We have been
asked what we do with our time here in Ecuador.
Well, we do here pretty much what we did in the states.
We read - a lot. We are both bookworms, and with our Kindles,
the supply of books is endless.
We research
anything that crosses our paths– such as the foods available here, or plants,
or animals…even the people. The Schuar
people are the original inhabitants around here. I still follow the politics of the world, the
US and Ecuador.
We continue
our attempts to learn Spanish. We try
to practice as much as we can. We greet
the neighbors and try small talk, but we are both a bit too shy to try out much
too fast. One neighbor, Washington, is
trying to learn English. When we meet him while out walking, we are never sure if we will be speaking English or Spanish - sometimes both. One of the draws to a larger community such
as Cuenca is the abundance of formal and informal Spanish classes for ex-pats
that we both feel we would benefit from.
We walk and
roll - Partly out of necessity and partly because we like it. We never have to deal with it being too cold,
though it can get pretty warm at midday.
Rain is the only thing to keep us indoors, and even that is a warm rain.
We have been caught out in it more than once, arriving home drenched, but none
the worse for wear. One concern is that
my little scooter is taking a beating on the cobblestones and bumpy paths
to/from town. It wasn’t designed to be
cross country. Sidewalks would help a
lot.
We like to go
to the Mercado to find new and interesting things to eat. Our latest find (well, re-find – we had it
once before, but forgot) is the pitayas.
They are wonderfully sweet fruit that have some great health benefits,
especially for me. If you are
interested, here is a link about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya.
We also buy yuca, pina, and sweet potatoes
and whatever else tickles our fancy. The sweet potatoes are different from what we
are used to. Steve peeled some for
dinner one night and ended up with sticky, waxy goo all over his hands that he
couldn’t wash off. We did get it off,
and the potatoes were great. The sweet
potatoes they have around here are known as waxy. Now we know why. Apparently that wax disappears as they
cook.
And we plan. Our next adventure to be the trip to Cuenca
(erroneously stated earlier as the end of Aug/early Sept) but instead end of
Sept/early Oct). The more we talk about
it, however, the more it seems we are both inclined to try Cuenca next, then
Loja after that. Cuenca has a large
community of expats, which is both good and bad, but it also has the benefit of
a couple of web sites that these expats use to exchange ideas and
suggestions. GringoTree.com has a huge
database of tried and recommended services from restaurants to
veterinarians. It started out as a small
site and has boomed onto a huge information exchange. Another site is gringosabroad.com, a blog by
a couple from Canada and their daughter.
They share all sorts of information as well.
Steve and I
both have the drawing bug. Steve has
been sketching when he thinks I don’t notice – and his sketches are great. I want to get some charcoal, conte crayons,
etc. and decent paper – none of which is available in Sucua – to start again as
well.
When we the
itch to get out of Sucua for a bit, we call our friend, Jorge. He will be taking us on our trip to
Loja/Cuenca and before we leave, I want him to take us on a one day tour of the
Amazon (by car), and to the chocolate growers.
I want to see the process of the cocoa beans becoming chocolate.
I still
maintain my friend’s web site and write this blog.
One of the major
items on our list of reasons to move to a more urban setting is that there are a
very limited number of things for us Gringos to do here in Sucua. The community is very family based, which I
think is a great thing. But there are no theaters, concerts or classes. Not even
a radio station or newspaper to let people know if there is going to be a celebration or parade
or whatever. Something is always going
on in Cuenca.
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