Cap and ReCap

This is a recap of our week, but before I re-cap, I thought I had better give a cap first.

Sunday – Ron went to church again. I swear he is obsessive with this tradition. Again, I sat in the park to read and people watch. When he was done, we decided to check out this mall, we have heard so much about called Mall del Rio. Having a bus card makes it easy to hop on and off buses, but sometimes it take extra skill to discover which bus to hop on in the first place.

Mall del Rio is not as impressive as I had expected from the varied reports. If you like variety, the food court is like a restaurant city unto itself. There must be 30 different eating options. Beyond that, there are few stores selling products or services. Based on the food choices, one would thing a clothing store for over-sized people would flourish.  No such store was obvious.

The highlight for me was the pet store, because of the puppies in the window. This sets off a love-hate relationship. I hate seeing puppies cooped up in small display cases, but I love puppies. This little critter refused to awaken even when the

beagle was biting his ear; this made me wonder about the health of the dogs. The one anchor store of the complex is the Coral Hipermarket (sic). This two story mega-commercial outlet has everything from major appliances to sexy lingerie to a full supermarket.

Since we were already here, the Coral Hipermarket was convenient for getting our grocery shopping out of the way. Remembering the problems at SuperMaxi, we divided our groceries into two orders; each was under $15. Ron’s part came to $10.26. They asked for his passport. I was blown away. I said if you want a passport, you had better put all of this food away, because it is in the locker when we were instructed we could not take our bags into the store. Suddenly, our purchases were approved. What insanity. We were not about to apply for a Coral card knowing we would never return.

Monday – We had plans to have Barbara and Bill Wolfe, our past home exchange partners, plus Howard and Mike over for lunch. Originally, we were going to cook chicken breasts, shred them and have a full salad bar with chicken. However, Ron had the bright idea to return to the area where Museo del Artes de Fuego is located and get empanadas for lunch tomorrow. We called Edgar, the owner of Empanadas de las Herrierias and told him we would be there by 3pm to collect nine chicken and nine beef empanadas. Ron thought ahead to bring a large metal pan to bring them home. We were able to take the bus there, but we had to take a taxi home. After we dropped them off, we headed out again to stock up on beers.

Tuesday – Everyone arrived at noon. We sat around drinking beer while the empanadas were warming per Edgar’s instructions. Lunch turned out to be lovely, sociable and entertaining. Unfortunately, all the guests had later afternoon engagements, so by 2:30pm, we were alone.

Wednesday – Our days in Cuenca are running thin. Ron wanted to return to Casa de Las Posadas to see once again the

exhibit of the flowers. As a compromise to me, we stopped at the Jodoco Belgian Brew microbrewery to sample their February selections. They change each month. Across the park is the Museum of Modern Art.  Ron had wanted to revisit it

and surprisingly they had a new collection. This time, most of the work was ceramic, with offbeat designs, some fantasy, and others an artistic take on reality. Regardless, it was refreshing to get another dose of culture before we left the city.

Thursday – Close to airport is the Homero Ortega Panama Hat Museum. This was supposed to be superior to the one on Calle Larga. Ron thought he knew how to get there, but we took the wrong bus or at least took it too far. We took it to the end, thinking we could walk from there. When the bus driver recognized our confusion, he offered assistance in English. He was so kind telling us to stay on the bus so we would not have to pay again. He instructed us to sit close to him so he could tell us where to get off on the return trip. He instructed we would need to walk five blocks after he left us off or take a different bus.

As we were walking, we stopped for an almuerzo (lunch). In Ecuador, almuerzo signs reflect a full meal that is served from 11am to 3pm. We had a berry flavored drink, a lentil-potato soup, followed by beefsteak with gravy, rice, and French fries for $2.50 each.

At the museum, a guide is assigned to guests. Maria Elisa was ours. She was charming and very well informed, not only giving the guided spiel, but answering questions as well. This is a real museum and working factory. Woven in the

countryside, the hats are brought to this facility for bleaching, dying, shaping, ironing, and shipping. It was quite a comprehensive tour and well worth the hassle getting here. Homero Ortega, who founded the company, died in 1998. Though he had multiple children who are all involved in the company, his eldest daughter is currently the president.

We were able to walk to another Super Maxi from the museum to get our last stock of groceries in Cuenca. It did take us 2 buses to get back home again.

Friday – We wanted to do the tour bus one more time. We picked up the noon bus at Parque Calderon, but this time when we reached the summit at Mirador de Turi, we checked

out the E. Varga Ceramic Studio. Varga, considered one of the premier ceramists in Ecuador, created the giant ceramic mural at the University of Cuenca. We discovered he has another large mural in Ohio as well as European countries. His work knows few boundaries as he has pieces large and small, simplistic and highly intricate. Walking through the four rooms of his showroom, our mouths were hanging open most of the time.

Deciding to have lunch on the hill while waiting for the bus to return, we discovered that the restaurant with the most glamorous adverting never opened for the day. We climbed the poorly created steps up the hill to the first level only to find a less than thrilling craft store loaded with junky tokens for the unaware tourist. Alongside it was a ‘café’, which only offered drinks.

Climbing up the hill an additional landing, prompted by a restaurant sign, we only found a heritage photograph display of Cuenca past. Discouraged, we walked the perimeter of the church, but the only options were a fast food truck without seating or a small restaurant that only sold salchipapa. For the uninitiated, this is French fries with a hot dog on top. We ate most of the fries and donated the hot dog to the stray dogs of the area.
Saturday – Finally, today we went to buy our tickets for Loja. We leave Cuenca tomorrow on a shuttle at noon. We will arrive in Loja at 3pm. I am having a little bit of separation anxiety about leaving Cuenca, but we know that there are other adventures and beauty ahead of us.

With tickets in hand, when I scanned through my e-mails on our return ‘home’, we now have home exchanges planned for Belfast, North Ireland just prior to our two week exchange in Dublin. We have a request for one week in Marseilles, France in August and a five-day exchange in Oslo for October. 

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Say Cheese and Then Go to the Dogs

In one of the Gringo newsletters, we heard there was a man

who sells cheese and sausage on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. If you do not catch him during this time, your are out of luck. Varieties of cheese in the supermarkets here, lack a certain enticement; it is the same with the cheeses in Hungary. You have to search for something better than pedestrian.

Getting off the bus by the University of Cuenca, we took a short stroll around the campus after a large ceramic piece

caught our eyes.  What a beautiful university this is. Each of the buildings are different in architectural style, walking the stunningly maintained grounds was a pleasure, and at this time, there are few students around. It must be between semesters or summer break. Part of me thought about sending in a C.V. and the other part of me said, “No, you have left teaching.” Only time will see which side wins out. That is not to say that they have an opening even if I did apply.

Back on track, we found our Gringo, who actually is from Sorrento, Italy. He was chatting with two other Italians.

Business was not hopping. We tasted three of his cheeses and bought small portions of two of them. They were expensive, but they are quality products. My mouth was watering for sausage, but the sausage was more like salami. Dried, not fresh Italian sausage, we left it. We said we would be around until the end of the month, so we may be back for refills. He shyly posed for a picture. Say, “I sell CHEESE!”

Close to his location, according to the tourism map, is a museum of archeology. We looked for it, but a number of the roads in this area are under construction. We walked about 10 blocks in various directions, obviously being in residential areas, not commercial. We asked a multitude of people where the museum was located. Not a single person had a clue even when shown the map. We found the cross streets where it is supposed to be according to the map, but there was nothing there. We hunted and

searched. We found a number of adorable dogs, but no museum.

Finally, we found ourselves back at the University of Cuenca, but at a different entrance than before. Ron asked the guard if he knew where the museum was located. By this point, we had hunted for an hour with no luck. Still, the guard was clueless as was the second guard who joined him. Just as we were about to call it quits, a few students passed by leaving the campus. Ron asked if anyone of them spoke English. Three young men shoved a young woman forward. Again, Ron asked, “Do you know where the Museo Arquelógico Universitario is located?” Suddenly, the three men found their voice. They said in unison it is over there as they turned to the left and pointed in the distance. It was a large white building at the back of the campus. With much gratitude expressed, we headed in that direction.

The guard felt obligated for some reason to escort us part of the way. Perhaps he felt responsible for strangers on the campus. We followed trails, walked through a construction

section, and finally arrived at the building. Cerrado! Closed! There were no signs stating the hours. Only one sheet was near the door dating back to 2002. The gate nearby was on the exact street that we walked by on more than once. However, all signage is on the side of the building. The street side is a blank slate of white. There would not have been any identifier as we passed. Even if there were, we would still have had to walk blocks and blocks to get close to the building. It would not have been evident from the street that the museum was closed.

Still, we were able to see more of the campus. The swimming pool and gym are open to the public. The campus is even more stunning when you really walk through it. There are three cafeterias spread around, so snacks or meals are never too far away.

Leaving the riverside to get back to the Mercado, one has to climb stairs. This particular staircase has 99 stairs.

Thankfully, there are breaks, so I stopped presumably to take photos, when in fact, I was getting my breath.

After a stop at the Mercado for chicken and some fruits, we were on the bus for home once again. We were a little shocked at the price of chicken breasts. Two healthy sized breasts came to $8. This is cheaper than the SuperMaxi, but still rather high. Ground beef has been relatively a bargain.

This little guy is in the window of the local florist.  I really

want to take him home.

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