the text was in Spanish. But I learned something about an inflation crisis, and they also had model boats, which were cool (although I really don't know what they had to do with money.)
According to the Wikipedia article on Cuenca (which I read like 6 times before I came here), the city is the cultural center of Ecuador, which was reflected in some of the awesome art we saw there. They had an exhibit by only Cuencan artists, and some of the work was gorgeous. Due to my previously-confessed tendency to go through museums slowly, I only saw about a third of the paintings and photographs before I had to catch up with the rest of the volunteers, but here were some of my favorites.
Fortunately, there was another volunteer who behaves similarly to me in museums, so we sort of split off from the group and went a bit slower. She also is fluent in Spanish, so she was able to help translate all of the placards for me so I actually understood what I was looking at. A few highlights: examples of ancient Ecuadorean dwellings, some weird musical instruments, poetry in Spanish and Quecha that I'm going to Google Translate soon, and a real shrunken head. (I didn't get photos of that, unfortunately. But it was weird.)
In the back of the museum, they had real Incan ruins, called the Pumapungo Ruins! Apparently, when the Spanish came to Ecuador, they tore down all of the Incan buildings, so only the foundations remains. I believe that they said that these ruins were part of a building dedicated to priestesses and other holy Inca women, but I could be completely wrong about that. They also have a native garden full of only the plants that would have been used during the time of the Inca Empire.
They also had some very cool animals in this part of the city. We weren't exactly sure if we were allowed to get this close (I touched one), but no one was around to tell us no.
As we were leaving, we passed the Cuenca Symphony Hall and listened to the orchestra rehearse for a few minutes--they were really good. I think they were playing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, but I wasn't sure (I played an arrangement of the piece on piano in elementary school, but don't know it at all anymore.)
Even crossing the street here is an adventure. Pedestrians don't have the right-of-way, so you have to wait until a car is a ways away and then bolt across the street before it gets too close to you. In traffic, it can be interesting.
We then walked over to the produce market. It wasn't only produce--they also sold raw meat, and there were just chunks of meat hanging from strings on the ceiling (you sometimes had to duck to avoid hitting them). Apparently, refrigerating meat is less common in Ecuador than in the US. I didn't get a photo of the meat, but I did get a few of the produce. They sold grapes that were almost the size of golf balls, and some fruits that I'd never heard of, as they don't sell them back home.
Most of the kids at the OSSO orphanage live their entire lives there, and 6 have died in the 18 years that the orphanage has been open. We went to the main cemetery in Cuenca to put flowers on the graves of two of the children who had passed away. They do burial a bit different here--when someone passes away, they have a gravesite for four years, and then either their relatives pay for them to remain in the cemetery, or they move somewhere else. There is a small graveyard at the orphanage, so after the four years, they move the ashes of the deceased orphans back to OSSO.
After that, we went to go get lunch--traditional Ecuadorean food (I had chicken, rice and beans, and cooked bananas). Food is ridiculously cheap here--almost everything on the menu was less than $5, and everything that I have eaten so far has been awesome.
We then popped into another cathedral at the top of Cuenca (it was pretty, but not as nice as the other one we had previously seen) and began the long, winding drive back into the city.
Once we were back in Cuenca proper, we explored some more. We first went to this hidden Ecuadorean clothing store--you had to enter through a professional building, passing a law office, psychology practice, and dentist before you were ushered into a room stacked high with handmade blankets, sweaters, jackets, skirts, and pants. It was astonishing (and difficult to pull anything out without the entire tower of clothing toppling). We then went to another store of Ecuadorean goodies, and then a knockoff market, where they sell fake brands (my favorite was Hike brand shoes). We also saw a store where they sold $1 videos--they had almost everything, from classics to stuff that doesn't seem like it should be out of theaters yet.
We then got some phenomenal ice cream (our lunch was too big to justify having a proper dinner), and randomly ran into some guys performing a break-dancing show, so we watched that for a bit. There was this adorable little kid watching them and trying to imitate their dancing--he wasn't particularly successful, but he was adorable.
After that, we returned to the volunteer house. Although today was very fun, I look forward to tomorrow, when we can get back to work with the kids. Thanks for reading!
Sorry I'm posting this late. Our wi-fi was down for a few hours last night and this morning.
Every week, the volunteers get 3 shifts (a day and a half) off of volunteering to just go be Ecuadorean tourists. Today was that day, so the volunteer directors led us on a tour of the city of Cuenca! It was awesome. I felt like little Erika all day--every other word that came out of my mouth was "wow!"
 |
| I think that these boats were used when the Spanish conquered Ecuador |
 |
| Apparently, during the worst time, the 50,000 bill was worth $2.50 |
According to the Wikipedia article on Cuenca (which I read like 6 times before I came here), the city is the cultural center of Ecuador, which was reflected in some of the awesome art we saw there. They had an exhibit by only Cuencan artists, and some of the work was gorgeous. Due to my previously-confessed tendency to go through museums slowly, I only saw about a third of the paintings and photographs before I had to catch up with the rest of the volunteers, but here were some of my favorites.
Fortunately, there was another volunteer who behaves similarly to me in museums, so we sort of split off from the group and went a bit slower. She also is fluent in Spanish, so she was able to help translate all of the placards for me so I actually understood what I was looking at. A few highlights: examples of ancient Ecuadorean dwellings, some weird musical instruments, poetry in Spanish and Quecha that I'm going to Google Translate soon, and a real shrunken head. (I didn't get photos of that, unfortunately. But it was weird.)
In the back of the museum, they had real Incan ruins, called the Pumapungo Ruins! Apparently, when the Spanish came to Ecuador, they tore down all of the Incan buildings, so only the foundations remains. I believe that they said that these ruins were part of a building dedicated to priestesses and other holy Inca women, but I could be completely wrong about that. They also have a native garden full of only the plants that would have been used during the time of the Inca Empire.
They also had some very cool animals in this part of the city. We weren't exactly sure if we were allowed to get this close (I touched one), but no one was around to tell us no.
As we were leaving, we passed the Cuenca Symphony Hall and listened to the orchestra rehearse for a few minutes--they were really good. I think they were playing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, but I wasn't sure (I played an arrangement of the piece on piano in elementary school, but don't know it at all anymore.)
Even crossing the street here is an adventure. Pedestrians don't have the right-of-way, so you have to wait until a car is a ways away and then bolt across the street before it gets too close to you. In traffic, it can be interesting.
We then walked over to the produce market. It wasn't only produce--they also sold raw meat, and there were just chunks of meat hanging from strings on the ceiling (you sometimes had to duck to avoid hitting them). Apparently, refrigerating meat is less common in Ecuador than in the US. I didn't get a photo of the meat, but I did get a few of the produce. They sold grapes that were almost the size of golf balls, and some fruits that I'd never heard of, as they don't sell them back home. Most of the kids at the OSSO orphanage live their entire lives there, and 6 have died in the 18 years that the orphanage has been open. We went to the main cemetery in Cuenca to put flowers on the graves of two of the children who had passed away. They do burial a bit different here--when someone passes away, they have a gravesite for four years, and then either their relatives pay for them to remain in the cemetery, or they move somewhere else. There is a small graveyard at the orphanage, so after the four years, they move the ashes of the deceased orphans back to OSSO.
After that, we went to go get lunch--traditional Ecuadorean food (I had chicken, rice and beans, and cooked bananas). Food is ridiculously cheap here--almost everything on the menu was less than $5, and everything that I have eaten so far has been awesome.
The restaurant was about a block away from one of Cuenca's oldest cathedrals, so our group all walked down there. The church is gorgeous--I could try to describe it, but I'll just show you photos. 
We then went on a double-decker tour bus to see some other parts of the city. It's strange--that's essentially one of the most touristy activities that one can do, but even so, there was only one other non-Ecuadorean couple on the bus. We drove through the city, eventually going up and up and up a long winding road. When we reached the end, Keenan, one of the volunteer directors, led us to another extraordinarily long staircase. At the top, there was a swing that swung out over all of Cuenca. It was a bit terrifying to go on--essentially, it was a lawn chair with a seatbelt, attached to a few 40-foot wires. The worst part occurred when I was strapped up at the top, just about to be dropped--you could see just how long a fall it would be. However, this was the result:
While we were up there, we also met a cute British man who was flirting with Brynlee, another volunteer. He had previously been talking to Keenan about what we were doing in Ecuador, and then asked Brynlee if she was an orphan. She said no, and he said that it was a pity, because otherwise he would certainly give money to her, as she was very cute. 
We then popped into another cathedral at the top of Cuenca (it was pretty, but not as nice as the other one we had previously seen) and began the long, winding drive back into the city.
Once we were back in Cuenca proper, we explored some more. We first went to this hidden Ecuadorean clothing store--you had to enter through a professional building, passing a law office, psychology practice, and dentist before you were ushered into a room stacked high with handmade blankets, sweaters, jackets, skirts, and pants. It was astonishing (and difficult to pull anything out without the entire tower of clothing toppling). We then went to another store of Ecuadorean goodies, and then a knockoff market, where they sell fake brands (my favorite was Hike brand shoes). We also saw a store where they sold $1 videos--they had almost everything, from classics to stuff that doesn't seem like it should be out of theaters yet.
We then got some phenomenal ice cream (our lunch was too big to justify having a proper dinner), and randomly ran into some guys performing a break-dancing show, so we watched that for a bit. There was this adorable little kid watching them and trying to imitate their dancing--he wasn't particularly successful, but he was adorable.
After that, we returned to the volunteer house. Although today was very fun, I look forward to tomorrow, when we can get back to work with the kids. Thanks for reading!
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