We spent five hours today enjoying an Oktoberfest experience in Cuenca, Ecuador. The woman who hosted the event at her home has been in Cuenca thirteen (trece) years. She owned and operated a restaurant here for few years and now she does cooking classes two days a week and she offers a monthly event. This month was Oktoberfest.
We were joined by eight other folks plus our host and her beau. All of us were from the US expat with the exception of the beau who is from Cuenca but attended university in the States and worked and traveled there for several years before coming back South. He comes from one of the 'established' Cuenca families and he told us about his home (36 bedrooms with a 350X15 swimming pool. He was thoroughly engaging and completely charming. Our host was also personable and fascinating.
We knew and have spent time with two of the other couples and the two new acquaintance couple were also very engaging and interesting folk. The meal was wonderful and the wine flowed. A great time. Dinner for two with six glasses of a nice white wine (vino blanco) was $44.00.
But what really caught my attention (leave it to me) was this. A very common conversation theme here amongst the ex-pats is 'things that you can't get here'. The list almost exclusively made up of food stuffs like; horse radish, Fritos, Dejon mustard, French onion soup mix, rice-a-roni. Mostly this conversation revolves around methods folks have devised to simulate or replicate these items out available ingredients. In lieu of this, where they can be found for purchase in either original or replicated form.
Todays' 'I can't get it here' discussion was also a familiar one. It revolved around Netflix and Roku. Ways to make these systems work, but more importantly what shows are now accessible. I find this conversation fascinating and ironical. Because, as interesting, social, charming and diverse as these people are, the TV shows that captivate them, thoroughly bore me.
Different strokes.

So you want to be a notary public in Ecuador? Well you have to start with a Doctor of Law degree and follow that up with at least ten years of practice. Then you can apply to be considered for a notary position. Cuenca is a city of about half of a million (media milion) and it has thirteen notaries. This is the sort of stuff that  fascinates me. Odd character.

There is a local artist named Vega who work is ethni as well as interesting. There are several local shops that sell the work as well as a factory.
Jackie went with our Italian lady friend on the bus to the factory. She got some great stuff. Here are some pics.

We got awakened, awoked, woked-up early this morning to the vibrations of a 5.3 earthquake. It did no damage in Cuenca that we know of, but it was an eye opener. It is such a helpless feeling because no matter how strong you are or how well you have prepared or how much you have read, you are still powerless against the forces of nature. It is humbling to experience such an vent.
Not something to wake to daily, but fairly awesome.

After two weeks of warm, sunny weather, we are now concluding our third straight day with at least one extended (one hour plus) rainfall. The weather remains warm, low to mid seventies. And yes Western Washington dwellers even on days with rain, we still have sunny spots.
We went to a pop-up restaurant affair and had a Viet Nahmese meal. It was on top of a building in el centro (pic included). Each table sat eight. We ended up sitting with a very interesting Italian lady who lives in our building, and two of her friends who were also quite interesting. That made five of us and left three empty seats.
As we conversed and drank wine, we were soon joined by a somewhat quiet gentleman. Through conversation we learned that he was waiting for his wife who was coming separately from her work. The meal was five courses and she arrived before the first course. As is custom, introductions were completed about the time that dinner began. As the evening and the meal progressed, this gentleman and I conversed. It turns out he is the co-author of one of the books that we read and that helped us decide to come to Cuenca. He is also co-founder of gringo tree and gringo post. He has also written for international living, and he currently writes for Cuenca highlife. He has been in Cuenca about twelve years and is married to a lovely Ecuadorian lady who operates Rentals Cuenca. They deal a lot in turnkey rentals.
Interesting evening. We keep meeting fascinating folks. What fun.

Here are a couple of links for your edification and pursuing pleasure.
La Feria Libra is a very large market in Cuenca. It is filled with hundreds of vendors (most indigenous women) displaying and selling fruit and vegetables. There is also (tambien) mea, seafood, live animals for pets and some for slaughter, and sundries (copper work, kitchen ware, pottery). In addition to the vendor booths inside, most available space (sidewalks, allies, vacant corners) also have vendors without booths and display space. To top it all off, even more vendors roam through the shoppers selling mostly single items (bag of beans, candy).
Here is a link to a YouTube vide. on Feria Libra.

https://youtu.be/ZZkMBJqNyrc

This link leads to another YouTube vide. This one is also very interesting and is about La Casa De Guitarra in San Bartholomew, Ecuador. It is a very small and uniquely quaint little town. The vide. shows the making of a guitar. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/Ny2agZFslr4

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Today is (hot es) Guayaquil independence da. National holiday. Few businesses are open. Cash machines are empty.
Ecuadorians love fireworks. Big loud ones. So it has been a bit noisy today with scattered noise increasing on into the wee hours.
November 3 is the Cuenca independence day fiesta. Understand that it lasts four or five days. Looking forward to it.