As the the parade wore on, most of the kids became bored or plain unhappy Today was Pase del Nino Viajero, or Parade of the Traveling Child. It is the largest celebration and parade of the year, taking place on Christmas Eve day each year. All the towns of Ecuador have such a parade, but […]
Procession of the Jesus Statue
This is the statue that is moved from church to church every four days Prior to arriving in Cuenca, we had read in various sources that there were 50, 52 and 55 Catholic churches here. Everyone seemed to have a different number. The actual number turns out to be 67, as evidenced by the official […]
We’re Still Here…
The Mayan calendar has expired, but we are still here. If only those that thought this would end the world would just go jump off a cliff, our national IQ could would experience a nice jump… We spent the Winter Solstice visiting Saraguro to photograph their solstice celebrations. We paid for a guide to take […]
Everything’s Blurry
1/2 second hand-held experiment of police bike getting ready to lead the running Santas in a 10K race Last week we were invited to the home of Emanuela for dinner and to review her photography. She had commented that she liked my stuff (see www.mindstormphoto.com for mine), but that hers were “at the opposite extreme” […]
Rooftop Christmas Party
I read an interesting article today on The Weather in Cuenca. It talks about the issue of the internet weather forecasts always being identical (and wrong), why there is no weather on the news programs here, and what makes the weather so unpredictable. Good reading at http://www.gringotree.com/cuenca/articles/cuenca-news-stories/weather.php. There are an estimated 4,000 expats living […]
Church Festivity Schedule!
We have been trying to find out the schedule of church festivities since we got here in October. Everyone we ask says they don’t know, but “you might try xxx” and each of those has come up empty. We finally had a breakthrough today, and now have the schedule! Regina responded to my GringoTree request […]
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…
This weekend the Christmas lights went up along 12 de Abril (the street we are living on) and Plaza Otorongo (about two blocks from our apartment), so we went over to have a look late last night. Plaza Otorongo has a super-size Nativity scene in lights which draws crowds of families The static images were […]
Fireworks!
There used to be a lot more fireworks in Cuenca, and when we arrived we had expected to be shooting quite a few displays while here. Fireworks here are some of the most dangerous we have seen anywhere in the world. They are shot up right in the middle of crowded streets, with the flaming […]
Bad “Expat Day” & Good Pot Luck
This morning was the Second Annual Expat Day, in which the city of Cuenca holds a small festival (seems there is a festival every week here) for expats. The idea is to have expats meet local businesses, be welcomed to the city, etc. Unfortunately, whoever set it up is a moron… 🙁 Once the music […]
Independence Day Without Fireworks!?
[NOTE: Late Addendum] It is now just after 1AM, and the fireworks have started! I can see them over the tops of the houses in 2 different directions. Nobody we talked to knew when or where, but we apparently gave up many hours too soon. They were all over in about 5 minutes, but they […]