The Musical Nomads opened their Cuenca home tonight for an evening of art, music and food. They are one of our favorite local bands, performing “Classic Hits For All Occasions” (the byline on their business card). They had a sold-out crowd for the event. Everyone first socialized while walking around the improvised art gallery, then […]
Art Exhibit Wrap-up Slideshow
Evelyn’s first art exhibit is now complete, and was a complete success. Here is a slideshow of the paintings, artists, and guests. Evelyn Art Slideshow 2014-07 from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.
Evelyn’s First Art Expo
After years of having friends try to convince her to have an art showing, Evelyn finally caved and had her first opening reception tonight. After weeks of being nervous and fearing nobody would come or like her work, she sold 6 out of the 14 she displayed within the first 3 hours — far more […]
World Museum Day
Throughout Ecuador, there was yet another celebration — World Museum Day, or Dia Mundial de los Museos. Cuenca was represented by Museo Pumapungo, where folk dancers and bands performed throughout the day. We enjoyed listening to a band from Quito, and seeing the paintings of Ariel Dawi. Music at Pumapunga Museum from Burt Johnson on […]
For A Plate of Lentils
Mágico Herrera performs at Apu Teatro I have said before that there is always something to do in Cuenca. We heard about a new theater opening around the corner that was going to open with a puppet show tonight. We figured it would be a piece of interesting local color. We were rather surprised from […]
Belly Dancing in Cuenca
Dance Performance at Colegio Santa Mariana de Jesus Every so often, we used to go to High School plays in California. They were a nice change from the polished Broadway shows we usually saw, and was a reminder of High School when I had several friends in the theater club, and used to help them […]
Birthday Party, Ecuadorian Style
Adrian plays the charango, while Marcos plays guitar We were invited by an Ecuadorian family to join a combined birthday party tonight. Three members of the family (Gloria, Adrian and Stephanie) have birthdays in May, as does Evelyn, so they decided on one combined party for everyone. Charango from Burt Johnson on Vimeo. Let […]
El Verde
Another of our weekly trips into the countryside brought us to ‘el Verde‘ today. From our apartment, Alberto drove us to Turi, a famous hilltop overlooking Cuenca, then down the other side. We drove a few miles more until we came upon a promising landscape view in this tiny village. While Evelyn and Alberto painted […]
Ricaurte
Evelyn continues to spend Sunday mornings with Alberto Soriano, painting landscapes of the region around Cuenca. It gives her a chance to get some expert guidance in her landscapes, and gives us both a chance to see the outskirts of town, always within an hour’s drive of our apartment. Without a car ourselves, it would […]
Festival de Comedias de Un Acto
Cuenca is often called the cultural capital of Ecuador. Symphony is always free, and there are multiple free music venues every week. Tonight saw the inauguration of a new theater group in town — The Azuay Community Theater, with their Festival of One-Act Plays (yes, I know the Spanish says ‘comedy’, but their English title […]
