Cuenca Schedule

So we`re back from the field a day early. You`ll have to wait for those stories, but here`s the description of my normal activities, which I promised:

Our schedule varies a bunch, so it is impossible to capture fully what my typical week in Cuenca is, but hopefully this will begin to give you an idea of what we’re up to in town.

First, upon arrival back in town, there is a rush to take showers and do our laundry. We do all of our laundry by hand in a basin in the courtyard. After this decently lengthy process, we hang our clothes up to dry. Thankfully, there are tons of clotheslines to fit everyone’s clothes.

Of course, food is another necessity (one that we worry more about). We have grocery shopping trips for each length in Cuenca or the field. We try to buy everything that we can, mainly fruits and vegetables, from the local markets. We have now ventured far enough to buy a chicken from one of the meat stalls, but typically, we use beans as our source of protein. So far, we have used two markets. The one that we found recently has lunch vendors on the top floor, and we’ve had a couple of delicious lunches there. A fish soup once, and potatoes the other time. Mmmmm…. Most of our bread, including rolls, baguettes and regular loaves, comes from local panderias. Then, other basics like cheese, olives, tea, peanut butter, spices, and dried fruit are bought at Cuenca’s one supermarket, SuperMaxi.

As far as preparing the food, when we’re in town we have a rotation wheel, so that we alternate between chef, sous chef, dishes, counter, and being off at dinner time. Usually everyone makes there own breakfast and lunch, but sometimes someone will make pancakes for all or fry up a couple of plantains. We also occasionally eat out for dinner. This is more likely if we’ve been out all day and haven’t had a chance to start cooking by 6:00 pm. So far, we’ve gone out for Ecuadorian, Colombian, and chifa (Chinese).

We typically cram a number of classes in when we’re in town. Two of our instructors, Katherine and Theresa, live in Cuenca, so it is easiest to have their classes then. Also, we’ll have a number of Con Bio and Natural History lessons, since we have a bit more time. Usually, we’ve had one or two classes every day or two, but it varies a fair amount.

Every couple of days, we either have a morning or afternoon off. Some of these are recommended reading times, in which case, I usually walk down our street to the river and sit in the park to read. Elizabeth and I have also gone into town and bought juice (yay for mora!) and bread from a panderia, and then sat there doing our reading for a couple of hours.

Sometimes, we have free time without pressing readings. Usually, we head into town, check email and spend some time on the internet checking the news, and then find a new area to explore. Elizabeth and I have spent a day wandering craft markets and trying pan de yuca at a number of restaurants.

One other pattern in my schedule is Ecuadorian middle-aged woman workout. Coral discovered this, and Elizabeth and I decided that we had to try it, too. It is in the park down the river from our house and starts at 7:00am M-F and 7:30am on the weekends and lasts an hour. Basically, the workout is a combination of aerobics and salsa set to old Latin American and US pop music (e.g. Volverte a Ver, Toxic, and Thriller). In fact, I think that it would be a great Ebony dance. It isn’t necessarily a great source of exercise, but it is hilarious and a good way to wake up. Plus, it only costs a quarter. After the workout, we stop by a vendor to buy hot aloe drink. We aren’t entirely sure what all is in it, but it includes aloe, black tea, honey and flaxseed. We looked up consuming aloe, and it is supposed to be incredibly healthy and good for the immune system, so we fill really good about waking up to exercise and drink aloe. However, we only go to the class every few days because a) we like our sleep and b) occasionally we have other morning appointments or class before 9.

Speaking of sleep, we go to bed slightly later here than in the field, but I’m still usually asleep by 10:30. I’ve realized that I really do enjoy going to bed somewhere from 10:00 to 10:30 pm and waking up between 6:45 and 7:30 am. It’s quite nice.

We also take some day long adventures as a group from Cuenca. Ingapirca is one example. Also, we will visit Cajas National Park soon.