Local color. Isn't that what we first notice when ensconced in a new locale? Aren't these the uniquitities that distinguish one destination from another? Local color manifests in; broad oaks, majestic mountains, quaint accents, unique cuisine, on and on and on.
The reality is that local color boils down to those sensory stimuli that strike a chord, form an impression and create a memory for us. No matter where we are or how many times we have been there.
Cuenca is crammed with unique color including; architecture, culture, art, music, cuisine, tradition, history, and physical environment. On that last item, it is interesting to note in Cuenca there are a lot of vehicles on the road. Contrary to your probable first impression, most roads are well maintained. Particularly compared to our hometown digs in the US. The notable exception in Cuenca are the streets of el centro. The downtown are roads are mostly cobble stone. Well maintained and clean beyond any reasonable expectation, but you definitely know where you are without looking when seated in the back of a cab with well used shock absorbers. It can rattle your fillings loose. Local charm. Most other areas of the city are smooth sailing even in older cabs.
Cuenca also has a high volume of pedestrian traffic. Hoooowever,,,the sidewalks do not realize the same level of attention as their concrete counterparts with the stripe down the middle. I suspect that sidewalk maintenance falls to the adjacent property owner rather than the city.
We read several warnings about 'watch where you walk' in the literature we amassed prior to traveling South. Several authors suggested good shoes and open eyes as essentials in exploring Cuenca on foot. We concur.
The sidewalks of el centro are generally perilously narrow and fraught with surprise's like carts, holes, stairs and oncoming pedestrians. They are still well worth traveling. Something we will do more of.
The newer(?) sidewalks outside of el centro are typically but not always, wider. But infinitely more hazardous. Like Disneyland, mountain climbing, Old Bushmill and 90%chocolate, you have to walk these paths to believe them. Another life challenge. Pure fun.
I took some photos all within the first two blocks of our new home. This is turf we travel daily, and new surprises surface almost that frequently. Here goes....

As they say, walk a mile in my shoes.... or your shoes.
Local color.

Yes. That's the answer to that particular question, you have all been waiting to have answered......'can you get American football (the National Football League) games in Ecuador?'
NFL games are quite a big deal amongst the majority of ex pats that I have met thus far. The primary vehicle for transmission of the games is 'The Sunday NFL Ticket.' I have Direct TV and this feature came with the plan that I have ($70.99 per month). The NFL ticket can also be purchased online and delivered over the internet. There are also no doubt, ways to acquire the games that have a much smaller pricetag and larger consequence if discovered. I am not privy to any of these devices.
What NFL Ticket boils down to is broadcasts of the NFL Network. No commercials, just some unbelievably boring music that loops through each commercial break. Tedious, but better than ads for Pizza Hut, The Finger Hut, Nut Hut, and Hut-two-three. Some folks are paying $200.00 for the full season of NFL ticket.
Now all of this is simply a preamble to the real story.
Last night my beloved, and sometimes disappointing, Seattle Seahawks were in Green Bay to tangle on the unfrozen tundra with the Packers. This was a Sunday night prime-time game. And of course it was not covered by the NFL network and thus not available on NFL Sunday Ticket. Woe is me. I finally found the game being broadcast in Spanish..
Now this is an experience for a clown like myself whose Spanish vocabulary includes; 'buenos dias', 'por favor', 'taco', and now 'lunes'. The announcers rattled on, just like a US broadcast and they probably spouted the same cliche , space-filling, silence-killing crap that accompanies all sports broadcasts. 'Oh gee Tank, did you know his mailman's cat was killed in a tragic and unexpected accident last week?' 'It just shows the level of his professional commitment that he is out giving his all to the game he loves, earning seven hundred fifty five thousand dollars, after such a tragedy.' I can't say.They may have been rattling off very relevant and insightful data. My Spanish sucks so I remain in the dark where I have spent a good portion of my life to date..
One thing that I can tell you definitively though, is this (es esta). Spanish television commercials for goods, services and upcoming productions are just as boring when repeated ad nausea, as their US counterparts. Even though I rarely had much of a clue as to what was being hocked.
Oh well.

We have now been in Cuenca slightly more than a month. We are settling into our new apartment, city, country and life. Our Spanish improves daily and the Cuencans are very understanding and helpful in our ongoing struggle to communicate. I had an interesting conversation with our building administrator on Friday. Her English is possibly worse than my Espaniol. So we actually communicated with maximum mutual effort and patience, and resolved the issue at hand to both our satisfaction. In parting, she was attempting to impart one final point. Her statement hinged on the word 'lunes.' I knew that this was a word that I had studied and encountered prior. As I wracked my brain to affix a translation to the word, she patiently rephrased her statement and continued to surround 'lunes' with other Spanish that meant nothing to me. Finally I said 'lunes' and stood to leave, at which point a large smile swept over her face (oh boy this dope finally go it) and she also stands, repeating 'lunes' as I leave her office. I rush back to our apartment and look up 'lunes' to find the translation 'Monday.' Duh, I knew that....no I didn't.....I knew it once.
One of the interesting challenges of trying to assimilate into a new culture. Makes life interesting and keeps me on my ballerina toes.
We are increasingly more comfortable traveling about the city as we learn more and more landmarks. The streets in Cuenca largely follow the flow of the rivers, so they are anything but straight, sqare and gridlike in their organization(?). The streets are also named for historical figures and events (Tres Novembres, Presidente Manuel Cordova )which further heightens gringo confusion. Keeps it interesting.
Don't try ex-patting if you are developing dementia.

Jackie got to redo her fingerprints this morning because the FBI rejected her first attempt. We lunched Wednesday with a lady who also failed on her first attempt at fingerprinting. She was told by an FBI employee that it is fairly common with 'older' women to have difficulty being printed. She recommended a solution that enhances the swirls and ridge lines on your fingers. Our lunch companion used the solution and was successfully fingerprinted. Hopefully J's prints are readable this time, as this is a crucial component in acquiring visas and cedulas in Ecuador.
Fingerprinting seems to be a bit different in reality than it appears on CSI Elbe. And I always believed that show was so realistic, fact-based and educational.
Most times we have returned to our building after a big shopping adventure, we are met at the door by one of the building staff with a cart. They will not only transfer the shopping from the taxi to the cart, but they bring the cart to our unit and unload it where we request. Makes us feel special. One time the security guard saw me wrestling a large box of pans, and offered to take it for me. Maybe I just look incompetent?
The building also has housekeepers who clean every public surface (floors, elevators, pool and sauna, rooftop terrace) daily. This includes mopping. We have taken to eating off the hallway floors. Quite sanitary.

This is the Supermaxi where everyone shops. They have a lot of our money so far. The two machines by the entrance are ATMs. They dispense your withdrawals in fives, tens and twenties (mostly tens) no matter the amount you request.

 

We got to talking with some folks who live in our building and discovered the roof. The roof of our building is covered with ceramic tiles. It is rimmed with beds of flowers and bushes, and there are lounge chairs , picnic tables and some lamps. The view is amazing. Tough life this.

 

These videos will give you some idea of our area and the surrounding beauty. You have to admire my cinematography skills. Hard to believe that I have no training in this field. Just raw, natural talent. Oh to be me.

The first thing to do when you arrive in Cuenca is to make reservations for yourself(s) at Joes' Secret Garden. Joes' is owned and operated by Joe and Josef. They have a huge (probably 4,000+ square feet) house where they live upstairs and the bottom floor, other than a kitchen and small bar area, is filled with tables (white tablecloths, linen napkins), and chairs. Full it seats around 120. The backyard is also quite large and houses a large, covered outdoor kitchen.
Every Saturday night the doors open at 5:00 to those with reservations, for a social hour. Ninety minutes actually because dinner is served at 6:30 or 6:45. The menu is different each week. This week was superb fried chicken, cole slaw (also quite excellent), mashed potatoes (very yummy) and cream gravy (wow good), and delicious biscuits. Oh, did I mention this is all-you-can-eat. Nattily uniformed and quite attentive wait staff keep the food, agua and alcohol flowing to your table. Guests are assigned to specific tables.
But I digress, the menu was completed with an absolutely decadent chocolate pudding cake, served hot with coffee.
In case I didn't mention, this meal was grand. Most of the diners are ex pats and it is a wonderful opportunity to meet folks and hears their stories and experiences. We found ourselves talking to a couple from California, and as we discussed baking challenges etc.,another friend joined the conversation and said 'oh these are the people I was telling you about who just moved into your building'. Turns out they live on the floor below us. Small world somedays.
Back to the meal. We got stuffed. It was so good we didn't want to stop eating. We had six glasses of a very good, dry vino blanco. And we gorged on food. Total bill $39.00. You read it right $39.00.
Tough life this.

No. We haven't been abducted by rebel militia and spirited away to their mountain retreat while our friends and relative raise $37.18 to ensure our safe return. We have in fact been quite busy stocking, cleaning, decorating and living in our newest Shangri-La. We promise to post a vid or pics. Can't say when though. If you want an up-close and personal tour of the digs, ping us on Skype and we will give you the nickel tour.
So, back to the story....
We booked our expedition to Cuenca, Ecuador to debunk all the hype. Bear in mind, shortest route and money saved were high priority items.
At the assigned hour, two hours prior to flight time and never a convenient hour of the day, we arrived at the curbside check-in to begin the first leg of our flight. Seattle-Tacoma international to LAX with a brief layover to accommodate our transfer to another airline for leg two of the flight. No prob, right? people do it everyday.
If you have never been to LAX, consider yourself very fortunate. The way most travelers change concourses and airlines, is by standing in poorly signed lines awaiting busses that tour different areas of the airport acquiring and depositing passengers. We found our line for the bus (which at least was free, the first free thing we had encountered that day other than the abundant opportunities to wait in line and otherwise waste time).  The ride was interesting (that is a massive complex) and we were spit out at the proper terminal and actually made our flight, LAX to Miami. This was the longest leg of the flight and we got to enjoy it in 'the cheap seats'. I don't fly often but I swear the economy section gets more cramped each time. I have heard that the newest passenger airplanes are featuring a super-economy section where passengers will be shrink-wrapped and stacked in piles in the very back of the plane.
Oh and another of my favorite parts of a flight. The plane lands, the attendant announces 'welcome to blah blah, please remain seated until the aircraft has come a complete stop and the doors have been opened'. Thirty seconds later the plane is still taxiing to the terminal and every blockhead, dope, Cretan  and knucklef### is out of their seat, in the aisle, digging out their overhead bags, and clogging the aisle for no good reason. They aren't going anywhere unless someone in a more forward position in the planes decides to relent their position to this chump who can't wait to deplane so he can stand in line again to retrieve his checked bags. Herd mentality I suppose. If you happen to be one of these types, STOP IT!.
Anyway, we made it to Miami. It was a long and uncomfortable trip. No fault of the airline really. I just have a body type that is not compatible with economy class.
More another time.