Holidays in Cuenca

Also written Jan 10. Sorry for the delay!

After Galapagos, Slocomb and I went back to Guayaquil for a day. He went back to Cuenca at 6pm, and my flight for the States left at midnight, so we had essentially a whole day in Guayaquil. We ended up going to the Malecon (the board walk essentially) and hiking up the Cerro Santa Ana (a big hill at the east end of the Malecon where you can get a beautiful view of the city). The hill was 500 steps. I was glad that I had been living in the Andes because the abundance of oxygen (at least to me) made it a lot easier!
We went back to our hotel (after having a cab driver who may have been illiterate and wouldn’t read the map showing him where our hotel was. We ended up getting out of the taxi a few blocks from the hotel and walking the rest of the way...). We hung out at the pool for a little while and ended up meeting an Ecuadorian couple who were just hanging out for the day. They were very interesting; clearly people with money. It was interesting for me because they were the first people I had met who hated president Correa. Since Correa is a socialist who has implemented policies to bring up the working and middle class, it is clear why rich people don’t like him. But even so, he is extremely popular, which goes to show how few rich people Ecuador has. The electricity problems have lessened his popularity, but they are supposed to be solved soon. The black outs were supposed to stop on December 15, then December 20, but we are still having short (two hour daily during the work week) blackouts. I don’t mind because we’ve gotten used to it, but I also am not a small business or restaurant owner. My income doesn’t depend on having electricity, so to me its just a minor inconvenience. I guess we’ll have to see in 2012 (the next presidential election, I believe).
Speaking of blackouts, when Slocomb and I were about to leave to go to the airport/get on the bus to Cuenca, the taxi companies were all saying 20 to 30 minutes for a taxi because of the no-stop-light traffic! Unfortunately, we didn’t have 20 to 30 minutes... so the owner of the hotel offered to take us in her personal car. Talk about service!! The name of the hotel is Iguanazú, btw. I highly recommend it. The rooms are nice and quite comfy (the bathrooms leave a little to be desired, but they are clean). The grounds are very nice, and clearly, the service is superb. Anyway, random side note...
We got to the airport/but station on time thanks to the kindness of the hotel owner, and everything went fairly smoothly after that. I had decided to show up to the airport very early because I didn’t really want to be by myself in Guayaquil after dark. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to check in until 9pm, so I had about 3 hours to wait in the entrance of the airport.
In that time, I did see lots of funny things. Part of the time, I sat near the shrink-wrapper which people could pay to have saran wrap put on their luggage. Supposedly, this is to protect it from water or other damage (very understandable) but I am beginning to think it is really to discourage customs officials from opening the bags. A few people I saw having their bags wrapped had to open them and take out things because they were too heavy. One of the bags was completely full of bootleg DVDs, and the other was full of mangos. Two things very against US customs regulations. Another group of people was having practically life-sized Spiderman and Chucky (like the horror movie doll) dolls shrink-wrapped. I had no idea about this at the time, but I have since figured out that it is traditional here to have dolls or effigies, etc, to burn on New Year’s Eve. And not just dolls, but many people write things about the old year that have passed, things they liked and didn’t like, and they have a big party to “burn the old year away.” The city of Guayaquil had some big ones out in the street to be burned at midnight, including Michael Jackson. Have I mentioned that everyone in Ecuador is obsessed with Michael Jackson? Well, maybe not everyone, but tons of people. Kinda strange, but to each his own I suppose.
Anyway, my time at the airport was long and pretty much boring, but I did see some interesting things. On a side note, could I get in trouble for knowing that people were bringing DVDs and mangos thru customs illegally? They weren’t on my plane anyhow, so it would have been too late to inform customs officially... right? Anyway, I hope so...
I did meet up with Juana, the fifth grade teacher, and Lucas, her son, who were on the same flight to the States as I was. They were going to Texas to visit Juana’s sister, and so I helped Juana navigate the craziness that is the Atlanta airport. It was also an excellent opportunity to practice my Spanish. And as I was dropping Juana and Lucas off at their gate (which they would have found completely fine on their own, but Atlanta is nuts), Juana said that she really wanted to practice her English with me when we got back to Cuenca. I’m sure they would have been fine without me, but I do understand how nerve-wracking it can be to be in a new country where you don’t speak the language. And I known how much easier it is to have someone with you who does speak the language.
Randomly, I ran into Miriam Pomerantz (now something else, but I don’t remember her new last name) in the airport. She was heading from where she is stationed in Georgia back home to New Jersey. I hope she made it, but one of the big winter storms in the north-east was moving in that day. Anyway, you never know how you’re going to run into in airports!
Luckily, I also ran into Dad, who was there to pick me up. I meant to send him a text message telling him not to pick me up until 7:30 because my plane was delayed, but he was still there really early. Poor Dad. And the other red eye flight from Ecuador (from Quito) was delayed like 3 hours, and he wasn’t sure which flight I was on. So Dad had planned to be hanging out at the Atlanta airport all day. Glad he didn’t have to.
My first impression on coming back to the States was how cold it was and how excited I was for that. It hadn’t felt like Christmastime or my Birthday in Ecuador because the weather was all wrong. While I’ve always appreciated the seasons because of living in Tennessee where one gets three months of all four seasons every year, having lived in Ecuador where there aren’t seasons really at all, I can’t wait to be back in the States and have my four seasons!!
Dad let me drive as we left Atlanta, which I was so excited about!! Having not driven for four months, I wasn’t as rusty as I thought I would be, and it felt so nice to be driving again. We met up with Grandma and Grandpa in Calhoun for breakfast, and then we made our way back home. I got to spend a week and a half at home (which is more than most working people can get) for Christmas, but it still felt really short. Mammaw and Pappaw decided last minute to come up from Florida, so we had a big to-do for Christmas. We also got to visit Dad’s parents and family the weekend after Christmas (like we usually do). It was a regular Christmas for me, which was really nice. Having been out of my element for so long, it was nice to go back and have some ‘normal’ time.
I also got to see Sarah in Atlanta. We had sushi and went to Chocolate Bar, fell asleep watching a movie, and went to flying biscuit in the morning. Also very normal things to me. All of the fun stuff at home made it really hard for me to come back to Ecuador, but I did. Because I had to. And as long as I don’t think about home, its all good. So anyway, I should stop thinking about it!

I came back to Ecuador on the 30th of December to spend a few days with Slocomb’s family while they were in Ecuador. We did a lot of hanging out and playing cards as well as some touring of Guayaquil. We went back to the Malecon and Cerro Santa Ana, but I still haven’t made it to the Guayaquil history museum there. Mom and Dad? We’ll have to hit that up while we’re in Guayaquil. We also watched the Rose Bowl game on New Year’s Day at the hotel, which was a wonderfully ‘home’ thing to do. The commentary was in Spanish, but I’ve known for a long time that sport commentary makes very little difference. Don, Charlotte, and Caldwell went back to the States late on New Year’s Day, and Slocomb and I came back to Cuenca the next day.
Since then, we’ve been doing a lot of apartment setting up, etc. We’ve made two weeks of grocery runs and found the supermarket closest to us. We buy most of our fresh vegetables and fruits at the 10 de Agosto market which is only two blocks from our new apartment. But milk and cheese and dry goods we have to buy at the supermarket, which is about a 10 block walk or a $1.50 taxi ride. Slocomb and I walked to the closer location yesterday, and its a nice walk partly through a big park in town (good for running/exercising) and by the stadium where lots of yummy/inexpensive restaurants are. Our favorite burger place is there, so now we know how to get there from our apartment. The way that Cuenca is set up is that the old part of town is all to the north side of the river Tomebamba, and this is the part where most of the tourists stay. We end up staying up here most of the time too because that’s where our apartment is and also where are Spanish classes are. South of the river is the new side of town (there is one street that’s older but thats to the west side). In the new part, you find the movie theatres, shopping malls, the stadium, and much more modern buildings and architecture. The walk down Ave. Solano (the major thoroughfare in the south part of town) is very nice, but that’s where you see the modern side of Cuenca. I don’t think that either part is better or worse, but the old center is the best place for us, I think. Since we don’t have a car and we love the old architecture, I am very glad that we live in the old center. The other parts of town are a lot easier if you have a car, which I wouldn’t want to have even if it were an option!
This week at school was fine. Slocomb, Erin and I (along with Erin’s sister and brother) were the only international teachers at school because the rest hadn’t gotten back from the States yet. Erin’s family was definitely a sensation among the other teachers. Several of the teachers wanted to know all about her brother. I know several people who would be extremely glad if he came back as an international teacher when he graduates from college! Maria got back on Tuesday, and Liv and Jenn got back on Thursday, so by the end of the week, the team was all assembled again. We did some schedule switching, so I don’t have any tutorials anymore, which is just as well because I don’t feel very effective with those anyway. I am now teaching six hours of kindergarten, six hours of preschool, six hours of first grade, and two hours of each third and fourth grade. These are class period hours, so usually just half hours. I teach language, math, science, and library, so I’m kinda all over the place. It takes a lot of planning, but I still have plenty of time to plan at school. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to get anything printed or copied at school, so I do a lot of that outside of school. It is possible for me to go to the English division of CEDEI and print and copy there, but I haven’t done that yet. I am hoping Erin will go with me one day and introduce me to the proper people. I don’t know if this is just me, but at times I feel like the school is the red-headed step-child of CEDEI. I guess its not a big money-maker, so it might get the short end of the deal, but whatever. Also, we were supposed to get paid on Friday, but its not going to be until Tuesday. Another big annoyance of the school, but that happens for all CEDEI employees, including the English and Spanish teachers. Urrgh.
This week was also Día de los Innocentes, which is January 6. Its a kind of April Fool’s Day, and the kids went crazy with the jokes. The only one that actually had me going was Josue in third grade. He came up to me and told me that their teacher had quit and left the school. I doubted that their teacher would do that, but another one of the Ecuadorian teachers put in her notice just before Christmas. But then Josue told me, “Día de los Innocentes!” like we say “April Fool!” It was a fairly silly day, but it was an interesting thing for me to see. That evening, there were lots of parades and people dressed up, so I guess Día de los Innocentes is a combination of Epiphany, April Fool’s Day, and Halloween. It was a fun day to be a cultural observer.
Also this week have been many “Passe del Niño” parades. The big one in Cuenca is on Christmas Eve, but I think each parish has their own parade. The major focus of the parade is a little statue of Jesus that is driven by to bless all of the people. And then lots of other people dress up and dance or walk or ride horses in the parade. This morning, I even saw several Santa Clauses and a Roman Centurion pushing a stroller. One of the parades passed under our apartment building yesterday, so I got to take some pictures that I will post. I’m not a huge fan of parades (tons of people, lots of noise), so watching from my window five stories up was a great way for me to watch the parade. Many of the people in the parade and lots of people in town have their own “Jesuscito” that they use for Christmas celebrations. Slocomb pointed out to me, however, that all of these Jesus dolls are blonde-haired and blue-eyed, even here where there are no people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Apparently this tradition started when the Spaniards brought Catholicism over to Latin America. In some ways, it was probably a deliberate attempt to show the people that Jesus looked more like the Spaniards than the indigenous people, when in fact the opposite is true. But I wonder how many people here in Ecuador think about their Jesuscitos that way. To them they are probably just a cherished tradition when originally they were a deliberate form of social control.
Aside from school and observing the continuing Christmas season, this week has also been about graduate school applications. I turned one in on Monday and have another one to turn in by Tuesday the 12th. I was planning to finish them last week, but I ended up finding another fellowship application that I ought to apply for. I’m not sure that I’m really the intended recipient, but I figure I can write 2 pages in order to be in the running for $15000 and tuition. So I have to finish that up and turn it in. Also, Slocomb pointed out to me as I was revising my personal statement that I had made a huge typo (on the personal statement that I’ve turned in to two or maybe three other schools. I can’t remember). I was talking about some of the activists I studied as an undergrad, and Slocomb told me, “You know that its Emiliano Zapata, right?” I thought that’s what I had, but when I looked more closely, I realized it said Zapato instead of Zapata. Ugghh!! And in the first paragraph too!!! All I can hope is that the admission committee will see it as the innocent mistake it was and not decide to discount my whole application because I misspelled the name of one of the most famous activists in Latin American history! Either that or they’ll look at my other stuff and decided they want me in their program anyway. It just makes me feel really dumb, and I feel like that’s the kind of stuff that decided admissions at competitive schools. I guess at this point, I’m setting myself up to not be disappointed for not getting into the programs. I just hope that I’ll have fixed all of the dumb mistakes for the last application and I’ll definitely get in there. San Diego is a great town, right? Unfortunately, its the only city were I’ve applied that Slocomb doesn’t have some sort of connection already that could probably get him a job. At this point, once I finish the last fellowship essay, its all just hurry up and wait.
That’s all on this front so far. I hope that everyone had a great holiday and is getting off to a great 2010!!