ART & ARCHITECTURE IN CUENCA: A LOOK AT BUILDINGS & A DAY IN THE LIFE

As I tour you around Cuencan architectural style, I'll give you an example of a typical day for us. Yesterday Jim and I set out on the bus for the bookstore to leave off fabric for Tom to take to his in-laws who are tailors. They will make 5 shirts for Jim and 2 for me by using existing shirts as patterns. The bus we caught (#3) took us through the neighborhoods on the other side of the Rio Tomebamba. As we approached the roundabout at the Totems, where a few weeks ago the conductor would have jumped off the bus and run about a half a block to punch the timeclock, a man with a clipboard got on the bus and filled out some paperwork after chatting with the driver and then checking his watch. Then, surprise of all surprises, he turned to the riders and asked us if we had any problems with the bus. A couple of women up front gave him an earful about the bus cards (which are not in use yet) but the rest of us stated, "no problemas." Then, a few blocks later, near the main boulevard of 12 of Abril, we came upon a police barracade. The bus turned down a side street and went up river a ways, then cut back to 12 of Abril. Unfortunately, ahead of us at the bridge we needed to cross, there was a HUGE crowd gathered (we later learned it was 5,000 people). The bus driver took one look at that and did a u-turn in the middle of the boulevard (this involved backing up several times) and headed to the next bridge downstream. I looked at Jim and said, "It sure is going to be boring when we get back home." As we headed up the hill above the area where the demonstration was, we could read the sign indicating that it was about financing for the University.

Near there, on the river, is the historic area called "Los Barrancos" or hanging houses. Here are some examples. Notice the stone one that has used large millstones as part of the walls.



We went to a bakery before going to the bookstore, so we could have some cookies with the coffee Carol so graciously provides. At the bakery we often go to, the main door was closed but the little door was open. I went in the little door (Jim couldn't fit because he had the box of fabric under his arm) and saw that the reason for the main doors being shut was that the bakery owners were being filmed (for TV?). The cameraman was just finishing up with one of the owners, who was sitting in a chair, and was moving on to film some of the baked goods. We got some yummy churro-like things and went around the corner to the bookstore. There, I finally got to meet Carol's husband Lee, who, every other time, has been in the USA when I was here. We also had a pleasant conversation with Jeremy, a young man in the Peace Corp who is an excellent classical guitarist. To my delight, he was practicing some Bach 'cello suites transcribed for guitar. Of course we ran in to a book we had to buy - an Umberto Eco that we had never seen called "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana." After being sated by enough coffee, cookies and conversation, we set out, in general, for a store on the other end of downtown. (We arrived there some hours later, but we'll get to that story soon).

Here are some of the lovely buildings we passed on the way. This first one is a bank building.


The style of the wrought iron balconies on the second floor reminds me a bit of old New Orleans. It certainly creates a charming affect.
Before we had gone two blocks, we came upon the Museo de las Conceptas, a museum made from a small portion of the convent of Conceptas, which takes up at least a city block. The building construction was started in 1682 and finished in 1729. As might be imagined, much of the museum was religious artifacts. It was fascinating to see some of the items, mostly toys, the young girls brought with them as novices, as well as dowry trunks elaborately carved of wood.

The interior courtyards were very peaceful and we marvelled at the ancient stone floors.

After the convent museum, we wandered on up the street (only a few doors) and found an antique store, usually closed, was open. Of course we went in. They had lots of little things, as well as ancient books (some from the 1600s), pictures, jewelry, etc. No big furniture but lots to look at. We even saw a manual on the Secret Service of the USA in Spanish. It was pretty well thumbed.

Leaving the antique store we ran into "our" jewelry lady and her son on the street. She informed me that she had many new and beautiful things. Finally, maybe an hour or more since we had left the bookstore, we got out of that neighborhood and headed toward downtown. Now we were looking for a place for lunch and a place to get cash. On one particular street in downtown Cuenca there are many banks with machines. The first one we tried wasn't working so we went to the second one. While Jim was extracting money, I took more photos of buildings.

We found a hole in the wall for lunch and had the "menu," which consisted of Jugo de Pina (pineapple juice), popcorn appetizer, sopa (this soup had corn still on the cob, plus hominey and chunks of meat in a rich broth), "plato fuerte," which in this case was a big pile of rice with a small portion of grilled corvina (fish), red onions and a stew of lentils and green peas. Our "postre" (dessert) was, we think, whipped egg whites, sugar and guava jam. This filling meal was $1.50. After we rolled out of there, we headed up town some more to locate a ceramic store I wanted to see because I thought it was a gallery for ceramicist Fabian Alvarez who had done this fabulous mural in the Hotel Crespo.

Before we got too far, we needed to use a restroom. Knowing there was a really nice one at Frutiadas we decided to stop in for a cup of coffee. We settled out on the large covered patio, which is our favorite place to sit, and got our coffees. Immediately the temperature dropped and there was a tremendous clap of thunder and the rain pelleted down on the corrugated plastic patio cover more than 2 levels above us. We could see the street from where we sat and saw the volume of water pounding down. It obviously wasn't going to let up for quite some time so we ordered more coffee and some of their excellent cookies. Several of the lightening strikes were followed by thunder barely a second apart. This was quite exciting! (As I am writing this we are having another thunder storm. I am glad I am snug indoors). Maybe 20 minutes later it was all over and the streets started drying. We set out again for our ceramic shop. On the way to the store, more great buildings.


We found the ceramic store (had to ring a bell for entry) but were grossly disappointed that it was not what we had expected. (When we got home I learned that it was my error - the store was ceramics of Alfarero, not Alvarez). So, we headed over a few blocks to go to Cafe Lojana to pick up my coffee beans that I had ordered a few days before. (They only had sugared coffee beans the day I wanted to buy some and she had told me she would have the regular ones for me Friday). Alas, there was a story and she didn't have the beans. She stated that her husband would be bringing some more on Monday and they would be fresh.

Empty handed, we headed to Parque Calderon, the central square of downtown Cuenca. Here Jim has "his" bench, where he settled in for a cigar, while I went shopping at Galeria Toucan, a store that sells a wide variety of handicrafts. More great buildings near Parque Calderone:


When I came back to Jim he was just finishing up his cigar and it was nearly time to meet Chuck and Nancy for ex-pat night at Zoe, a new restaurant only 2 blocks from where we were. The ex-pat community is loosely organized into having a get together every Friday at a designated restaurant. This was the first time the group had meet at Zoe. We found the decor surprisingly modern, the mojitos not so good and the food pretty decent. The four of us had dinner with 4 more ex-pats and then decided to go to our favorite Spanish restaurant for dessert. We went to Akelarre and had Spanish Chocolate, which we subsequently decided was way to rich not to share.

When we got home after 9 pm, Jim and I had been out and about for 12 hours. That's a day in the life in Cuenca.

Until next time (will it be church architecture or art work?)

Audrey