About Cuenca and CEDEI

About Cuenca:

Cuenca is a city of just under 500 thousand people, with an addition 115 thousand in the surrounding area. It is in the south central part of Ecuador in Azuay province. It is high in the Andes Mountains at about 8500 feet about sea level, meaning that it will take me a while to adjust to the altitude.

The old part of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and mostly dates from the mid-sixteenth century and the Spanish colonial era. The earliest settlement in the area dates to about 500 AD, probably by the Cañari people. Much later, the Inca conquered the area, naming it Tumebamba. It was the second most important city in the Inca empire, superseded in importance only by Cuzco. But the city was abandoned before the Spanish arrived for reasons unbeknownst to history.

The climate of Cuenca is about the same as the rest of Ecuador, meaning mild most of the time. Even though Cuenca is only 2 degrees south of the Equator, the high altitude keeps it between 60-70°F during the day, and 40-50°F at night. Supposedly there is a “dry” and a “rainy” season, but I have heard from other sources that its not really like that. I suppose we’ll just have to figure that one out at we go.

Random side-note: Contrary to popular belief, Cuenca is (or claims to be) the origin of the Panama hat.

About CEDEI:

The school where Slocomb and I will be working is part of a foundation called “Centros de Estudios Interamericanos” (or the “Centers for Inter-American Studies”). In addition to centers that teach English to Ecuadorians and study abroad programs for Americans to come to Ecuador, CEDEI runs an elementary school for 2-year-olds to 5th graders. The school day runs from 7:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon, giving us plenty of time in the afternoons to take Spanish lessons, hang out in the markets, and do other Ecuadorian kinds of things (not sure what those are, but that’s part of the fun).

This isn’t for sure yet, but I’m probably going to be teaching Computers and Technology for all ages, and Slocomb has been assigned to Science with the older kids. He really wants to do Corporeal Expression (aka gym), so hopefully that can be worked out.

In addition to us and a few more Americans who will be teaching in English, the CEDEI faculty is made up of Ecuadorian teachers who will teach the more traditional subjects (the three R’s) in Spanish. The whole point of the school is to create a natural, bilingual environment where the kids are comfortable using and learning in both Spanish and English.

Anything else you wanna know? Let me know!