Tuesday May 24, 2012 - Çuenca, Ecuador

Well, I have settled in for a while. I was glad to finally arrive in Cuenca last Saturday, after traveling from Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador (stayed the night in a lovely hotel) and then on to Quito, to finally arrive in Cuenca at 2;20P. It was a long flight, but worth it. The country is just as beautiful as I remember it.

I am staying with the same family I stayed with last year. I feel like they are my own. I have a very nice room on the third floor.  Lot´s of exercise.

I also joined a gym, which is about 1 1-2 blocks from my home and I wak to school, which is about 3 miles (total both ways). Last Sunday I went on a tour to Incapira, the Canari/Inka ruins. It was very interesting. (Pictures posted) The Inkas built over the Canari's structures because they wanted to dominate. What a differnce in the construction. The Inka's buildings were built with perfection, i.e. no mortar and the stones meeting together exactly. The Canaries built their structures with any type stone, put together with mortar. We detoured and went to a nice restaurant for lunch. I say "nice" because the food was good and it was a very nice restaurant. Unfortunately, they did not cook with sanitized water, so I was sick yesterday. I had to leave school and slept all day and night. I feel much better today. We also went to a local market, which was very interesting.

The school is very nice and I have a wonderful teacher. Tomorrow we will have class for 2 hours and then we are going to walk around town while she converses in Spanish about the culture, etc. I met two women at the school, one from the States (a retired psychologist from CA) and the other from Australia. They asked me to join them tomorrow night for a farewell dinner for the US woman. The psycholgist decided, after retirement, that she was going to travel around South America until she was tired of it and to study some Spanish. The other woman thinks she may come to Cuenca to live until December. In the meantime she plans on traveling around Peru and the Galapagos. It´s obvious we all have the same spirit! I am posting some pictures I took last Sunday on the trip to see the ruins. Hope all of you are doing well. Love you....

Arequipa, Peru

I finally have some time to blog a litte. I am posting some pictures. The town is beautiful, but full of smog. There are more taxis than people. It is a very turisty area, like Cuzco, but Cuzco is even prettier and I do not remember all the smog.

The school is very good (Swiss owned) and is a lot more difficult than the one in Cuenca. We are really concentrating on the speaking and understanding, as I seem to know a lot of grammer. It is being able to recover, from my brain, the things I have learned in a moment{s notice(don{t know how to use the apostrophe on this machine, so forgive the odd symbol for the apostrophe).

I am staying in a beautiful hostel. It is an old home of a very wealthy family that has been turned into a bed and breakfast. I walk to school, about a 5 min walk. Not much else to say...the pictures tell all.

Luv u...

Middle of Week 2 - Cuenca

I am posting some more pictures. I am very busy studying and am enjoying it very much. Last weekend, I just walked around the town and enjoyed it. Tuesday night I had dinner with Josue (the guide for my Central American tour) and his girlfriend. It was his birthday on Monday, so we celebrated on Tuesday night at a great restaurant. He and his girlfriend have been touring around Ecuador and Peru. We were unable to touch base last night and they had to go home today, so I was glad I could see them a little bit.

Today, my teacher and I went to a photgraphy exhibition in the Cultural Hall. It was excellent. We talked in Spanish so it was a good lesson. Well, not much more to say except I am really enjoying my journey. Luv u all and hope all is well. Miss you and wish you could be here!

Friday - end of 1st week in Cuenca

LAST WEEK OF CENTRAL AMERICAN TOUR BLOGGED IN PREVIOUS DAY...ALONG WITH PICS (PLEASE SEE)

Well...I finally finished blogging my trip to Central America (I hope you enjoy the pics and blog...). Now I can concentrate on living in the present, which is not too hard to do in Cuenca...what a great city!

Cuenca was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site because of its many historical buildings in 1999. Cuenca,is located in the sierra of the Andes in Ecuador´s southern regions. It´s 2500 ft above sea level, altho it feels like more when I walk the hills. It´s the 3rd largest city in Ecuador, with about 500,000 people and about 200,000+ in the city (so it is not so-o crowded like Quito).

There are four rivers of Cuenca (meaning a basin made by a confluence of rivers). These rivers are the Tomebamba (which runs right next to the Town Center), Yanuncay, Tarqui and Machangara.

There is some pollution, due to the cars, but nothing like Quito. There alot of police around, so it is very safe. The town is a smoke-free town with the best water in Ecuador. The largest class of people is middle-class with a small part of the population classified in poverty (classifications by Ecuadorians). The streets are very clean and the people are dressed very neatly and cleanly.

Cuenca has a long lasting reputation for being a university city. It hosts two universities, the oldest and best known one being University of Cuenca (Universidad de Cuenca), a public university with about 12,000 students, not far from where I stay.

Now that I know my family a little better, it is nice. We can joke a little. I enjoy walking to school every day (aout 25 min), and it gives me some exercise. My breakfast this AM was strawberry yogurt on cereal with bananas and a hard-boiled egg. Lunch was a full plate of grilled fish with salad, rice and fried potatoes...I did not eat the rice or potatoes, as I thought it would be a little much. My¨"mom" usually fixes a fairly good sized dinner. The ecuadorians drink fruit juice at all meals. Most of it is freshly made..had coconut juice for lunch.

I still can´t get over how good the food is for such a little price. My plate (and I mean PLATE) of fish with all the trimmings was only $6.50...at this rate, I might have some money left when I get home...Yesterday I had a soup appetizer, rice, beans, and two pieces of chicken, some type of cheese dessert and fruit juice for $3.00...incredible! They serve popcorn with the soup instead of crackers ...believe it or not it was very good. The ecuadorians all eat soup for lunch and dinner. No wonder there are so many retirees moving here.

This weekend I plan to take it easy and just walk around the city and enjoy it. A woman student at school, who is here with her husband for 2 months (from Virginia) asked me to a concert that the TV station is giving. Her husband is here helping them with their TV station. It will all be in Spanish, so think I will go...nothing like spending a frustrating Sat night...Well, must run..have a great weekend and enjoy the pics of Cuenca!

Route of the Maya (Con´t-Day 8 thru last day of tour)

This day was called A DAY IN THE LIFE ..ONE OF MY FAVORITE DAYS!!

Town of Jacotenango - visited one of the local indigenous leaders, who at one time had been an alcoholic and had lost his family...he found his way and is helping the young people not to get lost. Indigenous people have a lot of problem with alcohol, same as the Native American indians. This man´s daughter was a basketball MVP 2 years ago...the mother sells products he has grown or made..he carves wood from the local coffee trees and grows agriculture. Very interesting man.

We then went to the market to buy items for a school, in the town of Santa Catarina Barahona. We went to the open market and bought canela, cereal, sugar and milk for the children. We rode in a "chicken bus", so we could experience it. Most of the people on the tour did not know Spanish, so they were given a piece of paper with some simple phrases on it. It was quite an experience...the people really looked at us as though we were from outer space. I enjoyed it very much and managed to hold a conversation with several of the people on the bus. Our group was not suppose to sit next to someone with our tour. No one did, so you can imagine some of the stories. Great experience!

The children in the school were waiting for us and ran to our bus..about 6 years old...each took one of our hands and led us to the school. They were in uniform and appeared to be very excited and thrilled that we were there. They sang us some songs, including a Maya Kakchiquel song, and our group, in turn, sang Old McDonald...they loved it! The teacher explained the role of weaving and farming in the town. The teacher´s presentation was about the celebration of the crops and the cultivation of their products.

Family lunch - Our group was divided into two groups of 8 each. The guide appointed me and one other person as the head of the groups since we spoke Spanish. Each group went with a mother and her child/children to her home for a home-made lunch. My group went to a home with a family of 12...no one spoke any English, but we made it through with my rough translations. Both of the moms prepared pepian, which is made with Mexican peppers, green peppers, tomato, cilantro, onion, chile peppers, seseme seeds and pumpkin seeds. We also had chicken and fruit. I did not eat the chicken because we had seen a lot of chicken sitting outside. The home was very rudimentary...ground served as the floor...lots of open spaces with just a roof. The family was very, very nice and the children were absolutely adorable. My "family" had a weaving loom, and the grandmother-mother did the weaving. They showed us how they did it. It was absolutely fantastic and was an experience that can´t be replaced!!

On to the macadamia nut Plantation, where a prevous American from California lived and farmed a huge plantation. He was right out of the ´60s and was an absolutely crazy person..very hippy type. His place was gorgeous and he was a real entrepreneur. The machinery he used to separate the nuts from the shell was several old pieces of machinery and metal that he had put together years ago. It seemed to do the trick! He also offered facial massages with his macadamia nuts serving as the basis for his oils and cosmetics. Several people had this done, but I did not.

Goodbye Guatemala City...we flew to Flores Island, Guatemala and TIKAL

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! TIKAL!! We started at 3:00AM to drive to TIKAL (Mayan Ruins) to watch the sunrise over TIKAL. The trip took 1 1/2 hrs to get there, but it was absolutely worth it! This was done to give us a more indepth view of TIKAL. Travel and Leisure magazine rated this trip very well and asked OAT to create a special experience because this particular trip had been rated so well in the past. In response, part of this trip was the early morning TIKAL experience. The next OAT group did not get this experience because not all of the Route of the Maya OAT trips had this incorporated. Apparently, it was difficult for the next group to understand why they did not get this. LUCK CAME MY WAY!!

In addition, our guide had been a guide in TIKAL for 14 years, so he knew the area like the back of his hand. We had additional time in TIKAL because of this...it was an incredible experience...one I will never forget! We saw temples, pyramids, took a trail through the forest to see the ¨grandpa¨big cedar tree, acropolis´, Plaza of the Seven Temples, Lost World, Twin pyramids in several complexes....incredible architecture. They are no longer working on excavating the area because they believe they know enough about the area at this time.

As if anything could top TIKAL...Josue was kind and generous enough to ask all of us to his home in FLORES...to share the food...his family (sister, father, cousins, etc), and his own story. Words cannot do justice to the emotions I felt...gratefulness, sorrow, enjoyment, unity, love, and a sense of the presence of spirits (the Holy Spirit for me...for others maybe something else...)...all of this and so much more. To hear his story of his family´s journey through the Civil War...was an incredible experience...his family´s journey was one of courage, faith, strength, love, and support and more than I could ever imagine. Without a doubt, we all experienced A DAY IN THE LIFE OF....!!

On to Belize..

On the way, we stopped at another Maya ruins site ¨Yaxha¨, and covered a lot of ruins....nothing to match TIKAL!

I did not care for Belize City. It is very dirty and poor. However, our hotel was beautiful and I imagine there are some top rated hotels on the outer islands (Cays...pronounced ¨keys¨). There are four major ethinic groups, including Creole (not the French Creole), who were people of African and Spanish descent. It is a very integrated city...

We visited Lamanai, our last Mayan site. We took a boat to get there and we had a Belizian guide (since Josue was not allowed to guide there). The boat ride was a blast...it was a motor boat and went fairly fast on very sleek water. We spied a number of wildlife, including a bird that is endangered and which our guide had not seen in all his years. We also stoped to see the village of the shipyard, occupied by the Mennonites.

We had a wonderful farewall cocktail hour and meeting by the hotel pool...our guide bought some more rum for a drink, and we had a beautiful farewell dinner. After dinner, we went by the pool and our bus drivier, who was also a marriachi singer, played us some songs and sang. What a fantastic way to end a fantastic trip.

I hope you have enjoyed the travel log and feel like you have shared some of the experiences with me. Luv u all.....

Cuenca, Ecuador - Time to catch up

I took most of my time today to write some of the blog for my Central American Tour (SEE BELOW).

I wrote the blog for the first 7 days and will write the last 7 days on another day. I uploaded pictures relating to the first 7 days only. Keep posted for the rest.

School is going great! Today, my teacher and I went to a public hearing in the government building for the rights of the indigenous women. They do not hold any rights at this time. It was excellent and I understood most of what they were saying. I could not understand all the words, but understood enough to know what was going on. After the meeting, the indigenous people took to the stage for a dance, which I captured on my video. I loved it. After the meeting my teacher and I talked about the substance of the meeting. I wanted to make sure I got the gist of it...it was very exciting.

I have run into quite a few Americans, who are either vacationing or have moved here. I don´t blame them..it is mostly crime-free..no drugs like the cities...streets are clean..a nice combination of modern and antiquity. The food is fabulous...got a lobster, shrimp, and calamari salad for $7.50 (would have cost about $15 in US). The main entrees usually cost anywhere for $3 to $8...what a bargain and the food is delicious!

Well, will post some more tomorrow...I hope. Luv u all...enjoy the post on my tour..it was fabulous!

ROUTE OF THE MAYA TOUR - May 23-June 6, 2011

This blog reads from oldest to newest time period on the tour. The rest of the blogs read from newest to oldest time period. I have blogged the trip to day 7...will blog the rest later, but wanted to get this done. It was such a fabulous trip!

SAN SALVADOR

Arrived and joined the OATS Tour (Route of the Maya) for an extraordinary trip.

El Salvador North-American Embassy- drove by...no photos allowed...lots of construction...city is humble with squatters on one side of the road and some markets on the other. Many indiginous people.

Military Museum -- saw a model of San Salvador, to understand its topography. The premises held a military headquarter, used during the civil war, which affected this country from 1980 to 1992...killed 75,000. The museum had a room called the "Fallen Soldier Room", dedicated to those members that participated in the reconstruction of Iraq with the UN.

Metropolitan Cathedral....country´s most important monument...the country´s martyr, Monsenior Oscar Romero, is buried there. His "firey¨" masses, cost him his life during the 1990´s.

National Palace ...drove by..holds national archives. Two monuments in front represent Isabella and Christopher Columbus.

Lunch at Rancho Alegre restaurant, located in the caldera of Coatepeque (place of the snake) and lake, with the same name. Coatepeque Lake is only 375 feet deep, with no drainage system....very close to Santa Ana volcano (one of the active volcanoes). While eating, gentlemen sang a couple of songs for us. Great experience! Food was great.

On to Honduras for 2 nights and the great Copan ruins....

HONDURAS

Tonight our guide,Josue,treated us to some El Salvadorian-made rum.

Copan is especially near and dear to my heart, as Dr. Robicsek, whom I worked for when I was about 24 years old, was an expert on the area. He wrote several books and showed his photography at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. I have one of his books and a couple of his pictures framed in my house. It was a real dream to be able to see the ruins in person.

Copan is the only HONDURAS UNESCO Site. 1st to the Acropolis site and altar “Q”, with a line of 16 kings carved on the square stone...on to the Plaza of the Jaguars with two dancing jaguars carved on the stone...on to a temple where
Fito or Rodolfo showed the gum line of a snake...to a temple with sky bearers...saw a palace complex, Las Sepulturas. This is a unique set of royal palaces and buildings with thrones, scribes´benches and a bed. The buildings were colored with red, etc. during those times, but most of the color had come off of them...then on to see the Sky Palace.

After lunch, I rode horseback with some other people to La Pintada, in the valley of Copan, to see the children and their living area. Horsebacking riding was a fantastic adventure and way to see and feel the valley! Our guide had bought a pinata for all the children to break. The children sang their national anthem for us...the experience was unforgettable. Children are the same throughout the world...absolutely adorable...some trying to be mischiefous and some on their best behavior. The thing I noticed was how young many of the mothers were...average age of marraige was 16-18...some were younger. I absolutely loved this experience!

ON TO GUATAMALA

Josue told us about the history of Guatemala, from Independence to the civil conflicts in current times...the money drug situation in Guatemala. The country is very beautiful...mostly poor...however, it is very rich in culture and the people are very nice,

Saw...

A stone carver, who has been carving for 37 years. His grandson and other family are his apprentices and will continue the tradition in the valley. Absolutely great carvings...things are very different here than in Honduras.

The 1976 Earthquake monument..the time when a Guatemala president tried to invade Belize.

Toured Guatemala city ....stopped at the Metropolitan Cathedral and the former National Palace, built by the last Guatemalen dictator. Palace was green because that was his wife´s favorite color. (Boy was he in love...or hen-pecked!)
There are no tall buildings because of the many volcanoes and the two main tectonic plates in the Caribbean and the pacific slope.

We saw a lot of police in Guatemala City and the guide admonished us about leaving the tour group at any time. It did not feel like a safe place at all! I would not want to stay in the city.

Left the city ....dinner at Casa Chapina: chuchitos (small tamales), tacos, refried beans, chicken. During the trip, Josue had bought fresh papaya, watermelon and chicos for dessert. What a great guide! He was so very knowledgeable and nice!

During drive...

Saw Plaza Berlin, built to remember the Germans and the pursuit of peace and freedom. It showcased 3 pieces of the Berlin wall. The Germans helped to make Guatemala´s economy more progressive. The U.S backed Guatemala during WWII, therefore, the Guatemalan president ousted the Germans. The Catholics criticized the President´s acions, therefore they were expelled from the country along with the Germans. After the Germans left, the Maya highlanders again had the opportunity to practice their rituals and recover their national identiy. Until 2001, coffee was Guatemala´s number one source of income. This left a religious space so Guatemalans could decide which religion to follow. At present, Protestant is the number one religion in Guatemala.


Town of Sumpango....for kite-making. I made my very own kite...a wonderful experience..all were made from crepe paper (see my picture). It is an incredible tradition. Kité-making is one of the most celebrated events in the Guatemalan highlands. On Nov 1st and 2nd (corresponds to our Halloween and All Saints Day),when the locals believe that the winds get stronger, they make the kites to scare away evil spirits so the good spirits can rest in peace for one more year. They fly the kites (some absolutely gigantic) over the graves of their loved ones.

With two local young girls, who were our hostesses, and with the use of VERY SMALL buses, we went to the cemetery to see a person fly one of the larger kites. Unfortunately, there was not enough wind. We then got some flowers to put on someone´s loved one´s grave. That was a very spiritual event and one that, for me, defined the love we have for each other throughout the world, regardless of where we are. I know the family was moved by flowers on their loved one´s grave, given by an unknown person....someone who cared enough to leave a living reminder of the love for their family.

On to Chimaltenango, Guatemala´s 3rd largest city. We saw the remodeling of old U.S. buses into "chicken buses". The name attached because of the ÿellow color. Chicken buses have very few rules and you don´t want to be on the road when they are. They go very fast and make many stops so they can pick up as many people as possible, to make more money. Each bus has a person, who collects the money..often buses are stopped and robbed. This was quite a site. Most of the school buses in Guatemala are buses that have been brought from the U.S. and driven through Brownsville, Texas. Go figure!!

Region of Sololá Lunch at 8000 feet elevation. This region is one of the most important in terms of farming. There are a very large number of indigenous, who farm the land and cultivate carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes, etc.

Visited the Maya cemetery of Solola, one of the oldest. Tombs were located, in part, below the surface.

Town of Panajachel - 2 nights.

This is the day I went ziplining...GREAT..Could have gone on for hours!! We took a boat to Santiago de Atitlan. Our guide was a Maya Tzutuhil, who makes his living by weaving pens with people’s names on it. Absolutely fabulous day!

Region of Sololá

Met a Maya shaman, who has practiced since he was 12 years old. He provided us with a spiritual ritual, which I enjoyed tremendously. Part of the ritual was chanting to the Maximon or Rilaj Mam (the great grandfather). He was a life-size "man" (actually a doll), dressed in the Mayan dress, with scarves adorning his chest in a vertical position. The shaman chanted and spread the incense smoke around to each of us, to ward away bad spirits and to grace us with good spirits for health, travel, etc. The Maximon is one of the many, and not so famous, manifestations of religious expressions in the Guatemalan highlands. People have tried to destroy it, but it continues to survive. It was a once in a lifetime experience. One of the people on our tour asked the guide if we could see a shaman, and he arranged it. Again...Josue was terrific. Everything we asked for, he made sure we got.

Went through the Catholic Church and parish house, where the North American priest, Stanley Rother, was murdered by the Guatemalan military. We also saw a Tzutuhil lady weaving her hair into her headdress. The headdress (a scarf-like material) was about one city block long. The "scarf" is woven into the hair and then wrapped around the top of the head. (see picture) The headdress is claimed to be the most beautiful one in Guatemala.

Town of San Antonio Palopó.

Saw ladies weaving and selling their products...no middleman!

On to La Antigua

Went through Antigua Museums...visited the Maya indigenous town, Chupol. Went through market place...today is Sunday...day of the Maya Quiche people´s market...
Antingua is a beautiful town, the best so far. The lake was beautiful.