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Orchid Wall 2016

Orchid Wall Cuenca Ecuador 2016 - variant flowersThe Orchid Wall flower show is on display this weekend, running through Sunday, November 27 at the Casa de la Provincia, on the edge of Parque San Blas.  As I write this, the show still has one day for you to catch it.  If you like flowers, and orchids in particular, you should set aside some time to attend.

EcuGenera is the largest grower of orchids in Ecuador, and is one of the main backers of this show.  They claim to grow more than 6000 varieties of orchids, many of which are on display.  There are many that are color variations on a theme, such as shown above.

Orchid Wall Cuenca Ecuador 2016 - unique flowers
 Others are completely different, and I would not have identified as orchids if they had not been labeled as such.

Orchid Wall Cuenca Ecuador 2016 - relief mural

Though technically not part of the orchid show, the metal relief mural in the Casa de la Provincia is also worth seeing.

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House Concert – The Charango and Estefani

House Concert Stephanie Ortiz Cuenca Ecuador

Tonight was another House Concert from Colibri Conciertos, which are hosted in private homes or boutique hotels in Cuenca. Mara Gano (lower right) organizes these special monthly events featuring talented local (and frequently world-class) concert musicians. This month, 30 guests were invited to the home of Greg and Charlene Redenbacher.

Guests were treated to hear a rare performance combining the charango and piano. The charango is a 10-string instrument, a small Bolivian/Andean relative of the guitar and ukelele.  This performance  featured Adrian Ortiz on charango (middle left and bottom left), Estefani Ortiz singing South American songs (upper left and right), and Daniel Brito (the pianist and lead musician at every house concert) on keyboard (top middle and bottom middle).  Gloria Uyaguari has been Evelyn’s Spanish teacher  for the past three years, and is the mother of Estefani and wife of Adrian.  The family asked us to record the performance, which we were happy to do.

In all, 15 videos were made of 15 musical pieces performed.  They can all be seen on my Facebook timeline (burt.johnson980), or they can all be seen here on Vimeo.

One of the songs performed tonight was Angel de Luz.  If you are interested, here are the lyrics for the song, in Spanish, or course.

Stephanie Ortiz sings Angel de luz from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.

 

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Expats Musical Comedy at Fishbon

fishbon-play-2016-11 Cuenca Ecuador Theater

Tonight’s show was a repeat of the sold out performances from 10/30-11/2/2016, which was produced by Laura Inks-Bodine and directed by Clay Bodine of Fishbon del Sur. Clay Bodine introduced the show by talking about how some ambitious expats got together 6 months earlier and wanted to produce a musical comedy. The result was a zany journey of two new expats, Maureen and Frank, confronting the challenges of adapting to a new culture and dealing with the family in the US. Bill Scott was the composer, and Cindy Benson played Maureen, both of whom have had Broadway experience.

The excellent singing, dancing and choreography, coupled with a multi-media presentation of scenes so familiar in Cuenca, made for an entertaining evening. It was hilarious for those of us who have experienced shopping for an apartment and walking 4 flights of stairs for a “view”, the spitting healers, the shamans, the fast-talking sales agents, Sno-ball the cuy (guinea pig), experiencing the mercado scene with exotic-looking fruits, unrefrigerated chickens and roasted pigs, and dealing with the parasitos. It was delightful seeing the amount of creative talent, and knowing that expats can choose their creative paths in Cuenca.

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CID 3 – Soap Box Derby & Markets

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - soapbox derby

Cuenca Independence Day #3

The 2016 Cuenca Independence Day blog concludes with a look at the annual soap box derby.  This race always starts on Calle Larga, just a little over a block from our apartment.  The contestants race down this gently sloped road for 4 blocks, then down a steeper incline for 2 blocks, make a high speed left turn onto 12 de Abril, and continue another half dozen blocks to the finish line.  This is our third time seeing this race.

Today it was raining lightly, which added an element of slippery risk to the race, and the umbrellas came out. The race went on as scheduled (well… as close to “on schedule” as anything in Ecuador is…).  After several heats of car racers, a group of four men in drag, plus one dressed as a Cardinal ran on foot behind them.  I have never understood the significance of that last group, but they have been the trailing act for every race I’ve seen to date. (Two prior races were reported here and here)

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - soapbox derby audience

I started watching the audience who were also patiently waiting for the start of the race.  One family with four kids was clowning around and started hamming it up when they saw my camera (middle row). The parents, clearly enjoying themselves with their kids, beamed when the lens turned towards their family.  Just before the race started, a group of three mimes came along, and toyed with the audience, accepting tips in an open hat to have their photos taken.  They were good enough that I anteed up a bit to enjoy the fun.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - food and art faire

Arts and crafts were being sold throughout the city during the three day Independence Day celebration.  Many were under city-supplied white tents to provide protection from the sun and occasional rain.  Others were in the open, such as the market at the Broken Bridge.  There were literally hundreds of such tents and this year (more than in prior years), there appeared to be more “crafts” and lower quality art than in years before.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - mercado (market)

The Broken Bridge (all of the above block) was probably my favorite area this year, with some better art work and some pleasant music being played by street musicians (lower middle and lower right). We stayed away from the battle of bands throughout the city, as the music there is extremely loud and distorted, with little focus on quality. This year, the higher quality art  and food booths were concentrated around the Pumapunga Museum, the Mercadito behind the Todos Santos church, and the plaza next to the Catedral Nueva across from Parque Calderon.

I recorded this one song at the Broken Bridge, as a reminder of the pleasant afternoon.

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CID 2 – Military Parade

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - parade of bomberos (firemen)

Cuenca Independence Day #2

The Cuenca Day Independence celebrations continued this morning with a military parade.  Apparently, the military parade only occurs every two years.  Prior to this year, it was very difficult to discover what special events were going on, and catching them was mostly through serendipity, unless you read the newspapers or listened to radio in Spanish.  This year, there were  50,000 copies of a 150 page booklet available at special locations, plus online, which made it much easier to plan to catch events such as this.

As with most parades in Cuenca, this one started late. What was more unusual was the barricades along the sidewalk, with the military police enforcing the audience to stay behind them.  While most parades have the participants and audience freely co-mingling, the MPs made sure there was clear separation this time.

The parade opened with various “first responder” units — primarily bomberos (fire fighters), including an impressive display of forest fighting vehicles (lower right).  Then, the parade seemed to just end…  Nothing else as far down the road as I could see.  After about 10 minutes of nothing, I was about to leave, when I saw a single convertible with two women sitting on the back seat, waving to the crowd.  Before they were a block from me, the crowd broke ranks, rushed past the PMs, and surrounded the car to get their selfies  taken with Miss Ecuador. ☺

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - light military parade

Another half-hour went by with nothing happening in the parade, but when I asked an PM (upper right), he insisted that more was coming. Sure enough, eventually the PM got control of the crowd again, moving them back to the sidewalks.  The light military then arrived.  These involved the Ecuadorian Special Forces, in camouflage fatigues, some with masks, some with rappelling gear (upper left).  Others were riding bicycles or motorcycles, for urban maneuverability.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - heavy military parade

The heavy artillery unit ended the parade, complete with bazookas (upper left), artillery (upper right), anti-missile rocket launchers (lower left), and anti-aircraft guns (middle bottom).  The faces of these soldiers looked ready for a major war movie (middle).

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - parade audience

Most of the audience stayed on the sidelines patiently to watch the parade…with vendors hawking plastic seats, umbrellas, bubble makers, baseball caps, food and drinks, with the military police trying to keep a path clear for the parade vehicles.

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CID 1 – A Parade and Magic Show

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - kids parade

Cuenca Independence Day #1

The battle for the independence of Cuenca was held 196 years ago, on November 3, 1820.  Though the battle only lasted one day, in typical Ecuadorian fashion, the celebration lasts three days each year. One of the first events of this year’s celebration was the Desfile Estudiantil, or Student’s Parade.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - girls in parade

Most of the students in the one-hour parade appeared to be middle school or high school age, with each school having one to three groups of dancers in various matching costumes.

Here is a 1 minute clip with examples of several of the dancing groups.
Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - marching band in parade

There were also a few marching bands and floats in the parade.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - Transvia construction

After the parade was completed, I walked to another location where another event was being held.  I never could find that other celebration, but did find that the Tranvia (Cuenca’s new light rail train) work was continuing at full pace, regardless of the festivities.  This project has been plagued with problems — mostly of political origin — and the mayor has put the workers on overtime to try and complete it by mid 2017.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - comedy and magic

We ended the day by attending a show titled “A Night of Comedy and Magic.” We have seen a few magic shows in Cuenca, and they are almost always entertaining.  From the show title, we had expected three magicians performing magic with a touch of comedy.  Unfortunately for us, instead it started with an hour of stand-up comedy, all in Spanish.  The theater was packed with Ecuadorans laughing and clearly enjoying the show, but our Spanish was limited.  We picked up a word here and there, but it came too fast and with too much cultural nuance for us to really appreciate any of the humor.

 

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The Russian Circus is in Town

Russian Circus in Cuenca, Ecuador - posters

The Russian Circus (Circo de Rusia) is in town this week for the Cuenca Independence Day celebration.  We went to the Sunday matinee show yesterday, and had a grand afternoon.  There were no animals (other than a small dog masquerading as a lion), however there was cotton candy, candied apples, popcorn, hot dogs and chili eggs. This circus is along the lines of a lower budget Cirque du Soleil — a venue we have seen many times in the States, and always loved.

Russian Circus in Cuenca, Ecuador - kids

As with most circus performances, we love watching the reaction of the audience, especially the kids. One little girl emulated the performers in the ring and the mom did everything she could to keep the little girl from running into the ring.  During the 150 minute show, the kids (including the older kids like us) were enthralled with the talented acrobats, the jugglers, the quick change performers, and of course, the clowns.

Russian Circus in Cuenca, Ecuador - clowns

Before the show, rides on the aerial slings were sold for $5 (upper left) and kids lined up for the chance to be part of the circus.  Of course,  selfies are everywhere (upper right), and the circus is no exception…  Starting the show, and appearing throughout during set changes was the inevitable clown, with his ferocious lion (lower left).  The lead clown frequently pulled people from the audience — some of which were playful (middle left), while other  times, the volunteer was left in the center stage minutes after the stunt was completed, which was very humorous for all, except maybe the volunteer….  The lead clown later showed himself to be an accomplished juggler(juggling plastic wash basins), with his assistant (middle right).

Russian Circus in Cuenca, Ecuador - High Wire

And, of course, what circus would not be complete without a series of high-wire acts.  The show opened with the entire entourage of (very Russian-looking) performers entering the ring (upper left).  As the show progressed, there were several high ring and wire performers.

Russian Circus in Cuenca, Ecuador - Other

We spent most of the afternoon either smiling or slack jaw in awe with the skill of the performers.  We heartily recommend anyone in Cuenca who enjoys being a kid again to see this high quality act.  (And, be sure to ask for your senior discount.)

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Cuenca Independence Schedule 2016

cuenca-independence-cover-2016

This is a a quickie post to help out those in the Cuenca area.  This weekend launches the 196th anniversary of the independence of Cuenca, Ecuador, and whole slew of events over the next couple weeks.  You can get an electronic version of the official schedule by clicking here.

It can also be read online is a somewhat different format by clicking here.

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Burt’s 3 Years of Cooking

Stuffed mushrooms, baked with cheese and herbs,

Mushrooms Stuffed With Cheese Are  a Guest Favorite Appetizer

When I wrote our 3-year anniversary blog yesterday, I forgot to add a section on food and the joy of cooking, which has been a major theme in our lives since we arrived in Cuenca.

Mercados. From the start, I have shopped for fresh fruits and vegetables from the mercado located closest to our apartment, 12 de Agosto, about 4 blocks walking from our apartment. Fresh food is everywhere, and the lack of processed foods (ready-made) compelled me to learn how to use fresh produce. I learned that some vendors had better produce than others, most (but not all) charged the same to gringos and locals, and there are now 3-4 vendors that I buy from regularly, who offer me “yappas” (their term for adding a little extra) as a thank you. The vendors selling the large, scrumptious, strawberries are always a joy to see. When we were in Colombia, we went on an exotic fruits tour at a local mercado, giving us a chance to taste various exotic fruits we didn’t have the nerve to try on our own. After the tour, I even made maracuya ice cream.

Maracuya ice cream

Homemade Maracuya Ice Cream

Cooking. Evelyn cooked for the first 30 years of our marriage, with me barely able to boil water.  During an extended unemployment period after the internet stock bust in 1999, it seemed only fair that I should try to learn to cook, since Evelyn was then the only one bringing home a salary.  With some encouragement from Pauline (Evelyn’s sister) who presented me with my first “4-ingredient cookbook“, I discovered that I actually could cook, and, in fact, like to cook.  We decided that, since Evelyn cooked for the first 30 years of our marriage, I would cook for the next 30.  I am halfway through that period…

Adjusting to high altitude cooking. Some of the earliest frustration was adjusting times for cooking and baking, whether it was boiling water for pasta, or baking a pie crust.  I joined a Facebook group called Food and Cooking in Ecuador, where there are a number of gourmet cooks who are willing to share. Now, whenever I have a cooking question, there is always someone online who can answer the question, helping with issues of what ingredients to substitute, or changes to make due to the 8500′ altitude here.  I now periodically add a particularly good recipe I have developed, to my blog, already adjusted for this elevation.  There are currently 22 listed there.

Finding expat foods. When we first came to Cuenca, we found that the bacon flavor that we loved in California did not exist. In fact, the bacon found at Supermaxi and the local supermarkets was bland. We had a similar withdrawal for other favorite food  items that we were accustomed to getting in the US, such as English muffins, spicy sausage, spicy cheese, etc.  In the past 3 years, many expats have started up new business enterprises producing many of the foods us expats crave, and it’s only rarely we find ourselves unable to obtain a favorite food or ingredient now.

Cooking schools. I make a point of trying to make at least one new meal each week.  Some of these new recipes are found on various internet cooling blogs that I read.  Others come from the cooking classes I now frequently attend.  I have gone to a dozen or so such classes here in Cuenca, and have learned how to cook Ecuadorian dishes such a locro de papa (a thick potato soup) and seco de chivo (goat stew).  Other classes have taught me how to make various American, Italian and Peruvian meals. However it’s always the little hints or secrets that are not in any cookbooks that I really appreciate. When we were in Istanbul recently, we both took a Turkish cooking class, where we learned (among other dishes), Manti (ravioli in Greek yogurt, often eaten for breakfast).  We also learned to use a “Turkish pinch” for spices — three fingers picking up as much spice as they can hold.  Since that is maybe 4 times as much spice as the “American pinch” (thumb and forefinger grabbing spice), we began to realize why many of the spices in my earlier meals were barely noticeable.

Exploring new restaurants. When we first visited Cuenca in 2012, there were only a handful of great restaurants, mostly Ecuadorean cuisines. TripAdvisor showed something like 50 restaurants in town. Since then, the diversity of the types of cuisine available has grown astronomically, and TripAdvisor currently shows 362 restaurants. The cuisines now include great seafood, sushi, Thai, Italian, Indian, Russian, fusion, and even comfort foods such as hamburgers, fried chicken and American-style pizzas. The annual turn-over of restaurants has been staggering, as the start up costs to open a new enterprise are low (under $1K in some cases). We still regularly have “almuerzos” for lunch, which run from $2.00 to $4.00 for a 5-course meal. We also go out to dinner a couple times a week to experience new restaurants in town (and to help keep the better ones in business). In fact, we are heading out to Prickly Pear, another new restaurant a couple blocks from us, as soon as I finish writing this.

PS: We just returned from dinner.  We have always realized there were a lot of restaurants in our neighborhood, but decided to actually count tonight.  Our destination was four blocks away.  Enroute, along that four block stretch, we counted 41 separate restaurants!  One of these days, we will make a 4-block grid and try to actually count the total number of restaurants in that range.  I am betting there will be more than 150 within 4 blocks of us…!

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3 Years In Ecuador – How Time Flies…

Ecuadorians washing clothes in river

Families still wash clothes in the Tomebamba river that flows through Cuenca

Hard to believe where the time went, but today marks our 3rd anniversary of the date we landed in Cuenca to start our retirement.  We start with a near empty slate every week, and our calendar is booked by the end of the week with us wondering how it went by so quickly. This blog, which started as a series of short notes to let friends know what is going on, now has 376 total posts, and averages over 500 readers per day.  We now have  taken over 36,000 photographs within Ecuador, and our total photograph collection has grown to over 165,000 images.  Here are some random thoughts on how these three years have been spent.

Spanish. When we first arrived, I had a newly broken ankle, and immediately started spending time with various doctors and then physical therapists — none of whom spoke English.  I figured that would give me a good way to learn the language.  Unfortunately, I later realized that I was really only learning vocabulary related to body parts (ankle, foot, heel, leg, etc) and level of pain.  Not very useful in daily interactions once I was back in circulation. I then tried to “just pick up the language” in daily interchanges at the mercado, etc, without a lot of actual success.  I finally broke down and started taking formal class lessons about a year ago.  I am still not fluent, but I can now go into the mobile telephone office (MoviStar) and handle account problems entirely in Spanish, as well as have moderate conversations with taxi drivers.  Not as far as I had hoped, but honestly, better than I expected.  (Evelyn started studying with a 1-on-1 instructor right from the start, plus taking painting instructions from a non-English speaking instructor, so she is further along than me.)

Photography.  When in California, I was heavily involved with the Berkeley Camera Club — a club with highly talented people that pushed me to my limits to improve my photographic style.  To win in the twice-monthly competitions there, I spent a lot of time and effort in my home studio.  I brought most of that studio here to Cuenca with us, but find I spend very little time there now.  The local Cuenca camera club is at a much lower level of talent, and my lack of Spanish fluency made it hard for me to really follow what was going on anyway.  Though we both still photograph quite a lot, these days it is mostly oriented towards creating images for this blog. However, Burt was recognized for his talent as a photographer by an Ecuadorean glossy news magazine and published recently.

Art.  Evelyn finally has the time to delve into her painting, and has also found a local instructor that has helped her improve her work tremendously.  There is a very active art community here, and they convinced her to have her first art show in 2014, in which she shared an exhibition with two Peruvian artists.  That was such a success that she agreed to a second show — this time solo — in 2015, and then a third small show this year.  Her work sells extremely well (setting sales records at the most recent solo gallery exhibition), which has helped to build her confidence. Her most recent show included a rave review in the local Cuenca newspaper too. She has decided to target no more than one show per year though, as they are a lot of work to produce, and she sells so many paintings that it takes her that long to build her inventory back up to the 30+ works of art needed for a good solo exhibit.

murals international cities

Murals seen in cities around the world

Travel.  We have always been energized by travel and seeing new places.  Now that we are retired, we have the time to do that much more than while we were working — where we  only had 3 weeks to see a country then rush back to work.  Now we can spend a month in one place, then another month somewhere else later in the same year. We recently returned from spending 3 months in Turkey.  Since arriving here in Cuenca 3 years ago (today!), we have taken 5 separate major trips within Ecuador.  We have also made visits to Peru, Colombia, Argentina, California, Florida, New York / New Jersey, Iceland, Amsterdam, Turkey and Cyprus.  (We have 6 countries planned for 2017, so stay tuned for details).

Volunteer.  There are lots of opportunities to volunteer in Cuenca, but for various reasons, we have both kept our efforts there in the artistic area.  We made a memorable trip with a volunteer surgical team into the Amazon, producing publicity photos for them to help with their fund raising efforts.  I had never expected to be allowed inside an active surgical operating theater to photograph doctors in action.  We have also helped creating publicity images for a music festival, an ecological festival, and a couple of “art walks” here in Cuenca.

Cuenca. This is home.  I think that really says it all.  With all our world travels, we have never visited a place outside the US that felt like home… until we landed here.  We no longer have a car — and surprisingly don’t miss it one bit.  In California, we would drive 1/2 mile to the local market or movie theater.  Now we routinely walk 4 to 6 miles per day, and don’t think twice about it.  Our house has no heating or air conditioning — and doesn’t need either (though I do have a small ceramic heater by my desk that I turn on a few nights per year when there is a chill in the air).  We have more friends in Cuenca that we did in California — partly because we are now retired and have more time for them, but partly also for other reasons too complicated to go into here.

Murals in Cuenca, Ecuador

Murals around Cuenca, Ecuador.  There are literally hundreds of them.

Articles About Us.  We have found ourselves published in local newspapers and magazines a few times too.  Just yesterday, Burt was featured in an Ecuadorian magazine, Vistazo.  Evelyn received rave reviews in both the Cuenca Expats Magazine and recently in El Mercurio on her painting at the Mayor’s Art Gallery, and Burt won a local photo contest the same week.

Retired life in Cuenca has been much better than either of us expected, and the time has flown by.  Expect another similar update a year from now… if we are not traveling or too busy to write at the time… ☺

Stay Tuned tomorrow for part 2 of this reminiscence…

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