Quick check-in -- latest activities

I'm taking Spanish lessons -- 3 hours on Tuesday afternoons, so I'm pretty brain dead after that, but wanted to post a few of the latest events.  Friends and I went to a gypsy dance performance (one girl, lots of costumes) at Nectar Restaurant, a vegetarian cafe with lots of raw food choices.

We also attended a mime performance; the performance also included dialog (which was in Spanish).  The two performers were excellent, but I didn't get to take pictures.

   A new friend, Anne, a Peace Corps Volunteer from the city of Riobamba arrived last Tuesday and stayed with me until Saturday morning.  We went to the Book Exchange on Thursday morning and then she went with me to my Ecuadorian cooking class.  We made soup with pork, potatoes cabbage, onions + spices.  The flour used to thicken the soup was made of kidney beans.  Then we made a really great dessert of a Ecuadorian fruit called babaco.  Sugar, cinnamon and cloves are added to the peeled babaco and cooked.  I remember eating a similar preparation with pears in the U.S.  

Babaco - cut and then peeled.  All of the inside is eaten, either raw or cooked.

 

I went to my favorite fruit and vegetable store this morning.  The babaco is the fruit in the back. And it's mango season -- the biggest I have ever seen and oh, so juicy.  Papayas are always available.  And some fruits come in smaller sizes and are especially sweet:  3 small local pears and bananas.  

   Meredith, the first Peace Corps Volunteer to be placed in Cuenca (she will be an instructor at the University of Cuenca), invited me to dinner tomorrow night so that will be fun to find out about her "settling in" challenges.  As I understand it, there is a new group of volunteers at the training center near Quito and after their 3-month training, some of them will be placed in Cuenca.  

   On Thursday, I will go on a bus tour with the Chamber of Commerce to visit a newly-established zoo and research center.  Thursday evening the symphony will play in Parque Calderon so we hope it doesn't rain!  Friday afternoon there is an event at California Kitchen and Saturday morning, I will walk for an hour with the expats.  I continue to go to the gym M, W, F, and walk 99% of the time to events and to shop.  I have jeans that need to be altered to a smaller size!  Healthy food, lots of exercise and a beautiful city with lots of events and friends to enjoy.  Today was a gorgeous, sunny day with blue sky and white clouds.  I walked along the Tomebama River and listened the rushing water.
   And of course, the perfect roses that I love:

 WHAT  A  LIFE!