Caballos

Becky's meds started to work last night.  She felt much better this morning (although not nearly fully recovered) and was game to visit one of the expositions going on close to our apartmento. First, we met with nuestra amiga Maria who owns a small convenience store on the bottom floor of our building.  She has been a real friend and help to us. She is not open on Sundays, so we said our adioses today.We then went to what we thought was a farm animal exposition. It was really like a gigantic county fair. All around the fair grounds were venders and food sellers.  Inside was more of the same.  Also, carnival rides of all types. Even fun houses, etc.  After getting some sun glasses for Becky (lost hers on the return trip from Galapagos), we found our way to the animal area.  It was mostly all horses.  We spent the afternoon watching the show competition. Many of the breeds were specific to Ecuador or South America.  The highlight was the showing of Paso Fino horses. They are a very old breed from the Spanish introduced into South America hundreds of years ago.  They are small but quite beautiful.  Their trot gait is different than the normal trot gait.  It is muy suave. Valen's uncle has several.  We got to ride them four years ago. We walked back to the apartment.  We, first had to get past the throng by the fairgrounds and then past the mob at Feria Libre. We survived. Tomorrow some clean up and packing for the coast.  We scrapped our plans for Quito and will stay an extra three days in Salinas rather than Quito.  We are ready for warm temperatures and ocean breezes.

 Maria con su amiga

 Maria con su amigo

 A new friend

 Shetland ponies are normally cantankerous, but this guy must be something.

 The arena

 Horse being judged

 Being judged

 An American breed. Quite a bit larger.  It was crazy but beautiful.  About five minutes after this photo, the horse kicked the handler in the abdomen.  After  a few anxious moments, he recovered and finished out the show.

 Another beauty

 Paso Fino mare and foal.

 Same pair

 Paso Fino male

 Becky couldn't resist

 This sow found the feed bag in the pen. She worked and worked at the sack and finally got it open. Sow fiesta. Pigs are smart.

Becky's idea. Memories of her farm days. Or Minnesota State Fair days.

Medico

Becky's cold symptoms escalated, so we went to a clinic downtown that was recommended by a pharmacist. There were about 30 docs in this clinic. We were immediately taken to a doctors office. He saw Becky right away. After a history and exam, he diagnosed a sinus infection. Fortunately, the lungs were clear (or limpio as he said). He prescribed an antibiotic and two other medications (cough and cold symptoms). His charge - $20.00.  The farmacia, at the clinic, charged $47.00 for the three medications. Our US system needs to change to be this cost effective. And, we were probably paying gringo rates. Also, total time in clinic and pharmacy - half an hour.  We are laying low today and hoping the meds kick in quickly.

Cuenca Independence Day

We spent most of the day in the downtown area yesterday..  We went in around 9:30 to get a spot for the big parade.  It was supposed to start at 10:00. We got a nice spot on a raised walkway area. In front of us was the sidewalk.  People were sitting on the curb.  An Ecudoriano couple (about our age), sat next to us. They struck up a conversation with us. This was a little unusual, as normally (we have found) they tend to be a little reserved, at first. We enjoyed the visit. Not long after, a nun with about 10 young boys (7-8 years old) sat down near us.  The Ecuadoriano woman next to us explained that the boys were orphans and were under the care of the catholic orphanage. They looked well cared for and we assume are getting good schooling, but it was sad, nonetheless.  Family is so important in Ecuador (all Latin America).  The boys will have to make their way without the customary support network.

At 11:00, there was no sign of the parade. We began to speculate about the actual start time. As the hour approached 12:00, we feared it would be 1:00 before it got underway. It did start around noon. The parade was, primarily, floats, dancers, music etc., from the various barrios of Cuenca. I think there are 29 barrios. By the time the parade got started, our prime seating location no longer existed. People were standing in front of us. There were thousands of people. So we moved back and stood.  This provided a fairly good vantage point.  But photography was difficult. With everyone standing, could not get full shots. Also, the sun came out - then the umbrellas came out. A lot of the women use umbrellas instead of hats. Good for the hairdo but it ruins the viewing for a lot of people.  So I spent much time cropping the photos to get rid of umbrellas, etc. The parade was very colorful.  The dancing is always  great to watch.

After lunch, we wandered around and watched and listened to music and street shows. There are a million artists in town. There is much down by the river.  We plan to go there soon. Later we went to watch my guitar teachers' group play. We had to wait a while for them as well.  Not their fault.   They were set up and ready to go. But the announcer started giving away stuff to audience members who would come on stage and answer some questions about Cuenca and Ecuador. This went on forever. At one point he asked for an extranjero to come up. Of course, we didn't budge.  But then he asked the crowd if there were any extranjeros present. And, being the only ones there, people started pointing at us. So I ended up being the extranjero representative. The group finally got underway and the music was great.  Pablo acknowledged me, again, to the crowd - very nice of him.

On the way him, we passed another plaza where another group was playing. Besides the instruments, they had four singers (tres hombres y una mujer).  They played uptempo music, but did a choreographed routine a la Motown. They like that kind of thing here.

Crowd beginning to swell

Balloon guy

Smurf guy

Cotton candy

Balloon lady

This smurf lady had her daughter with her (maybe 3-4 years old). When the girl got tired, mom would put her on her shoulders and carry on.

Dancers

Mayor of Cuenca

We couldn't figure this out

Mare balloons

Parasols

Float 

Dancer

Float

Float

Kids on a float

Muchachos on a float

Dancers

Masked dancer

Mas bailadoreas

Military colegio (high school)

Riding in the semi pulling the float. Best seat and best cotton candy in the parade.

On a float

Demonstration on a float.  Most floats had a traditional life type of theme.

Barrio reina

Young dancer

On a flaot.  Not sure what this one was about.

Colonial formal wear

La misma

Cuy on a stick

The payback to Becky for this will be painful. Thats Boris on the drums.  He is a great guitar player, as well.

Dancing in the square in front of the bandstand

Colorful costume

The band.  Boris is hidden behind the led singer.

Pablo on keyboard

El grupo

Pablo - he is usually not this serious

Another shot

Becky has come down with a cold.  It is going into her lungs and she sounds like she has bronchitis. Not good as her history with bronchitis usually means a trip to the doctor. Not sure how much we will do today.

Pre- Fiesta

We are in our final preparations to leave Cuenca. We have our ride to the coast lined up.  One more relaxing ride through the Andes. My guitar  was sent to Lynn (in Athens) today. I really hope it gets there OK. It is una buena guitarra.  I have one more classe de guitarra en viernes.  Mi maesto is trying to teach me as many latin ritmos as possible. He is great.  He plays tomorrow in the first day of the Cuenca fiesta. It will be hard to leave my early morning friends. From a nod to each, in my first walk to class, to a five minute conversation with each every day (I have had to add 20 minutes to my commute), I have really enjoyed the mundane everyday conversations. I hope I have added something to their mornings. Friday will be difficult to say adios.

Cuenca is bustling getting ready for two days of hard fiesta and a weekend of continuation. Tomorrow is el dia de independiencia de Cuenca. Each town celebrates the independence separately (more fiestas).  Thursday is a national holiday(we are not sure why). Friday, Saturday and Sunday - what the heck. We went into town yesterday and pre- fiesta had started.  We were unprepared.  No camera and no cell phone with camera. A parade was underway. There were many groups of people from around the area in traditional dress with their own musical groups. They performed their traditional dances in the street, as they marched. The costumes were brilliant reds, purples, greens , blacks and reds. The men often wore chaps, as is the custom on the farms. The highlight fue los ninos. Each group had a small group of little children at the end of their procession.  They were dressed in the clothing of their clan. Bright dresses, serapes, panchos, etc. They were preciosos.  One little boy, probalamente tiene cinco anos, was dancing just like the adults. Amazing. A high school band wowed the crowd with a salsa type song and dancing salsa at the same time. They had guys walking with congas. How good is that.

 Hats anyone?

 Just a fraction

 An artist, I guess

 Starting to fill up with art, etc.  The whole park will be full tomorrow.  Below is a musical group that uses  traditional instruments and modern. They are very good.

Today, a great art market opened up near the river (pictures attached).  Tomorrow, there will be artist markets, music, food - all over town.  In the back of our apartment a small community has been set up.  We don't think we are going to get any sleep for the next couple days. Hasta mañana.