Some challenges, more adventures

     A week of so many adventures (some challenging & not so fun) . . . where do I start?  I'll start with the not so fun:  due to "bad info", we were not able to stay at the home stay the school arranged (too expensive), so we moved back to the hostel on Calle Larga -- the party street!  That's where I'm writing to you from now.  We have lots of space (a good thing), but it's very noisy.  Some of the noise very pleasant, like the vendor who is now playing the flute, but lots of cars & tonight the street will be full of young people who are loud -- & the Ecuadorians love fireworks (for no apparent reason), so we'll hear fireworks, I'm sure.  Today we saw many t-shirts being sold advertising a soccer game, so there may be extra celebrations tonight.  Seems there are many young men drinking beer on the street.  The other "not so fun" thing:  I'm flying to Quito (capital city) tomorrow in order to hopefully register my 6-mo. visa on Mon. & Tues.  The general advice was that it would probably take two days so I'll miss 2 days of Spanish classes & incur the additional cost of flying to Quito & 2 nights in the hostal.  This is a new rule that visas must be registered within 30 days & will cost $10.  The expats don't understand why, but required so I'll comply.  If not registered & if "found out", would cost $200 fine.  We have to laugh at the Ecuadorian rules:  I had to buy a particular manilla folder & a particular envelope to put the copies of the documents that I need to present to the immigration office. The people are wonderful; the government offices are a challenge. 
     Otherwise,  great adventures.  I have lots of pictures, but will publish the ones from the short walk to the large Central Park in Cuenca.  The picture at the right:  friends, George & Robin, in front of one of the hero's statue.   The following are of some of the historical buildings.  You can easily see why Cuenca has been designated a UNESCO Historical City.  We also went to a free concert Friday night--"Musica Contemporanea by Orquesta Sinfonica De Cuenca". The expats, Craig & Lucy (we met at the book exchange on Thurs.) who we attended the concert with said that because the city is a UNESCO site, many attractions come to the city from around the world for FREE!   There's a lot of European influence, & of course, many North American expats.  Craig & Lucy are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Ecuador & chose Cuenca as their home!

  

The diversity of the dress of the indigenous people is incredible and very beautiful.  This ladies' dress is not as colorful as most of the ones we see, but the hat is typical although there are many variations of hats also.