Custom Leather Purses, Courtesy of my Cuenca Connections!

Having something made is always an adventure. You pay the money and just hope that everything turns out right. Fortunately, this time everything went smoothly!

A friend of mine in Cuenca is connected with a leather goods factory, and he's offered many times to let me make a purse with his team. I'd never taken him up on it, until now ...

These look even better in person!

My sister had a purse she wanted repaired or copied, if possible. It's the green one in the middle. Not only did Jaime fix it and make a great copy in the requested color (brown) he also gave me two color choices!

It's not just the outside that looks good, either - the insides are high-quality cloth and beautifully done. So now I am plotting, plotting, plotting to have every other bag I've ever loved copied over.

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!
 

Preparing For Christmas In Ecuador

As I'm typing this at Cafecito, the wait staff are putting up the Christmas decorations. Support pillars are already wrapped in tinsel, and the man cursing out the tangled strings of lights makes me feel right at home.

The Christmas star in the mango tree? Not so much.

This holiday season is creeping up on me in the oddest way. I spent my Thanksgiving with my sister at the spa at Piedra de Agua, doing full body mud masks and picking up a sunburn by the thermal pool. It's currently about 76 degrees, and I'm regretting wearing a long sleeve shirt to teach today. Even though I know Christmas is coming, it's hard to wrap my mind around it.

Still, I will be having Christmas in the traditional style, despite having missed Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the snow and crowds that went with both. I've got a ticket back to Nebraska for Christmas in the snow. I can't seem to wrap my mind around that level of cold, either, so I'm just focusing on how nice it will be to be home for the holidays!

Photos From The Police Strike In Ecuador

Here's something you don't see everyday. The police threw tear gas - at the President of Ecuador. He was trying to give a speech, and now he's hanging out in the hospital, protected by guards.

Good quality Ecuador police strike photos here: http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/LaPropiaFoto/Detalle.aspx?idTema=131

Note that Correa - the president - has a cane because he recently had knee surgery. Also, he doesn't hide behind his FBI-type people - instead, he told the police "You want to kill me? I'm here!" Don't exactly get that in the US!

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!

What Do You Do With One Aspirin?

So I went to the pharmacy for my friend Pete yesterday, because I was going to town anyway, his head hurt, and there were no painkillers in the house. I explained to the nice man behind the counter that my friend's head hurt and could he please sell me something like aspirin?

He did. One. That would be a single pill in a blister pack, 34 cents, thank you.

What do you do with one aspirin? I mean, yes, take it, but really, people buy these one at a time here?

Apparently so - you should have seen the look he gave me when I said, "You know, I really meant a box when I said I wanted aspirin."

Eyebrows up, mouth open. "A box?"

"Yes, please," I said.

That came to $8.50. Hmmm . . . too much since all I had was a ten and wanted snacks.

So we settled on half a box, because apparently you can do that, too. Do people not keep this kind of thing in their homes by the bottle here? Weird, weird, weird.

The Great Stove Thief Of Cuenca

Apartments in Cuenca are a process to obtain, that is for darn sure. Along the way you discover all kinds of horrifying aspects of apartment life in other countries, like the electric showers. Occasionally, you discover the opportunity to have a really good laugh.

As with the stove thief.

For background, most apartments in Cuenca are completely unfurnished. And by unfurnished, I mean stripped down to the basics. There aren't bulbs in the light fixtures, appliances in the kitchen, or even mirrors in the bathroom. When you read that an apartment is unfurnished, they aren't kidding

As a foreigner here, I don't come with my own house full of furniture, so I have been looking at furnished apartments, or at the very least partially furnished places that have their kitchen appliances. One of the apartments on my list was this one from Bienes Raices Catedral, Cuenca's largest (for now) real estate agency.

Note the presence of kitchen appliances here.

A few additional notes about Bienes Raices Catedral for your reference. They say on their website that they speak English. This is true over email depending which agent you are talking to at the time, but when you get to the office, you'd better be able to habla Espanol. Though they have a large office, when Pete and I showed up for our appointment there, nobody was speaking any English, which is okay for me, but not so fun for my friend Pete, who is looking for his own place with a dog. Anyway, this is a problem with a lot of real estate places in Cuenca - you have to double check that they really are bilingual! Some can't speak any Spanish, while others can't hack it in English.

Also, the super organized and polished front that they started with quickly went downhill when we started looking at places. The first place they tried to show me was right next door, but it had already been rented and no one had bothered to tell them. Then we drove over to the condo you see in the photo above.

We walk into the place, and it is indeed a good price in a nice building near a park and a main street in the district that I want. However, when we turn to the kitchen, there's a problem.

It's completely stripped.

I mention this to the agent, and he gives me the little speech about how appliances aren't included in unfurnished rentals in Cuenca. Yeah, yeah - I know this from the nice folks over at Cuenca Condos and Cuenca's Best Properties, who've given me quite an education in the local market. But in the listing it specifically says this place is supposed to come with a refrigerator and a stove.

So we get into a little argument about it, since I want a lower monthly rent if there aren't going to be appliances. The agent tells me I'm being unreasonable and reminds me again that this is normal for Cuenca. Yes, but the listing says it comes with appliances, and because I know I'm right and the agent has a Blackberry, I invite him to look it up if he doesn't believe me.

He looks it up, muttering the whole time about how I just don't know the market and really, he's not trying to rip me off and it's a great price and so on. I don't care, I don't want to buy $1500 worth of appliances for a place that's supposed to be furnished. Look it up.

Lo an behold, the foreign lady can actually read Spanish correctly. The apartment description specifically mentions that the appliances are included, listing them by name.

Well, this freaks the agent, because 1) I'm right (Take that, doubter man) and 2) the stuff's not there. He call his office and asks them about it. They verify that the owner listed the appliances as being there, and what does he mean they aren't there now? Where did the appliances go?

We still don't know.

Needless to say, I didn't take the apartment. We left it blaming the Great Stove Thief Of Cuenca. He's a fast one, sneaky and smart, and somewhere he's got a refrigerator and stove, much to my own intense personal amusement and the chagrin of my real estate agent.

Cuenca's Hot Water Disappointment

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a thing for showers. I LOVE THEM. Long, hot showers are somewhat critical to taking me out of zombie state and into a functional state in the morning. They're relaxing. They're good for thinking. Opera is more fun in the shower. And, as an aside, showers keep me clean.

Cold showers, on the other hand, are the worst things in the world. Nothing makes me more likely to use my worst grown up words, get all grumpy, and start hating on the universe than a cold shower. Woe betide anyone who gives me any excuse at all to be angry with them after I've had a cold shower, because it's going to feel like World War III just broke out.

My Personality After A Cold Shower

So, to the plumbers and electricians and architects of Cuenca, if you as a group don't start engineering better showers in this town, I'm going to hit you with something. Repeatedly.

At the moment, it seems as though every place I've ever taken a shower here {3 apartments + 2 guest showers} and everyone I've talked to has agreed that for the most part, there are three water temperatures available in Cuenca:

• Arctic
• Tepid
• Scalding

Most water heater systems are gas powered, making the problem one of both heat source and pressure. On one hand, in theory, the hot water should never run out since it is continually heated as it is piped in. In practice, you have to get the water pressure just right to maximize the heating power of the gas flame. Too much and its arctic. Too little and its scalding. In the middle and . . . oh, let's face it. I spend 10 minutes a morning standing out of the spray, fiddling with the water, trying to get it to somewhere in the middle and scowling the entire time.

As a means of getting around the acknowledged problem with the gas heated showers, some systems use electric shower heads. Yes, all my North American readers, you read that right. Electric shower heads.

Scary Electric Shower Example #1

Scary Electric Shower Example #2



Thumbs Down Added By Actual User

Install these puppies the wrong way, and you'll get a shower experience you'll never forget. I had one in my second apartment, and let me tell you, fearing for my life cut into my shower time considerably. I also wore rubber flip flops to shower in religiously, just in case.

These death traps appear throughout Latin and South America. According to the Southern Baptist Missionary I talked to Tuesday, in Guatemala they are known as "Widowmakers" which seems about right. I'll never have one again.

The worst part of them, of course, is they still don't give consistently hot water, either. And yet there they are . . . in use . . . creating a whole legion of people with stories about "that time the shower caught on fire" or "the time I fried myself." Good times, people, good times.

It is a good way to distinguish yourself as an in-the-know type when looking for apartments here, though. Green out of towners ask about square footage and bedrooms. Second time around types and seasoned locals? We're asking about the hot water!

Wi-Fi Hot Spots In Cuenca Ecuador, July 2010 Edition

This represents the most updated list of working wireless hot spots in Cuenca, Ecuador. I put out a list of wireless Internet connection points in Cuenca in January and there are still good comments there, but I had missed a couple and there are a few that have changed their status.

• Bar Inca: You need a password to log in here, but they'll happily give it to you. Outlet is at the bar, although if you ask nicely you can also get a power strip from the back office to work on the couches. Opens at 9(ish) most days, closed Mondays, good food. 3 de Noviembre, along the river.
  
  
• Cafe Austria: Medium speed wireless. Not functional. They've changed the password from this spring, and I can't get the network to hold a connection. I am not alone in this, and Mac vs. PC doesn't appear to make a difference. Still, chocolate frogs on offer and the staff doesn't mind if you work there for hours. Benigno Malo y Juan Jaramillo.
  

• Cafe Eucalyptus: Plug in at the bar if the wi-fi is not working, which it usually isn't. Only one person can be plugged in at the bar at a time. Evening events like salsa shows make this best for daytime use. Gran Columbia 9 - 41.
  
  
• Cafecito: No password, high speed wireless. Also a youth hostel but you don't have to stay there to park in the cafe zone and use the Internet connection. Three prong plug behind the plant in the upper right corner as you arrive, round and two prong plug next to the cake display on the left.
  
  
• California Kitchen: High speed wireless connection (Casa Sangurima) takes a password you can get from the staff. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Only place in Cuenca for biscuits and gravy, and the broccoli salad is also really good. Plug ins are on the left wall. Presidente Borerro y Gaspar Sangurima.
  
  
• La Esquina de las Artes: The connection point here is in the courtyard by the shops, but you can also pick up some signal inside the ice cream shop. Next to the University of Cuenca, easy walk/cab from downtown.
  
  
• Mall del Rio: Connection is strongest in the food court, limited places to plug in. Some can and some can't connect - doesn't seem to be a pattern here.
  
  
• Millenium Plaza: Connection is strongest on the far side of the mall away from the Kentucky Fried Chicken. There's a small table with power outlets. Expect to share with a teenage gamer or two.
  
  
• Mosca: Coffee shop with wi-fi and one of the only wireless Internet connections I know of in this part of Cuenca. Near the SuKasa in the Excalibur building, 22-400 Gran Columbia.
  

• Parque Calderon: Etapatelecom operates a wi-fi hot spot in front of the tourist office. Slow {like molasses in January slow}. Remember you also have to log on for this one - the system is set up to take you to the log in screen, where it provides you with the user name and password you need. Allegedly you can hold this connection throughout the downtown, which is useful in a limited sense for iPhone and smart phone users.

Cuenca roamers, let me know how these work out for you and I'll try to keep the list updated!

A Fiery Morning In Cuenca

Came out of the house and up the road this morning to discover a house in the neighborhood on fire. I was out and about on the way to settle into watch the finals for the World Cup at the Inca Lounge when I noticed the fire.

It looked terrible. A twisting fat finger of flame was rolling up into the sky, framed by billows of black smoke and overlaid with the sounds of people yelling. I was with my friend Ben and we both took off for the fire, he much faster than I given my lifetime commitment to wearing shoes not suited for running anywhere.

By the time I hustled up to the top of the hill near the house, several things were clear:

--It had been raining a lot lately, so the surrounding area was fairly well protected

--Nobody was still in the house and everyone was okay

--The Fire Department was on the way, but the bucket brigade was a pack of all-stars. The back of the house was the center of the fire, and anyone with a clear shot, bucket, or hose was tossing water on it.

--Cement construction keeps things contained.

In just a few minutes the fire was a lot less than it had been, and with the sirens closing in we took off. Still, the memory will stick with me for a while. The fire started with the gas in the kitchen - I guess they were changing the cooking canisters {no central gas here} and something sparked. I'll be tip-toeing around the stove tops for a while!

Why Ecuador and Why Cuenca?

I've had many people ask me over the last few weeks and months "Why Ecuador?" and its natural follow-up, "Why Cuenca?" I imagine that this will only intensify since I am planning to go back later this summer.

The short answer for me is that it is affordable, warm enough, and full of people with whom I get along. There is also the lovely Kookaburra Cafe, Bar Inca, and the Tutto Freddo that all have food I very much enjoy.

However, I am not the only one who is a fan of Ecuador at the moment. International Living's 2010 Quality of Life Index rated Ecuador as #3 in the world for best climate. Cuenca, my city of choice, is listed as one of the easiest cities in the world in which to retire (although thank goodness it isn't chock full of retirees!) There are several younger expats in the city, keeping it from being a glorified retirement village.

Other fan worthy facts about Cuenca and Ecuador include:

• The water in Cuenca is one of the cleanest in South America. You drink straight from the tap with no problems.
• They use the US dollar (which has its pros and cons on a macroeconomic scale, but sure makes life easier on the ground!)
• People are friendly (muy amable) and the country is very navigable
• Did I mention there's no snow? I like that part A LOT!

Thus, for me, "Why Ecuador?" boils down to my corner of the country offering me good company, good food, and an affordable price of living. I can make fan lists like the above for more justification, but there's just a feeling on the ground that makes me happy to be choosing Ecuador at the moment. Will it be a permanent choice? Who knows! There's a whole world out there and I'm a chronic nomad. However, it is the choice for now. . .

First View Of America

I've now officially been back in the United States for a week. It's been a little crazy, to be sure. I'd definitely gotten used to the sleepy speed of Cuenca. Maybe I shouldn't have started with the East Coast!

My First Shot of the States - Princeton

On the other hand, while Cuenca seems suspended in its perpetual summer season, I can definitely tell that springtime is just beginning to dawn in the United States.

Princeton's campus was beautiful as a first impression of America again. After the bustle of the airport and the jostling of the train, it felt great to step out of the Dinky station and into the crisp spring air. I walked all over the campus on my way to the library, where I waited for my ride to get off work. While I waited, I had the chance to watch all the college kids (and they do seem like kids now!) jogging in clumps and marching in and out of the library hauling the weight of their mid-terms around on their shoulders.

My initial wonder at all of it has faded somewhat - I'm tired! While you are supposed to feel fabulous physically when you come down from extended time at high elevations, I don't think the effect lasts between multiple flights and both US coasts. I was only in New Jersey for a few days, and am now trying to catch my breath in San Francisco. Eventually I will be adjusted to my proper elevation, proper time zone, and proper temperature. . . .

. . . probably just in time to head to the airport again on Wednesday! ;-) More posts as I adjust to the new environment and American pace of life again!

A $20 Adventure At The Cuenca Dentist's Office

I can't stop running my tongue over my teeth and smiling in the mirror today.

I've been to the dentist, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Recommended by a friend who had his entire mouth redone, Paula Dominguez has a simple office located just off Solano on Daniel Cordova Toral. It's behind the Colegio de Benigno Malo for those of you that are landmark driven. The building is a part of a longer strip of clinics and consultants offices. I made by appointment by phone - she speaks some English, but her husband is fluent, and so they work it out that way (cell: 097 - 868908).

When I arrived, she greeted me and asked after my teeth. I didn't really have any problem to report, other than having not been to the dentist's office in about a year. I'd already been planning to come to Ecuador, and I knew dental services were cheaper done here, so I'd been putting it off. In Ecuador as well they don't really have dental technicians, so even basic work is done here by the doctor.

She put me in the chair and then DANG, did my teeth ever get cleaned. She did an amazing job, checking over each tooth and cleaning them all twice, I swear. She even took the tooth polisher and cleaned my tongue, which tickled like crazy but was kind of fun, too.

Then she brought me a mirror so I could check out my smile and WOW. It looked like I'd had a whitening treatment, as she'd somehow managed to remove all evidence of the bazillionty trillion cups of black tea that I drink on a regular basis.

Total cost for an hour of high touch dental cleaning? $20. Totally worth it, as I couldn't be more pleased with my mouth!

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!

Photo of Motorbiking In Cuenca

We were actually captured on film as we headed out to the streets on the Yamaha scooter by Court, the owner of Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental. Check out those smiles!

My First Motorcycle Ride In Ecuador

I just survived my first motorcycle ride in Ecuador.

Actually, I should say I just ENJOYED my first motorcycle ride in Ecuador. And the bike was, technically, a scooter.

The Yahama Zuma Scooter

The ride was one of those very happy Ecuadorian accidents that happen. My friend and I had just stopped by to say hello to our friends at Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental. It's a mountain bike, scooter, dirt bike, and motorcycle rental shop that they just opened up last week, so while we were in the neighborhood we thought we would stop by and see how they were doing.

When we got there, Court, one of the owners, was just closing up shop. His enthusiasm for bikes is contagious, and he loves to share what he knows with people. Which may explain how 10 minutes later I was perched on the back of the bike above, heading off into Cuencan traffic in rush hour.

Um. . . whee?

After the first five minutes, when I wondered if we were going to die since we launched right into one of the busiest roundabouts in town, I settled down into the sheer awesomeness of zipping through the streets. We stopped off at the Supermaxi for dinner supplies and then headed out to find home.

Remarkably, we didn't even get lost once! Cuenca is laid out in a general grid, especially around the Centro, which is the historic downtown. We went through the Centro, across Avenida de las Americas (one of the biggest streets in Cuenca) and up and down the hills to my friend's house without incident. We only really got crowded by a driver once, in the turn lane on Avenida de las Americas, and other than that the drivers were really pretty polite and good about sharing the roads even on the roundabouts.

All in all, it was a super fun ride. The scooter was an automatic, so it was really easy to steer once Court showed us what to do, and even as night fell we could see perfectly well. Definitely going to have to try that again!

Expats: Include Them All, Even The Weirdos

One major feature of the expat life is that beggars can't be choosers when it comes to home country friends. One minute you are talking with the most interesting creative mind you've met in years, and the next minute you're cornered conversationally by someone you suspect was dropped on their head as a child and annually every year since.

Perpetual travelers find more than their fair share of crackpots in their midst. Some days it feels like the motto is "Have conspiracy theory, will travel!"

On the other hand, without these types around for contrast, you'd never appreciate the warm and truly balanced souls that also line the globe. Thus, even though sometimes you wish the nutters would crawl back under whatever rock they crept out from, there is no doubt that to have the breadth of acquaintances that make the world rich you have to include them all!

Prices in Cuenca Ecuador: The Vice Squad Edition

Coming off a visit to the police station, I thought it might be fun to share a price list for some of the vices in life available here in Ecuador. Compare and contrast with your local black market and/or underground economy!

• Coffee: 50 cents - $2, depending if you are drinking local black or a fancy schmancy thing.

• Pack of Cigarettes: $1.60. Many small shops and bars also sell cigarettes individually for 15 - 25 cents each.

• Cocktail: $2.50 - $3

• Glass of Wine: $2 and up, depending on the vintage. A boxed liter of Clos (a reasonably quaffable Chilean red) is sold for $5 - $7, with other regional bottles of wine available for $10 - $13.

• Bottle of beer: Okay, so beer is available in two sizes. "Pequenos" are what we might think of as a standard beer. "Grandes" are about double that size. Most locals don't bother with Pequenos, opting instead to get cups and split Grandes. At cheaper local places, you can get a Grande for 75 cents. Mid-scale bars will charge around $1.50, and some of the expat places will charge you as much as $2.75. Common beer brands are Brahma, Club, and Pilsner.

• Condoms: $2.80 (ish) for three. These are sold at pharmacies and available only behind the counter. The big local brand is Duo, with Lifestyles and Trojans as the major foreign players. I haven't seen any other kinds of contraceptives on sale (it is a Catholic country, after all), and there hasn't been a single adult store anywhere in the city that I've found, although I haven't been looking.

• Hookers: No idea. Mainly located in the immediate vicinity of the municipal bus station. Have been warned by locals that many hookers here are cross dressers. No idea what to make of that . . . negotiate at your own risk!

• Marijuana: Reportedly $175 - $200 per pound. And yes, that is pound and not ounce. However, most of the marijuana in Cuenca actually comes from somewhere else, like Quito or Guayaquil. Apparently local growers and suppliers are very difficult to find. The discussion on this has been interesting to me, because a number of the expats down here really love their weed and have been shocked to find that there was better availability of the stuff at home in the States thanks to our medical marijuana laws, lax enforcement, and other loopholes. There truly is little that is more comical than seeing a 70 year old prim retiree grouch about not being able to find a source in order to smoke up. . . for medical reasons, of course ;-)

And that's what I know . . . no idea on hard drugs. South America may be famous for their cartels, but although I've read about busts in the newspapers, I haven't seen much in the way of a hard drug culture in Cuenca to have any price points to share!

Update:  If you're looking for more current prices for these things, check out my 2012 Cuenca Price Update.

Saturday Night With The Ecuadorian Police

My friend Ben commented to me the other day that in his six months in Ecuador, he had experienced more life than he had during years in the States. I would have to agree. If there has been one constant of my time in Ecuador, it has been new experiences and upheaval.

Last night was no different.

Somehow, in my path to a BBQ, I signed my name to four copies of an official statement regarding the murder of one Francisco Flores Flores, better known as Paco. It's another chapter in a unique story that I'm involved in only tangentially, mainly as a translator. Basically, an Ecuadorian friend of a friend was murdered in what was thought to be a home invasion and robbery, since his car was taken and later found burned on the side of the road.

Not exactly. . .

As more details emerge, it seems that this may have actually been a crime of passion based on a secret lifestyle that was being lived by the deceased. The family didn't know anything about it, although the accused was living with the deceased, but in an odd twist of fate, my gringo friends hosted a party for the Carneval where the number one suspect may have made his appearance. As the only ones who have met the suspect, we needed to come into the police stations to make a formal statement and look at some photos taken from Paco's computer to see if we could ID the suspect.

The police station was nothing like you might expect, even counting terrible TV stereotypes. The inspector was dressed in street clothes, and the waiting lounge had Bend It Like Beckham playing on the TV. There was one uniformed officer at the door, but everyone else seemed as though they had just wandered in wearing whatever. A small child (no idea whose!) slept on a couch behind the main desk.

As the owner of the best Spanish, I got to serve as the translator back and forth between the inspector and my group of Americans. It was a challenge, but also really interesting. We worked together to type up the final statement, and since I helped I had to sign it as the "traductora" before they printed it off on an antique dot matrix Epson. Somewhere there was a copy machine to make the four copies, and someone at the station has Internet savvy since they had accessed Paco's computers for the photos.

The whole process took a little over four hours, from our initial visit to the photo id attempt (no luck, sadly). I was completely exhausted by the end, but it was also fascinating to see how the police system works here to do an investigation on a first hand basis.

The People You Meet In Cuenca: Minneapolis Based Craftsmen

I could do a hundred posts on the fabulous characters I have met since arriving in Cuenca, Ecuador. Not to malign the United States, but nowhere that I've lived there ever compares to the variety of people that you meet when you are traveling abroad!

Today I just finished an hour long conversation about the supply chain for Ukrainian Easter Eggs with a lovely man from Minneapolis. He's an engineer, and he's built several tools for processing the wax used to make the egg design. He's a supplier for this well-known Minneapolis landmark:

If you've ever been in the Ukrainian Gift Shop you know what a unique treasure it is to browse and buy. The wood for the sticks used to make the patterns comes from Lithuania, but it is processed in Minneapolis before being sent to the Ukraine. There, the copper for the beeswax funnels is hand-processed by the owners' family before being sent back to Minneapolis, where the beeswax used in the designs is extruded and loaded into the sticks.

Although I'm supposed to be working, conversations like these always make my day. I love the learning and the novelty of it all, and it was just so funny and interesting to meet someone from where I used to live and then get a tutorial on an art form that I've always thought was cool. You definitely learn a lot when you hit the road, and not always about the things you think you will when you set out!