Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Dec 31: the New Year burnings: Mateo Romero
In an exclusive Ecuadorian tradition, every one makes an effigy of themselves which represents their sins in 2013. Then at midnight New Years they burn it. Then 2014 they start fresh. It is like a big confession. So tonight there will be some serious fires happening.
The pic here is of an effigy for a little kid named Mateo Romeo. He assured me in front of his mom he had a lot of things he had done wrong in 2013.
Dec 31: update
So another day here of life that is quite not what it seems. I awoke this morning at 1230am to the smoke, the smell of burning tires or plastic. The whole court yard was filled with it. This was after the landlord told some of us earlier that evening there had never been a problem around smoke at the hostal before.
The German guests at the hostal, who I had come across 26 hours earlier waving towels in their room, had placed a bed cover around the door entrance to keep any smoke from seeping in. I was pissed. I went out into the street and went to the bakery next door and banged on what door I thought was theirs. No one answered. So I banged on the landlord's door and rang the door bell. No one answered. I ended up not sleeping very much, pissed off about the chemical smoke and thinking up what I was going to tell the landlord next morning.
So 7am comes along and I walk up to the top floor to see if I can figure out what the Germans may have been looking at the night before. What I saw shocked me. There was this tiny smoke stack sticking out in an area surrounded by the higher walls of buildings. The 'problem' seemed to be structurally in place for awhile. It seems that every early morning when the bakery gets going, smoke is created to start the fire and most likely started with some petroleum based product like plastic trash. This smoke simply falls into the hostals court yard as it has nowhere to go.
I confronted the landlord about the smoke. I was told that the landlord filed a 'denouncement' with the local authority about the smoke from the bakery, its impact on the health of the guests but nothing has happen yet.
I was shocked that building code wise that any type of such smoke stack scenario could ever happen. I can't imagine such a situation existing in the States. I was also taken aback that not less than 16 hours earlier after being told there had never been a smoke problem, the same landlord was telling me that they had indeed reported it and was waiting to see what happened. Nothing is what it seems goes hand in hand with the cultural thing here of not telling people the full story for fear of upsetting things or saving face.
The Germans told me later that they had gone over to the bakery earlier to see what was going on and saw that there was this old man making his livelihood. The Germans didn't want to make a deal of the situation by reporting anything for fear the old man might lose his work.
The end result, nothing changes. The landlord told me to just put the bed cover under the door to keep the smoke out.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Dec 29: stuffed bodies to be burnt
Local tradition is to burn these bodies as a purging of past mistakes people made in this recent year.
Dec 29: I did a three hour walk along the local river
While it looks pristine, there were lots of plastics along the river. Plus local commercial industrial companies were clearly directly dumping into the river.
Dec 30: update
I got no sleep last night. No sleep for me makes a truly ugly gringo. #1 I was moved into a 2ft by 2ft covey hole to make room for more guests. Of course the new room is built to maximize noise exposure. #2 the bakery next door has been burning its trash the last two nights. A group of Germans staying at the hostal were up all night yammering. I finally got up at 330am to see what the f! was going on. There I saw the Germans fanning with towels inside their room, complaining that the smoke had plastic particulate and was creeping in through the door. One German was on top of my ceiling trying to spy on the bakery next door.
Basically I didn't sleep all night. The fact the locals started lighting off giant bottle rockets at 5am didn't help. Apparently it is a way for them to celebrate a church holiday. It was reminiscent of my first morning in Managua Nicaragua when I thought I was caught in a crossfire.
I just become a complete gringo when I don't sleep. So I am trying to isolate myself in my tiny box today, canceling my Spanish class today. Usually when I am in this state is best I am not out in public.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Dec 28: Cornucopia
It is amazing for me to spend half a summer in the north of Spain and experience little in the way of produce and overall food selection. Then to come to Ecuador and feel like I walked into the Garden of Eden.
Dec 28: Capuli
Another local fruit that is sweet like a cherry but of course with its own unique flavor.
Dec 28: Lapita Jaya
Local to Ecuador and 'muy rico' as they say here. You peel it and eat the jellatonous clear sweet flesh sprinkled with tiny tart seeds.
Dec 28: (c) and started eating one of the pods inside
It tasted like a marshmellowy foam doused in Guava juice. Delicious!
I had no idea a Guava looked like this
Dec 28: (a) I discover a Guava
I made a deal with the Choleta that I would buy her 3ft long Guava pod if shd showed me how to eat it.
Dec 28: Cornucopia of fruits
I discovered the local market today. I can safely say that Cuenca kicks ass of any other place I have been as to the variety of fresh fruit. The picture shows Plantains still on the vine. This variety of banana is usually cooked. There are at least four other major variety of bananas here.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Dec 26: update
I was supposed to have Spanish class today but my teacher had other priorities. On the 24th we did a 'field trip' to fix his car. That was kind of fun as it was totally ad hoc figuring out what to do next. We thought we had the car fixed. But it wasn't. So today my teacher wanted to spend the school time dealing with his car again. I told him I wasn't interested to pay him to fix his car again (eg Spanish lesson time). The culture here is big time 'mañana.' Of course the other way to say the same thing is that Americans are uptight.
I ended up paying for a massage because my neck continues to bother me. While it was half the price compared to the US, the quality was questionable at best. The masseuse insisted she massage the whole body (my legs and butt)when I just wanted her to focus on my neck. At one point the little woman jumped on my back and tried to rip my head off. I am sure she thought it was some kind of therapy. Then she tried to get me to come in tomorrow. I told her I would let her know if i want another after this massage sinks in. I guess I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I am going to try for some yoga stretching as the massage thing can add up and is questionably effective.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Dec 25: sweet ride
I am not much into cars but this one caught my eye. I like that it is built to offroad for the rainy season terrain. Plus it has good racks in top for luggage and two sweet horns bracketed on top of the hood. Plus the overall feel is simplicity.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Dec 24: Esmeralda and me
She gave me a book The Camino to Jesus. I think it was after I said I was Agnostic after they said they were Seventh Day Adventist. Most importantly they were good people!
Dec 24: my teacher Juan Pablo
and his mother Esmeralda. They kindly had me over for dinner at their house.
Dec 24: phone line drooping down
as this Gringo took photos. In the US thid would be a lawsuit waiting to happen!
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