Cuenca reflections

As we wind down in Salinas, we are going to try and take some time to jot down some thoughts about Cuenca. Salinas has been spent mostly en la playa. I will take some pictures after the weekend crowd leaves.  Although busier than during the week, it has not been bad.

I am going to start with electronic technology.  Cuenca has cable internet and wireless internet.  Everyone has a cell phone.  Many have smart phones. Apple just opened a store in a very modern shopping center.  With all this, it is very odd that most retail stores will give you not only a computer invoice, but a handwritten one as well. And often a cash register receipt, also.  I got the impression that the handwritten one was the receipt that was really worth something. Check outs could take a considerable time as all this paperwork was being generated.

Social networking is very strong, in Cuenca, on many levels.  The young people are very active on Facebook and You Tube.  Many of my guitar lessons had a You Tube component on Pablo's smart phone.  Especially clips of the old performers doing the old songs. But there is still a reliance on the old reliable methods. On Sundays, trucks go up and down streets with blaring horns. People can dump old furniture and appliances in the trucks. The collectors sell the merchandise.  The furniture is stripped and redone and resold.  Same with the appliances.  Also, during the week, the gas men drive through neighborhoods, honking their horns. They have trucks full of propane tanks. The tanks are used in the houses for cooking.  People can exchange their tanks, on the street, rather than going to an outlet.

The mega phone is, also, used widely. Religious groups and politicians walk the streets spreading their message.  The best thing is the cars or trucks with PA systems that drive the streets promoting musical events.  The Blues Brothers live on in Ecuador.

GPS. They don't use it here - but really need to. There are very few road signs. The GPS system, in Cuenca, is, while stopped in traffic, to get someones attention and ask directions. You may or may not get accurate directions (no one wants to say they don't know or appear not to help). On our way to Salinas, with a Cuenca driver, we got lost in Guayaquil. We stopped at least ten times before we got correct instructions.  By then we were on the opposite side of town from where we should have been (not good - Guayaquil is the largest city n Ecuador).

Few businesses take credit cards, in Cuenca. If they do, they charge you extra for the fee. It is really annoying.  There must be some difficulty with international transactions or something.  But, it really holds them back. In Salinas, a tourist town, we haven't seen that.

Television is mostly satellite (Direct TV).  It is mostly in Spanish - good for our practice. U.S. football comes on Sunday and Monday nights. It is in Spanish.  It is actually better that way.  The announcers get really fired up. It is interesting.  You sometimes can hear the american broadcasters in the background.  Apparently, the spanish speaking broadcasters are listening to the americans and broadcasting simultaneously.  Pretty amazing.  A few shows come in English.  They are usually very odd ones.  Like American Chopper.  Maybe Senior and Junior can't be translated into Spanish.