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Experiencing Cuenca through the 5 Senses

3/30/2015

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A few months ago we were focusing on the five human senses at preschool. The kids had a lot of fun exploring the various ways we experience the world around us, and it occurred to me that it would be interesting to think about our year in Cuenca through the senses.  Over several dinner conversations our family identified the sensory experiences that are most emblematic of our experience in Cuenca, or that we think will most remind us of Cuenca when we experience them in the future.  Hopefully these descriptions will add a bit more dimension to the things we are able to describe in words and show in pictures.

Sight
This sense is perhaps one of the easiest to think about in terms of a new experience.  What came to mind immediately for me were the blue domes of Cuenca’s cathedral, and the church of Turi which overlooks the city.  Ultimately, though, I think the image that will stick with me is the way that clouds here are closer to earth.  Sometimes they surround us, but often they hang somewhere between earth and sky, often creating dramatic contrast to the mountain vistas that surround Cuenca.

It isn’t surprising, given that Cuenca is Santa Ana de los Cuatro Rios (Saint Ana of the 4 Rivers), that the Yanuncay River made Lucia’s list and the Eucalyptus trees that line every river made Gabe’s.  The Eucalyptus trees were a surprise to us.  They aren’t native to Ecuador, but were brought in to help control erosion and because they grow rapidly. And they are everywhere.

Doug chose the burning of the effigies that we saw on New Year’s Eve in Otavalo (see our New Year’s post). Not something one is likely to see in the U.S.

Sound
The rivers appear on the list again!  Gabe chose the Yanuncay river, which is right by our house. When we’ve had a heavy rain we can hear the river loud and clear from Gabe’s bedroom, as long as the traffic is light.  Lucia chose the Tomebamba River, which is the river that runs along the historic center of Cuenca.   Doug’s choice, car/house alarms, reflects the fact that our overall experience in Cuenca is a little loud.  I made a recording of sounds I hear on my walk to work to share with my students.  I was surprised at how loud the walk, which I had thought of as relatively tranquil, really is when all the traffic, animal and regular city noises are added in.  My choice, though, is the sound of the preschoolers calling out “Tia Elena!  Tia Elena!”  Schoolchildren here call their teachers “Tia” and “Tio” which translate to aunt and uncle. I don’t think I’ll have many, if any, four year olds calling me Tia Elena back in the U.S., but if one ever does I’m sure I’ll be immediately transported back to a certain preschool in Cuenca.
Taste
Those of you who were rooting for the local delicacy of roasted Cuy (Guinea Pig) to be highlighted will be disappointed as we haven’t yet brought ourselves to try it.  There are a number of local dishes (especially soups) that we like. Nonetheless, our choices in this category are relatively simple.  For Lucia, its the Galak (white chocolate) flavored ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop, Monte Bianco.  For Doug and Gabe both it is pan de yuca, or yucca bread.  These tasty little breads are made from yucca starch, and also contain cheese.  They have a crusty outside and chewy inside with mild flavor.  We can buy them frozen and cook them at home.  They make a nice side dish to many Ecuadorian soups.  There are also a number of shops in Cuenca that serve pan de yuca with yogurt drinks.  My choice in the taste category is the tomate de arbol or tree tomato.  We had juice made from tree tomato on our first day in Ecuador, and it is one of the biggest domestic crops here. It is a fruit, but it does have a sort of tomato like taste. The mild flavor of the tree tomato makes for great juice, and it is also a popular base for the Aji sauce (which also includes hot peppers and onions) that is served with many main dishes.  
Smell
Here again our responses reflect the breadth of our experiences in Cuenca.  For Gabe the most notable smell is that of car exhaust.  There are emission standards here, but they must not be too strict.  It isn’t uncommon to see black exhaust pouring out of busses and cars.  Doug chose a similar smell: that of a polluted river.  We often smell pollution in the Yanuncay River, and have seen polluted water pouring in.  There are campaigns to clean the rivers and keep them clean, but there is a lot more education to be done.   The water that runs off of streets and sidewalks gets mixed with whatever pollutants are on the sidewalks or the industrial shops (car repair, metal work, wood work) that operate along the street.  Just this week, Doug noted that mounds of grass clippings from the yard in our little development made their way into the river.  And it isn’t unusual to see people washing their clothes or themselves in the river on the weekend. 

Lucia and I have more pleasant smells to add to the mix.  Lucia chose baking bread.  There are many bakeries in Cuenca and one often catches a whiff of bread baking.  Her favorite chore at the grocery store is to go to the in-store bakery to pick out the bread.  Bakeries have woven baskets and tongs that customers use to select the freshly baked item of their choice, and that process adds to the appeal.  For me the smell is Eucalyptus.  One hostel we stayed in during our travels had fresh Eucalyptus branches in the shower, which made for a delightful steamy start to the day.  A hot spring retreat near Cuenca also has Eucalyptus branches in the steam room - no need to go through the process of extracting the essential oil!  Sometimes I can smell Eucalyptus as I walk by the river, especially after a storm if limbs have fallen.

Touch/Feel
The tactile experience is a hard one to put into words, or to even think about.  Lucia and Gabe both chose school related items for the sense of touch.  They use a wide array of papers in school here – including specially formatted and lined papers for various tasks, and the notebooks are different than we have in the US.  For Gabe the tactile experience has included an emphasis on penmanship (using 4-line paper, please!) and learning to write cursive.

I think the tactile experience I’ll most associate with Cuenca is the cheek kiss that is part of every polite greeting.  Not that you actually get kissed on the cheek – it is more like a cheek bump with air kisses.  Required for women, and for women and men, but men shake hands when they greet each other.  Every day I exchange cheek bump kisses with my coworkers, preschool parents and the school kids.  It isn’t awkward anymore unless I meet an expat and then there is usually a brief hesitation before the air kiss is replaced with a verbal greeting.

Doug chose the feel of his alpaca poncho, which we bought in Otavalo, and which nicely complements his now flowing hairstyle.  We also have several alpaca blankets which we love.  They provide a lot of warmth without a lot of weight, and feel uniquely Andean.

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Immersing oneself into a different culture can be a powerful experience – one that we hope the kids will remember for a very long time on many levels. There will likely be many other events that remind us of Cuenca after we get back to the States.  Perhaps a certain non-verbal expression, decoration, odor, or manner of speech will rekindle some memory from our time here.  We look forward to those experiences that bring us back to the land yucca bread, eucalyptus trees, vibrant rivers and mystical mountains.

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All that we had hoped for… and more.

3/15/2015

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Now that we’ve been in Cuenca for a while several friends have asked me whether it is “all we hoped for”.  The question gives me pause.  What had we hoped for?  We really did not have a lot of specifics in mind.  We wanted the opportunity for our family to experience another culture by living in it, and a Spanish immersion experience for the kids. We weren’t looking for paradise or a year of relaxation, although we were hoping for a bit of a slow down in the pace of life, and the ability to see Ecuador’s cultural and natural beauty – including birds.  We knew that in the process we’d experience culture shock and struggle with some of the daily realities.  This post is about those not so pretty “realities.”

When I first started composing this post in my mind I titled it “Things we hate.”  That reflected my state of mind at the time, and a few ugly experiences (my own and Doug’s) that had left us pondering whether we could make it another 6 months in Cuenca.  The degree of annoyance varies from day to day… but here are a few of the things that make our experience more like reality and less like a promotion from the Ecuadoran Ministry of Tourism.

Dogs
Ecuadoran culture is experiencing a shift in its attitude toward pets.  You see fancy pet stores, veterinarian offices and grooming studios, and some use of leashes with dogs.  But the past attitude toward dogs - that they are helpful to guard property and can otherwise defend themselves – lingers, resulting in a large number of stray dogs. In addition, many “owned” dogs are turned out into the street during the day to do their business, meet up with their friends, and procreate. Even “new style” pet owners who dress their dogs in little coats and use a leash are unlikely to do any poop collection.  The result?  We’ve learned to assess which dogs lingering on the sidewalk are harmless, and which to avoid.  We’ve had to teach Gabe to carry a small rock so he can pretend to throw it at a stray dog that gets too close, and actually throw it if needed.  Doug has to time his runs to avoid the times when stray dogs do the most roaming.  And all walks involves a lot of sidewalk vigilance to avoid the ever present poop.  Now that I reflect on it I realize we must be adapting because it has been several months since I’ve had to take a stick to the bottom of a shoe.  This series of photos was taken this afternoon during one walk around our block.
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Common Courtesy
This one is hard to describe, and I suspect has more to do with different cultural constructs around courtesy or politeness than any intentional rudeness.  Yet we often experience the way Cuencans act as having a lack of common courtesy. For example, people walking four abreast on the walking path, and not adjusting their spacing so others can get past.  Cars darting past each other, or into the lane that should be for oncoming traffic, just to get through the intersection faster.  People crowding around the bus door to get on, no sense of line or order (although women with babies/toddlers and older people will often be given preference).  Or the one that bothers me the most:  I’ll be standing in a store waiting my turn for something (say to recharge a bus card, or get a copy made), and someone bursts into the store, and announces what they need. They get served, and I’m left waiting.  At times I’ll take the more assertive route, but it is still a stretch for me. 


Pedestrian safety.
 
Or lack thereof.  The concept of pedestrian safety is codified in Ecuadoran laws, but doesn’t exist in any recognizable form in daily reality.  Yes there are stop signs at intersections, but drivers respond to them by slowing just enough to look for oncoming cars (NOT pedestrians), and then proceeding. Yes, there are cross walks and modern walk signals, but they are taken as suggestions by both drivers and pedestrians. The most considerate driver might see a pedestrian and give a little honk to warn them to get out of the way.  The fact that I can count on one hand the times that a car has actually stopped at a cross walk and waved me forward is telling.  Drivers often consider the sidewalk an extension of the street. One day on my way to work I was honked at by a car so that I would move off the sidewalk and allow it to get to the corner.  The driver was trying to get out of his driveway onto the street, but preferred to use the sidewalk rather than wait for an opening in traffic.  The following picture was taken by our bus stop yesterday when a car conveniently pulled onto the sidewalk just as I was pondering how to get a picture of this common event.


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And then there are the sidewalks, littered with hazards.  In addition to the aforementioned poop problem there is the fact that loops of rebar are routinely left sticking out of the sidewalk, and that garbage shelves on exterior walls hang above the sidewalk just at the height of a kid’s head.  We’ve had no major incidents yet, but a fair number of stubbed toes.  To its credit Cuenca is re-doing some of its sidewalks. In the neighborhood by the preschool they’ve replaced all the sidewalks and the new ones have curb cuts and are smooth.  But I was flabbergasted by the lack of consideration for pedestrian safety during the renovation.  Sidewalks on both sides of the street were torn up simultaneously, leaving no place safe to walk.  A huge trench was dug in the sidewalks, and access to businesses, including our preschool, was provided by propping 3 wood planks over the 5-foot deep trench - no hand rails or other safety measures.  Not exactly ideal for navigation by 2 -5 year olds.  As striking as the lack of attention to safety is, it is more telling that Ecuadorians don’t seem to notice. I didn’t hear any parents complaining about navigating the planks in high heels with a toddler pulling on one arm, or about stepping out of the school gate at the end of the day and coming face to face with heavy machinery.


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Random annoying noises. 
I think I mentioned in an early post that the roosters start crowing very early.  I have to admit that I hardly even hear the roosters anymore.  We routinely hear car alarms, house alarms, and lots of honking. And of course dogs barking.  When I complained to Doug yesterday that the extremely loud house alarm in the house across the street that was going off all morning he responded, “was it? I don’t even hear it anymore”.  Maybe we’re adjusting, or maybe we’re going deaf.  But on those days that the annoyances build on each other, the cacophony of alarms and barks can put us over the edge.

Public Transportation.
It is ironic that this is one of our top annoyances because we chose Cuenca in part because of its comprehensive and accessible public transportation system. And it is true, we can get just about anywhere on the bus at a very reasonable price (25 cents per adult, 12 cents a kid).  The buses are even equipped with card readers, so we don’t have to carry cash), and audio/visual systems that announce the current and upcoming stop.  The problem is that the bus rides can be so unpleasant that sometimes we avoid them altogether.  It seems that the bus drivers are incentivized based on the speed with which they finish their route, and without any consideration for the passengers or any notion of customer service. The buses themselves seem to have chronic transmission issues (or maybe it is driver error), making for a very jolting ride.  And popular routes are often so packed that bus drivers skip stops to avoid picking up more passengers. They will stop a block early to let passengers off, and then charge past the stop. When they stop it is more like a pause.  Disembarking passengers must be ready at the exit door and jump off quickly to get clear of the bus before it proceeds. And when boarding one must be ready to brace oneself immediately or risk being thrown by a sudden jolt.  I’ve opted to walk to work (a nice 25 minute start to the day, provided I don’t step in dog poop), rather than deal with the overcrowded buses, or the frustration of watching multiple buses zoom by the bus stop.  We’ve learned to avoid the busiest times, and to choose routes based on bus occupancy rather than the most direct route.  Lucia has adapted by mastering the Ecuadoran Taxi hail, sometimes hailing taxis without us approving. Luckily taxis are cheap (usually less than $2), although the quality of the driving and the availability of working seatbelts varies greatly.

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Specialized Shops 
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that there are mom and pop stores for everything in Ecuador, and that people are able to run their businesses on the lower level of their home.  But for a family with two working adults, only one of whom feels fully comfortable in Spanish, this results in a lot of time spent seeking out the store where we can a particular item.  For example:  grass seed and sand for a school project; a pillow that offers a reasonable level of support; socks for an eight year old boy that don’t cost a fortune but will last more than a month; tennis shoes in a women’s size 8 ½, guitar strings, contact lense solution, etc.  On a good day these errands provide a fun adventure, and a sense of accomplishment when achieved.  On a bad day they take several hours, crammed in between work and dinner preparation, involve a crowded bus ride to a store location that has been vaguely described by a co-worker, and sometimes end in something less than success (yes we have the specialized paper required for your child’s school project, but only in the lined version, not the graph paper. Or sure, we have that size shoe but only in imported brands and at twice the price you’d pay at home). AAAAARG.

En Fin
Facebook and blog posts are more fun to create, and I suspect to read,  when they celebrate things that are nice, beautiful, or exciting. Hopefully this post provides a bit of balance, and a peek into the less glamorous and sometimes very annoying side of our daily experience.   I think it is safe to say we are getting what we hoped when it comes to experiencing the challenging as well as the beautiful aspects of residing in Ecuador.


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Don't let the flowers fool you. That garbage shelf could take out your eye.....
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    Our non-glamorous selves, living the daily Cuenca experience.

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