Feliz Navidad!

It’s Christmas time in Loja, but it hardly feels like Christmastime to us because we are accustomed to cold temperatures in December. In Loja, there are two seasons—the “dry” season and the “wet” season. The wet season has arrived. It is similar to Seattle in June or July. Temperatures average 75, the skies are generally overcast and occasional light rain occurs each day. Actually on our evening walks now, sometimes a light fleece is needed. Everyone here says, “It’s cold.” Hmm! In front of a cathedral in the center of the city, there actually is a winter scene with Santa in his sled riding on snow (yellowing spray foam insulation). Christmas trees, flashing Christmas lights, Santa Claus figurines and nativity scenes decorate the city, and the Christmas decorations were in store windows even earlier than in the states since they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here (of course). As we have been told, we share some of the same Christmas traditions such as gathering with family on Christmas day, eating turkey, and giving presents. During this month, it is common to see women walking around town with live turkeys braced under their arm.

As for holiday events...we recently attended the school children’s choir concert. As instructed, we arrived in our formal school suits/uniforms to the theater on Saturday morning. The school had impressive formal uniforms made for all the staff (oh, but except we paid for them). Sara looks like she should be serving coca colas aboard a 747. As usual, we knew little of what exactly was to happen at the event. Turns out, it was a competition involving multiple school choirs. All children were between the ages of 4 to 6 years old. It was hosted in the oldest theater in Loja (kind of reminded of us of the Moore Theater in Seattle on a much smaller scale). Unlike in the United States where a single pianist might accompany the children’s choir, many of these choirs had full accompaniment with violins, guitars, drummers and pianists. Keep in mind...all the children were between the ages of 4 to 6 years old. Our cheering section included a parent with a snare drum, a parent with cymbals and a parent distributing whistles. So, in addition to the choir competition, there was basically a parent cheer competition as well. Needless to say, it was loud! Our school received 2nd place, and we were surprised that our entire cheering section departed (as if the theater was on fire) as soon as our award was presented.

Tonight we take an overnight bus to meet Roberta in Quito. She will arrive Saturday afternoon and we will begin our holiday travels. Christmas on the beach and then New Years in the Andes Mountains.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Cuenca

Last weekend we had a nice little trip up north to visit the city of Cuenca. It is an exceptionally scenic city, at roughly 9000 feet, with impressive colonial architectu , many cobbled streets and an impressive number of museums. We were excited by the number of art museums--most of which had closed early because of the energy crisis unfortunately. However, there were a couple of impressive bookstores including an English bookstore ( a rare treat). The English bookstore owners, a couple from North Carolina, transplanted to Ecuador, and she took her time explaining about the latest boom of expats in Cuenca (250 to 2500 over the past 5 years).

In the central park is the massive Catedral Nueva, pretty sure its known to be the largest church in South America. We also indulged in some great, dark, rich coffee and an European style breakfast with buttery pastries. Turkey sandwiches were also a good find, the weekend after Thanksgiving. We always hunt for diverse food options when we travel. Cuenca is definitely on our list to revisit.

To our surprise and delight -- we spotted a Microbrewery only blocks from our hostel. After months of drinking only one kind of beer (pilsener, pilsener, and pilsener), we were really stoked and found it hard to wait all day for the place to open. Yikes! Smelly feet describes it best. Unfortunately, the beer was just awful. It seemed to be missing the key ingredient- HOPS! Something was tragically lost in translation, and we had to choke down a $3 draft of what they called an Irish Red. Note to all travelers: Do not waste your time at the microbrewery in Cuenca.That night it poured down rain which was a real blessing for this country given the energy crisis. We hunkered down in the cool temperatures and read our books in the hostel although our vision was to drink ourselves silly with some good micro-brews. Oh well!

The next day before leaving, we got to experience the excitement of a pro-soccer game here. We meandered around outside the stadium before a big game. Everyone was dressed in red and partying big time. It was quite a sight, but actually not much different than a pre-game party in the US. There were the usual venders selling game t-shirts, snacks and cold drinks and loud music playing in the stadium to excite the crowd. Definitely want to make it to a soccer game while here.

On our way home that afternoon, our bus was involved in a collision while driving on a super foggy stretch of road in the mountains. We were dodging and weaving for quite a while until a truck going the wrong way in our lane couldn't get over quick enough. It clipped the front of the bus, which knocked the bed of the truck clean off. We had to stop for about 40 min. while they sorted out the damages. It was surprising when three cowboys dressed in full attire -- large belt buckles, cowboy hats and boots climbed out of the truck. First styled out cowboys we have seen in Ecuador. Fortunately nobody was hurt. In the end, about six guys lifted the bed of the truck back onto the truck, and we continued on our way.

Thanksgiving Abroad

Thanksgiving in Ecuador just isn't the same. 70 degrees, no brown leaves and no football. That said, we were fortunate to be surrounded by folks who helped us to celebrate here and thus ease the missing of family and friends.
Oddly enough, our school takes great pride in celebrating Thanksgiving and telling the story of how the holiday came about in America. The big emphasis being the "thanks" part but they are also thus exposed to more American culture. The atrium at the school was carefully decorated for the event and the administrators hosted a nice story telling assembly including a short story read by Ben in not so dynamic fashion. (Sara was supposed to do it but had a last minute meeting.)
As soon as we finished school, we piled into a cab with some other gringo friends and headed out to a big feast hosted by an ex-pat friend that works at the University here. She and her husband have an amazing farm/propert/school at the very end of a green forested canyon here. Quite an amazing place. They also operate a small private school which focuses on experiential learning and Waldorf type stuff. Very cool.
Anyhow, we worked as a group to prepare a nice big traditional feast for about 20 people. A nice mix of ex-pats, short timers and Ecuadorians. We had all of the traditional fixings including cranberries which someone lugged all the way down from the US.

By 8:30 we were all fading fast so we piled in with some new friends and came back home to collapse. The tryptophan works the same down here in case you were wondering. I'm still unsure if the toilet bowl flushes in the same direction.