There’s no place like home. I decided to start my series of mini-blog posts about favorite spots in Cuenca in the place where I spend the most time – especially now that I’m preparing lectures and lab assignments.
The view from my room, looking east toward the hills.
Or, rather, the title of this post should be: Taxis, Buses, and Pounding the Pavement
As the sightseeing tapers off a bit while I get ramped up for my class and try to get some projects underway, I’m becoming more adept at making my way around the city and thought I would share a little of my daily life. In Colorado I commute to work via a Prius, listening to my favorite tunes, a new novel, or practicing my Spanish along the way. Here, I breathe diesel fumes and hang on for dear life to a bar above my head while we trundle over cobblestone streets and careen through traffic circles or over speed bumps.
I’ve become very familiar with these beauties in the past couple of weeks! Best to avoid a big lunch right before hopping on board.
The past two weeks have been about trying to settle in, finding a routine, and feeling comfortable living in a city. To that end, I spent last weekend playing tourist. It’s a strange thing to go from pure cultural immersion, to taking the double-decker bus along with a group of other North Americans past my jogging path by the river. It’s like I’m moving between worlds. The world of tourist, and the world of inhabitant.
Plaza de las Artesanias (Plaza of Handicrafts) in Cuenca.
Mid-February – and I found myself in the midst of a sunny 4-day holiday weekend getting doused by little kids with water guns while walking on a river path and sprayed with foam by an 88-year-old lady on the porch of her home. Yes, this is Carnaval in Ecuador. A national holiday devoted to tossing water, eggs, flour at people, or spraying them with foam, a time for people to act out all their devilish thoughts in anticipation of Lent. This is the Ecuadorian version of Mardi Gras.
Kids getting into the Carnaval spirit. (I took this photo and ran away).
(Caution: Vegetarians may want to skip this post!) Where can you buy tomatoes, papayas, onions, a new pair of sneakers, a can of spray foam for Carnaval, and a live chicken all in one go? That would be Cuenca’s largest local marketplace, Feria Libre!
At last, I have arrived in Cuenca – my home for the next 5 and a half months. The past couple of days have involved another flurry of orientation and adjustment. I’ve had to learn how to get around again, how to communicate (hello, super-cheap cell-phone), and I’m getting to know my housemates in Cuenca and colleagues at la Universidad de Cuenca. Through all this, I’m meeting great people, discovering fabulous colonial architecture, and getting excited to begin work with a really motivated research group.
The cathedral near Parque Calderon, in the heart of Cuenca.
I’m such a science nerd. Yesterday I signed on for a full-day tour from Quito, north, to the town of Otavalo. Otavalo has one of South America’s most famous indigenous craft markets (if not THE most famous) – and Saturday is the big day, when the market takes over the entire town. But what was it that interested me most on this tour? Of course – the stop in the Middle of the World (Mitad del Mundo) – The Equator!! A promised glimpse over the rim of the volcano Cuicocha into a crater lake was also a big draw. (Note: This blog post has bonus homework questions and mini-contest for Meteorology students!)
The modest sign marking the stop along the highway from Quito to Otavalo.
Happy day: After an hour-long wait, I got my passport back from the immigration office (not sure why it was necessary to hang on to it…but that’s just how it goes for everyone) and then I hopped on the Quito Tour Bus. Yes, it’s as cheesy as it sounds. But in the end, it helped me discover my favorite place in the city.
The Quito Tour Bus – In all it’s glory!
I’ve spent my first three days in Quito mainly going from one appointment to the next, learning to negotiate taxis and buses, trying to figure out where to eat, or resting my aching feet. But I’ve also gathered a few random insights I thought I’d share here – like how to cross the street, how to get a big meal, and how much fun it is to sit around and chat with people (sorry, still no touristy photos – just a foodie photo!)
A late night arrival in a new country means some major disorientation on Day 1. Combine that with the fact that shadows point south, not north, and my head starts to spin. After one day in Quito, I’m happy to spend an evening hibernating in my room and processing what I know is a little bit of culture shock.
Morning sunlight in the courtyard outside the bedroom at my Quito B&B.
And if you’re wondering why I have only one photo to show you after a full day in the city…well, one of my ways of adjusting is to leave the camera at the B&B in order to keep a low profile until I get a better feel for a place. It’s bad enough that I occasionally have to stop and look at the map I keep folded in my pocket. I can’t help looking like a foreigner. But I can avoid looking like a clueless foreigner.
Northern Colorado Climo Prof 