January 24 Saturday in Cuenca

We met our instructor outside the school and spent six hours walking around Cuenca, exploring and learning Spanish. We went for a coffee that turned into lunch, as Vincent worked with pronunciation and spelling and I worked on my homework for Monday. Today we noticed the beautiful balconies filled with flowers all around the town, much like in Antigua, Guatemala. Indeed, our guide yesterday, Rosa, told us that she had a friend from Cuzco who told her she felt as if she were home when in Cuenca, they are so much alike. Antigua is older, with cobbled streets, but the city center, especially, feels the same. I asked if there were processions, and she said yes, indeed, many fiestas with processions during the year.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is near, so all the street vendors were offering a special kind of pastry traditional for that festival. They were also selling what looked to be a confection of sugar, perhaps egg white? I don't know--mounds and mounds of the stuff--not cold--which is scooped into an ice cream cone. My delicate stomach (as Fabian terms it) turned away rather forcefully. Nearly knocked me over. :) I am feeling better today, as I could eat pears and toast and tea for breakfast and a pork chop and salad for lunch. I must be acclimating. Yesterday we visited the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the central square, or plaza, and today we visited the Church of San Francisco (St. Francis). Very different places. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was open, relatively full of people, with services going on at the same time. We asked if there were many young people and were told that they come, but at the insistence of their parents without a real desire to do so. The Church of St. Francis, by contrast was empty, with big iron grates across the entrance (although you could see inside), a very ornate altar and a couple of side altars, one with Jesus looking very sad and the other with his mother, looking serene and untroubled.

We see many young Americans here (30s or less) who look like they could have been dropped here from the 60s. The guide, Yuyú, said that the guards in the plaza of St. Francis (where the church was located, and also a market where everything you can imagine is sold) were there because on the weekend, people are more likely to be drinking, drugs are more likely, so they are there to keep the peace. They don't look scared or tough--just standing around talking to each other and making jokes, so I guess the danger is not very great!