JJ's Travelogue

Fri 7/24: Arrived in Cuenca last night, Ecuador’s 3rd-largest city. As one would expect of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s pretty – a mix of colonial and other interesting architectural styles. There are even a few art deco buildings, one of my all-time favorite styles. I wonder how Cuenca ended up with all the varied architecture, but Quito and Guayaquil with just a bit of the colonial style? The weather is crazy variable here – sunny and warm one minute, cloudy and chilly the next.

There are a lot of students about, I’m guessing a big university is near. I’ve seen a number of new hospitals as well. There is also a lovely modern art museum set within a pretty old building containing a lovely courtyard. I’m sick of being sick. I want to run around and live the nightlife, instead of blowing my nose every minute and huddling under the covers. I’m thinking about buying a portable DVD player to make the evenings a bit less lonely. I saw one today for $50 and most of the hotel rooms I stay in have a TV I could jack into. I’m not sure whether Peru will be the same, but here in Ecuador you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a shop selling hundreds of pirated DVDs – 3 or more for $1. Cheaper than renting movies in the States!

Sun 7/26: Today I went to three small towns near here to visit their markets and just to have a walk around. The markets were OK, but I have to say that for sheer humanity, nothing so far compares to the ones in Guatemala. First I visited Gualaceo which has a beautiful tranquil river running through it.. people picnicking and flying kites, and an interesting covered wooden bridge. Then I walked a couple of hours (largely uphill!) to Chordeleg, a pre-Incan town now known for it’s artisans selling handcrafted ponchos, ceramics, embroidery, pottery, but most famously for its gold and silver filigree. There are dozens of such shops set around the pleasant central park/square.

Finally, I caught a bus further up into the mountains to the tiny town of Sigsig, most famous as the epicenter for craftspeople making so-called “Panama” hats. The iconic panama hat originates from this area of Ecuador, however it was exported by the Spanish through Panama. Workers on the Panama canal also wore them, further cementing that name in people’s minds. The hats are made from fronds grown near Montecristi and Jipijapa (pronounced “hippy-happa”, what a wonderful name for a town.) The weaving process is numbing, as you can imagine. I don’t know if this is actually true, but lore has it that weavers mostly work at night (under a full moon) so their hands sweat and swell less. The best hats are comprised of thousands of weaves per square inch, and are actually watertight.

Tonight I looked out my window to the sight of fireworks and dozens of beautiful paper lanterns rising slowly into the sky. Must be some commemoration of the city’s founding or something.

Mon 7/27: I’m sitting in this internet cafe trying to hold it together, for I just got word that Merce Cunningham, “the world’s greatest living choreographer”, died in his sleep last night. I had the honor of working with Merce from 2001 until 2008 in a variety of positions. He was truly an inspiration. I take comfort in the fact that Merce died on his terms, in his own bed, in the home that he and his partner of 50 years, John Cage, lived in for decades. In the last few months he had premiered an epic new piece and his foundation had made public the plans for after his death, so he probably felt that it was a good time to go. He lived, worked, and played until the ripe old age of 90 – we should all be so lucky. The New York Times published a lovely obituary to which I contributed a few comments. David Vaughan, the company’s archivist, wrote a beautiful and moving obituary in The Guardian.

Tue 7/28: Tonight I met up with a local Couchsurfer who told me to meet her at the “new cathedral.” I’m wandering around looking for the church with the modern architecture. Turns out the “new” cathedral dates from 1880 – but it’s called that because the “old” cathedral dates from 1557! When the new cathedral was built, 9,000 out of the town’s then 10,000 residents could fit inside.

Wed 7/29: Feeling better today, I went for a run which naturally turned into an adventure. Determined to follow the river as far as I could, I kept getting stymied by blockades, natural or manmade. At one point I confidently strolled past some construction workers into a fenced area and found myself in front of four enormous man-made reservoirs. Surreal, how big they were. It was about a kilometer or so until I reached the end of them, at which point I was on the inside of a barbed-wire fence with the only exit back where I started. Can’t go back the way I came, so i scrambled up the girders of an overpass in order to get out. Good fun. It was dark and I was exhausted by the time I was only 1/3 of the way back, but I found a friendly taxi driver to give me a lift for just $2.

Thur 7/30: My body hurts - this time from the exercise, not from being sick anymore. Guess I haven’t exercised in a while! The neighboring town of Baños (not to be confused with the big town of Baños up in the highlands that I visited a few weeks ago) has several spas and hot springs, should be perfect to soak away the pain. Hmm.. I went to the one recommended by all the books, and the hot pools were not hot! Barely luke-warm, yuck. Defeats the purpose. Oh well, I had a nice walk around.

Fri 7/31: One of the main attractions in this part of the country are the Incan ruins of Ingapirca. Although they are the largest Incan ruins in Ecuador, they can’t hold a candle to the famous sites in Peru like Machu Picchu. In fact, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend coming here unless you’re a die-hard archeology buff – the bus is 2 ½ hours each way from Cuenca, and you’re done seeing everything in about two hours. It’s well-organized, though – the $6 admission gets you an English-speaking guide. Although there aren’t many of them left, the stonework is pretty impressive – chiseled to exact dimensions so that no mortar was needed. Apparently a lot of the stones were appropriated fairly recently (in the 20th century, before it was declared a monument) by local farmers to build their own houses! The orientation of the various rooms and indeed the entire site is in exact alignment with the heavens such that on the solstices the sun beams directly down a singular path through the site. Ingapirca was built around 1400, and was one of the last Incan sites to be abandoned before the Conquistadors arrived. The Incans were a pretty impressive lot – they built 5,000 km of roads, more than the Roman empire.

Mon 8/3: I’ve been hanging out for the last couple of days with Nico, the French guy I met at the beach bar in Puerto Lopez who just began his one-year around-the-world trip, and Patrick, a German guy who is just finishing a year-long trip, most of which was spent in New Zealand. It’s been a nice break from being solely by myself. They found an obscure little shop where a cute old man with no voice left toils away making what are reputed to be some of the best Panama hats around. In fact, he even made Indiana Jones’ hat! A good quality one can be had for only $40 and it can even be rolled up easily for traveling, but I just don’t think I would wear it that much. Although I love the style, it’s so specific (and loud) – I usually prefer to blend in rather than stand out so much.

In addition to the old text and photos, I thought you might like to see an animated me. So I’m trying out the first of what may be many ‘video diaries’. Let me know what you think. I’ll try to be more cheerful in them next time.
All of the videos on the blog require QuickTime (which is free).

This first one is me simply rambling in the middle of the woods on top of a ridge:

This next one is a quick tour through the market in Cuenca. I tried to make it quick so it’s easier to download, but it’s still pretty hefty. You can either leave this page open and it will eventually load, or click the link to get it downloading to your desktop. Notice the Virgin Mary in a display case about 30 seconds in, just before the meat: