Thanksgiving in Cuenca and Moving Issues

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, a little late.

It was kind of strange that November 24th was just another Thursday here, but we were invited to a Thanksgiving celebration on the 26th.  The woman that gave the the party is a chef and she did a wonderful job, great Turkey!  It was a lovely dinner and a nice way to highlight the American holiday in Ecuador.

Thanksgiving Dinner Table

Sunset over the Cajas during the party.

Christmas Tree and Thanksgiving Dinner Setting

Thanksgiving in Cuenca

Pilgrim Salt and Pepper Shakers.  FUN!!!

Now the new place.

Michael and I have moved into a new house, so the past two weeks have been really busy.  We have spent two nights here now, and this morning we watched two of the ladies in the cool hats strolling their cows down the road behind the house.  It is about 5-6 minutes by car from an area is referred to as "Gringolandia", it is kind of rural, nice and quiet.  We get to hear the Tomebamaba  River, very nice. 

We moved our bedroom set that we had made (super comfy, we even got a box spring which is somewhat of a luxury here) and will have some of of the other custom furniture delivered tomorrow, and the rest next Wednesday. Cutting it close considering we are leaving Cuenca for the U.S. on 12-9.  We will spend the night in Guayaquil and fly to Florida on 12-10.

Trying to get internet access where we moved to has proven to be a real challenge.  Right now we are using the neighbors WiFi until we get our own, he just said, "You can use mine",  how nice is that of a person we just met?

We have to get a phone line to get internet access and we are told that it may take 4-5 months.  Yikes!!!!!!!   It is Ecuador, some things are slow, but when you know the right person, some things are quick.  A  woman we know found a way to get around that, she is switching an extra line she has in her office to our new  home until we can get ours.  LONG STORY, way too complicated to explain.

We have a large patio, so we went plant shopping with some friends.   I have always loved my Mom's hibiscus tree but wasn't willing to pay the big bucks the Nurseries wanted in the Chicago area for a plant that is only an annual there, but now we have one.  Two of the cactus we bought are about 4 feet tall and cost a whopping $6.00 a piece!!!  The other little cactus is cool, but we have no idea what it is called.  We remembered the lovely smell of Jasmine from a park in Uruguay so we got some of that as well. 

The clay pots are from the "Rotary Market" near the city center.  It's fun to poke around and see what shapes and sizes are available, then I ask Michael to do the bargaining. 


We are looking foward to more plant shopping when we return after Christmas with my Mom.  You can never have enough plants!!

View from the living room

A few plants and pots from the Rotary Market

Some sort of flowering cactus

We have no idea what this is called, we just thought the flowers were pretty.

Our Pepper Tree

Patio with plants and a few rocks from Montinta

A PICTURE NOT RELATED TO ANYTHING.  JUST FUN.

We bought these birds  that are made from Balsa wood, there is a region in Ecuador where the people specialize in creating carvings out of this wood.  We just thought they were really colorful and fun, so we bought some when we were in Quito.

The Ecuadorians we have met, and made friends with, cannot help you enough, and we have met other "Ex-Pats" that have made us feel like we have been friends forever.  Moving here has been both a challenge and a true pleasure. What a good idea.

Who wants to come to Ecuador?  We now have lots of room.

Food from Around the World!!!!

Cuenca is a city known for its excellent healthcare and hospitals.  SOLCA is a Cancer Hospital with modern equipment and highly skilled physicians.  People literally come from all around South America  for treatment.  The medical care here in Ecuador is inexpensive compared to the US, however there are people with little, to no, incomes in Ecuador, so a non-profit organization called FASEC was established to help these individuals.  If an impoverished person develops cancer, they can go to SOLCA during the day for their treatment, and then go to the FASEC building right next door where they recieve their meals, sleep, and are monitored by the doctor/nursing staff.  The patients are usually people from rural villages that sustain themselves by growing/selling vegetables or livestock.  I have been volunteering there once a week for two hours every Wednesday.

FASEC has a large fundraiser every November, the money rasied goes for salaries, medication, supplies, meals for the patients, etc.  It is a food fair that represents the cuisines of different countries.  This year, the 16th year of the event, included the food of Colombia, Chile, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Japan, Mexico, United States, Italy, Taiwan, Switzerland and others.  There were booths from various local organizations such as " The Association of Gourmets", the local Gastronomy School that is affliated with the University of Cuenca, the "River Basin Santa Barbara Association" which is typical food of the Azuay area.  There was also a vegetarian booth and a HUGE Desert booth.  Ecuadorians love their sweets.

Our neighbors across the street have been heavily involved with SOLCA and FASEC, their family has been touched by cancer several times and this charity is dear to their heart.  

One neighbor spent quite a bit of time in Italy and is a great cook, so she purchased and cooked most of the food herself. I shelled shrimp for about three hours the day before the event, and then both Michael and I were at her house the next day helping with the rest of the Antipasto dishes. At the event I volunteered to help serve food.   There were 10 cold dishes and five or six hot ones, meat lasagna, vegetable lasagna, Gnocchis and Ravioli's, and a Mediterranean Shrimp Stew. An event like this would never fly in the US, the food served at most of the booths is all homemade, the FDA would go nuts.

My grandmother tackled breast cancer with success back in the 70's, one of my Aunts has overcome  several battles with this invasive disease, I call her the "Bionic woman", a cousin has also dealt with breast cancer successfully, (Cancer was in for a handful with her, there was NO WAY she was taking that laying down!!!), the same goes for  very close friend of mine.

Because of family and friends this foundation is close to my heart as well.

The entrance to the FASEC fundraiser. 
It was held in the conference facilities of the largest Mall in Cuenca

The Italian booth I worked in.

The smiling lady was the contributor and cook for the food of the Italian booth, the blond woman with the sunglasses on her head helped Rosa by making a few of the dishes, and contributed the table clothes, and serving pieces from her own house.

Delicious Pasta dishes

It was a great spread of food

Rosa and I spooning up the Antipasto dishes. 

This heaping plate of food was $5.00

One of the conference rooms where the food booths were lined up around the perimeter and tables were set up in the center for dining. 

The Ecuadorian Booth, no Cuy in sight, but the standard roasted pig was front and center.

This is a HUGE pan of Paella, I heard it it was sold out in record time.

The Italian booth served over 400 meals in about two and one half hours.  We raised $2,600 for FASEC!!

Cuenca Fiesta

Cuenca has a huge festival starting on November 1st and runs through November 6th.  It combines the Day of the Dead, celebrated here on November 2, and Cuenca's Independence from Spain on November 3rd, 1820.   There are tons of parades, concerts, arts and crafts fairs spread ALL over the city.  It was impossible to get to see everything.  Here are pictures of "The Peruvian" booths that were set up along one of the main Avenues along the Tomebama River.

.  .). 

We bought two rugs and two sweaters from the Peruvuian Ladies

The products are hand made, the young woman in the back is knitting a blue scarf.

We bought our rugs from this woman.  Every single one of them had JET black hair in beautiful braids.

I just included this to exemplify the height of most of these ladies.  Kinda tiny.

We thought their hats were so cool, if we could have bought one we would have.  Such detail!!

A curios shopper

We strolled down the river, in the background you can see another market that was set up for the festival. Mostly people from Otovalo. Behind Hazel and Wally the display materials for the artwork were being set up. The next day the street and park were covered in an assortment of artwork, and jewelery sellers.

Michael relaxing in Parque De Madre.  

Pretty little girl passing by on the Bus.


The next day we met our friends for breakfast in a nice, new little restaurant in the square pictured below.  An then we headed off to the parade.  Our friends had Spanish Class so they missed it.

Breakfast Pals.

They just looked too cool in their hats!!

The Parade Route.  It was supposed to start at 10:00, but this is Ecuador, it got off around 11:00.

Beginning of the Parade.

The following pictures mostly speak for themselves, beautiful floats, costumes, children and dancers.

The guy in the Gray jacket is the Mayor of Cuenca.  There were lots of Beauty Queens in the Parade.

Food was a theme on lots of the floats. This woman is holding a tray of fried Cuy.  Some of the floats were handing out cups of various traditional drinks, we passed on those.  A bunch of floats had special pastries taped to them also.  Some floats threw out beautiful roses.  We took those to the cemetery later that day (it was the Day of the Dead) and placed them on the a friend's fathers grave.

Michael wants this mask!!

Later that evening we grabbed the dogs and strolled down to Parque Calderon.

This little girl was fascinated with Velkey.

The next day we went to Parque Paridiaso to watch the Burro races.  They were supposed to start at 10:00, well we sat around and waited until 1:00 and there wasn't a sign of a single Burro, so we left.  A day or two later, Michael found this video on Youtube.  Looks like we missed a funny event.  I love the guy dressed as a "Burro" on his burro.  Too funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cokS4wOW4aw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We went and visited a few more little markets on Friday.

We went back to Parque De Madre and the artwork was displayed.  Cuencanos LOVE the "new" Cathedral in the city center,  "Caterdal de la Immaculada Concepcion".  Construction began in 1885, I don't know when it was completed.   There all kinds of different artists renditions of the building. 

In a previous post we detailed our trip to an Organic Farm belonging to "Ferbola", he had a booth in a market selling his great products.  We bought some jam, more of his jerky and a kind of "relish" consisting of pickled carrots, onions, peas and peppers.  YUM.

It was a wonderful week.