The #8 Bus

I've always enjoyed traveling by bus and train. You're suspended in time with little control or demands placed upon you and your brain can go into a kind of stillness that is very receptive to the present and immediate. Just taking in the views that scroll by the window is enough to keep me absorbed for the length of the trip. I've figured that the reason I don't like traveling by plane is that the views outside the windows are for the most part lacking in narrative.

In any case, we chose to take the #8 bus at random, not knowing what to expect. Visitors to Cuenca have found that just taking a bus, any bus, will provide a nice little travel interlude of about an hour each way, for the modest cost of 25 cents. So my plan is to take every single of the 29 bus routes currently operating, from beginning to end. The #8 bus goes from Los Trigales to San Joaquin and back. First we rode to Los Trigales but the window was so dirty that all I could see were the broad outlines of the view--my eyes were hurting trying to focus! I got lucky on the way back and I was able to take some shots.

Pretty much any bus route will take you out to the countryside. This one took us to an area of small plots of farmland, with rows of produce creating neatly laid out patterns.

We saw cows grazing.

And farmers farming.

And these whimsically drawn birds advertising fertilizer.

And this Andean McMansion...wait, back up...what was that? In the middle of all these modest homes and small plots there is this structure, the likes of which I last saw in Las Vegas? We figured this is quite likely an example of the commonplace phenomenon of locals migrating abroad to work very, very hard and save so they can return and build their dream home. This person had big dreams.

On the Street

I remembered to take my camera today on my way to lunch. Here are a few images that caught my eye. The one above is of road repair workers on their lunch break. There's been quite a bit of work done on the streets recently and I've noticed that the guys (no female construction workers ever) take a proper break. First they unpack the lunches they've brought from home. Then once they've finished eating, they either play cards (the two groups on the right and left of the picture), have amiable chats with lots of smiling and laughing (guys in the middle) or take a nap (on the far left).

I know the work is physically very hard as they do not use power tools, not even to break stones! And yet, it looks to me like there's a certain kind of everyday pride and civility in making a living. I have the impression, and I may be wrong, that people here tend to work to live, they do not live to work, as sometimes seems the case in the US. This is a topic which interests me tremendously.

Here is another example of the absolutely wacky mannequins one sees posing in front of stores. Where on earth do they find them?

And here are a couple of chicas taking a stroll through the park. The one on the left is actually a transvestite. I was curious about the reaction of passerby so I followed them for a bit. Once they passed them, people would glance back at them and a few men, including a policeman, appeared very amused and sort of snickered once they had walked by. However, it was more of a curious and/or amused reaction, not an aggressive one. No one stared or said anything to them--they waited until they had walked by to react. It's definitely not a common sight and I was a bit surprised but heartened that they were not harassed.

Ta Da!

I’ve finally come to the end of Phase One of the apartment renovation—yay for me. Some of it was fun, some not so much, but the main thing is that I now feel like I have a home and that I can start doing things other than shopping--like blogging!

Here are some pictures of the entrance and of the living and dining area. I’m also including a list at the bottom of the post of some of the vendors and/or stores where I purchased furnishings. This information might come in handy, at least as a starting point when putting new homes together. I’ll do another post in a few days about the rest of the apartment and a third one on the terrace once it’s completed.

The building where I live has three stories. The first two are commercial spaces and I rent the top floor, which has an internal staircase to the roof, which I’m converting to a garden terrace (that’s Phase Two!). It was built in the late 70s by its owner/architect and has not been well-maintained (the norm in Ecuador). When I first saw it I knew it had good bones and I saw great potential but it ended up needing even more work than I anticipated to get it to where it is now. But I think it's going to be well worth it.

Here’s the landing at the top of the staircase as you enter the apartment. The living and dining area is to the left of the entrance and the bedrooms and bathrooms are to the right, surrounding a small atrium with a skylight to the roof. The kitchen and the bathrooms have skylights as well and a large window spans the length of the living and dining area, so the entire space is filled with light and feels quite open.

I found the carved wooden Buddha at Radharant, a great place for Indian artifacts (including antiques) and rugs. He’s there to greet visitors as they climb up the stairs and to keep all unwanted energy from entering the space! Both the antique mirror and trunk were purchased at one of the antique stores around the perimeter of the Conceptas Museum, where you can find all kinds of odds and ends.

I only brought two large things from the States—a down comforter for practical reasons and an antique hand-embroidered Turkish suzani (bedspread) which I’ve been using as a wall hanging for many years and which helps me feel at home wherever I am. The furniture was made to order at Moblitec and the prices are reasonable (always ask for a discount). You can choose from their upholstery fabric or supply your own. The hanging light fixtures and the table lamp were found at Boyaca, which is a somewhat upscale (relative to Ecuadorian stores) home decor store.

I got the side table and the coffee table at Plaza Rotary where you can find extremely inexpensive wood furniture from several vendors. The quality is rustic so they make for practical secondary pieces. You can also paint them yourself to make them more attractive and to give them a custom made look which complements the color scheme of the room. The side table on the right is actually one of a set of nightstands I designed and had made and which I ended up using as a side table.

I’m having a large wool rug made for the living room but it won’t be ready for another two weeks. I found out quite by happy accident that you can have large custom sized rugs made for very little money from some of the vendors at the Rotary market (you also get to choose the colors!). I’ll post a picture and information once I have the rug and can vouch for its quality.

This is a view from the living room toward the atrium and the master bedroom.

This charcoal portrait, dated 1937, was found at the same antique store where I got the mirror and trunk and I had it framed at Galeria Latina.

A selection of terracotta pots (many different sizes and designs) can be found at several stands at Plaza Rotary. These were around $10 each, which is actually less expensive than plastic ones of similar size.

The stands are made form rebar and cost around $3.

I did also bring my preserved piranha, a memento from a trip to Brazil a while back. However, I miss my stuffed pheasant from Maine; maybe I’ll bring him on my next trip!

A friendly Ecuadorian pointed me to Solmueble, a furniture making enterprise which supplies large furniture stores like Colineal and I was able to purchase this dining set and a couple of beds wholesale, directly from them. It was a steal! The workshop is just outside of Cuenca proper and well worth the trip. However, they don't speak English so you'd need to take a Spanish-speaking person to help. The pieces are made to order and you can modify their designs or even have them fabricate your own design.

Remember this Vega vase that I bought a few months back? I finally have a home for it!

I found this great ceiling light fixture at Kywi (this store reminds me of Home Depot)—it was the only one left in the country and I convinced them to sell me the floor sample! I love it.

And just to give you a preview of the terrace, here's the interior staircase leading to it. A friend recommended her gardener and he and I will be taking a trip to Paute next week in search of plants and more planters to fill the roof. Apparently that’s the place to go for that sort of thing--I’ll keep you posted.
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Radharant: lower level of El Vergel shopping center, Manuel Calle and Alfonso Cordero (near the stadium)

Ecuadorian antiques: There are several stores around the perimeter of the Museo del Monasterio de las Conceptas on Hermano Miguel 6-33

Moblitec: Sucre 4-80

Boyaca: Remigio Crespo Toral and Calle Esmeralda

Plaza Rotary: Vargas Machuca and Gaspar Sangurima

Solmueble: Cruce del Carmen Via Sinincay

Kywi: Avenida Turuhuaico and Gil Ramirez Davalos

Galeria Latina: Presidente Cordova 6-79 and Borrero

Getting the Job Done

I’ve been busy getting the apartment in shape. Even though it’s a rental I felt I needed to do some renovations to get it just the way I wanted it--it's the designer in me! I was lucky enough to find someone who’s done a great job of taking care of everything I’ve needed done. The building is owned by an architect and Rodrigo started working for him as an apprentice in his construction crew 32 years ago, when he was 17. Since then he’s learned pretty much every trade needed to build a home from the ground up.

It’s been such a boon to have someone who knows all the ins and outs of Ecuadorian construction and who’s been absolutely dependable and trustworthy. We’ve been working very hard but, of course, everything takes twice as long as you had hoped. This is not peculiar to Ecuador and I’m used to it, having renovated a few homes in my past. But we’ve been making steady progress and I’m looking forward to my first dinner party some time in the near future.

Unfortunately, every time I step out of the apartment I’m intent on carrying out a specific mission and so I haven’t been bringing my camera and I’ve missed some great shots! But I did take some pictures a couple of weeks ago of some roses I bought at the flower market. The colors were just so pretty and the blossoms were unusually large. This whole bunch cost $2 and they stayed fresh and perky for 10 days--these shots were taken around the eighth day!

These are eggs of every kind of domestic bird--clockwise from the top you see two duck eggs, a few pigeon eggs, five goose eggs, and two very large turkey eggs. The indigenous lady who was selling them told me turkey eggs are good for the nervous system. I may need to try them if the renovation work isn’t done soon!

A Foggy Journey

I arrived in Cuenca on July 6 after quite a complicated journey. I can sort of laugh about it now...sort of. It makes me tired just thinking about it and people have told me they need a drink after hearing it so I’ll spare you the details. I will only say that I ended up having to fly north to Toronto, then down to Colombia, then past Ecuador south to Peru, to finally arrive in Guayaquil 26 hours after I left New York.

And then, because I arrived in Guayaquil at 1PM and the next flight to Cuenca was at 6PM and I couldn’t bear to spend one more minute waiting at an airport, let alone five hours, I hired a car for the drive to Cuenca, which normally takes 3 hours but because there had been a landslide a couple of days prior there was a one-hour wait to pass the site.

And then, there was heavy fog, which always makes for an interesting time traveling on those narrow curving bumpy roads with those sheer mountain drops. At that point I hadn’t slept for around 36 hours so I was not a happy camper. I faintly remember growling at people a few times.

I was inexplicably cheered by the sight of this industrious and resourceful woman who set up a make shift restaurant by the side of the road where cars had a long wait to pass. I’m sure it went up overnight and will come down as soon as the opportunity is gone. Ecuadorians are truly hard working people.

So here I am, busy getting my apartment in working order. I should emerge from this phase sometime in the next couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to a nice long rest.