We spent a quiet day mostly at home today. I caught up on some blog posts, did some Photoshop work on images I shot of The Jazz Society last Friday, went out to a new Spanish restaurant for some excellent paella, then ended with watching the new 2012 version of Total Recall (a surprisingly good remake).
I have been collecting more random notes, and figured this would be a good time for a second “Random Walk” of random thoughts about Cuenca
iPhone: We both brought our iPhones, thinking we would use them to stay in touch. Unfortunately, Verizon charges almost $3 per minute, even with paying for the special international plan. We decided to buy local Claro burn phones instead, and pay 20 cents per minute. We therefore had our mobile numbers forwarded to our home land lines, then deactived those phones for the duration of the trip. Our land lines are set to transcribe any calls and email the transcription to us, so we can still get calls — we just can’t respond directly.
I thought that would be the end of usefulness for the iPhones, but I was proved wrong. We now carry both our local Claro phone and the deactivated iPhones. Why? Because of the great translation apps available. The Spanish phrase books of decades past are gone, replaced by a much smaller iPhone. We use it whenever we are stuck in a store, or simply see a sign that we want to understand.
Welcome: We have traveled to roughly 50 countries over the past several decades (lost actual count long ago). We have found the people in some countries welcome Americans, and some less so. We have never been in a country that welcomed us as much as here in Cuenca, Ecuador. In the four weeks we have been here, I can only think of two people that were less than openly helpful and friendly. I cannot say that about America, or any other country we have visited.
Pollution: The busses are diesel and there are several lines that run through town, each on 5-6 minute intervals. That is a lot of smoke being poured into the narrow streets of town. If it hasn’t rained for a few days, our eyes burn. Fortunately it rains a lot, which means it rarely gets too bad. Also fortunately, Cuenca is on a multi-year (I think it is 5 year, but not positive) program to convert all the busses to natural gas, which will solve that specific source of pollution eventually.
Clean Streets: There is almost no litter anywhere in town. The streets are spotless. Part of this may be residents not dropping stuff. A very large part are the street cleaning crews that seen around the parks and after every procession / parade.
Slippery Walks: Whoever designed the parks and many of the newer sidewalks seemed more interested in making them pretty than making them safe. They are extremely slippery when wet — and since it rains a lot here, that means they are very often slippery. I have to walk very carefully and more slowly to avoid ending up on my tail after a rain.
Cop Sirens to Get Gas: There is a gas station directly across the river and visible through our rear sliding glass door. A few times I have heard sirens, and looked up to see cop lights flashing… as they pulled into the gas station and up to the pumps?? No idea what that is all about…
Keyboards: I am working with a Mac laptop here in Cuenca, which is sitting on a kitchen table. My neck strain was making for sore muscles daily, so I now prop the computer on 3 rolls of toilet paper (I’m going native and “making do”!). I bought a cheap USB keyboard so I can type normally. It turns out all the extended keys (non-alpha and non-numeric) are in different places now. The Mac thinks it is talking to a “normal” keyboard, so all the key cap markings are wrong. I am a touch typist for letters, but not the others. It has taken some learning to figure out what the keys really produce, since the key caps are “wrong.”
Addresses: All addresses here are given as cross streets. That is, an address is not “5-42 Malo”, but rather “5-42 Malo y Sucre.” Taxis know the cross streets, but not the “normal” address. Just something to keep in mind when telling a Taxi where you are going.
Spring Weather: Before coming here, we heard blog after blog sing the praises of the “permanent Spring weather” in Cuenca. We find ourselves cold pretty much every night, while the days vary between balmy/warm and cloudy/chilly. I finally began to realize that those singing the praises of the weather are from Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yeah, it might be glorious for them, but for us spoiled Californians, it is a tad colder than I prefer (or consider Spring weather).
Pounds or Kilos? The country is mostly converted to the metric system of measurement. The mercados are only half there though. Sometimes they are quoting per pound and sometimes per kilo. Gotta stay on your toes to know what you are really getting…
Mall de Rio: Cuenca tends to have vendors one-after-another on the street or in markets selling the exact same thing. Makes no sense to me, but this is common in Latin America, and in the Far East. Mall de Rio, the largest mall in Cuenca, takes it to extremes. There are five separate Claro stores in the mall, and two KFC outlets. In the same mall?? That seems just crazy to me…
American Food Ain’t: Some American food chains are down here, such as KFC, Burger King, Subway, etc. I find it is a bad idea to go to these, even if I like their food back home. My taste buds expect a specific result, and it just isn’t the same here. Mostly spices are different (Ecuadorian food is pretty bland by our standards). The food isn’t bad — it just isn’t what I expect when eating there. I find it better to stick with food for which I have no built-in trained expectation.
Another Notch on the Belt: My pants were hanging loose yesterday, so I tightened my belt a notch. That was when I realized I was on my last notch! We have only been here 3 weeks on this trip, and I have already gone in 3 notches. Wow! 🙂
I actually have several other observation notes, but I think that is enough for one day. I already have the start of next week’s “Random Walk” though, so stay tuned…