I have not yet traveled enough to say that I am a particularly worldly person, but I desperately want to be. Living in Cuenca has shown me yet another way of life -- from the four churches (and one main/new cathedral) that I pass on my way to and from school every day, to the women layered in colored skirts who sell fruit in the markets, to the men and boys who whistle and cat-call as my friends and I walk past, I have new experiences and meet new people every day. I am still learning my way around the city, and if my bus makes a different turn, I still freak out a little inside even though I know I will end up in the right place. I have to wash my fruit and vegetables very well, and there are certain restaurants that I am not allowed to go to.
And yet, I feel as if I am home. Finally. Until I moved into a dormitory in Athens, Ohio towards the end of 2012, I only had memories of living in one city: Columbus, Ohio. Though it still does, and probably will always, feel like home, I have never been in love with a city. I traveled to New York City and claimed to have fallen in love with the bustle and the tall buildings, but that was merely infatuation. I spend time every summer at my grandparents' summer home in Ocean City, New Jersey, and while the small island feels like a second home, I only know how navigate because many of the streets are numbered. I have visited family throughout Ohio, and I spent last summer living in Dayton, Ohio with my dad, but I don't know enough of those cities to really love them. Perhaps Columbus, but at the same time, not really. I have only been in Cuenca for about a month now, but I love this city. I love the markets named after different important days in history; I love the uneven streets, most of which are actually stone or some sort of brick; I love seeing the blue domes of the New Cathedral as I walk through Parque Calderone; I love the $1 ice cream; I love the detail and artistry of the graffiti; I love the flower market near the cathedral; I love how I can see the mountains no matter where I am walking because no skyscrapers are in the way. I don't like the lack of books, or the fact that those here cost roughly two to three times as much as they do in the United States. The cat-calls and whistles will probably never end (I am a gringo, after all), and I don't know if I will ever be able to buy fruit on a corner and just eat it right then without getting sick. But none of those things matter because for the first time in my life, I truly feel at home in a city. I am nowhere near being fluent in the local language (though I am improving every day!), and I can't even read the local newspapers...yet I almost feel more comfortable here than I ever have been elsewhere. Perhaps I am still stuck in the "honeymoon" phase of studying abroad, in which "everything is incredible and the people are fantastic and I wish I could be here forever!" Perhaps I will end up despising this beautiful city by the time I start my airport-hop home. I don't think so though. I feel at home and I already want to start planning my return trip...not that I know when I'll be able to afford it. To my family members who are reading this -- don't freak out just yet. I still have two years of college left in the US when I get back, and who knows where I will be headed when that is over. But I love this city, and unless something absolutely horrible happens in the next few months, I will most likely be coming back at some point in my life...so consider this your fair warning, I guess. Let me repeat...I can see the mountains from anywhere in the city. Wouldn't you like to live somewhere this beautiful, too?
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I have been in Cuenca for a month and I have already been sick twice. Several of my friends from the US messaged me on Facebook -- "You're the only person I know who would get sick living that close to the equator!" Yes, I guess I must have magical powers of sickness. The first illness I had in Ecuador was most likely caused by the ash from Tungurahua, a volcano located in central Ecuador, that erupted on February 1, 2014. Though I can now brag that I was in a city blanketed in ash from a volcano that hadn't erupted in about 60 years before it welcomed me to Cuenca, being sick in Ecuador is especially unpleasant. NyQuil, DayQuil, etc. are not sold over the counter here -- in fact, one of the few medicines that you can get without seeing a doctor first is "flemex," otherwise known as standard cough medicine. Though it helps other symptoms as well (runny nose, sore throat, etc.) and tastes much better than liquid medicine does in the United States, not having access to NyQuil, aka the reason why I didn't die while living in the dorms, was rough. If you ever travel to Ecuador for an extended period of time, bring some. If you don't get sick, congrats, but if you do, you're welcome. With American Airlines and LAN (a South American airline -- another recommendation!), your checked baggage can have up to 70 ML of liquid in it, and NyQuil is top of my list for next time I come to South America (yes, I am determined to come back). Most medicines aren't sold over the counter here, and many times you have to go to a doctor ($30/visit with the insurance I have through school...thank you, Ohio University Office of Education Abroad!) to get a prescription. Another item that is typically sold everywhere that you have to ask for at a pharmacy in Cuenca is tissues. And if you want the kind WITHOUT lotion, make sure to ask for "pañuelos sin aroma." I learned this one the hard way the first time around. Though the aroma (I think it's a mix of vix vapor rub and flowery-smelling lotion) protected my nose from being rubbed raw, it is an overwhelming scent that I was glad to be rid of when I finally figured out how to ask for tissues without lotion. If you stay with a host family, chances are they won't have tissue boxes sitting around the house like many people in the US do, so you'll want to buy some when you get here. Unfortunately, they're more expensive here than they are in the US. A small box of tissues (see photo above) costs bout $2 and comes with 50 tissues. The second time I was sick, aka this past weekend through right now, was most likely due to food. Though I decided not to spend money on visiting a medical professional (yay self-diagnosis), after talking with my family in the US about my medical history and about their reactions to different types of food, I am fairly certain that the delectable Indian food I had at Taj Mahal, a restaurant on Calle Larga (literally, Long Street) in downtown Cuenca on Friday night was too strong for my stomach. It's a shame really, because that was some darn good food! Then again, it's not like the rest of what I ate this weekend was much better... A pig roasting on a spit in the market in Gualaceo. Photo is not the best that I could get, but I was definitely not about to get much closer to try for a better photo...though I did try a bite the innards and skin thanks to my lovely friends who laughed at my facial expressions the whole time. (Love you guys) On Saturday, I went back to Gualaceo for shoe shopping and to see a friend's Crossfit competition. The group of us, three gals from the CEDEI Spring Semester group and one guy we know who lives in Cuenca, had lunch at the same market the CEDEI group went to the weekend before when we spent about 15 minutes in the town. There is a whole row of pigs roasting on spits on the 2nd floor of this market (el mercado 25 de junio, perhaps? A lot of markets here are named after important dates...I live near el mercado 12 de abril, Cuencan Independence Day). I snuck this photo from my seat overlooking more raw meat on the first floor. Ick. For a vegetarian, this was definitely not the best place to be. However, since I am studying abroad, I am an "experimental vegetarian," which is my phrase for a vegetarian who is trying food in a foreign country because HELLO I'M IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, and I would like to experience as much of the culture here as possible. As you may have guessed, that is a whole pig on a spit. I could probably curl up in a ball and be about the same size. Anyway, I tried some of the pig. And some of its skin, which my friend Andres described as "like potato chips" (he wasn't kidding...the texture was similar but the taste was...slightly more piggy). The innards, literally scooped out and put on a plate for the group of us, weren't actually that bad. I could get used to the taste of them if I had to drop being vegetarian to live here permanently...but for this trip, I think I'll stick to my "experimental vegetarianism." Yes, instagrammed strawberries. But the coloring isn't actually that off... Strawberries here are bright and beautiful and SO DELICIOUS. Just make sure to wash them before eating... I bought these strawberries in el mercado 10 de agosto, a market that sells veggies, raw meat and fruit on my way to the bus stop from CEDEI. Another food that could have made me sick is one of my favorites here in Cuenca -- strawberries. I like strawberries in the United States, especially with sugar added. Here in Cuenca, you don't even have to add sugar, and I love strawberries here. I could definitely eat them every day and be satisfied. Unfortunately, I consciously made the decision to just rinse them off while in Gualaceo (strawberries pictured are from Cuenca), and that definitely didn't help my health this past weekend... But seriously, with proper scrubbing -- I usually rinse strawberries with the water from my water bottle and scrub them with my hands before eating -- you absolutely can't go wrong with strawberries here. And in most places (on corners or in markets, I have bought from both), you can get about a pound of strawberries for $1. Professing my love for strawberries over the internet may be sort of weird, but if you have ever had them here you will understand (if you haven't, buy a plane ticket and come eat some strawberries). I haven't had raspberries, my favorite fruit in the US, here yet. If I can find them, I definitely will. Cherries are good here too, but nothing beats strawberries...at least not yet. I almost like them more than I like chocolate...and that's saying something.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. Being sick in Ecuador, or abroad in general, is no fun. In Cuenca, wash your fruit and don't eat too much weird stuff, no matter how culturally important it may be...at least until you know your stomach can handle it. The tap water in Cuenca is apparently quite clean (and it doesn't taste half bad either), but I still recommend "agua sin gas" (non-carbonated water that usually comes in bottles, even in restaurants) and can cost between $0.30 and $1.50, depending on where you are. For the last time, WASH YOUR FRUIT. And enjoy :) ¡Espero que tengas una buena salud! (I hope you have good health!) I woke up on the morning of February 14 to the sound of love songs in Spanish coming through my most definitely closed window. Cheering followed the end of the song, at which point I had managed to roll over, sit up, and peek out from behind the golden curtains that hang in my room. A group of Ecuadorean men was standing around a parked car-turned speaker system in the middle of Juan de Velazquez, the dead-end street along which my host family and I live.
They were singing and laughing, and a lucky woman inside one of the homes across the street was probably blushing or something because the love of her life was serenading her in the wee hours of Valentine's Day morning. When I say wee hours, I really do mean sometime around 3am. In Cuenca, apparently it is a tradition for young men to go around serenading their girlfriends in the middle of the night. Super adorable and lovey-dovey, right? Definitely not if it wakes you up four times in the course of six hours and you have an exam the next morning at 8am... Otherwise, I absolutely support it. Long story short, to the boyfriends in the United States who may or may not need some help in their relationships: if you play an instrument and sing (or can find a group of male friends who do), and your significant other doesn't have an exam/reason to wake up early the next day, serenade her in the wee hours of Valentine's Day. As for you single ladies, the chocolate here is just as good as at home, but the sales are practically nonexistent (but no matter... tía, which is basically like CVS here, sells Oreos for $3 here). And now I'm off to eat... Today, the Spring Semester group took a day trip to Chordeleg and Gualaceo, two towns outside of Cuenca. At Chordeleg, we visited a museum and a market, and at Gualaceo we had lunch and saw a few (read: at least a dozen) dead pigs being roasted at an indoor food market. Though the shopping, particularly for shoes, is allegedly stupendous in Gualaceo, we didn't have the chance to go. Whether honest accident or not, several people were quite upset. I like to think I was less upset than many since I didn't plan on making any purchases anyway. However, the day was not wasted. We spent time at San Bartolome Guitarras, a little shack on the side of one of the roads that winds up the mountains around Cuenca. There we learned about the process used to make guitars, and how some of the designs around the holes (dad, could you please supply the correct terminology here?) are made using material that has been compressed and cut into super-fine pieces. A lot more was said, but it was somewhat early in the morning and I was a little more concerned with taking photos than to write everything down. Last weekend, the Spring Semester CEDEI group traveled to Ingapirca, the site of the largest known Incan ruins in Ecuador. The Temple of the Sun, though a sizable chunk of it has fallen down, is the main attraction here. The temple was constructed so that on solstices, the sun would shine through the door at a certain time of day. How people who lived thousands of years ago figured that out I have no idea. I can barely figure out North, East, South and West without a compass.
The site was the home of the Cañari people, an indigenous group, before the Incas took over. They stayed for a few decades, but not long enough to build something as grand as Machu Picchu in Peru. However, while occupying the Cañari's land, the Incas and the Cañaris lived together amicably. The architecture of the site is also similar to Machu Picchu -- though less of it is made with stones carved to fit together exactly than Machu Picchu is. Ingapirca is also in only naturally ovular valleys in Ecuador (or the world?), which was significant to the people back then. It's sort of hard to tell that it is ovular, but it still looks cool. |
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AuthorKate Hiller is a wannabe world traveler studying journalism and Spanish at Ohio University. This blog is about her experiences living abroad in Cuenca, Ecuador for a semester. (Spring 2014) Archives
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