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.
(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!
Northern Colorado Climo Prof 