The last week in Cuenca

An example of an event gringos get up to. A local group of writers and wanabee writers, WIT,& my design for a poster.

The sun has been out the last couple of days. What an
improvement this makes in attitudes. Mine is up because of the
sunshine. There seemed to be weeks of rain without breaks up
until a few days ago. I am flirting with the idea of Mexico. The
rain pushed me to it. A couple of gringas one who lives there
now and another who has extensively traveled there have been
lobbying for it. It does satisfy my criteria of late, Spanish
and a warm sun. Hearing that this rain isn't normal doesn't do
much for my confidence as I make the choices regarding residence
here. In Ecuador people don't doubt climate change. The weather
in the mountains has been SO consistent for so long that this
change is conspicuous. I do like the city of Cuenca. It is a big
city layed out as lots of small neighborhoods abutted. The grid
of narrow one way streets makes being a pedestrian feasible

despite the pin ball behavior of the vehicles. I could live here
but maybe I want to do more exploring. Meeting so many people
who have been to Peru, Argentina, Columbia,Uruguay, etc...has
perked my interest. There is a summer in Maine ahead, not a bad
country to revisit. Also thoughts of Europe. Lots of EU tourists
have come thru the hostel in the two months Ive lived here. Just
two reasons I am not in Europe now, winter and cost. Maybe the
fall in Germany and Spain and the winter in Ecuador or Mexico.
Need to price the airfare for that thought. Had I world enough
and time, I would see it all.

A photo of Ponche, the boss of upper Hermano Miquel, the street I live on in Cuenca. Ponche keeps order here, he allowsno other dog to lay on the sidewalk. No other dog can mooch a meal at the several restraunts. Car alarms are barked at by Ponche until they stop. Tires are marked with an attention not matched by any meter maid, as soon as a vehicle parks.

More Ingapirca photos & winding down

Detail of flowers of a tree on the Ingapirca site

This noon several of the gringos who collect at the bookstore in the morning had lunch at the California Kitchen. I joined them. A nice restraunt about eight blocks away. Two of the Gringas were to leave the next day. One returning to Mexico where she lives. The other to explore Costa Rica. I think I had sworn to keep away from gringos. It is difficult to ignore the common language, culture and circumstance(s). So you get to know people. If I was the hermit I fancy myself sometimes I would be up in the hills cooking over a wood fire. I'd only come into town once a month for supplies. One could easily live for a couple of hundred a month. Wash and bathe in a stream. This is how its done in the boonies just outside Cuenca. But damn that water's cold! The solar water heater wouldn't have been much use during the past month. The climate is not what I expected, too wet. The locals say this is unusual. Be that as it may...Mexico is starting to look interesting for next year. Columbia is also a possibility, the Caribean coast.

Inca Ruins

 Susan, ever at the camera, shoots from the bus on the way to Ingapirca

A trip to Ingapirca

Sunday, February 13, I joined a bus load of Gringo(a)s on a tour. We went to the Inca/Canar ruins at Incapirca. On the way we visited a church at Biblian and the market at Canar. The tribe called Canar were conquered by the Incas. The ruins at Ingapirca were of a temple shared by the tribes after that conquest. I was feeling a bit off that day and didn't participate in all of the forced marches. I did walk around the ruin, my main interest. I often thought of my brother who in his youth loved to pile stones upon other stones. He would have been in his element when the temple was being built had he been there. In olden times this area was cloud forest, thick with trees. The trees have been thinned out but the clouds are there. The whole day was spent in drifting mist. The altitude about a thousand feet higher than Cuenca.

  LLamas near the Ingapirca ruins, they make a sound like a small dog barking.

Stones to the  left have been laid out for repair of the temple, by the builders? or recently?

 A view of the ruins

 Every other day theres a photo in the papers of a bus in a revine....now I know why.

Two Gringas book case Maria, the guide's mom. Maria came on the trip, nice woman.