Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Cuenca
We arrived in Cuenca on Saturday evening anticipating getting into our apartment to rest after the first of what will be many bus rides through South America. Cuenca is what seems to be the perfect first stop. It may seem cliche to say a blend of old and new, but sometimes cliches are true. Cuenca was first an Incan village on the river Tomebamba. It is a UNESCO world heritage site for the architecture, On the streets and in the square, it is native Andean dress to modern teens in jeans on cell phones.
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We are staying at probably one of the nicest places we will stay throughout most of the trip. We are in a "student apartment" with a girl Maria (who owns the apartment). It is possibly nicer than our own townhouse in Boulder, but when you have two people, it is basically the same price as one of the cheap hostels in town. We are at about 8,200 feet, and while it is too close to the equator for snow of course (hence Equador) it is cold in the early morning, beautiful and sunny until about 2pm, then it is thunderstorms until about 5pm. The rain has created spectacular sunsets out of our windows each night:
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We have started our Spanish classes at Amauta, which is a challenge to both of us (Jim as he has never learned Spanish before, and me as I am trying to get over a hump of inadequacy in speaking Spanish to hopefully be able to have more than just simple conversations with people). I am feeling good about it though, as I had a long conversation today with my teacher about everything from politics to movies! Jim is getting it, but after each class he says he feels like like a 5-year old in the remedial reading group. Jim and his teacher Veronica (yup! Like my sister's name!!):
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A friend Sierra (who is also a student at the school) asked us if we wanted to join her in going to the original Panama hat factory. Original Panama hat in Ecuador you say? Yes, it actually originated in Ecuador, but was sold internationally out of Panama and the name stuck. People in the US started to wear them after Teddy Roosevelt wore one when overlooking Panama Canal construction (yes, my history dorkiness comes out a lot).
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There's lots to do here in Cuenca and we are excited to have time in between our studies to do it. We'll post more from Cuenca soon!
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