The rest of the story!

Thursday was a relaxing day for the most part. Slocomb and I slept late and, after a lovely lunch with Nellie, went to find a phone. Nellie dropped us off near the center of town (near the plaza de hippies were they sell all sorts of jewelry) and found a phone store. We had planned to just get a new one, but the cheapest phones were $50. So I decided to try to get my US phone unlocked and just buy a sim card here for it (thanks for the suggestion, Natalie!). After spending a surprisingly short period of time on the phone with AT&T (1800 calls from skype are free, btw), I got the code that I needed to unlock the phone. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the code with me to the store, and the guy at the phone store wanted to make sure it worked before selling us the sim. So we left empty handed. We then walked back to the house (about a 30 minute walk) and got the code for the phone. There are phone stores on pretty much every block of Cuenca, so luckily we didn’t have to walk too far to find another store. We got the sim, and I tried to get it to work on my phone. Unfortunately, the AT&T person to whom I spoke forgot to tell me that I had to enter *#*# (then the code) *. Luckily I’d seen a youtube video about unlocking the phone, so we went back to the house (after convincing the woman at the phone store that we did indeed want the sim even though it didn’t work yet). I followed the directions on the video, and now the phone works (yay!!!). Too bad it took talking to AT&T, going to two different phone stores, and watching a youtube video in order to get the phone to work. ¡Que complicado!Thursday night we went out with Erin, Maria, Livia, Jenn, and Maria’s cousin, Javier. First we went to the local microbrewery, which was pretty cool. It had a very pub-like feel. Unfortunately, I was the only one who actually liked the drink I ordered. Slocomb and Erin ordered the microbrew (as well they should), but they said it was really hop-y and tasted like it was watered down. Livia and Jenn both got cocktails which were too strong. Jenn’s mojito tasted like Crest toothpaste. Maria just got tea or something, and Javier had the popular beer from Guayaquil, Pilsener. I guess Javier and Maria were happy with their drinks, but mine was definitely the best. It was called a Laydybeer (lady beer, but it needs the extra “y” in Spanish to make it a long “a”), and was Pilsener with amaretto liquor and grenadine. Very yummy.After the disappointing round at the microbrewery, we went in search of a place to dance (because Maria wanted to dance). Maria drove the girls in her car, and poor Javier and Slocomb walked. They were wearing more comfortable shoes tho... Anyway, we first tried this place by the river, which turned out to be completely empty. We found another place back on Calle Largo which ended up way overcharging us (Maria got stuck with an extra $20 in tax at the end), but the music and dancing were fun. I really wanted to dance, but Slocomb, not wanting to draw attention to our gringo selves, said that we really needed to take some dance lessons before we went out dancing. He said he would, so I’m going to hold him to it.Friday was another half day of meetings at CEDEI. After the 12 (but really 12:30) meeting with Ximena and the other international teachers, we had a little time to walk around the city. Jenn and Liv took us to see the house where they are staying, on Mariscal Sucre. It used to be a family compound essentially, but now the family rents out 8 of the rooms (yeah, there were 8 extra bedrooms). It has a beautiful enclosed courtyard in the center, and lots of CEDEI folks live and have lived there. Its a very convenient location, but there’s no family to practice Spanish with or laundry included, so I think we’ll stay put. And I don’t think there are any vacancies right now anyway.We met back up with Ximena at 4 to figure out how to get to the school by bus. Ximena was about 25 minutes late, so we ended up just hanging out in Parque Calderón with Simone, the Professor from Minnesota whose student teachers come and spend several weeks working at the school. I was wearing leather shoes, and I was offered at least 4 shoe-shines for $0.30 or so. Ximena arrived eventually, and we began searching for the proper bus. The only bus that goes anywhere near the school is the #27 bus. Because there essentially aren’t bus maps anywhere in Cuenca, we wandered around a little bit (probably a good 10 blocks) looking for a place to pick up the bus. We found it, paid our $0.25 bus fare, and were on our way. I mapped the route so that Slocomb and I would know where to catch the bus, but unfortunately the closest stop is about a 20 minute walk from our house. There is a but that would connect us (#11), but there’s no such thing as transfer tickets here, so it would cost twice as much. Anyway, the number #27 bus drops off near this big church, and you have to walk through the church yard and down this dirt road for about 5 minutes before getting to the school. I mistakenly wore my brown wedges, so my feet were quite unhappy at this point. I guess the moral of the story is to wear comfy shoes when riding the bus.

We caught the bus back to the center of town (running to catch it next to the church), and Slocomb and I just took a taxi home from there (still only $1.50). Friday was a long day, so we went to bed about 9:30. Lame, I know.

(Flowers in Yunguilla)

Saturday we went to Yunguilla to spend the weekend at one of Maria’s uncle’s houses. Lots of Cuencanos have vacations homes in Yunguilla because it is a good bit lower in altitude (about 3000 feet) and so a lot warmer.

(Jenn relaxing in a hammock)

There were about 15 people from CEDEI who went, mostly teachers from the English department as well as us Escuela (elementary school) teachers. Maria did an amazing job organizing food for all of us as well as organizing drivers, etc. Slocomb and I ended up riding with Jorge, one of Maria’s cousins I think, Diego, a family friend (?), and Maria’s daughter Isabella. Side note about drivers in Ecuador: they are all very aggressive and don’t tend to pay attention to the yellow lines telling you when not to pass, etc. So after a harrowing ride to Yunguilla, we settled into hanging out and playing by the pool. I guess its the nature of the job, but CEDEI seems to attract some of the coolest people. Sam has been teaching at CEDEI since January and has a side career as a hula-hooper. Her boyfriend Lawrence just finished his Peace Corps service in Botswana and is hanging out in Ecuador for several months before returning to the States. Julia started out as a CEDEI Escuela teacher about three years ago, but ended up meeting and marrying a Cuencano, Esteban. They’re eventually going to go to the States for grad school, but Esteban is already a successful architech, so there’s no real reason to go anywhere just yet. John Paul is originally from Toronto (and sounds Canadian) but moved to Cuenca several years ago with his family (some of whom are Cuencano). He’s a big hockey fan, and was really excited about going back to Toronto soon and seeing a Maple Leafs game. Kathleen is originally from Minnesota or Wisconsin (but mid-western invasion nonetheless), and her husband Francisco is Cuban. They tried to move to the States when they got married, but Francisco’s visa was denied, so they moved to Ecuador. They’re expecting their first baby at the end of November, so Kathleen is really hoping that Francisco will be able to get a visa so they can take their kid to the US to meet all of Kathleen’s family. Gamal, the former English Coordinator at the CEDEI school (and the guy who hired us), was also there. He’s from Los Angeles, I think, but has spent a good bit of time in both Chicago and New York doing stand-up comedy. He also was in the Peace Corp which is why he ended up in Ecuador. He served in Esmeraldas, a province on the northern coast of Ecuador which is home to most of the Afro-Ecuadoriano population. He came back to Ecuador to work with CEDEI and is definitely the travel resource.I think that’s most everyone who went with us this weekend, but as you can see, there was lots of very interesting conversation among us. There was a fairly good range of ages and a vast range of experiences, but it was very cool that we were all brought together. For some it was a sense of adventure that brought them to CEDEI, others more out of necessity, but it was a very cool interaction of different people from different backgrounds.

(One of the views from Yungilla)

We came back to Cuenca on Sunday afternoon after eating lunch in Yunguilla. It was kind of incredible because the lunch was a huge bowl of shrimp soup, rice, salad, and meat as well as a sort of iced tea for $2. Insane. I think that 17 of us ate for about $40. Whoa.

(the almuerzo or lunch plate)

After another harrowing ride back to Cuenca, Slocomb and I came back to the Colomas. We didn’t really do much yesterday afternoon, which was a relaxing end to a relaxing weekend (if you don’t count the driving). The only other bad spot about the weekend was the Yunguilla has mosquitos. Lots of them. None of them are malaria carrying (don’t worry mom, I checked the CDC website), but I still have tons of mosquito bites. I am very glad that I brought that Calamine lotion...
Today was another free day because our training this week is Tuesday through Saturday. It gave us a chance to get things together and ready for our (kinda) first week of school. Slocomb and I went to the Feria Libre market today and bought a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, an avocado, and a random fruit that I haven’t figured out the name of yet. For $1.50. And a six pack of toilet paper for $1. Yeah, it was pretty sweet, especially because I did most of the asking and buying. I didn’t really haggle (because it seemed so cheap to start with!), but I was able to ask, “¿Cuanto cuesta?” and figure out how many cents they wanted (though I did ask Slocomb for confirmation sometimes). It was kind of exhilarating.
We also went to the Supermaxi, the grocery store around the corner, for lunch meat, cheese, condiments, and other lunch stuff (we’re packing our lunch for school this week). I also picked up some salsa for Livia and Jenn (which ended up being about as much as we spent at the market) and ziploc bags. The stuff at the Supermaxi was about $15, and Slocomb bought bread at the local bakery (4 rolls and 3 pansitos for $1.14). But all toll, the stuff for our lunches for most of this week was less than $20.
Tomorrow is our first day of planning at the school. We have to be there at 8:30, but because we’re not super sure of the bus situation, we’re planning to leave the house at about 7:45. Not really sure what tomorrow has in store, but as long as we get ourselves and our lunches to La Misicata (the area of town where the school is), it’ll all work out!