No Record Heat for Cuenca

Being from the Midwest, the weather is a natural topic of conversation for me. And so I've been watching the shift in conversations about weather here in Cuenca with some interest.

At first, people were coming to Cuenca for the warm, temperate weather. You'd go to an expat event and people would tell you about how they were escaping the horrible snows of Manitoba once and for all. They'd brag about never having to freeze their way through a Minnesota winter again, or tell cheery tales of getting away from Vermont once and for all. Sunny days were here and that was just the way they liked it.

Now people are coming to Cuenca because it's cold. Not ice cold, obviously, or the snow birds wouldn't have migrated here. But not 114 degrees in the shade, either.

With the record temperatures all over the US, expats are now checking to make sure Cuenca is going to be cold enough for them. People talk about how happy they are to be in Cuenca where you don't need to stand in your freezer to survive. They're gleeful at the idea of not needing air conditioning. And they really hope that things stay chilly here for the foreseeable future.

Ah, what a difference a year makes!

Cuenca's Artistic Construction Sites

Cuenca is under construction - they're doing $20 million in public parks, roads, and infrastructure improvements. Almost everywhere you look there is something torn up ... but not all of it is ugly.

This video of Cuenca's Parque de la Madre (Mother's Park) project shows how they managed to make a major eyesore into an attraction. It's currently a mud pit while they put in underground parking, but you'd never know it from all the art outside!
 

Baby Snatching? Seriously?

So I'm out to dinner last night, talking with the lovely JO and updating her about the University professorship situation. I'd gone in to the class on Wednesday to observe, to start preparing to teach October 25th. This is when the current professor is officially scheduled to start her maternity leave.

Anyway, after the class the professor and I are talking. We arrange to drive into town to have lunch, and she has to pull a giant kiddie pool out of the front seat of her pick-up truck so that I can sit. Not being entirely sure why an 8 & 9/10th's months pregnant lady is messing around with a kiddie pool, I ask her about it. Apparently it's for the delivery . . . she has a mid-wife and is doing the whole thing at home in the water birth style.

Now I know home birth is becoming more popular, even in the states, but this throws me for a loop. I was telling JO about it, because why not? It's interesting and different.

She comes back with an even more interesting and different take. Apparently, having babies at home is common in Ecuador because THEN NO ONE STEALS THE BABY AT THE HOSPITAL.

Yeah, exactly. Hospital baby snatchings are common? She shrugs, which can mean anything from "oh yes, totally" to "honestly, it is so easy to pull your leg." I ask her why, and she says that some people who can't have babies buy babies, and thus there is a market for babies, and people just want to serve that market.

For a minute I have a flashback to China, where I knew of a woman who went to the south of the country, headed out to the sticks, and picked up a lovely baby girl for $250. She was frustrated, as a single woman, with the hurdles in the adoption process. The twist? PEOPLE TOLD HER SHE OVERPAID.

I didn't have it in me to ask what a baby would run here. The last thing I need is to discover how affordable it is to buy a baby down here and then turn up back home with a matched set of big-eyed insta-grandkids. I can hear myself now:

"Mom, Dad, I was only going to get one but then I found out they were on SALE."

A Taste Of India In Cuenca

Once upon a time, there was a furniture store on the corner of Benigno Malo and Calle Larga. Then there was no furniture shop and just a small paper sign announcing that it had moved. And then there was a makeover.

Painters descended like a rabid pack of rainbow-makers. Buzz saws whirred. Purple took over the ceiling. The back wall went bright orange. An electric green surrounded the windows that were already struggling to adapt to their new onion dome frames.

Under the purple ceiling, a tented canopy of beaded and sparkling fabrics pitched itself. Semi-sheer sari scarves ran away from their owners to hang on the walls. A plasma screen TV came to life on the back wall, pumping out the best of Bollywood circa 1982. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Taj Mahal!

I'll confess that my first meal here was an accident. They'd left a door ajar during the last week of construction and like any good neighborhood snoop I poked my nose in to ask when they were going to be open. A nice man came and escorted my friend and I to a booth, insisting, "We are open now! Sit, sit, eat!"

Um, okay. That is a table saw being operated next to the chef, right? Clearly not important.

They bring us menus, but this is apparently just practice for the real opening night, since all they have are shawarma's (the Indian version of a gyro) and Coca-Cola. It's surprisingly delicious, considering the circumstances. The real opening day is going to be Thursday and they promise a full menu.

We make plans to test that promise, because to be perfectly honest, the "ethnic" food in Cuenca kind of stinks. There's no Thai takeout, Italian food means pasta + pizza, and spicy dishes exist only in an alternative universe I've not yet discovered. Thus, we are full prepared to be utterly disappointed by our Thursday night India feast.

Fast-forward to Saturday. I'm scratching out the notes that will become this blog post while waiting for $20 worth of $1.50 & $3.00 Indian snacks and entrees to be prepared. (I think someone is walking to India and back to get the spices. This is the only reasonable explanation for the length of the wait. Well, that and the number of items I've just ordered.) I've been sent by the gods of hungry people to "Get more samosa," "Make sure you pick up some of that bread," and "See if the other Aloo dishes are as good as the first one." The taste report:

• Veggie samosas were voted to be slightly better than the chicken samosas. Get one of each anyway.
• The Aloo Palak is richly spiced and delicious, but the Aloo Mutter is better.
• Chicken Biryani beats Chicken Korma.
  
• Real chai tea!!!! (after gallons of te nacional - aka the local swill - my mouth is euphoric)
• Naan Saada is where it's at for the bread.

When you walk in, be prepared to roll out! The portion sizes were generous, and even the takeout was more than plenty. Frankly, as far as the taste buds are concerned, this is the best transformation that has ever happened to a furniture store!

Cinnamon Roll Sadness

One of the things that I frequently forget about Cuenca is how high the city really is above sea level. At 8,200 feet, altitude is an important factor to remember.

Especially when you're cooking.

I recently attempted to make cinnamon rolls, craving a taste of home. Unfortunately, no one in the kitchen with me remembered that yeast reacts differently at high altitudes. If you are cooking with yeast, you are supposed to take out one teaspoon of sugar for each cup in the recipe, and shorten up the leavening time by 15 - 20 minutes.

Oops?

The recipe can also be used to make dinner rolls, if you let the dough rise twice. . . or let it rise the full time limit at 8,200 feet. Instead of cinnamon rolls, I ended up with sweet dinner rolls sitting in cinna-goo. Edible, but definitely not what I wanted!