¡El Hombre y Los Fuegos Artificiales!
Trip Start
Oct 17, 2006
1
6
42
Trip End
Jun 23, 2007
Cuenca, Ecuador
Monday, November 6, 2006
On the way to Cuenca on Thursday we stopped off at a number of interesting sites. We got more great views of the other side of Volcan Tanguahua spewing ash high into the air and went to an indigenous cementery for the day of the dead celebrations. It was surprisingly commercial - stalls selling flowers, colada morada drink and whole barbecued pig and of course the ubiquitous guinea pig!
After 12 hours we arrived at Cuenca and met the family of our Quito parents. Four generations of family to be exact! It wasn't exactly 'mi casa es tu casa' but eventually we managed to break the ice with our poor attempts at Spanish and they were very hospitable, if a little intimidated by us. It helped that Jon fixed their PC while he was there!
It was Cuenca's annual foundation festival this weekend and the festivities started with a bang - literally. They do things differently in Latin America... the fireworks (the eponymous 'fuegos artificiales') started with a man dressed as a cow - I kid not, they call him the 'mad cow'. Anyway, the mad cow danced around whilst the encircled crowd watched with some trepidation. Every now and again a firework would whistle up from the body of the cow and burst over the crowd, causing them to scatter with shrieks of excitement. Eventually the cow burnt itself out and the stage was set for the tower of fireworks which stood in the middle. It all started so well with nice gentle catherine wheels but after a few minutes the fireworks turned ugly and headed for the crowd once more! This time the crowd fled for their lives as fireworks landed around their ankles! One just missed Helen and Jon and caught poor Miguel between his legs, where it burnt right through his trousers before someone managed to put it out! Luckily he wasn't hurt but I didn't hear anyone threatening to sue or anything... like I said, it's different here!
We spent the next two days visiting various sites in and around Cuenca. Often the whole family would go out, numbering eleven, including abuela (grandma - top of four, soon to be five generations there) the 90 year old. We'd all squeeze into the pickup truck and invariably Helen and Jon spent the most time in the elements at the back. Cuenca is a beautiful colonial city and the climate is so much nicer than Quito. On Friday we witnessed the military parade, which was more fun for Helen than Jon (I'll let you guess why!) but also very Latin American in true brute force and colour. On Saturday we explored the national park nearby where we made an exhausting walk up to about 4000m in the high 'paramo' where it's too high for trees to grow and ate delicious freshly caught trout on the way back down.
We're off to our new adventure up north in the cloud forest early tomorrow. You may not hear from us for a while as a result but keep those comments coming, it's great to hear that our words are actually being read!
PS Piccies next time cos this machine doesn't have any decent editing software on it...
ĦHasta luego!
Comments
BANG!
Doesn't sound all THAT different- my good friend Alex once thought it would be utterly hilarious to throw a bag of 20 rockets on the bonfire.... In retrospect it was, but at the time I was more scared than if I'd found a bear in my bed.
DO NOT EAT...
...THE GUINEA PIGS!!!
Think of the cute, little friends running around your local pet shop or garden centre. Remember how you fondled a guinea in a junior farm, a friend's house - or if you were really lucky - your own back garden.
STAY AWAY AWAY FROM THE CAVIES - GUINEA PIGS ARE NOT FOOD!!!
Helen, I hear from my spy (Annette) that you have no intention of eating the cute ones. Good work. Now, concentrate on preventing the dangerous Jon person.
OVER AND OUT - TODNEGPA (THE OFFICAL DO NOT EAT GUINEA PIGS ASSOCIATION)