I´ve been all over!

My Spanish classes are going really well. I had a few moments of frustration last week because as the work gets more complicated, my questions about it also get more complicated, but I have trouble explaining exactly what is confusing me. It will be awhile before speaking Spanish comes at all naturally to me, but I at least now feel like I have learned enough that with time to digest it all, and with a lot more practice, I will be able to make myself fairly well understood.

In addition to learning a lot of prepositions last week, Carmita took me on a few cultural excursions. We went to one of the two panerias that still use wood ovens to bake the small rolls that people in Cuenca eat for breakfast, dinner and snacks. They sell all different varieties, sweet and savory, everywhere, but now they are mostly baked in electric ovens. We also went to the shop of Cuenca´s most famous finisher of Panama hats (which are actually from Ecuador). He´s been doing it since he was six and still does everything (shaping, dying, finishing the edges) by hand. In the states, his hats sell for hundreds of dollars, but you can get one here for $30 (so put in your requests now). On Friday, we went to the Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes, and Carmita explained the significance of archeological pieces from all over Ecuador. I also went on my own to Centro Interamericano de Artes Populares, which displays crafts from all over South America.

Today, we went to the market and I was cleansed by a shaman. She made a big bouquet of herbs, crushed them a little, and had me deeply inhale the scent three times. Then she hit me all over with them while speaking in Quichua. When she finished with the herbs, she spit water in my face and rubbed an egg all over me. Next, she put some herb infused oil in my hand and I rubbed it into my hands, neck and hair. Finally, she used ashes to put x´s on my forhead, stomach and back. Before hand, Carmita had explained the significance of everything to me. The scents and oils of the herbs are for good health and relaxation. The egg absorbs all of the bad energy in my body. The crosses are protection against other people´s bad energy. There were a lot of other women there with their children. Carmita also explained that they believe that children are very susceptible to other people´s energy, that the energy is transmitted through the eyes, and that pale eyes are especially strong. This finally explained why mothers here always seem unhappy when I smile at their children. She said that her grandmother had very pale eyes, and would wear sunglasses whenever she was around babies and young children. The whole things was very interesting and I did feel calmer afterwards. Supposedly, I will sleep really well tonight.

On Saturday, I went to Ingapirca, which is Ecuador´s most important Incan ruin. It was very interesting and a good warm-up for Machu Picchu! I also met some other young English speakers and we all went to Cañar in the afternoon for the Inti Raymi festival. It was the kind of thing you would have been interested in, kind of like the big cultural exposition in DC. We watched a lot of interesting dances and ate some good seco de pollo. One of the groups, I think from the Cuenca area, did La Vaca Loca, which was also being done here during Corpus Christi. Basically, people dress as cows and fireworks shoot off of their costumes into the crowd. In the states, it would be considered a major fire hazard, but here it is just part of the fun.

On Sunday, I went to Gualaceo and Chordeleg, two small towns near Cuenca. I had also wanted to go to San Bartolome (a town famous for its guitar makers where I was hoping to find something good for Charlie) and Sigsig, but couldn´t manage to get a bus to either for various reasons. I really enjoyed Gualaceo though. They have a very colorful outdoor market full of fruits, vegetables, spices and other dried goods. On the other side of the river, they have a live animal market. I was too self concious to take any pictures in the market, but it was definitely interesting to watch people try to get their new pigs into grain bags to transport back to their homes, and painful to hear the pigs squealing in terror. Speaking of pigs, Carmita had recommended trying hornado (whole roasted pig) in the indoor food market, so for lunch I had a big plate of hornado, mote (hominy), llapingacho (mashed potato pancakes) and salad. Muy rico! Chordeleg was a less interesting. I thought that they also had a Sunday market, but all I could find where tourist oriented jewelry stores. The area is famous for its filigreed silver jewelry, which is beautiful, but not exactly what I was hoping for. I did arrive right when church was letting out, so the whole town was filled with people in their Sunday best, which ranged from silver high heels to intricately embroidered and beaded traditional skirts and blouses.

This is my last week in Cuenca. I wish that I could learn more Spanish, but I am ready to move on and see new places, especially since my next major destination is Machu Picchu. I fly from Guayaquil on Tuesday, but I´m hoping to go down to Loja to visit Parque Nacional Podocarpus and the Sunday market in Sanguro this weekend.

When I get pack from Peru, I´m planning to WWOOF and my options look pretty good. I´m most excited about the prospect of working on an organic shrimp farm on an island off the coast of Guayaquil and an organic flower farm somewhere north of Quito. Shrimping and flower farming are two of the least environmentally friendly agricultural industries in Ecuador, so it will be interesting to see how these alternatives work. I have to start contacting these places after I post this.

This weekend´s pictures.