Having been here for two weeks, it’s about time I wrote about Cuenca. The main reason for staying so long, and it is a long time for us, is to learn some Spanish. Not sure if I’d mentioned before, but we’ve been surviving since Mexico on basic transactional stuff and slowly building on those skills, all in the present tense. The only person I could describe anything to in past tense was Sophie, in English, and she was more than likely there with me, rendering it pointless.
Anyway, Ecuador is a relatively cheap place to take lessons (oh yeah I did mention before the couple of lessons we had in Quito) and Cuenca is a great place to stay put. It is a very relaxing place. Even the noisy, ‘I’d run you over if I was allowed to mount the pavement’ buses are bearable. It’s “muy tranquil’ as they say here. Its also a very clean place, the tourist board is very helpful and you can tell that they have made an effort to make Cuenca a nice place to be. That said, it’s not the same as somewhere like Banos which has aimed to make itself the No.1 tourist destination. It is more genuine than that, and a place where I cringe if I hear someone bluntly speaking English to wait staff - it’s not difficult to make a little effort now is it? After all, even I knew how to order a beer in Spanish as a lad in Puerto Banus on the Costa del Sol!
The people here are all very friendly too, which is nice and refreshing for a city. (I’ve just realised how much harder it is to write a blog when we’ve been stationery for two weeks). The architecture, as you’d imagine, makes the place. They have a lot of churches and many buildings dating back a couple of hundred years, which have been beautifully restored and maintained. Many of them make wonderful hotels.
Last week we met a couple of Brits on a bus who had been invited to a party hosted by the British Ambassador of Ecuador. Apparently it was a ‘get to know you’ kind of party and they assured us that all British citizens would be welcome, plus there would be free food and drink - which sealed the deal! We rocked up last Wednesday and, we found, it was more of a presentation about what the Embassy can do for you if you’re in any kind of difficulty. Not a lot, as it turned out, especially if you wind up in prison. They can ‘keep an eye on things’ in most instances, which is good to know! The presentation also covered all kinds of possible natural disasters typical in Ecuador and, with all the moving plates underneath and soft soil, there are quite a few of them!
Their main plug for the evening was an online system whereby you register and let them know that you’re in a particular country and where you’re staying. It’s actually a good idea, even if you’re just travelling through. It helps them inform your family or friends should something happen, and generally deal with a disaster should it occur. Given recent events in Chile, it highlights what can happen abroad, so I’ll jot down the link to their site; https://www.locate.fco.gov.uk/locateportal It doesn’t take five minutes to register.
Afterwards, the food arrived as promised and so did gin and tonics – obviously the national British beverage! We chatted to our fellow countrymen, met a lovely girl who is teaching English here and a splendid chap doing an internship for a magazine in Quito. All jolly good!
What else, what else. Ah yes, museums. You can’t beat a good museum and, apparently the museums here are hard to beat. We’ve been to the Aboriginal one. It was fairly small and you can easily tear around it if you’re not careful. But nonetheless, they have some fascinating artefacts, including an instrument made of hanging stones that made wonderful sounds when you struck them. I can’t remember what the stone was.
The main museum, The Banco Central, we haven’t been to yet. But it’s supposed to be impressive. Perhaps I’ll add a paragraph to this after we do. I know, you’ll be holding your breath!
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