International Day of Older Persons 2015

[Post by Evelyn]

It seems like there’s a celebration in Cuenca every week, and today was no different.

When Burt was walking to Spanish class this morning, he was surprised to see people “pushing” several wheel chairs down from El Centro to Otorongo Plaza. Because the street was so steep, the drivers were actually in front holding back the wheel chairs from going too fast. Even with the car traffic backed up with the wheel chair traffic, not a single car honked.

Tents had been set up for a large event, and bus loads of indigenous were coming into town, many carrying and waving yellow balloons, to celebrate International Seniors Day. We very seldom see wheel chairs or walkers in Cuenca, due to the steep hills and poor sidewalk conditions. There were more in the plaza today than we had seen in total over the past 3 years.

And I have never seen such enthusiasm for tossing inflated rubber balls and hula hoops, as the staff were encouraging seniors to stay active.

We learned afterwards that  the United Nations had designated October 1st as the “National Day of Older Persons”.  Cuenca’s Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion has programs for seniors through October 8th.

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