Quiet, beautiful, busy Sunday (Nov 20, 2011)

Sundays, as a general rule, are quiet in Cuenca.  Ecuadorian families set aside Sundays for going to mass and being with their families.  The traffic on the streets is less, the buses run less frequently and many of the small stores are closed.  My neighborhood is quiet most of the time even during the week, but the city is more quiet on Sundays.  

I live near an elementary school and a government office; I hear announcements being made from the school in the mornings from loud speakers and I see a line of people Mon-Sat for the government office.  I am told the people are in line to renew their cedulas -- part of the registration process for all Ecuadorians and expats.  Today was especially quiet and I slept late -- almost until 7:30 -- can't seem to get out of the habit of waking up early.  After eating breakfast, I walked to one of the large grocery stores, SuperMaxi, because I was hungry for peanut butter and that's the only place I knew that I could buy it.  And I did find it . . . $3.61 for a small jar.  Almost everything is available -- for a price. 


I love fresh flowers and since I have a huge floral market a few blocks from my apartment, I am treating myself to fresh bouquets for the apartment.  I thought I would make this my (every) Sunday treat; some weeks the flowers last more than a week, but today I wanted fresh flowers so that was my second errand.  Here are a couple of examples of the last two purchases of flowers:

Roses = $1; small bouquet (in container) = $2

These two bouquets purchased today = $2.00

My adventures include learning to cook Ecuadorian-style food.  Since I had completed my errands by mid-afternoon, I decided to cook Cebiche de Camaron (Shrimp Ceviche).  I bought a cookbook, La Cocina Ecuatoriana, with traditional vegetarian and seafood recipes and I have been trying the recipes - all of which have turned out well.  I had purchased all the ingredients and knew that the fresh shrimp needed to be peeled and cleaned (time-consuming), then marinated in freshly-squeezed lime juice for an hour.  As I read the instructions, I learned the red onion needed to be cured with lime juice and salt.  O.K., that's a new concept (it mellows the flavor of the raw onion). I'll admit, my kitchen isn't equipped with all the measuring devices, so a lot of the amounts of ingredients were guess work.  By dinner time, I had a beautiful dish of ceviche and the cookbook suggests "plaintain chips (I like, but didn't have), popcorn (Ecuadorians serve popcorn with many meals), lime and an ice cold beer are authentic accompaniments" -- so I enjoyed a Pilsener with it!

I purchased the cookbook in Vilcabamba which reminds me I want to share the pictures of that southern village and the Hosteria Izhcayluma, called "casual but refined" by Lonely Planet.

Restaurante Izhcayluma where breakfast & dinner are served

Grounds of the retreat

Overlooking the valley -- called the Valley of Longevity & Vilcabamba

Cabins -- very quiet and spacious

Sun on the mountains at sunset

And as you know I love flowers.  I have many pictures of the flowers at Izhcayluma.  

I'll publish them another time. 

It's the close of a wonderful weekend.  Yesterday I spent time with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in Ecuador and Columbia and spent time in Nicaragua with other projects (two of them are now in Cuenca full time and the other two are here teaching English on a part-time basis)--what wonderful stories they had to tell.   

Sunday evening and I will soon crawl into bed and continue reading a classic that I never took the time to read previously, Emma, by Jan Austen.  Tomorrow I'll start my day with a workout at the nearby gym and continue to explore all the other possibilities in Cuenca and Ecuador.  

I have a reservation for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner (with entertainment) and on 

December 3, I'm signed up for an artist's tour and lunch. 

I am grateful for my life and my retirement adventures.

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!